ClaphamFox

Hopefully all they do is ‘monitor’ for the next week until the release clause supposedly expires and we can whack up the price to eliminate any lingering interest in him.

It’s a bit odd. We were the best of the three relegated teams last year, which by definition means we achieved the highest position in the league of any team competing in the Championship this season. Yet we’re apparently considered 11-1 outsiders for the title after Ipswich, Southampton, Birmingham, Sheffield Utd and Coventry. Obviously the points deduction thing is a major factor here, but I think it’s being given far too much weight. There is a widespread perception that we’re going to be hit with a massive deduction, but it seems nobody can explain how such a punishment could be justified. I love it, personally - far more fun to upset the odds than start as favourites.

They will be massively up for it. We should still win, but it will be tough. A hard-fought 1-0 win will do just fine.

It’s possible the panel won’t sit until the end of the year or early next year, let alone deliver its verdict. And then of course we may appeal. So it may not be until early late winter/early spring next year that we know what it’s going to be.

Given the lack of other obvious candidates, the fact that he was given it on Sunday and Cifuentes’ comments about him after the game, I am expecting it to be Hamza.

He doesn’t have to go and probably won’t.

This is a perfect illustration of what I described above. They’ve taken a vague notion of a threatened points deduction and through some bizarre process of alchemy turned it into a prediction that our aim this season will be to avoid relegation. The only that could be the case were if we were facing 40-point deduction, whereas in reality it will likely be 4-7 and a maximum of 9. In other words, even the worst case scenario we could still go up automatically, and should absolutely be aiming for the play-offs at least. The absence of actual thought in these predictions is mind boggling.

There is a general perception that we’re going to be hit hard by the authorities, which is why so many pundits are writing us off. But this perception is vague and based purely on a handful of articles speculating about -12 points, etc. It is not based on any serious analysis of our situation, let alone a serious assessment of the qualities of our team. I’m convinced we’re going to be the most unpopular team in the Championship again this season because we’ll be right up there at the top and so many fans of other clubs will feel cheated because they were led to believe by the media that we weren’t going to be contenders this time. And it will be beautiful.

God forbid that a manager comes in and makes his own judgment on the players available to him rather than consult a supporters message board and base his decisions on what he reads on there.

It’s odd. I’m friends with a Birmingham City fan, very decent bloke, who until recently had always been very self-deprecated abouy his team. I spoke to him a few weeks ago and he told me he is “100% certain” they’re going to win the league. There is literally not a shred of doubt in his mind about it. I mean I get why they’re feeling positive and everything, but the level of confidence they have is quite something to behold.

It is because on the pitch he has the arrogance and air of superiority of a world class player while actually being a very average (at best) defender. If he was actually world class people would not mind his manner as much, and likewise if he came across as more humble people wouldn't mind so much about him being a limited footballer. It's the yawning chasm between his attitude and ability that rubs people up the wrong way. He might be a nice guy off the pitch for all I know. But the way he behaves on it is hard to stomach at times.

That's disgusting. I mean a bit of pooh-poohing every so often is fair enough, but that is just taking things too far.

Yeah fair enough. I agree that a poor start will turn things toxic fairly quickly. I just think the change of manager will push that back a bit further - if RVN was still in charge and we lost the first game, there would be open revolt.

The Sheffield Wednesday game is the first game of a season in which we have a very real chance of getting promoted again. We have a new manager who most people are feeling positive about. There will be a general sense of hope and optimism. In addition, the most disillusioned among our fanbase from last season will have departed and been replaced by newbies who’ve likely been on the waiting list for years, further amplifying the sense of optimism. I’d say the chances of generating a mass protest against the club at such a time hover around zero. If we make a terrible start and languishing in the bottom half after 10 games, it might well happen. But not at the first game.

Another question. I notice that if you want to change the email address that your tickets will be sent to, you can’t do this online - you have to call the club and ask them to do it. I need to change mine because the email address that the club holds for me is an old one I hardly use and which isn’t linked to my apple pay account. Has anybody had any issues doing this? I assume it’s just a routine admin matter, but am just curious…

If reports are correct that his release clause is around £30m, I can see this dragging on all summer as clubs repeatedly offer less and we keep digging our heels in.

Expecting footballers to be role models is a daft idea that invariably ends in tears. Not only are they typically of an age when young people tend to make mistakes anyway, they're also in the unusual position of being ludicrously well paid and in receipt of vastly more attention/idolization than virtually all of their peers. It's not difficult to understand how this combination of youth, fame and extreme wealth can mess with their heads. I'm not suggesting there shouldn't consequences when they step out of line (far from it), but trying to hold them to a higher standard of behaviour than is realistic just leads to disappointment when they inevitably fall short.

On the OS guide to mobile tickets, it says that Android phones "must run the newest version of Android, where possible". Does anybody know how necessary this is? Eg, if somebody has an older phone than can't run newer versions of Android, can it create any issues?

People are reading way too much into the line-ups.

"Holders of the record for winning most second tier titles in your country, you'll never si.....oh."

If you can be bothered to browse the match thread for the Lens friendly, it's there for all to see. The general consensus was that we were utterly abject, devoid of any kind of identity or plan, unfit and unmotivated. It was the performance of a team whose relationship with a new manager had already broken down beyond repair. The loss of Maresca and the decision to replace him with Cooper meant our season was over before it had begun. We were never going to recover from that.

No.

Some of the responses to this news on this thread have been absolutely wild, the one above yours being another belter.

That is clearly not how our club does it, though. And would you really want to put that level of trust in Rudkin?