Golden Fox

Canada were clearly the better team throughout, and I sort of think they just assumed they were going to win with the chances they were getting... But I couldn't believe the lack of hustle in the 3 on 3. On that final play, 1 US player put in the effort to nick it from Makar, the 2nd should never have got to that puck first, and Hughes bust a gut to be in the right place. And the Canadians were ambling back. Looking at McDavid, there was no pace or urgency. Very disappointed Celebrini couldn't stick away one of his chances to become a real superstar, but can't argue with the result given the way Hellebuyck played and the Canadians' lack of desire at the end.

Genuinely interested in how this would work if we are contractually tied to a higher level of salaries than League One would allow (which could well be the case). Choices would either be to pay players off in full before the period starts, or to go into the season knowing we would breach the rules - but with contract law stating we have to. Surely this would lead to another legal case with the EFL, and would make it very difficult for the EFL to enforce.

That Charlie Methven really is a pompous posh t**t who loves the sound of his own voice, and quite happy to talk himself up and call others as idoits based on sweeping generalisations. But he clearly knows his stuff, and has been through a similar scenario at Sunderland. He knows the detail on the bigger bicture in Thailand, knows the PSR rules, and how these change in League One and knows Leicester's finances, so well worth a listen. And yet, when you boil down his comments, there is nothing complicated: - we are losing money as we are paying out more than we are getting in, and this is not sustainable and it will end up in bankrupcy. - the three ways out are to get promoted to increase income, to cut costs or to have someone come in and overpay for the club to effectively prop it up again (such as at Derby). Promotion wasn't even mentioned, as it was a case of "if we can hang onto Championship status", and Top has clearly stated he is not selling, so we are left with having to cut costs. Ideally wages, but if you are stuck with players in League One on Championship or Premier League wages and there is nothing you can do contractually, it makes it more important to it cut costs in other areas where you can. And this needs doing across the business as a whole, and goes right through from cutting staff to the ridiculous costs we incur by running Seagrave as a 5 Star hotel and maintaining that many pitches. So the priority is to start cutting these costs now, and that needs a strong Chief Exec to do this, even if they are very unpopular as a result. But the fact we don't actually have one at all is scarcely believable, and you can't conclude anything other than that Top is an idiot! I think Top needs to listen to this and start to understand how out of his depth he is, that he has effectively lost control of the family business in Thailand and that his football club hasn't got a Chief Exec, a Director of Football or a Manager, and perhaps realise that it is time to pass on stewardship of this club while it still has some value. Let's face it, everybody loves and underdog, and we are the most famous underdog club in the world, so we should still be a very marketable asset. Promotion next year? Get your bl**dy head out of the sand, Top. If we go down to League One, it could all be over.

If we're taking the tack of introductions to football for the Mrs: Leeds United 3-2 Leicester when we both went down in 2004. Leicester 0-0 West Ham when Dublin was sent off on his debut & we knew it was going to be a s**t season Millwall 2-0 Leicester which was just bloody awful. She's now my wife, so it didn't derail the start of the relationship , but quite why I thought visits to Leeds and Millwall were a good way to get her hooked is beyond me. She has no interest in football whatsoever now.

Daka - Goal!

Feel like we need Sam McMahon on the list. 6 appearances & 1 goal for Leicester in the 1990s before moving onto the mighty Cambridge United. Didn't quite hit the heights his father Steve McMahon hit...

According to Capology, the 2nd highest paid player in the league... Maybe somebody has just explained PSR to Top...

The stats about lack of sprints says to me we weren't fit enough. Difficult to blame Marti for that as he came in so late. But Kingy was taking the lead at early pre-season training, so I'm not convinced he's even a short-term option.

Snap. I looked at the football scores at about 10pm last night, and saw there had been Championship games on, and then saw we had played. First time I'd not even realised we were playing since 0-0 at Bradford away in the Premier League over 20 years ago. In my defense, the 49ers in the NFL Playoffs are much bigger games than the drudgery of a 46 game season, so was the big game I'd had circled on the calendar, and I've been sulking since Sunday morning. But let's face it, football is an entertainment business, and this c**p at the moment is just not entertaining.

