ClaphamFox

Hearing him repeatedly claim that he's not personally bothered we 'gamed the rules' because he has 'no emotional involvement in Leicester' while simultaneously having an extended emotional breakdown about it was very entertaining.

As I mention above, Borson was on the radio a while ago saying that if this appeal had failed, we'd have likely received a six-point deduction before mitigation and a 3-4 point deduction after mitigation - a far cry from the lurid claims of double-digit deductions that many in the media were throwing about...

I don't think anybody is factoring in the BC Game money for 23/24 - that will count as income for this season, I believe.

None of us will know for certain about 23/24 until our accounts are published. Some in the media think we've avoided a breach, others think we're at risk of breaching. I'm not convinced that some guy on X is likely to know much about it either way.

No - that would be for 24/25. We're talking about 23/24.

John Percy reckons we've probably avoided a breach for 23/24 through the money we received for KDH, Maresca and Barnes. Stefan Borson was on the radio a while ago and he said there is a chance we may have breached but he wasn't sure at all. I suspect it will be close either way - we'll have either just avoided a breach or breached by a relatively small amount.

Borson on TalkSport just now claimed we would have ended up with 3-4 point deduction had this appeal failed.

Go for it. But probably best not to fly out to Saudi for it. Just stick with your local

It's actually more akin to us having a beer in Saudi, returning to England shortly afterwards and being charged by the Saudis in our absence, then going back to Saudi and saying you can't do shit about that beer-drinking episode because when you charged us we weren't in Saudi. And being correct in our arguments.

Percy reckons we’ve avoided a breach for 23/24.

It’s been on the cards for some time. I was told three weeks ago this would happen but decided against mentioning it on here it as it seemed so implausible. It seems the club has been very confident about this outcome for some time…

Four released with no further action, one boy still in custody. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czrgxvgj360o

It was probably more because the club knew that paying off Rodgers would shaft us re: PSR and were hoping that it could be avoided. In the end, the late timing of the sacking meant we were hit with the double whammy of a PSR breach and relegation. If we'd have sacked him earlier we'd have breached PSR but may well have survived, which would have been a much better outcome.

Are you really suggesting there was never any truth in that well-written, detailed and highly-plausible article on Ghana Soccer Net? Well that's weird....

Tielemans was never excluded from participating in a youth tournament because he failed an age verification test. If he had been, people would have asked the same questions about him as they have done about Ndidi. I agree with you that these age verification results should be treated with caution, for all the reasons you describe. But I think it's important to be clear that people aren't picking on Wilf because he's African - it's very specifically because he failed that test AND in recent years he seems to have undergone a significant physical decline. If he hadn't failed that test, I don't think there would be any speculation about whether he's secretly older than his stated age. I prefer not to discuss the age thing because I don't have the answer and, like you, I don't fully trust the test results. But I have seen with my own eyes how Ndidi has declined in recent years and on that basis I don't think he should be in our starting 11 at present. It could just be that the sheer amount of football he's played and the cumulative impact of the injures he's sustained have taken their toll on his body. If he somehow manages to recover the form he showed in 2017-21, we'll all be thrilled. I really hope he does it.

It would be great if those advocating for Ndidi at DM were able to point to any of his performances in that role over the past three seasons to justify his inclusion there now. But he struggled badly there in his injury-hit season in 2021/22 and was terrible in the relegation season before Enzo decided to use him in a different position last season because we were short of natural number 8s. Physically he looks well short of what it takes to play at number 6, and has looked that way for a long time now. Unfortunately it appears that his injuries have taken their toll. It’s sad but it happens. None of us like to see much-loved players decline in front of our eyes. But when it happens there can be no room for sentiment - we can’t afford to carry players who are no longer up to it.

When was the last time he performed well in that number 6 role?

PSR rules cover spending on the playing squad. The money spent on the training ground would have been fully exempt.

That’s a hell of a lot of confidence in Edouard given that he hasn’t played a single minute for us and was cack at Palace.

I don’t think this is true. As far as I’m aware there is no reference to tackling from behind in the laws of the game. You’re not allowed to make a tackle that endangers the safety of the opponent, but that applies whichever direction the tackle comes from. I think tackles from behind are permissible if they’re not deemed dangerous.

The problem is, if your strategy is to try to keep it tight and avoid conceding before having a go late on, you need to be 100% confident in your ability to execute the first part of the plan flawlessly. You’re banking on nobody making a silly mistake and the ref not making any stupid decisions. Unfortunately, something is always likely to go wrong - and when it does, you’re chasing the game. I really want to believe that Cooper realises this soon and changes his approach, but given that he stubbornly stuck with his conservative tactics until Forest sacked him, and has started in exactly the same way with us, it’s difficult to be optimistic..

Unfortunately West Brom have started very well and look a decent bet for automatic promotion, so the Corberan ship may already have sailed…

Skipp’s tackle wasn’t a foul, let alone a booking. Even if the ref didn’t make any other mistakes (and that’s debatable), that one alone was very costly for us.

Yet very familiar reading to any Forest fans who watched them play away in 2022/23.

When we signed Skipp quite a few people were moaning that defensive midfield was not a ‘priority position’. I couldn’t believe their eyes. Ndidi has been chasing shadows since 2021 - it just wasn’t as apparent last season as he was playing in a different position in a lower division. And given that he can’t control or pass the ball, if he can’t win tackles he’s of very limited use to us. Thankfully the club understood this and went out and got Skipp, although the decision to offer Wilf a new deal is harder to understand.