ClaphamFox

I was curious so I checked. Everton's first PSR hearing was held between 16-20 October 2023 and their initial 10-point deduction was handed out on 17 November—exactly four weeks after the hearing concluded. Everton's second PSR hearing was held between 25-27 March 2024 and their punishment was announced on 8 April, around two weeks later. Forest's hearing was held between 7-8 March 2024 and their four-point deduction was announced on 18 March, 10 days later. Our hearing concluded seven weeks ago and we still haven't heard the outcome. Now obviously we've had Christmas and New Year during that time, which may account for some of the delay. But I don't think it can account for all of it. Is our case proving to be more complicated than the others? Are there complex legal discussions taking place over the wording of the rules and therefore the appropriate punishment? I have no idea but I'm interested to know why the verdict in our case is taking much longer to arrive than in previous cases.

Under the NCHI laws, people were being visited by the police for making jokes, being slightly rude to others in online disputes and expressing mainstream views. The only criteria for the police to get involved was for somebody to report they were 'offended' by something somebody else had said or written. Inevitably, this was exploited by campaigners seeking to harass those they disagreed with. It became an ungovernable mess that took up loads of police time and resulted in ordinary people being arrested when they done nothing wrong. Thankfully that insane period seems to be over. What Lucy Connolly wrote was appalling and completely inexcusable. But it should not be the business of the state to police and punish people's emotions. Incitement to violence is rightly illegal, but 'inciting hatred', which Connolly was convicted for, is much more nebulous and hard to pin down. It basically invites the authorities to intervene in the realm of thought and emotion, and personally I wouldn't trust any politician, police officer or judge to hold that kind of power.

The main thing that has debased our justice system in recent years is the police’s ludicrous pursuit of people for things they’ve written online. Until recently, police were making 12,000 arrests a year—more than 30 a day—for social media posts. That was utterly insane and quite rightly attracted mockery from other countries, but thankfully the police themselves have become sick of it and have told the government they no longer intend to pursue non-crime hate incidents, the legislation under which most of these arrests were made. Lucy Connolly was prosecuted for inciting racial hatred, which is obviously different to an NCHI. However, the government has commissioned a review of public order and hate crime legislation to assess whether legal thresholds and safeguards remain appropriate, so it seems possible that prosecutions of her kind will also become far less likely in future.

It's just a shirt number. Retiring the number 9 shirt would be effectively announcing to the world that we want to live in the past rather than look to the future. We'll never have another number 9 like Vardy, but that doesn't mean we should never have another number 9.

I doubt many believe it can. But as CornwallFox says, the point is that there was absolutely no need for them to stop the vehicle as the woman was just an irritation to them, not a threat to them or anybody else. The officer who murdered her did so because he was angry she disobeyed their order to get out of the car. I think most people would regard that as excessive.

They were angry that her vehicle was blocking the road and they got out of their vehicle, telling her to “get the **** out of the car”. She then tried to drive away, at which point one of the officer shoots three times into the driver’s window. The officer who shot her was not at risk of being hurt at the time and it looks very much like he acted in rage because she hadn’t got out of the car as instructed. I know that disobeying law enforcement in the US is extremely risky, but having watched footage of the entire incident it’s hard to come to any other conclusion than Renee Nicole was brutally murdered by an ICE officer out of anger.

It is increasingly feeling like we just need to somehow scrabble together enough points this season to absorb the points deduction without being relegated. Next summer a lot of players will leave—some of whom we'll be glad to see the back of, others less so—and a genuine rebuild will begin. How much money we'll have for that is anybody's guess, particularly as there is likely to be a major drop in season ticket renewals. It will feel like we've gone back in time 15 years, but that feels almost welcome after the horrors of the past few years.