Absolute thumping for the 49ers. Giving up a TD on the opening kick-off put and then following that up with a turnover on downs then a fumble was too much of a mountain to climb, and when you start forcing it and turning it over, it just gets worse. In a way, would almost rather a thumping, as the team looked well of the pace at times this year, so confirming they were off the pace is quicker to get over than having too many regrets, and what might have beens. Odd sensation having the season end at this stage though... I got back into the sport in 2007, and this is the first season the Niners either haven't made the Playoffs (11 seasons), or got at least as far as the NFC Championship game (7 seasons).

There is some history there, with some really nasty stuff from their fans in the Playoffs a couple of years ago, and then last year, their security guy on the sidelines got into it with the Niners players after a play. A lot of the players' families didn't go to this game as they didn't want to go through it, but looks like Eagles fans have taken that as a badge of honour and licence to carry on.

Buzzing after the 49ers win!!! Looked a hopeless mismatch at times, with the offense unable to run or find much rhythm, and the Eagles marching up the field with ease early on, and then Kittle going down. But stuck around, and a trick play & incredible 2nd half defensive performance with a lot of spare parts to knock out the defending champions on the road! Having got trounced by Seattle at home last week & another 6 day turnaround (while LA and Chicago have 8 days???), will start as big underdogs next week, but maybe a chance to catch the Seahawks being a bit complacent...

I thought I'd do a quick google on whether we were paying the most in the division, and first link was to capology: We have the highest paid 3 players in the division, 4 out of the top 5 and 9 out of the top 16. I don't even want to carry on looking for whole team stats. Absolutely disgusting the shift these players are putting in for their wages. Winks and Faes are both in the Top 10 and their attitude is even worse than the 24th placed team. Daka is being paid to actively not score, and Choudhury is taking home £50k a week to daydream on the half way line while his winger is tearing down the pitch. I just hope the players that were actually playing last night could understood why there were so many empty seats...

Commentary from tonight soon after the first goal something like: If they can produce football like that, how are they where they are in the league? Stats shown: Distance run over season: 24th Sprints over season: 22nd Afield duels won: 24% WTF?? Entitled? Lazy? Lack of fight? Lack of wanting to play for Marti? There is enough debate about our place in the footballing hierarchy and where we currently sit, and that its not unheard of to be where we ate. But even at our lowest points, there was effort and fight. Bottom of the league in distance run? That may be the most disappointed I've ever been in our club.

Just finished watching the 49ers v Bears game, and what a game! 49ers offense has been unreal the last 2 games and feel fresh with key players having had unforced time out, and the bye week very late, so falling into place at the right time. But the defense has been all over the shop. Gave Rivers the run of the park last week, and the Bears who had 6 points through 3 quarters last week marched up and down the field at will. Sets up a great winner takes all v the Seahawks, and really could go either way...

For me, this is very similar to that first season down under Micky Adams: we'd recently come off a period we'd shown we could compete (then, it was 4 top 10 finishes and 2 league cups), gone down once and bounced back, and despite another relegation, it felt like we should be bouncing back, and on paper, the squad should have been good enough. But it just didn't happen. The side got worse, and the crowds dropped away. I particularly remember gettxing into an argument with the people behind me after an awful performance, the Longerhan goal, and an anaemic Bank holiday weekend 1-0 defeat to a poor Brighton side. It was so frustrating as we went from expecting to be getting back to the Premier League to slowly accepting our new level. To me, they are pretty much identical situations. Couldn't pick which was worse.

49ers 5th in the NFC as it stands, which is quite impressive as it feels like they've had a middling season with injuries to Bosa and Warner lowering expectations, and this was confirmed with the team looking lost in losses to teams like the Jags and Texans. But, they are facing Indy at the right time on MNF tonight, so if they can beat a 44 year old retired QB, 5 home wins in a row would make them Superbowl Champs!!! It appears fanciful, but watched most of the games' highlights tonight, and I'm not sure who is standing out at the moment. Of the current top 4, Seattle, Chicago and New England all picked up big wins, but they all looked well beaten at various points in the 4th quarter, while Denver were just well beaten. The Rams' implosion won't have done them any good, and the Bills and Eagles are both just a bit off their game. If anything, the fireworks might be in the AFC lower seeds, where the Jags, Chargers and Texans are the teams rolling at the moment. Certainly feels wide open, so as long as they won't face Mahommes, why not???

