The Fish

Was chatting to one of the dads while our kids were having a swimming lesson. He's 30 and has two kids under school age and is paying £24k a year on childcare(!). And this isn't expensive Montessori type childcare, just your basic decent nursery. He had to move because he he was priced out of the housing market, but this means he doesn't have the help of family as they're too far away now. He and his wife both have to work to cover bills and have little to no money for anything other than surviving. (The only reason he can afford the swimming lessons is because he gets it as a perk through work. )

We've signed a bunch of kids like Heffernan, Hernes, Sahar, Harrison, Sanusi ffor the U21 and U18 squads. These players might make it, might not, but coached well they'll at least be good enough to sell.

Ewerk's right. The plan should be to hoover up loads of talent that we can sell or make use of ourselves. But the aim will be to sell Ashby, Kuol, or Minteh for millions rather than a couple hundred thousand to a Championship team like David Edgar or James Tavernier

Yeah, I doubt you'll find any fans of Chelsea on here. Liverpool get an inordinate amount of praise for 'success against the odds' when their modern successes are built on inorganic growth decades ago. Without the money pumped into the club 30-40 years ago, they wouldn't be one of the biggest clubs on the planet now. So when you hear stuff about them doing it without the riches of Man City you have to take a moment to realise that Liverpool bought their house years ago and any investment now is just maintenance. Man City only just bought their house and are pumping in huge sums to get it looking good. The issue for us (and other clubs) is we've just bought a house and the residents association is not letting us put on an extension, or convert the loft space even though they've all already got all that.

Don't they have another sanction looming?

Off to re-watch Dogtown and Z-Boys, thanksverymuch.

To be fair to him, he can get a group of good players to win a trophy. That's not as easy as it sounds. Trouble is, he burns the world in order to achieve that. He'll fall out with owners, coaches, players, staff, opponents, journalists in his pursuit of a trophy. I wouldn't want him here as anything other than a guest for some Bobby Robson Foundation evening.

Generally, when we're posting in the Other Games YY/YY thread, we're chatting about topics loosely connected to games, that happened within the last few days, or at least the last decade...

Our change in our xGA after Pope's injury is shocking.

That scene with his old friend in the car... couldn't believe it. But Noho Hank scenes are always the highlight.

Watched the first season, but haven't got round to paying for the rest. It's ace though. Some genuine laugh out loud moments and yet loads of actual pathos. Reminded me of M.A.S.H. in that regard.

You're kidding?

The Lettuce will definitely last longer than Gordon

I get fucking raging when I see one of those. Just shave it off you delusional spenk.

Makes sense, you don't want people knowing your budget. It's probably possible to get a rough idea; player purchases, length of their contract, plus player sales and revenue. But I cannot be bothered.

Your kid sounds like a legend. Mine is obsessed with animals, running headfirst into solid objects and delivering a diving attack off the sofa/bed.

Is the loss reported on there a sum total of all costs incurred each year? So it would include any works done on the infrastructure, facilities, backroom staff, youth and women's teams etcetera?

If I've read that right, we've made around 85m loss in the last two reporting years? If so, surely we need to make a profit of 60m+ to stay compliant?

I appreciate I'm biased as fuck, but I'd much rather having a guiding hand in propelling a potential giant from relative mediocrity, to an existing behemoth that just needs a tweak here and there.

I'd have to untuck them from her belt.