ian__marshall

I've just recalled that this is the same chap that wants our tax payer money to redevelop Man United's stadium despite being a one of the richest billionaires in the UK, moving to Monaco to avoid a £4bn tax liability, and having a sizeable stake in a club that is one of the top 5 richest in world football. Says it all really. I've got a feeling with hindsight we may regret kicking up a fuss about the Super League plans a few years back as they'll now ruin the game for everyone else. Should have let them crack on and have their little circus all to themselves.

Just watching the highlights. Never been a Streets fan but this set has been great.

So he's unhappy that everyone in the league has equal say and feels this needs to change, but later contradicts himself by saying the league is the most successful in the world so 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Make your mind up Jim, I thought you said it wasn't broken! If anything these sorts of statements demonstrate more and more why increased regulation is needed.

Been some good performances today. Just been catching up and really enjoyed the sets from Confidence Man, Anne Marie, and Idles. Stand out though for me was LCD Soundsystem, great session.

That's the bit I don't understand. With KDH being an academy product there's no need to do a swap. It's not like these are two youngsters as per Chelsea, Villa, and Everton deals. Taking on Moder presumably for a fee (albeit lower than the one we receive for KDH) surely is detrimental to our PSR efforts unless we see him as a starter and he joins on a pittance thereby negating the need to replace KDH. I can't say Moder stands out as someone I'm familiar with, and considering I've had a text off my best mate who's an Arsenal fan saying he'd be happy to take KDH off our hands it does make you wonder why anyone in the club would think this represents a good deal.

What happened to 'keen to join only #CFC if exits #LCFC'?!? 😂

No idea, don't have Instagram. Maybe my source has his wires crossed and it was recently or maybe the player's agent was at the training ground today. Could equally be a load of nonsense. I genuinely can't say for certain as I wasn't there but just wanted to pass on what I was told as I don't see any reason why said person would bring it up in conversation.

Been told that he was apparently up at Everton's training ground today by someone with close ties to them.

I'm not referring to the content, but his delivery was far superior to Starmer's who looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Non-committal on a number of issues and seemed ill prepared by comparison (even if the claims from Sunak could be considered spurious). Putting Sunak's political stance to the side, he was far more confident in his statements and rightly or wrongly delivered with conviction, which surprised me considering I really don't like the man or those he keeps company with.

The state of this country under the current Conservative regime is an abomination, but considering they've gone full sweeper keeper and Labour have an open goal to aim for, Starmer is doing his best tonight to miss the target. Sunak as much as I dislike the man I think was the more polished of the two tonight. I'm genuinely surprised Starmer has a legal background, you'd think he'd have Sunak in his back pocket, but I didn't see that on the evidence of tonight. The choices yet again at this election are shocking, the options are abysmal, neither clearly have a clue how to better this country and these are widely considered to be the best on offer.

Is that legit or a mock up?

What a game of football that was! Rubbish defending, but could have watched that all day long.

Disgusting move by the club, whoever came up with that idea should hang their head in shame. Having started out watching City where you could queue up outside the ground on match day and pay a few quid on the gate I find this move saddening. Football might be considered a form of entertainment these days rather than a sport but it shouldn't be priced at the point where taking your family to a game is deemed a once a year big day out event. If the club need the revenue so desperately to balance the books I suggest that rather than look to milk their 'customers' dry, they look internally and cut back their costs. They need to be bold and start with player wages. Moves like this are a clear indicator that the club don't have a handle on it's cost base. The model is unsustainable for a club of our size. How they can justify these sorts of prices for a club that'll likely be in a relegation scrap is baffling. As for the statement rationalising the move, that's a huge own goal. If you're treating people like customers by making it a transactional relationship and claiming that the prices are competitively aligned with mid table teams then quite simply you have to deliver a mid table performance. They've set the metric by which they'll be judged so I'm intrigued so see what actions they take to achieve this status.

Why on earth do people keep referencing his PL stats/performance. He was literally given a group of misfits, many he didn't want, and ultimately kept them in the PL at our expense (despite the fact that we apparently had a group who were far too good to go down). He then had a whole load of other new players thrust on him again the following season, and lost his best striker to injury a month before getting sacked. I'm not necessarily an advocate but it seems rather unfair to judge him on his PL experience given he was working under a chairman who did everything possible to make the job 10x harder. If we go back to the end of Dean Smith's reign, I'd have snapped your hand off for a manager of Cooper's calibre given the standard of the managers in the market at that moment in time.

