Bit premature, no?

I'm perplexed by Lutons unwillingness to spend anything. I don't think the way Forest went about things is the way to go, but Luton chucking in sub million pound bids for players, is cheap beyond belief. Sure they don't want to overpay, but they've now got serious cash to play with. If they're interested in players (not just Kaminski) pay a fair price and get them integrated into the squad, with a good pre-season. It feels like me quibbling over 50p for something that would be essential in my daily life.

I think some of his injury struggles have led him to be the player he is today. I'm sure he always had faith in his ability, but he was staring lower league football in the eye. I always thought he was an ok player, but never saw the attitude we see in him now, which coupled with sustained fitness is what has made him so much better. It seemed like previously he was a product of sanitised youth football and now he's a player who had to get the bit between his teeth and win people over through sheer force of will. I think he's brilliant and one of my favorite players. I can see him scoring a few next season too, regardless of whether he's at right back or in midfield.

It's too early to tell for me. I think our midfield and defence is beginning to look strong. A couple more shrewd additions to add depth and a touch of quality and we'd be one of the strongest in the division. However, we have nothing up front. There are subtle signs that Ennis is going to need some time to get up to speed. He mentioned raising his fitness levels in one of his first interviews and JDT has hinted at this as well. I'm in the "we've got no money to spend" boat. Simply because I think GB has got our scouting department running smoothly, and if we had money, we'd have spent some by now. I've a feeling we're struggling to find affordable attacking options. Without some very decent attackers through the door, midtable at best for me. Decent attackers and we can make top 6.

Apparently the owner of Millwall has passed away suddenly in an accident. RIP

You beat me to it. I was just about to post this. I do also find it quite funny that these days YouTube reels of 15 year old players exist. The level of exposure is crazy.

It won't be AI that takes anybodies job but someone using AI that will. I'm of the opinion the biggest investment anyone can make in their future career right now is understanding and mastering the basics of AI. Obviously that's dependent on the field you work in, but it's certainly not isolated to just 'IT jobs'. Use a computer for work; you're implicated. It's going to change the world for both better and worse. In theory the levels of output from an average worker are going to skyrocket, freeing up the time for people to focus on complex, innovative tasks rather than having their time taken by the mundane, time consuming ones, which will be easier to automate. Unfortunately, capitalism is capitalism and these increased profits will go straight into the pockets of large corporations, who are able to streamline their teams. AI is capable of creating a worldwide utopia, where humans have increased levels of free time, whilst businesses continue to thrive. I cannot see it happening though. I do see mass unemployment on the horizon. Each individual is capable of protecting themselves against such an eventuality, but it will be a race for ever increasing individual output using AI as the tool to get there. There will be a lot to navigate for governments and societies over the next 5 years. It would only be one piece of the jigsaw, but switching to a 4 day working week would go someway to mitigating the damage. If that makes me, someone who's always been working since the age of 13 lazy, then so be it.

I was at the Euro 2020 semi final vs Denmark. By far the best atmosphere I've ever experienced. Qualifiers are essentially glorified friendlies these days which is reflected in the atmosphere. Contracted Covid pretty badly from that England. But it was bloody worth it!

I'd be up for this. I'm not in London but down Portsmouth way. But I'd be very much interested in catching a good few away games with a group from the South

I saw this yesterday. Looks like a crap proposal. Strikes me as being pushed by big teams who are pissed off that their very expensive academies aren't performing. It felt like a big deal for us to stay up last year and actually produced some fixtures that had some pressure, which is very hard to simulate at that level. The reasoning that clubs are worried that potential relegation results in teams hanging onto better players is the most paper thin, piss poor argument I've ever heard.

SOUNESS, SOUNESS!

I'd enjoy seeing a Super League happen. Not that I'd care much for watching it, but it'd be great to see the big clubs fu** off. All the uproar about it is only resulting in gradual changes to the Champions League which will become a super league in all but name. Get rid of them completely and have true competition back at the top level in this country.

Technically speaking (contract yet to expire), Ben is the first Rovers player to score an international hattrick since when? It is time to move on, but personally I hope he does well and I'll always keep half an eye out on his career. Peculiar that nothing has been officially announced regarding his next club. Either Villareal have seen sense, or they're waiting until his contact officially expires on June 30th.

Read my post. I said had been, until last seasons disaster triggered by Beales shenanigans, before which they were 1st. You then proceed to quote last seasons finish.... Either way, I'm certain they've shot themselves in the foot. I've got a good few mates who are close to the goings on at Qpr, and it's seen that they've sacked the only person there with any form of plan. Its a bit like the chasm we had when Mowbray left. There was nobody remaining. All they've got now is Ainsworth chasing old Wycombe players.

