nnfox

You're absolutely right but there's a level of awareness around it now that has never been seen before. More initiatives than ever and you'll probably find every police force in the country has violence against women and girls as one of their top priorities. Yet again, the judiciary are stuck in the dark ages. I'm all for not criminalising children unnecessarily, to protect and nurture them and show them a better way, but there has to be a line that, if crossed, they get the book thrown at them. If raping children isn't a sufficient line then what the hell is?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yrzy7gkdxo These two. Should be made to take the bus for life after they get released. Scum.

Man, I have some really expensive watches.

Gutted by this. Never really had the run of games that he needed. Class finisher at times (when he didn't miss the ball entirely). To all the haters: He scored 4 goals in one game in Europe don't you know? I'm sure he would have run riot in League 1. His 80k per week would have paid dividends next season, I'm sure. I'm sure he'll go on to have a stellar career and I would welcome him back in the future when we're back in the prem in a couple of years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy2x7wxjego Sentence now being reviewed. Good.

I agree. As the father of a 14 year old daughter, this case sends absolute chills. The justice system has a duty to protect the public and I understand the need for balance against not wanting to criminalise children, but this is hardly a minor shoplifting or criminal damage! This is so serious. The defendants will feel like they've been let off. And those brave young girls who were put through the additional trauma of a trial will grow into adult life having a justifiable belief that the justice system isn't on their side. In an age where misogyny is rightly called out as abhorrent, it's cases like this that need to show that society is serious about combating it.

I would think the Rowett's contract has expired. Nothing has been said because he's put his name forward as permanent manager and is being considered. I suspect with the finances we have (or don't have), we're actually biding our time with making an appointment, even if it's Rowett. We should be able to get pretty much the whole of May and June out of the way without paying a manager, which is money in the bank. As frustrating as it is, we are now so tinpot that that's the only reasonable explanation I have for the total lack of urgency.

Slavia Prague fans stormed the pitch in injury time last week, whilst 3-2 up just before they were about to be crowned champions. Game abandoned and 3-0 victory awarded to the opposition. Just sayin'

La Liga relegation battle really interesting. Everyone below 6th in danger with three games to go. Two relegation spots available and three points separate 19th - 13th, with 5 teams locked on 39 points. Should be some finish.

They just had to see the game out to be crowned Champions. Now the game has been forfeited and 3-0 victory awarded to the opposition (in second place) and their next 4 games are behind closed doors. Should still win the league, but jeez, just wait 30 seconds more!

I'd love him to be involved with the playing side of the club, but not as a player. We need to build for the future. The future is not Jamie Vardy.

Brave of him to open up about the Premier League relegation feeling it "more than anyone on the pitch". Stay strong Conor, you'll get over it.

But here's the thing. Fans want an experienced manager who is proven to be a decent manager, assuming said manager doesn't currently work and would like to come to a League One club in that has very little money to spend and are fresh on the back of a double relegation. The job could be a good job for an up and coming manager. It's a gamble for anyone and someone with a proven track record shouldn't really touch us. Fuchs fits the up and coming category (he isn't the only one). The only other category that would look at us is someone looking to rescue their career after one or two disasters (Russell Martin anyone? )

Decent managers exist but we are now fishing in a pond where such things are extremely rare. Our track record of bringing in decent managers over recent years is woeful. Our recent record makes Maresca look like a lucky anomaly. He came to us with basically no track record and any way in which you look at it, he was a bit of a punt. You win some and you lose some. Maresca worked out, but the football was turgid at times and he had the best squad we've had in the last three years. Make no mistake, as things stand, it's going to take more than a manager to get positive results.

Doesn't the accounting period run until the end of June? At present there is no manager drawing a wage. I can see it staying like that until the last possible minute. I can only hope that there are some managers who have either been sounded out about it or are proactively going through the archives to understand what needs doing. I'm seriously starting to worry that we won't have anyone in until 1st July at the earliest.

I have some sympathy with Marti here. He's not the first manager to point at a poor culture within the club which seems to be the lasting legacy of Rodgers. Successive managers really have had their hands tied and I think Marti had the worst of it. A squad devoid of quality and motivation and no meaningful way to get new personnel through the door. You can say that a poor workman blames his tools, but this wasn't a single workman, this was a series of professional football guys who couldn't get a tune out of the resources available for 3 or 4 years. In hindsight, he could have brought some if the youngsters through more quickly, but it's a risky strategy that can easily backfire in more than one way. I'm still not convinced many of them are properly ready to make the transition and there would have been no guarantee of results. It's pretty clear that Marti was given the objective of getting promotion - I'm not convinced our academy is good enough to create a team capable of getting out of the Championship, it's an incredibly difficult thing to do. If financial constraints weren't as they were then we could have transfer listed Winks, Vesty, Daka, Ayew and Mavididi and brought in two or three quality players that would have assisted in taking some of the pressure off the youngsters coming through. In short, the manager takes the blame again for failings of the club's hierarchy and the players they have allowed to coast.

I agree. Rowett definitely on the shortlist otherwise we would have heard something from him or the club by now.

Marking was atrocious!

From season 4 released in the UK next week. Really looking forward to it.

Watford not messing about I see. Rudkin still looking through holiday brochures, he probably can't decide where to go.

There's an awful lot that needs to be done between now and the beginning of the League One campaign. I'd thought it would be interesting to keep track of what's going on. In my mind, today is day 1 of pre-season. So far, nothing has happened. How long before we get a statement from the club? How long before there's a decision on the management? How long before announcing player departures or arrivals? My fear is that we go quite far into pre-season before anything meaningful happens. Today, if Rowett is leaving, it should be announced. Pointless waiting any longer.

I dunno. I've been Ayew Out most of the season, but after that assist today, maybe one more year?

I just wish there were another 10 games after that. We'd have been fine. GR just needed time to get it to click.

Great finish. Great assist. Exactly what we deserve.

So close!