fox in the sox

Most of those teams are on a totally different level in terms of revenue, sponsorship, ground size, merchandising etc. We reached a level way above our size and the wages required to keep the players at that level are too much. Forest are the nearest to our size but they have only been promoted recently so their wage structure will be very different to Leicester who were in Europe and regularly towards the top of the table.

The start of a great era which sadly ended on a sour note.

Birmingham may not be moved as Norwich v Ipswich and Coventry v Leeds are in that round.

They thought that only 7 of the 9 reasons given for the deduction were valid. One of these was that they did not agree that Everton hadn’t cooperated fully.

Maybe Newcastle have got the same issue that we had in that once everybody realises the club can’t go any further because of FFP, the situation can deteriorate very quickly.

They might have done but nobody can be certain it was game over.

You can say for certain it would have been game over at 2-0?

How would it have been game over when they scored 3?

They seem to have lost their form since all of those cup matches, maybe tiring? I still think they have more goals in them though than some of the recent opponents.

Unless it is fast tracked, if Everton and Forest lose points and appeal then it will go beyond the end of the season so we’ll still have a relegation fight awaiting decisions regardless of whether appeals should be successful. Maybe points deductions will be given for next season to stop it getting messy but this doesn’t seem right.

Taking away Forest’s argument about Brennan Johnson which I think is a red herring, is Forest’s breach the same as Everton ie worthy of a 10 point deduction?

I agree that with additional signings we could be a good Premier League side. It is guesswork though to say that the likes of KDH and Winks will be good enough under a different manager. Winks for example has not been good enough under quite a few managers.

I was responding to a comment that we have a better gk, defence, midfield and manager than last season at the moment. I hope we can get promoted and put together a good Premier League quality squad. I just don’t think we are better in most areas at the moment, we are just doing better because we are playing at a lower level

KDH couldn’t get in for us last season and Winks was let go by Spurs. There is no proof that either of them are Premier League standard. Ndidi has looked better this season but he is playing against weaker opposition. He is Premier League standard but nothing new to what we had last season. As for Ricardo in midfield we would really need to wait to see if he can cut it in that position if we go up.

You got one right - the goalkeeper.

If we leave early we get home in 1 hour and half, if we wait for the whistle it can be 3 hours. This is well after midnight for an evening kick off and we are getting to bed too late when there is work in the morning. It’s a bit harsh to say we shouldn’t go at all!

Why do the opposition keep scoring at the end if they are worn out?

There’s a difference between a long hopeful pass and a good forward pass which I think most people are after.

Isn’t the end of this season going to be a farce if Everton and Forest are appealing points deductions?

I don’t think there was ever just second half coverage of City, Radio Two did that for their match on a Saturday afternoon. I think it changed from reports/updates to full commentary in the early 90’s.

It now appears that both teams who finished above us in the table were spending beyond their means. We scored plenty of goals last season but the big problem was defending after the loss of Schmeichel and Fofana. People will argue that we still should have stayed up with the players we had but the tightening of the belt obviously had a big effect with the sales mentioned above, Rodgers losing interest because he couldn’t take us forward and contracts up in the air.

I think it is sad that you are wiping out all of the great times that Rodgers brought us because of that final dreadful season.

I agree with some of your points but you do make some mistakes. Rodgers had a brilliant record against lower league opposition and you have just picked out the 2 matches he lost. They were also not mid table sides, Forest got promoted and Blackburn were in the play off picture for much of the season.

I think because the VAR is also refereeing other matches they are getting confused. The penalty at the end should not have been overturned because it was a soft penalty at best. But I think the VAR is thinking as if they are refereeing the match, hence they decide it might be worth the referee looking again, rather than thinking if it’s a clear and obvious mistake.

As I said earlier in the thread, it is now a joint programme for football and rugby when both are playing at the same time - so after match will cover both.