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Yeah and Rudkin went home early, switched off his phone and started a lovely long bank holiday weekend. He'll be back in the office tomorrow morning and find out that we don't have a manager!

I wish him well. I liked him. I think his style requires some very, very good players to work. The quality of our squad was just about good enough for the Championship but without some major investment I really think we'd struggle in the prem. Chelsea might have the players that he can start building his brand of football. If it works, he'll give himself a platform to go on to great things in football, if it doesn't he'll boost his bank balance by a few million and be able to bounce around a couple of mid-table prem teams until he decides to do something else.

This isn't National Service in the traditional sense, this is something different that's being labelled as National Service. It think the idea addresses a number of serious issues which need addressing. Is "National Service" the best way to go? I'm not sure. Here's how I view it: From a national security perspective, I am becoming concerned about some of the noise coming out about what the future might look like... Russia, China, Middle East, etc... Here in the UK we have had a long period of peace, something most of us take for granted but there is a growing sense of unease and our armed forces need bolstering. How do we do that? There are a few options, but the key thing is that this National Service thing will be the cheapest. The military part of NS seems to be aimed at a small number of 18 year olds, about 4% or something like that, and it seems there will be quite an application process to actually get in. I can see it being quite appealing to quite a few young people. Learning skills from the military in cyber security or logistics are valuable life skills and could well send some on a successful career path - an appealing prospect for 18 year olds who don't really know what they want to do in life. So they get skills and experience and the government get a somewhat bolstered military. The "Public Service" part is nothing but a cheap way of getting more hours on the clock. Yes, there are some benefits. Some young people will learn skills, some will do a great job, and the public may see some benefits. But look at the maths... Let's say 500,000 people actually take part, allowing for around 200,000 to be exempted or just refuse. 500,000 x 25 days per year = 12.5 million working days. 12.5 million days at 8 hours per day = 100,000,000 hours. Let's say the job they'd be doing costs £15 per hour, that means the government get £1.5b worth of labour for free every year (I know it's not free to administrate). So is NS a good idea? Well I don't think it's terrible (as a parent of 2 children who would likely be affected), I'm not dead against it, but it won't make me place a X in the blue box. The public services and military need bolstering and some young people need a helping hand at age 18 to give them some direction. So NS does, on paper, go some distance to addressing these important issues. The alternative? Spend more money (lots of it - where does it come from?). Make careers in public services and the armed forces more appealing? I'd like to see more of this, but that costs money too and is a tough sell given the way the public sector has been treated over the last 15+ years. Essentially the Tories have backed themselves into a corner. Getting public services to where they need to be will take massive money that the country doesn't have. It's a mess. NS is something, not nothing, but it's not the same as tempting the brightest and best into a public service career, giving them the tools to do the job and the pay that recognises the professionalism required. My fear is that whether it's Labour or Conservative in power for the next 5 years, there is no quick fix.

Will more likely lead to a rise in crime?

It won't make any difference! Same line, different scenario. The camera angles, timing of the ball being played and image quality all remain the same. The only thing that will be different is the question will change from "Was his toe ahead of the other guy's toe?" to "Can you really say there was daylight between them?" Just keep it as it is imo, or scrap it completely (which I don't think they should).

I'm getting tired of signing players and then hardly playing them before getting rid. From what I've seen, Cannon looks decent and we should keep him, but y'know, give some decent minutes on the pitch.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-68942321 You cant just "phase out" apostrophes. Get a better computer system.

Well HMS Piss The League has docked this season, maybe they're hopeful of getting aboard next season?

Not as good as 2014 but more important. Not an easy league to navigate but we were rightly one of the favourites from the start. Job done as far as I'm concerned.

Oh. My. Days.

Blow the whistle ref!!!

Nothing to see here

Spaceman. Netflix. Adam Sandler. Dreadful.

Let's get real for a second. The people who are forced to eat processed crap food because they can't afford to switch an oven on are in a tiny minority of processed crap food eaters. Most people eat so much crap because it's convenient and they are lazy (I'll include myself in there). Fair play to @dsr-burnley to get 3 decent meals for about £10 + cooking expenses. @FoxesDeb is probably onto something around household make up.

He touched the ball more than Vardy and he only played stoppage time.

Get him in!

Sometimes people get added to this thread too easily, but this POS and all his followers fully deserve their place. The internet can be a disgusting, disturbing, dark place full of weirdos.

I'd want to expand it further than this, but in a similar way... 3rd and 4th Play Off semi. 5 - 8 Play off QF. Anyone in the top half have something to play for right to the end.

I think Jeremy Hunt hinted at an October election in the press a week or so ago. Nothing official though.

January 28th is the latest a GE can take place, but there has to be 25 working days in the lead up. Given that would encompass the festive period, it's highly unlikely it will be that late. I would think October would be sensible. All the MPs will be back after summer recess in September so can get going on it then. Sunak will want to wait as long as possible. Interest rates possibly falling in the summer, some nice weather and maybe a scandal or two involving Labour MPs might soften the public enough to not leave the Tories facing complete obliteration. It's a damage limitation exercise, everyone knows he/they will be moving out of 10 Downing Street.

That's not quite right. Maybe after the 80th minute, which is still good, but as the game enters the 90th minute and beyond, there have been 13 games with goals. They've scored 8 and conceded 7. And in fact, they'd be a point better off if there was no injury time at all. Most of their injury time goals actually didn't materially affect the outcome.

I'm still optimistic that we'll get the results we need. The Bristol performance was poor, too many sloppy mistakes, but some recent results haven't reflected performances. It's clear for me that Enzo needs to either get the team playing his system in a way where we can raise the intensity when needed instead of one pace throughout, regardless of score, or he needs a clear plan B when Plan A doesn't work. Our results have been appalling recently but with our quality that can't continue. From a maths point of view, we have a game in hand over the two above us. We're just 1 point behind Leeds and 2 behind Ipswich, plus our goal difference is better than Ipswich. The fanbase here is concerned for good reason, but people saying we won't win another game this season are way off. We will, and I think we'll do just enough to get over the line in the top 2.

Sloppy.

Please refrain from allowing the truth to ruin a good conspiracy. This is the internet. Thanks.

100% this. The league isn't going to be decided today regardless of results. The top four will still have to collectively play 35 games between now and the end of the season - plenty of room for mis-steps and unexpected results.