Greg2607

I'm not here in defence of marti at all, in all honesty, I don't get too hung up on what he had done previously, what his style was like elsewhere etc..... BUT..... Maybe his instinct IS to want to play attacking football. We HAVE seen that it games where we are behind and chasing games. It just seems to me, that we have a squad that isn't pre disposed to that style of football. We have zero pace at the back. So we can't really play a high line. Without a high line, it's hard to be on the front foot as the gaps between defence and attack are too big. If we press aggressively, teams will play through us. We also don't really have the midfield personell for the style. None of winks, skipp or soumare are dynamic enough. JJ looks a good addition and would fit that style. And then the attacking force. Mav, Fatawu and Daka potentially fit that gung ho style well. But Ayew doesn't, Carranza doesn't. It COULD be that he's a really crap manager. It Could be that he is a pragmatist that's trying to fit a way of playing to the available squad. We all know we need an overhaul. Importantly though, we need to "pick a club style" for our system, so we can hire managers and buy players that continue to fit that system. Our pick and mix approach has left us entirely dysfunctional. Maybe a transfer window or two sees some change in playing style. But that doesn't come without risk if he is actually, just a crap manager!

Surely rudkin just moves into an "official" role that oversees LCFC, OHL and the Racing side. It's pretty much what he does already, but this time we have dedicated staff at LCFC and a better overall structure?

yeah it's not a good look for Parker.

What we need to do, is re-invent our Economy (which is absolutely no small feat and will take masses of time) - Successive governments over an extended period of time have somehow managed to build a mainly serviced based economy, which has led to wage stagnation. I do actually believe in alot of what labour are TRYING to do on a Macro level.... boosting emerging industries, trying to get into a leader position and doing things like making strong attempts to address our energy mix. They are also trying to push economic power out of London and spread it across the rest of the UK. Again, really sensible. none of this was going to be fixed in 18 months. I'd be surprised if it's fixed within a decade... but you have to make the first move at somepoint. What was starmers mantra going into the last election "Country before party".... I do think we are seeing that in action. It's not popular, it's not pretty, but it IS fundamentally required. WFA - WILDLY unpopular... but absolutely everyone can see that pensioners on even £45,000 a year don't need a fuel subsidy. Addressing Benefits - It will be wildly unpopular and all of the major parties will roll out examples of where it has impacted certain individuals... But I don't think any of us would suggest that the current system is fit for purpose or sustainable. Moving more of our Healthcare to Primary Services - Again... structural change that should have happened years ago... .if you ever watch programmes like "Ambulance" on BBC.... you can see that people end up in crisis as they can't access front line services and ambulances and A&E become a port of last resort... but having to deal with scenarios that should be dealt with by other services that have been decimated, quietly, over time. everywhere you look, there is decay. but there isn't a magic wand to fix it all in a short space of time. AND in another 3 years...... because the change won't be immediately obvious... Reform will come along with a wrecking ball and undo all of the good work that has been done.

albeit, there is a rumour of reducing the thresholds that people enter a certain tax band... which basically has the same effect.

Yeah I agree, it's a problem for us..

Sure, I agree. He is very easy on the eye. And I absolutely do realise that he is 16, learning his trade and a ridiculous talent.... BUT...... As a winger, his job is to deliver assists or goals.... If he doesn't do those things, then he's basically demarai gray. He will add it to his game I'm sure, but currently, if he isn't delivering those, then he has to earn his place again.

What were his actual outputs though???

Mcateer would have been better as an attacking full back. I reckon he could make a decent career as that. But as a winger..... Nope.

The Case for his defence - He's been handed a dud hand at a difficult period for our club. It's clear we are financially screwed at the minute and have no "muscle" in the transfer market. We also clearly have a DOF who hasn't cleared enough of the deadwood, making our ability to bring in replacements particularly difficult. The transfers we have made, have seemed positive. James, Ramsey, both seems decent additions. Carranza is a bargain basement loan which hasn't / won't work out. Outside of that, he doesn't have much at his disposal does he. An impotent strike force. An unbalanced squad. Defensive full backs who aren't going to be an attacking threat. Centre backs who none of us rate outside of Nelson. A midfield with a single attacking threat. None of winks, skipp, soumare or Hamza provide a goal threat. Admittedly, Fatawu and Mavididi do provide attacking intent, but where else in our squad does it come from? IF he had transfer windows and an opportunity to bring his type of players in, who knows what a difference that could make.

And I dont disagree with you. Maybe he isn't getting his message across. But Ayews game is generally coming deep and bringing others I to play. If we are saying to him "don't do that, we won't you to stretch the line" then he isn't the right man for that job... Albeit, we don't have anyone else in the squad to do that either. It's the culmination of a club who haven't hired with any kind of plan in place. We have a Mish mash of squad, none of which are designed with one particular style of play in mind. It's a mess. I will say however, that in theory, Jordan and Ramsay were positive additions.