They had been making steady progress. They were right in the playoff mix as we were in Mowbrays last season and were top of the league this season until Beales shenanigans. I'm sure Ferdinand would agree last season was a disaster. But regardless of his performance what is clear is that this has happened due to a falling out. Right at the start of the transfer window. Any plans they had have been thrown in the bin. It's messy. It's the worst possible time the club. It's also worth noting Qpr have those seasons still been paying off the massive fine the Efl imposed on them for breaching financial fair play. The only club, to ever get that sort of punishment.

Chaos at QPR. Les Ferdinand has resigned as DoF following discussions with Ainsworth about transfer targets. Seems they had very different ideas on a way forwards. Fully expecting Qpr to raid Wycombe for Ainsworths ex players now and be odds om for relegation. I thought he'd be a disaster when people wanted him appointmented here and thought he'd be a disaster for Qpr. They were on a slow upwards trajectory for some time, until Michael Beale jumped ship last season. All feels like panicked reactions now.

I think the main thing with Phillips is to tie him down to a proper 5 year contract like we did with Wharton. If we can do that, then every decision we make can be based on what's best for his development. He only has 2 years remaining on his contract. The amount of interest he's generated at such a young age makes him feel like a special case and every decision we make with him, needing to keep him and his agent happy. I'm not saying he's kicked up any kind of fuss, but they may not always know what is best for his development. I'm sure bigger clubs will still be whispering in his agents ear from time to time. Get him signed up to a long term deal and then we can decide how best to develop him. Even if he went out on loan this season and performed incredibly, it'd be horrible seeing him come back to the club with only 1 year left on his contract.

I think the ideal for Phillips is to source a proper loan. Assurances that the plan is for him to be competing for a starting spot. Get him used to the rough and tumble and minutes in his legs. I would also be looking to tie him down to a five year deal as we did with Wharton. Then bring in an experienced centre back on a shorter term deal.

PSV was the one where it felt like a sure thing he'd go. If Leicester are genuinely interested I think he's gone. Sampdoria and playing in Serie B. That would be a mad move. Feel Leeds fall into the same category but would obviously have a greater appeal. Celtic I think would be 50/50. At the end of the day though, we don't know how many of the clubs have genuine interest. He's an easy name to link to any club at the moment, so half of these could just be click bait. I'm 70% certain he'll still be with us at the start of the season. The biggest worry I have is that we want to progress. If we start the season with a bang, some of this tepid interest will turn into something more tangible once the managerial merry-go-round begins.

For me, it's less about the role itself but the price tag attached to Rice because he's English. As it stands he lacks that little bit extra that someone like Casemiro has, but it's difficult to develop this side of his game in a side which doesn't look to dominate the ball. He may reach that level. The issue is that a 'water carrier' can demand a big fee, but typically not at the same level of an attacking player who can change a game all by themselves. The English premium and the price West Ham are looking for is in this category. As a result I think Rice gets judged a little harshly and I don't think he's quite worth the money which is being touted. As a 'water carrier' though, he is superb.

I think the could but they won't. Liverpool need multiple additions in centre midfield and therefore need to split their budget accordingly. If their squad was near perfect and they only needed 1, maybe 2 summer signings I think they'd be in for him. They've already brought in MacAllister for 35-45 million and will need at least two more. It makes a fee of almost 100m for Rice unaffordable.

If I were looking for a player in Rice's position I'd be looking no further than Amrabat. Based on his performances in the World Cup and in direct comparison last night he is the better player. Perfect positional play, strong, intelligent, great in the tackle and brilliant vision. I'm sure he'd cost half the price of Rice too.

Offset by the £30m they received as a transfer fee. Still, as a Birmingham fan you'd have hoped they'd have been able to negotiate to a minimum of 10%

I love how that article refers to him as the stand out candidate from the recruitment process when Spurs have been knocked back by multiple candidates over a couple of month period.

I was going to mention this. I live in the south so don't get to attend as many games as I'd like. I remember sitting in the away end and Pompey hammered us the majority of the match. Bellamy was absolutely unbelievable that day. Scored two incredible goals all by himself. The first of which he was running full speed, away from the goal on his weaker foot and rifled it straight into the far corner. Benitez misused him when he went to Liverpool. Saw him as nothing but a speed merchant to play on the shoulder of the last defender. He was so much more than that. Incredible player.