I agree. The problem we have is that Top is probably deeply reluctant to sell the club out of respect for his father. Respect for one's elders—particularly parents—is a major part of Thai culture. Top may well regard the prospect of selling up as dishonouring his father's legacy, particularly as Khun Vichai lost his life just outside the ground and is commemorated there. So we could be in the unfortunate position of having an owner who: a) has none of the skills or character traits required to run the club effectively; and b) won't sell up because he doesn't want to disrespect his late father. Which would be a bit of a pickle for us.

Carranza was clearly never going to play for us again. Surely better to get his loan off the wage bill irrespective of whether we get anybody else in?

Thank **** for that.

Isn't that Thai CEO just a temporary one while we recruit for the permanent one?

Ultimately, it's a product of Top. His complete inability to run a football club is the route cause of our problems. There are only two ways out of the mess we're in: Top either sells up or he recruits some people with actual ability to run the club for him. As there are no indications he's about to sell, we'd better hope that by some miracle we manage to recruit some talented people for the vacant CEO, Sporting Director and Commercial Director positions.

I enjoyed the goal very much and was delighted with the three points as I think we'll need every point we can get this season given the likely points deduction. I also understand why some people feel conflicted. It's because they think that if we lose it will hasten positive change, whether that be the sacking of Cifuentes or Top selling the club. Personally I think they're naïve to think that, which is why I don't feel any conflict when we score a last-minute winner. I'm ecstatic because we desperately need it. My point is, I don't think those who want us to lose (if that's what they feel) are guilty of moral cowardice. It's just down to a mistaken assumption that losing will change things for the better.

He's been leading by example by boycotting for most of the season. The bloke's a pioneer.

Daka will either be sold for peanuts this month or leave for free in the summer, most likely the latter. No other permutations exist.

Where have you heard this?

EI-EI-EI-O Into our living rooms we’ll go When go 3-0 down We’ll switch off the TV Singing, “I’ve had enough of that shit It’s off to bed with me….“

So he's no longer a Nancy Bhoy?

Only one of those two things is likely to occur.

I'll be surprised if it's still 0-0 at the 10-minute point.

It would explain the recent radio silence on Antonio. The TalkSport headline over the weekend seemed to suggest that a deal with Antonio was getting closer, but when you read the article itself it was clear they didn't have any inside info at all—they were just assuming that Carranza's departure meant that Antonio would probably join. It wouldn't surprise me if he's no longer training with us and it just hasn't been reported yet.

The phrase 'albeit in Scotland' is the key one in your first sentence above. Achieving success as a manager of an old firm club in Scotland means precisely nothing when it comes to predicting success in England. Villa was a great job for Gerrard—they were on the up when he joined them and provided him with a fantastic opportunity to prove himself. Instead, Villa became a chaotic mess under him—key players ostracised, others played out of position, no coherent tactics or style. A Villa fan I know describes the football they played under Gerrard as the worst he's ever seen in more than 40 years of supporting them. In his season at Derby Lampard took them to the play-off final, which I personally wouldn't describe as "not doing much". In his first season at Chelsea they were operating under a FIFA transfer embargo, which meant he had to draw very heavily on their academy players—and he secured them Champions League qualification and took them to the FA Cup final. If that's your idea of a "disaster", I'd love to know your bar for success. Yes, his time at Everton was a failure but at the time they were a complete basket case club that many other managers had failed at—Lampard was just the latest in a long line of managers who struggled there. In other words, there is literally no comparison between Lampard and Gerrard's records as managers. The only reason some people are looking at Lampard's success at Coventry and thinking "could Gerrard do the same here?" is because they are associated with each other through their time as players. It's got nothing to do with their respective managerial abilities.

We’re a high-profile club that has recently fallen on bad times and has no money to spend, but is desperately in need of a striker. He’s an ageing striker who has been decent in the past but who suffered a near-fatal car accident and would be a gamble for any club to take on. It’s like a film script—we’re made for each other.

‘Solutions’ cost money and we don’t have any. In which case ‘marginally better than our current stable of shite strikers’ might be as good as we can hope for at the moment.