So lets say that you are correct in this.... No Ayew or Daka.... so that leaves us with Carranza.... he absolutely doesn't have it... Soumare or Skipp not in the Team... so that leaves us with..... Winks, James and Ramsay (which is what he was going with before Ramsay's injury) Outside of that.... you are looking at Ricky or Hamza in the remaining Midfield slot... OR playing Winks / James.... but then who is our 10? It can't be Ayew, because you don't want him starting games.... so it's Page? Thomas at LB.... the alternative is Kristiansen.... he might not be worse than Thomas, but how much of an upgrade is he? bearing in mind.... that if none of those are in the starting line up.... then our bench becomes: - Ayew, Daka, Soumare, Skipp, Faes, Thomas, Mavidi/Monga (Depending on who is starting on the left) Begovic, BDCR.... Now lets assume you don't want any of those players anywhere near the matchday SQUAD (because bringing them on doesn't improve the team) Our bench becomes something like.... Begovic, BDCR, Mavididi, Page, Aluko, Evans, Silko Thomas, Hutchinson?,...... Our squad is really paper thin on quality.... now, I don't necessarily rate the work that Marti is doing.... BUT..... it doesn't feel like there is masses of quality to work with...

you are quite probably correct, but lots of secure units no longer exist and it's impossible to predict exactly which MH patient is going to tip over the edge. My Mum used to own care homes for people with Learning Difficulties and Challenging Behaviour. Some of those residents would regularly get aggressive and violent with other residents and staff. It was controlled with regular medication or if the resident had a real episode, they would be sedated. unfortunately, the trend in the care sector, was that around 50% of the residents were deemed suitable for "supported living". Which genuinely wasn't the case. One resident in particular, got moved into supported living and disappeared never to be seen again. Christ only knows what happened to him.

And that's where our problems lie isn't it... for all Marti's faults... short of throwing in a load of youngsters in the "hope" that they are going to be better (which it's unlikely to be the case in the early days) he's tied to the available squad....

unfortunately, the entirety of the social care model in the UK has been destroyed.... the authorities have moved from Social Services providing secure care, to more of a "supported living" environment, with carers coming in once a day or more.... This is so that governments could shift the budgets... "social care budgets reduced".... but ultimately, welfare budgets grown massively as they get rent and carers paid for through other means. Moves it from Local Government to National.

We had just won the FA Cup, so yep, people turned their noses up.

Nope, at the time I was told that we should be aiming higher and that we'd moved beyond that type of manager. I'd also suggested Emery as a replacement for Rodgers before he joined Villa. But again, he was seen as a failure and not enough stature for us.

To be fair I got shot down for saying we should have moved heaven and earth for Moyes after cooper (and before) - lots of our fan base aren't actually THAT knowledgeable.

Luton Airport Parkway is another option for you as well....

one of the best and most middle aged things i've ever bought is a heated blanket to put under the bedsheet. I'd never go back now! lol. We have heated blankets in the house as well... saves heating the entire house when you are sat in the lounge binge watching crap on the tv.

Amazon announcing at least 14,000 and upto 30,000 job cuts as a result of AI.... mainly in White Collar jobs as well.... I wonder if those employees will just be told to "re-train" like Blue Collar workers are....

Politicians are generally attracted to the "importance" and "power" of being a politician. It's got very little to do with their own personal ideologies. They will swing which ever way is most likely to keep them in that position of importance. Blair was labour because it was his most likely route to leading a party and winning an election... same with Starmer really to be fair. and the number of flip flopping local candidates in local politics is beyond a joke. Lots of the tories jumping to reform is because they think, come the next election, that is their best hope of staying in a seat. They could never jump to labour... so what are their other options?

It's not about the new owner keeping it for 7 years, it's about the person who is gifting the farm having to live for an additional 7 years beyond the date of the gift being given. Ultimately, farm's are passed between generations, so the likelihood of the new owner selling it is small as it will be a family member who Inherits the farm. The whole of life cover, protects all parties from IHT. IF the original owner survives beyond that 7 years, then IHT won't be payable anyway.... If they don't, then the whole of life policy pays out an amount that would essentially pay the costs of IHT. This isn't an amendment, it was always the proposal. everyone just got into a wild tantrum, without properly understanding the detail. Bear in mind that most farmers are conservative voters, so it was as much about the fact it was labour doing this, rather than the actual premise.

sure thing.... the new proposals define that a family farm can be gifted to the next generation and that this will sit outside of Inheritance Tax IF the existing owner survives for 7 years beyond the date of the "gifting" of the farm. There is Whole of Life policies now that have been developed, that can be taken out by the existing owner, which will pay out to the new owners of the farm if that individual were to pass away in that 7 year window. That policy would be used to cover the cost of the IHT if it were to come into effect. The cost of those policies is far below any kind of Commercial Loan that would be needed to pay the IHT tax in the future. These things are available now and in place and being taken up by farmers.

that's the whole point, the Financial Planning Instruments will cover this.