Thanks for sharing and appreciate the transparency. Sorry to ask, but was it not made clear from the outset that you were applying to join a sub-group or did the goal posts move following your application? Also, whilst I understand your position and that of the Reform Group what I'm struggling to understand is why FT chose to make this public knowledge. By offering positions on the sub-groups they've acknowledged there is a skills gap so even though yourself and someone else rejected the offer, surely logic would dictate that these positions need filling and could have been offered elsewhere.

Bit odd that two of the applicants rejected the chance to join. Why would you go to the effort of applying then reject the opportunity once offered. Also, intrigued why this has become public knowledge. Surely there were other applicants so why not just appoint them instead, and why the need to even mention those who rejected the offer.

He achieved what we needed him to which was really important given the circumstances so I'm very thankful for his input especially given the mess that Rodgers left behind. It was a big job and he's certainly left us in a far better place. That said I'm rather indifferent to his departure. Being objective, he probably had the best squad in the league so finished on par, and if you wanted to be critical you could argue that he only finished 1 point ahead of a newly promoted side whose squad was filled with journeymen and loan players. I'll be interested to see how he gets on at Chelsea. There's really no excuses for not succeeding. They have a very deep squad and lots of players who should do well in his system. From what I've seen I'm not convinced he's the next Pep so think Chelsea may be a bit disappointed. The style is similar but Pep's a master of knowing when to evolve and change things up. For me he's like the kid in class who copies the other kids homework. Knows 'how' to implement something but doesn't understand the 'why'. I'd fancy Pep to come out on top in every head to head. I guess the question for the Chelsea board is what are their expectations? If it's to continuously qualify for the CL and reap the financial benefits of that then I think he'll do OK, as he has enough knowledge and resource to finish above 16 other managers. If the expectation is to win the league he'll fall short in my opinion. One of his biggest flaws is his stubbornness and lack of EQ when challenged. If he's to rise to the very top he'll need to be more open to change and not stick the boot in the second someone questions his methods. If he doesn't change that side of his character and hits a rocky spell he won't last long at Chelsea. I genuinely hope he proves me wrong and as mentioned I'm thankful for his achievements here. I wish him all the very best for the future and have no ill feelings towards him. Finally, I hope that his departure signals the end of Balague's association with the club and he can go and bore the Chelsea faithful with his weekly Enzo drivel.

I take it that the delay is due to Boehly negotiating with Top how much compensation they need to pay for Rudkin

Moyes is a weird one. On the face of it the football is what you'd refer to as pragmatic, yet there has been glimpses during his time at West Ham where they've been incredibly exciting to watch and rather expansive. The season when they had a front 4 of Antonio, Bowen, Benrahma/Lanzini, and Lingaard, they played some wonderful football. To also win a European competition was a great achievement for a club of West Ham's size and stature. It'd clearly be a deviation from the plan we've followed in recent times but I don't think he'd be a disaster.

This is the first time since I've supported city that I haven't really had a preferred replacement. Poch would be my ideal but there's no chance of that happening. I guess Potter would probably have to be high on the list but beyond that the rest aren't really on par or an upgrade on Enzo. Corberan and Robins have caught my attention but I was very disappointed with the way WBA approached the playoffs, and whilst I like Robins and recognise that he was working on a very limited budget with Cov he still fell well short of the playoffs. I think both Moyes and Cooper are solid managers but would definitely deviate from the style of play Top seems to want so not sure they'd really be in contention.

🎶I predict a sale, I predict a sale🎶

To be fair to Enzo a move to Chelsea is about as close as you can get to managing a club the size of Man City. It's a no brainer if they offer him the job as he should be challenging top 4 with that squad, will be backed well, and will be well rewarded. Normally I'd be gutted but the noises that have been coming from Balague suggest he only ever viewed us as a stepping stone so if it happens I'll be accepting of the situation. I think what's reassuring is that there seems to be a load of decent managers we could approach now unlike last season. That said I wouldn't put it past Rudkin to get straight on the phone to Jesse Marsch.

Can't see Brighton paying the compensation we'd demand. They're also very proactive in terms of succession planning so will have identified targets, all of which will be cheaper options than Enzo. Paul Barber said as much the other day, highlighting how they always have a list of staff and players lined up to backfill roles as it's part of their model. Also mentioned how they won't deviate from the model for anyone which is probably why De Zerbi is on the way out, and why appointing Enzo wouldn't fit with their buy cheap, sell high methodology. Not saying it definitely won't happen, after all you can never say never, but I think it's highly unlikely he ends up there.

Saints. Purely for that fact that we'll bag 6 points and Russell Martin will be sacked before Xmas, whereas if Leeds go up the media love-in will be intolerable.

Originally I was hoping it'd be a Norwich v WBA final, but the thought that one of Leeds or Russell Martin are going to be left absolutely gutted after going so close has cheered me up.