Rayvin

That QF against Arsenal was well worth their earlier 5 games without a win then.

Is there really any significant amount of opposition to the new owners for that to happen with? I think they've got a free relegation tbh, we all knew we were down this year with the Bruce and Ashley combo. If they make good, long term decisions - then for my part at least I'll be completely happy. Whether we go down or not.

For what it's worth, it looks like one to me as well. Much of the new owners' start has, there's just not enough apparent evidence of strong strategic planning to think otherwise - unless we make the assumption that as very rich people, they absolutely know what they're doing in all matters (which is possible and wouldn't necessarily be visible). They'll get there, but this has been a rough start (thanks largely to Ashley). I still think we'll stay up though because I do think we'll get an uplift from mid-Jan with new signings and turn our draws with bottom half teams into shithouse wins. None of our relegation rivals will be able to match us on squad revamp.

That is awful mate. I've no idea what this situation would feel like so I won't try to offer anything other than to say that I'm really sorry you're having to go through with it on top of what has already been a really shit year. Your courage in the face of this is admirable.

Aye but so have most of these teams. Even Norwich have won more games than us and some of the teams people are mentioning here have 5 wins Anyway if we'd managed to win those two easier games instead of fucking them up we'd be on 14 points atm which I think is more representative of where we should be really. Assuming January allows us to improve, I think we can recover those 4 missed points and get out of this still. We need signings in place by mid-Jan though, that's when the easier games hit.

Can someone explain why no one seems to think Watford could go down? They've lost 4 in a row. I know they beat Man Utd a few weeks ago but they've not exactly been pulling up trees anywhere else.

That is one hell of a statement for a political leader Fair play.

I absolutely hate shit like this in relationships I do wonder though if they just want it done and latch onto anything that remotely resembles an excuse.

Their brief is presumably to model based on set criteria including that Omicron matches the virulence of Delta. I mean why are they not also modelling for it being worse? We don't have the information yet on how bad it is and I doubt it will be a stretch for Sage to amend that projection once we do. I think the response he was given is reasonable. Why model a scenario that we have limited information about other than to pin it against existing conditions? What is the logic for us calling this overly negative when we simply don't know? Could we not also call it overly positive?

I'm definitely gonna look into this taxi/hire idea, it'd be much safer.

I'm out in Lanarkshire, south of Glasgow. Infection rate is a good question, looks slightly above the national average? Not sure exactly how to get the info but found that much: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/search?postcode=ML8 4NZ

No, I don't drive and live too remotely to be 'collected'. This isn't actually a bad idea tbh, I'll give it some thought. Cheers.

Lads, can I ask for an honest opinion? I was planning to go back across to Newcastle for Christmas to stay with my dad for a few days. It'll take me two trains to get there though (I don't drive), and two back again. There's a likelihood of elderly people being present, my Grandma is nearly 100 and she's going to be around.. I want to go but is it just a stupid risk for people I care about? I'm struggling to make a rational choice, which I think means that I know the answer already, but I want someone else to say it anyway.

I think we all know the answer to this. She "worked hard" and fully believes that the reason she's got to where she is, comes down to there being something special about her. Something that makes her better than the people she came from. Anyone could make a success of themselves no matter their background, if they just work hard enough (but only people with as much grit as she has, will ever manage this). Those that don't, deserve their strife.

Patel is apparently preparing a leadership bid. I mean they've got no one decent in a position to step up, that's the positive we should be taking from this.

We could buy some little known team in Saudi Arabia and have them buy Clarke for £300m.

Watch the PL say that the season has to end now, league positions as final...

The PL, thanks to its own modus operandi, is a de-regulated wilderness. I'd be amazed if we can't find all sorts of ways around these issues. I mean I mentioned it in jest some time back but what if we set up schools in Saudi Arabia for footballing excellence and charged £1m a year for attendance, with an intake of 100 pupils per year. Does the PL have a precedent there to set against it? What if we broke off from the other sponsorship deals for TV rights and sold our own? We could take the PL's achievements as the 'precedent'. We could start streaming training sessions into Saudi Arabia, the state could subsidise access to it. I mean I just don't see how they can close every single loop hole without ending up in court assured of losing on at least one front.

So are we heading back into full lockdowns and so on after Christmas? Or is the idea now that the economy is so fucked we're just going to have to deal?

What if they bought the naming rights and named it "St. James Park". Legally speaking, could anyone even say anything?

Is... is that well? You know UK accounting rules well, right? I mean I don't have a clue about any of this, I'm just musing on the fact that my understanding was that the point of the sponsorships was to funnel money in beyond what the rules said we were able to do already.

Is the deal here not that they could just put that £200m straight in without worrying about sponsorship deals etc? Effectively that's an allowable loss, right? The reason we need to worry about sponsorship would be for everything beyond that, since FFP blocks us from just throwing that money into the club - but up to that £200m I thought it could just be loaned or gifted straight in? As an aside, is this new nonsense from the PL enforceable in the championship?

I wonder this too - I think the tide has turned for an honest few, but the issue we're always going to come up against for the majority is the fact that they simply will not admit to being wrong because their whole worldview now relies on the notion that informed experts in any given matter, be it Brexit, economics, politics, medicine, sociology, whatever, are all part of some kind of conspiracy to strip them of their 'freedoms'. I've said it before but it takes a lot of strength and personal responsibility to admit you're wrong about something, and for all the Tories and their voters bang on endlessly about both, they're not much for actually living what they speak.

Bit of a shame Longstaff hasn't managed to kick on tbh.

Oh god, we're back to this again. "He's signed, nailed on." And then two weeks of silence before it turns out he objects to the strategic vision of the club or something.