I think once these shysters bought Burnley relegation and financial problems were inevitable. For all the good work your board have done over the years, they've now sold you up the river. As to the cut and thrust of the championship, as compared to the premiership, you've got to be in it to win it. Rovers and Leicester are both examples of what can happen when the stars align. I also think that Dyche, with good (not great) financial backing, could build a side that qualified regularly for Europe. Similarly, I'd love to see a side back Allardyce properly and see how far he could go.

great find. I urge everyone to follow the link and scroll down to Guiseppe Bergomi at Espana 82.

How is it easier? There must be a logic to what you're saying but I can't see it. Less time to overtake maybe?

Exactly. That's why you get at 'em early doors.

I watched a YouTube video of Phil Foden and another player watching Sunday league football. I seem to recall there were some awful bits of skill and some great bits. The thing that jumped out at me though was a section where the was a great bit of play and Foden turned to the other lad and said in a strange voice 'have you got that in your locker?'. It was said without emotion, almost robotically. I thought it might have just come out a bit weird, but he repeated it in the same robotic way shortly afterwards. It sounded stilted and not a normal way of talking. It made me wonder how institutionalised and distant from normal society some of these young footballers are too talk in such a way. I suppose football has developed it's own language over time anyway, so maybe I'm just being over sensitive. Let's face it, at the end of the day, so long as you get 3 points the gaffer is over the moon.

If it makes you feel any better I don't think that the current management team are capable of this level of forward planning.

Reda Khadra? Isn't that one of the Unforgivable Curses in Harry Potter?

That's the Trouble with Trybull. More likely to get Scarlett Johansson.

Statistics work better in baseball and American football because it is a series of set pieces (pitches in baseball, downs in American football). It is very linear. Football is very fluid and the data collection (particular data that is actually relevant) is much harder and the interpretation of that even harder still. The stats are interesting, but strike me as being too basic atm. The level of detailed data required to properly model things would be huge and would then need someone with a very specialist understanding to interpret and make them useful. I love a good football stat but most of them don't mean very much in real practical terms, I think.

It would be interesting to see the fallout if Lingard scores a hat trick tonight!

After Carl Newhouse (Carlos Villaneuva) presumably, so Chilean Messi part 2?

Brero set for international call up? https://www.nottinghampost.com/sport/football/football-news/former-nottingham-forest-striker-line-5437926?fbclid=IwAR2YlvyI1DsMlWe3i09K_HFPuMCZBUB2-4R9Zk-UKPyB-AT0efK0rxx_yWg

I'm hoping that both teams field multiple ineligible players resulting in several points deductions. Seriously, I think a draw. 4 points dropped by 2 relegation rivals rather than 3 points dropped.

Reading between the lines, but it sounds like party time at Matty's. His missus has bust the oven/toaster/boiler, so she's asked if they can have take away and shots ever night!

I did the 'which of these Rovers players were right or left footed' that was in this article and they got Gamst wrong, I think. They have him down as left footed, but I'm pretty sure he was right footed and trained himself to use his left.

Didn't we have an award winning pitch a few years ago? We also had a groundsman who was very highly regarded, but Venky's let him leave (or made him leave?). It was a bizarre decision, presumably made just to cut costs. I remember thinking at the time that we had 99 problems, but the pitch ain't one.

I'd have Allardyce back in the England job like a shot. I think we'd have won the World Cup with Allardyce in charge.

Macclesfield have struggled financially for years, but we're paying Sol Campbell at least £15,000 a month apparently. Ridiculous of Macc to agree that sort of money to any manager let alone a novice. Surely Campbell must have realised that they couldn't pay it given the dire state of their finances? Campbell was then one of the people backing the winding up petition, which also doesn't cover him in glory. I seem to recall Campbell complaining about lack of managerial opportunities. No wonder if that's the wage he wanted. It's not all about Campbell, of course, given the club has been in trouble for years.

I'm not sure I follow your logic. Do you want us to field as strong a team as possible, or do you want us to field our regular first 11?

ISTR that there was a season where a different team beat Real to a European spot and the league (or government?), just took the European slot of the other team and gave it to Real anyway? Hellas Verona surprisingly won the Italian league in 1985. It was the only season where referees were appointed randomly rather than by a 'special commission of referees'. There had been a betting scandal and the league wanted to clean up their image. 1985 was unusual as none of the big three clubs won the league. The random system mustn't have worked though, as that was the only year it was used...

Knuzden (v) The signal given by any aging player to the bench that his knees will no longer adequately convey him around the pitch and that a substitution should be made. Sometimes accompanied by a nonchalant stroll to the far touchline.

All I take from that is that he'll play if his name comes out of the hat, same as everyone else (except the special ones).

It feels like that for virtually every tournament England's 'star' player is injured beforehand and we are all supposed to pray that he's fit for the finals. He's then not properly match fit but gets played anyway and is useless resulting in England effectively playing with 10 men. Rinse and repeat. Essentially, if Kane is physically fit (not injured) I think he will be a long way off match fit and shouldn't play in the tournament. Unless he is back and playing effectively for a reasonable time before the finals start.

I think it's the hotel that investors want. I understood that KA wanted to keep his hooks in the hotel. Not sure how that all pans out from a practical perspective.

Just had a text from the club promoting the 1875 club.