Only one listed here I've seen live was Mahrez v Chelsea. But for technique, don't think there has been a better touch than this:

So did Andy Longergan's goal against Kevin Pressman not happen? I've been haunted by that for years, but it didn't actually happen! (OK maybe it doesn't count as an intentional shot, but makes it a stupid stat)

Enjoy! You've picked a time to go... the Broncos have won 10 in a row, and the Aves' recent form is something like 14-1-1!

Just watched the highlights from last night, and 2 brilliant plays... Hurts throwing an interception and then fumbling on the same play. The last play of the game, where the Chargers' player was tackled by his own man! Jefferrson intercepted it, which should have ended the game, but he actually got up and started running it back... Henley, his teammate was having none of it so just threw him on the ground. I'm not even sure of the legality of that play as he wasn't touched by an opponent and didn't give himself up, but the refs blew it dead at that point anyway. Not sure I can remember either of those happening before.

Yes - that is sort of where I do lean to for a big team - but I can't fully get on board as it just doesn't sit right supporting a team that plays in red with a tree as a logo!

Interesting thoughts. Maybe we should rename this thread "modern college football is rubbish" and should have started off with a comment that the "game's gone" as there are are actually a lot of parallells to Leicester and the Premier League where money and commercialism is taking over and monetising every aspect of the game and taking it away from the fans that have been a large part of creating the product in the first place. But as a lifelong fan, what choice do you have? Its part of the routine, and you can't just give up on it, and at the end of the day, you get invested watching a game regardless of the nonsense around it. I think the big thing for me is I tend to follow sports through following a particular team. I really struggle to watch anything as a neutral other than finals. Pretty much the only football I've watched this year is Leicester games (and Cambridge Utd's big league cup tie at Fulham), the only NFL full games I've watched are the 49ers games (which is why I love Redzone!), the only NHL highlights have been the Sharks, and the only snooker I've watched is Selby. The exception is probably the CFL which I loved watching random games, but I'm sure once the novelty has worn off, it will just be Argos games! But I have affinity for all those teams through Leicester and living/working in the Bay Area (and a long holiday in Toronto). But it just feels really weird to pick a US College to support. (joking aside, the local team really would be the UC Santa Cruz Bananaslugs, and they aren't exactly in a Power Conference). So I think for me, its that mental block of not having an affinity with any team to want to get into it (and I clearly watch enough sport without looking for more), so it makes it easy to pretend to take a moiral stance, but yeah - I totally get that if its in the blood, everything I've written is annoying, but its not going really going to change anything. So maybe I'll see if I can find somewhere to watch THE Ohio State University and jump on the bandwagon for a few weeks!

I've learnt the hard way - from a couple of Superbowl 4th quarters - that you can't write the Chiefs off. I won't be celebrating until they are mathematically eliminated. But I can still see them squirming their way in somehow.

The whole world of college football seems a complete disaster. We've just had the Playoffs set with what is meant to be the best 12 teams - but it is decided on by a committee, with various other factors, and without having a dog in the fight, some teams definitley got screwed over and others are in without any merit. A complete dogs dinner! That number 6 seed - Ole Miss - are without their coach, as he jumped ship just before the playoffs with a legitimate shot to win it all to go to LSU, because... money. There is an opening because LSU has fired Brian Kelly. And given him a $54m payout. From a quasi-public institution. Michigan State has just had a $401m donation for their athletics department from a fan who made it rich. Think of what that money could be doing for academic purposes, but it all earmarked for sport. Conference realignment is taking the sport so far from its historical roots. Old rivalries are being stopped, and teams are playing at stupid times, such as Michigan having to play a game kicking off at 11pm ET. It sounds as though fans are starting to get fed up (anectodal evidence that watching games live is so painful being at the mercy of TV ads) and the balance of current students to alumni is now so out of balance, that it is more about selling tickets to corporate alumni rather that current students. And there will be more and more commercialism, with selling ads on jerseys starting to come in, and playing games in Ireland, and this year at Wembley. I know sports has become more and more commercialised, but it is so extreme for College football. With the opening up of NIL payments, it is basically a professional sport now - but with more money sloshing around than most professional sports leagues, but with one of its big selling points being the amatuarish fun of it. Having watched a bit of a couple of games last year and felt the average standard of play was poor, I've not been remotely inclined to try any this year. I remain intrigued by it (and like to have an awareness of NFL top draft picks) but every story I read just turns me off from it more and more. Am I wrong, or is anyone on here looking forward to these CFP playoffs???