Sunbury Fox

I read that to mean that it is indeed possible to extend contracts but it is not guaranteed; rather, it would only be permissible if the EFL agree to it. And I'm not sure that they would, to be honest.

Imagine if we had not blown our 14 point lead to 3rd place over the last month - based on the Sam Wallace article, we could have then taken the 6 or 10 points hit this season and reduced the kind of impact we now face, even if we go up.

Yeah, it's imperative we get promoted. If we do, next season will be a write off of course as we will probably start on at least -10 points, will be forced into a fire sale of our best players in the summer and probably won't be able to sign any new ones, but at least we'll be able to bank the huge slug of cash you get just from being in the PL, followed by 2 years of parachute payments. In addition, by the time we're relegated again, we should have shed nearly all of the big earners and be able to reset, though no doubt the EFL will still look to punish us again somehow then. If we stay down this season, it will by cataclysmic. Our income will be much lower, we'll still have to conduct a fire sale of our best players in the summer and we'll be subject to a transfer ban so won't be able to sign replacements. We'll end up with a points deduction too. So, getting promotion will be near impossible. Following that, parachute payments will end and we'll be into the same vortex as the likes of Stoke and Brum. It does feel like the next 9 games are almost existential for the future of club. One thing I wasn't sure about is if we stay down, and get a transfer ban, would we be able to offer extended contracts to players whose contracts are ending this summer? It's a moot point, I know, as we won't be able to afford to offer the kind of terms that these players will want anyway, but it would still be interesting to know.

Ridsdale was on the radio the other day railing against parachute payments, so no surprise he's involved. Basically, the EFL have been waiting for this moment for a long time. In their eyes we got away with going into administration unpunished back in 2002/3 and then also escaped FFP punishment back in the Pearson days as we got promoted. They are so desperate to make an example of us, they even tipped off the EPL, in case we get promoted, which led to yesterday's news. Watch us get the heaviest punishment of any club now. The fact we're being combative, throwing legal threats around, is high risk as it might only encourage the EFL/EPL to throw the book at us harder, if they are successful in pinning the charges on us.

If Leeds win 7 of the last 8, that will mean they've won 20 of their last 22 games. Fair play to them if they manage that as it would be unprecedented, I think.

Shame that we haven't cracked on with the stadium expansion and associated developments as we could have offset that against our losses, couldn't we? Anyhow, it still beggars believe that we have sold around half a billion pounds worth of players over recent years, and got relegated trying to do some cost cutting last season, but have still apparently breached the PSR rules. Only Leicester City!

I think Brighton will probably be okay for now, as they've made huge amounts on player sales and they're so well run. I think Newcastle will hit problems soon, though, as they have spent a shed load, will miss out on Europe next season and have made no significant sales beyond the dodgy 30m plus offloading of Saint Maximin to a Saudi club owned by the same owners (that's how they created headroom to sign Barnes). In addition, whilst they do get large crowds, they don't have a worldwide fanbase from which they can generate lots of income like the truly big clubs. Villa have also pushed the boat out massively, helped by getting 100m for Grealish, so no surprise that there are already reports that their losses are over the threshold. They might get a stay of execution if they qualify for the UCL, though.

Sounds like the kind of hernia op that Vardy had midway through the PL winning season and he was back v quickly.

They got relegated with us when we went down to League 1 in 2008.

Media will be in a frenzy about a Manchester derby final. Yawn.

I don't think we tried to cling on at 2-2 before the sending off. If anything we were too gung ho, piling forward, leaving space in behind, which is how we got exposed on the break in the incident leading up to the red card.

Needs to be dropped now. We need calmness and leadership at CB, not mayhem and unpredictability. Get Coady in, please.

Maresca's comments before the Leeds game are looking increasingly ill-advised.

Not sure. They look so solid. Cov away is tough but they'll be hot favourites in the other games.

Did the commentator actually just say that, "It's taken a while but the cream of the Championship has finally risen to the top."

We are the weirdest club on the planet, there is no doubt.

There we go. Off the top now. This has been an horrific footballing weekend.

Millwall are absolutely toothless.

Leeds look a lot less open at the back than we do.

FFS. Bloke who should have been sent off then scores. Hate football at the minute.

Gnonto has put an elbow into the Millwall player's chin there. With VAR, that could have been a red.

I guess Brighton have managed to play the same style without elite players, but they've been a PL team for a while now, so are better equipped to do it than we would be. I think the key is having some rapid defenders. But fast defenders who are great on the ball are not cheap.

Enzo has no clue when we go down to 10. We still try to build from the back as normal but being a man down leaves us limited options to pass out, so we keep turning over the ball near our goal. Just as at Cov, he also took off Mavididi when surely you need to keep as much pace and running power up top as possible, to give you some sort of threat on the break. We'd have probably lost anyway, but our set up certainly didn't help.

Yeah - and they rested half their team. They were the better side in the game tbh.

This is a taste of what we can expect if (and it's a big if) we get promoted. He'll play the same way against everyone and we'll take some heavy beatings.