Webbo

Thank fck we never signed that Szmodic.

He's still not 16 is he?

46 minutes ago, Trekerz said:

They like to treat the club as a business. In business if a team went from the top of the pile down to the bottom, would there not be changes in management?

Or you could just act like an adult and accept you don't always get your own way.

4 hours ago, Trekerz said:

I agree and if that was the case, i'm sure the fans of both them clubs would be calling for answers from their "owners"

Doesn't make it an intelligent response though. Sport is sport. Sometimes you're up Sometimes you're down. 

14 hours ago, Chrysalis said:

There is no reality in what you saying, you are speculating, and you cant even recognise that.  You have an opinion, its not authority.

The reality is what's happened in the past. They've took us from mid table championship to Premier league and fa Cup winners. What other owners, man City apart ,have done that. If you think we could do better you're delusional. 

21 minutes ago, Jobyfox said:

The whole issue is that the rules are in place to eliminate that “glorious uncertainty” for a favoured few. There is no jeopardy for six clubs in England and a few on the continent. There is also no route through for an ambitious club to ever breakthrough and consistency compete. 

You think Brighton are one of the favoured few?

47 minutes ago, don_danbury said:

they may well be if they decide to hire brendan rodgers, and have owners who dont know what they're doing.

They might win the FA Cup then.

BTW, he was sacked 2 years ago, don't you think you should be over it by now?

3 hours ago, Trekerz said:

Okay, now the other side. Man City, Brighton, Aston Villa. Just take a look at Man united and you can see that success at a club can be in spite of the owners instead of because of them. So the idea that all of our success has come from a family from Thailand is absolutely ridiculous

We were where Villa and Brighton are now a few years ago and in a few years time Brighton and Villa could be where we are now.

That's the glorious uncertainty of sport.

4 hours ago, Chrysalis said:

Because I feel its a lazy reply, got the same argument as well, when people were saying Rodgers should have been kept on late in his reign.  You dont know there is no one anymore then I do. Its just speculation to say there is no one better.

It's just speculation to say there is someone better.

Who's had a better takeover than us? Chelsea? That Scott Boelly seems to know he's doing. What about Leeds? Their owners own the San Francisco 49ers  don't they? I bet no team of theirs would get relegated. Newcastle, they're owned by Saudi Arabia, they must be winning trophies by the bucket load?

Yor speculation is based in fantasy whereas mine is based in reality

7 hours ago, Chrysalis said:

There is always better, I always find the argument "but who" quite funny.

 

League cup is also still a major trophy, and we didnt just win it, we won it twice.

Why do you find it funny? Where are all these kindly billionaires, who know how to run football clubs with perfection queueing up to buy us? 

4 hours ago, Stadt said:

Things change - so why can’t we have better owners? 
 

Why aren’t we competing for trophies again?

Who have you got in mind? How do you know they'll be better?

Why aren't Everton, Crystal Palace, Leeds, Southampton etc competing for trophies?

I was in my 30s before I saw us win anything and nobody was expecting that. There are only 3 trophies we can win this season and the better financed teams are more likely than us.

3 minutes ago, stu said:

Only speculation, but are we being premature?

I think, and I may be wrong , that we still may get a deduction next season, assuming the rules arent changed. We can worry about that next season though.

1 minute ago, les-tah said:

..

Not really answering the question though…how can they apply a rolling 3-year period when one year is effectively voided as we cant be fined for it? Do they just use the last three valid years?!

Good point, I hadn't thought of it like that. 

Just now, Fosse93 said:

Does our 3 year accounting period start from this season now? Don’t see how previous seasons will apply if they’re essentially now void.

It's a rolling 3 year period.  

2 minutes ago, themightyfin said:

 

 

 

 

 

In fact anything and everything that happens at the club is rudkins doing according to many people on foxestalk.

 

Only the bad stuff.

I wonder if this Nick Di Marco knows anything about speeding fines?

Just now, Webbo said:

We won the league cup. Not quite the same as the Premier league or FA Cup. 

 

As for the other stuff, things change. When we won the league cup, hardly anyone had a smart phone.

BTW, memberships started in the 80s.

1 hour ago, Stadt said:

You can say this for every negative about the club. It's bottom of the barrel stuff.

 

Before the current ownership people could get general sale tickets without being forced to buy memberships. We still won trophies, we went up, we went down. We were still a football club.

We won the league cup. Not quite the same as the Premier league or FA Cup. 

As for the other stuff, things change. When we won the league cup, hardly anyone had a smart phone.

Just now, The_Rorab said:

I mean, based on the 112 year history, I'm going to go with they would probably, given that they've been doing it for 112 years. I'd be surprised if you think they've never been desperate for points in 112 years - although whether they'd play youth players versus try to buy better Basque players from elsewhere, I couldn't say - I don't exactly follow Bilbao.

 

Anyway, I don't think Ric or anyone is genuinely suggesting we should be only playing English players, or even that our academy players should be constantly playing every game - I think there's a balance that can easily be struck here - Alves for example could be on the bench for games over the likes of Soumare surely? Then he could be used or not used as the situation may allow. It shows the progression and pathway, but can be situational - and doesn't really jeopardise anything unless you think Soumare can offer something off the bench for us (which I do not).

 

Like it or not, we need to keep producing players through the academy in order to compensate for less than stellar financial management - and for me, what Cooper is currently doing with Alves in not having him in any first team squads is a mistake. Which isn't to say he won't do something different going forward, but I don't think it's surprising that it's a disappointment in a thread about our youth players. 

A policy of Basque only players is irrelevant to whether we should play youth players.

Developing players so we can sell them for £40million  to Spurs is pointless if relegation costs us £50 million. 

We all want local lads to do well but my priority is staying up.

1 minute ago, The_Rorab said:

I mean, they've been playing only Basque or Basque-raised/related players since 1912, and have been in seasons where they could have been relegated such as a 17th placed finish in 06/07 where they didn't decide against the policy - I highly doubt they'd suddenly reverse 112 years of tradition for a relegation fight.

Do they insist on always player youth team players when they're desperate for points?

BTW, try suggesting on here that we should only play English players on here and see what reaction you get.

2 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Would they suddenly start changing their principles if they were. 

Probably, yeah

16 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Such a lazy and short sighted view. Bottom line is this club does not reach its ambitions without developing and bringing through top class academy players. 

 

We have done in the past, this isn't a criticism we're crap at it, more we've either employed a manager who goes against what should and has been a priority of ours or he's moved the goalposts in what he said he'll do. 

 

Take that £120m we generated on Chilwell, Barnes and KDH away and we'd have gone bust in the last few years. We have ongoing financial issues and whilst producing and developing academy players purely to sell to solve our financial mismanagement is depressing but I don't see much evidence we've learnt our lessons much and that's a thing of the past.

 

But anyway, having a club value and priority that places academy development in to the 1st team as a non negotiable requirement, regardless of the expectations and pressures of survival is not a good enough reason not to do it. You can't be the buyer and the seller here.

 

Some clubs decide that's their blue print. You have to be brave to do it. 

 

Wonder what Cooper's views are on how Atletico Bilbao operate. 

Are athletico bilbao likely to get relegated?