Babylon

Now, it might be bluster but Cooper has always stated he wanted to play, exciting attacking football (but that he’s pragmatic about getting there). I’d imagine he’s gone into the interview and said the same. Cooper: “We want to play with purpose, dominate possession, play forward, and get the ball back as quick as we can“

Not seen outrage like this since we were linked with the “fat, slow and useless” Nottingham Forest Captain a decade or so ago.

But isn’t that the same for the majority of newly promoted managers?

In other words, we’ve decided not to spend any money and this chap will just plod along with what we’ve got for the season.

That’s the pricing for Cat A games…

Just remind them it’s now £55-£72 per ticket per game.

You can, it’s just not the one you want to be watching. Same as not the chippy you want to be using and you are watching a Taylor Swift Impersonator rather than the real thing.

On the bright side I’m now probably £500 better off this season, so quite a nice surprise really…..

Considering where we found ourselves with all the off the field stuff, you’d have to say…. Well done to John Rudkin if we got Potter. That’s a joke by the way.

Everyone will rejoice

Promise not to moan if they roll the dice, spend money and then we get done again by the league for failing ffp.

You can get a corporate season ticket for 5k with a three course meal and unlimited booze…. Rather get that one

Clearly they might have said no worries mate, and don’t worry about January… but it’s clear we had to sell at the very start. He also spent the best part of £40m and probably the largest wage bill the league has ever seen. Not exactly that hard done by, in fact he was generously backed. Perhaps these prospective managers will actually bother looking into it and find we are in a pickle because we gave Rodgers lots of time, because we have him lots of money (and he wasted it), because we gave Maresca £40m to spend rather than saying “play the kids”.

They don’t have to audit accounts ffs, do you not take a modicum of interest in a company you are moving to? Does he not have an agent who can explore these things and ask questions? I mean it’s common bloody sense that a relegated team is going to have to cut back. This is dead basic stuff. It’s like taking the job as Bernard Manning’s assistant and feigning shock that he’s a bit racist 6 months later. Clearly there are issues that need addressing, I clearly stated no smoke without fire. But people acting like it’s somehow a shock that money was tight are having a laugh.

Being Devil's advocate here, Maresca, with a modicum of looking, would have known about our previous two losses, known we'd just been relegated and likely going to post another large loss. He'd have known in the summer he had to sell to buy (were we shocked?) and then proceeded to spend about £40m, a huge budget. To then turn around and say "Oh you have financial issues, why didn't someone tell me", or "Oh nobody told me I had to sell to buy until January". Did you ask before that? Did you not do any research? What changed from selling to buy in the summer to make you think it would be different? He was hardly operating under loads of financial barriers last season. Rodger's I have a modicum of empathy for (despite him wasting so much money on signings being one of the biggest issues). Even then, he'd have known out history of having to sell an asset. It was hardly hidden, so to then not be able to shift an asset was a big issue. Perhaps if he'd not injured half of them, we would have done. He'd have known about the losses, and the rules as well as everyone else. No smoke without fire and all that; I'm sure there is an issue with the lack of dialogue and perhaps needing to spell it all out, but scratch the surface a little, and it's not like we didn't know.

I find it genuinely bizarre that people are totally incapable of just being patient, and just because the information isn't leaked left, right and centre, it just has to mean we're not doing anything. Hiring a manager is a huge decision; it caught us on the hop, and I don't think it's something anyone expected to happen just yet. We're in a weird position of having a potential penalty hanging over us, which makes it even more complicated. We could have hired a shit manager ages ago, I'd rather they took their time and made an informed decision and tried to get the best we possibly could. Rather than appeasing the impatient.

Awaiting a big stitch up so that we start the season against Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Man U, Spurs and Chelsea. Seeing us sat on -12 points after 6 games

#WhenTaken #111 (17.06.2024) I scored 657/1000 🎉 1️⃣ 📍 220 km - 🗓️ 7 yrs - ⚡ 183 / 200 2️⃣ 📍 1190 km - 🗓️ 56 yrs - ⚡ 66 / 200 3️⃣ 📍 90 km - 🗓️ 8 yrs - ⚡ 185 / 200 4️⃣ 📍 633 km - 🗓️ 2 yrs - ⚡ 179 / 200 5️⃣ 📍 5817 km - 🗓️ 27 yrs - ⚡ 44 / 200 https://whentaken.com

Highly likely to be a similar scenario for many clubs.

They've just lost their last batch of parachute payments, which means even more cut backs next season.

I'd imagine not having one agreed is a pretty big sticking point

Because nothing else would give them the edge

Thought we looked a bit better with the Palace lad in there, not quite so many gaps as usual when you have Maguire and Stones both wanting to push out. Although I wasn't convinced by our shape at all.

It seems so blindingly obvious... and yet here we are at a major tournament experimenting with Trent.

It is amazing that a viewpoint of "I've not been part of all the conversations at the club, and thus find it difficult to know how much blame each person receives" is somehow seen as "I love John Rudkin".