ClaphamFox

Indeed, and if we were in the bottom three of the PL facing a points deduction and desperately needed somebody to come in and make us defend well enough to grind out some ugly results and maybe stay up, I’d agree that Dyche might be that man. But that’s not our situation. We’ve already been relegated and we need to rebuild with a clear vision for the future. We’re not battling against relegation next season - our aim should be to be at the top end of the division whether or not we get a points deduction. To do this, we need a modern, tactically-intelligent manager who will promote youth and enable us to return to a more sustainable model, not a dinosaur who scorns the very concept of tactics and whose transfer strategy would likely decimate the value of the squad.

Rob Tanner suggested a few days ago that it may be the new accounting period they’re waiting for, which isn’t for another three-and-a-half weeks.

Dyche's success in the Championship was in a different era. A generation of brighter. more tactically-savvy managers have emerged and Dyche's brand of football has become obsolete. Not only would the football be execrable under him, it wouldn't be successful either.

Anyone wanting either belongs there.

So TalkSport were basically played by Martin's agent? Daft lot

Carrick? Former district on the west coast of Scotland. Renamed South Ayrshire in the 1990s. Not even a real place any more. Utterly uninspiring.

We will be able to afford to sack him from July onwards even if we don't sell anybody this month. If we DO generate some money during June, we may afford to sack him sooner.

No we're not. Enzo was appointed 16 June.

Thankfully.

Given that the most important part of that ‘experience’ was an abject failure, I’d hope our owners would steer clear.

On what basis? It makes no sense whatsoever.

He positively salivates at the prospect of us getting a 'heavy points deduction'. He can barely contain his excitement about it.

Nightmare scenario.

Three possible reasons: 1) Cost - we may be waiting until either we officially become a Championship club (this Friday) or the new accounting period begins in July; 2) While the owners want a new manager, they haven't found one yet and are keeping RVN as a back up option; 3) Our club's decision-making process is so centralized that the final say on what to do re: our managerial situation is sitting with Top, who is busy playing polo.

It was completely undone by what he did at Villa, though. They were a complete mess when he left and have improved beyond recognition under Emery since.

We won't be keeping Ruud.

Rob Tanner has published an article this morning in which he claims we may not know the outcome of the PSR charge for 23/24 until November—and that's before any appeal process. He also speculated that the club may be waiting until the new financial year (ie, 1 July) before appointing a new manager for PSR reasons—a possibility that has been openly discussed on here but not so much in the media until now.

If this was true they would have told RVN this already and the news would be leaking out. By far the most likely scenario is that they have decided to replace and the delay is for one of three reasons: a) they haven't decided who they want; b) they have decided who they want but haven't persuaded him to join yet; or c) they are delaying proceedings for financial reasons related to RVN's pay-off and/or compensation for the new manager. It's 3rd June. We could be waiting for a few weeks yet before anything happens.

If he really wants to go to a club where the supporters are open to his way of playing (as he recently said), I'd advise him to swerve the Rangers message boards...

Your implication always seems to have been that the bookies odds tell us something we didn’t already know. I’m saying they don’t shift our understanding of the situation by one millimetre. They’re responding to the fact that we’ve been charged and adjusting the odds accordingly. If they’d have ignored the charge and priced us as favourites to win the division, that would have been noteworthy. But the mere fact of them reflecting the known fact of us being charged means nothing at all. They have no more idea about what’s going to happen than you or I do.

Exactly. Whenever I see our own fans suggest that any points deduction serves us right and that they hope the PL/EFL hit us hard, I’m reminded of the scene in Life of Brian where an emaciated and filthy Michael Palin is chained up on the walls of a Roman prison, heaping praise on the Romans and saying they’re the best thing that could have happened to him.

Exactly. Based on how pally Maguire and Di Macro are, and how Maguire has been publicly arguing that the PL might not be able to pass any points deduction down to the EFL, it seems highly plausible that this is a line of argument we're pursuing.

The PL has jurisdiction over us for 23/24 - that was clarified in the recent arbitration ruling. The question is whether they can impose a deduction on us in the Championship. The recent change agreed between the PL and EFL does allow points deductions to follow teams between divisions in the event of relegation or promotion, but in our case - as you say - it would have to be imposed retrospectively. Most of the media seems to believe that this can and will happen, but like you I wonder whether our lawyers are challenging this aspect of things.

The fact that we've been charged for 23/24 (and are not disputing the PL's jurisdiction) means we are likely to get a points deduction because that's what usually happens in those circumstances. Anybody with a passing knowledge of previous PSR cases could tell you this. It's publicly available information - the bookies don't have any inside knowledge that enables them to reach this conclusion. The independent commission hasn't even sat yet, so how would the bookies have any knowledge of the outcome? The pricing reflects the probability of us getting a deduction combined with a rough guess on their part of what that deduction might be. But it will be pure guesswork. The bookies odds don't tell us anything at all that we didn't already know.

A points deduction seems likely given the recent charge, but the bookmakers have no more insight into that than anybody else. Their odds don't mean anything in themselves.