inckley fox

I don't think it"s quite so incredible when you look at the managers we've appointed, the recruitment strategy, the financial mismanagement, negligence at boardroom level, failure to engage with the fanbase - and the footballing principles that have underpinned many of their silliest decisions. You can't get all those things wrong, repeatedly, and get away with it. We're becoming the textbook case of what not to do when you make it big. They really do need to sack Martin now, though, and hold their hands up publicly. Of all their follies, the Martin one was the easiest car crash to see coming. If you want to improve things then, regardless of what you've done to create the problem in the first place, getting rid of him is the biggest no-brainer. And where Top's concerned, 'no-brainers' are going to count for a lot. For very obvious reasons. I'm well aware that all sorts of rich idiots inherit wealth undeservedly and then do nothing with it, but he's so monumentally incompetent, narcissistic and deluded that you have to wonder if there's any hope until he's gone and long forgotten.

I largely agree, but also think you can't fix deep-rooted cultural issues in five minutes.

Oh, good! My bad!

Are you saying Andy Burnham is to blame for this?

Again, I agree totally. My first reaction was exactly the same as yours. But from what I've seen it'll be practically impossible to sue the EPL. They pressed the charges, but they didn't come to the verdict and won't decide the punishment. We're left to pursue Man City, and we didn't retain our interest in the case post-2024 (meaning we can't claim for League Cup semi final losses or lower league placings pre-2018) so ours would be a very, very tricky case in comparison to some of the others. We could win, but the legal fees would be immense, and the winnings modest by comparison. Put simply, it's not enough to halt a potential sale of LCFC in its tracks, nor cause KP to suddenly believe that they're on to a winner if they hold off. Unless, I should add, they're even more deluded than I thought they were (which, to paraphrase The Day Today, is very deluded indeed).

You're right, but they didn't have to deal with one key issue: it was a breach which affected them in the same season, rather than a 'downstream' historical advantage due to past infractions. To you and me it seems obvious that Man City gained massively, but the law won't be so sympathetic. We might claim for a billion, and we might get some compensation if we're lucky, but you're talking small fry.

From what I've read of the legal experts, they really don't think we're in line for a massive claim. We may try, but it's going to be damn hard to prove that Man City were only above us in 2020, 2021 and thereafter because of their cheating. At least to the extent that damages in the 20m+ category are deemed payable. The more I read, the harder it looks.

You do know that fans of other clubs will say that about us too, don't you?!

Completely. I wouldn't argue with any of that for a second.

From a legal perspective, our case is a tricky one, even if it seems more compelling to me. By law you can claim for historical advantages (i.e. what they did up to 2018 was still helping them in 2020, which I'm sure it was) but from the articles I've read, courts tend to be wary of these 'downstream' cases. It'll be hard to prove that Man City wouldn't have still been a CL club by 2020 and 2021 without the cheating. If everyone was still as feverishly litigious as they have been in recent years (and from what I understand that's calmed a little) then, of course, if we went up this season then L1 clubs could potentially beat us with that stick too. It may be wrong or right, but I think our very limited legal prospects are an indication - to an extent - of the degree to which Man City are responsible for our woes, as opposed to mismanagement by King Power. The former had an effect. The latter was obviously, by some distance, the primary cause. In the eyes of the law especially, but also in reality.

No, though we probably aren't at the front of the queue. United missed out on two titles, Liverpool one and Newcastle, Chelsea, Everton are the sides I see mentioned as having missed out on major European competitions during that time frame. They'll be claiming titles, 30-50m for European competition per season (each) and all the revenue that comes with it. Our claim is still very strong, especially given what's happened to us since, and it's based on an idea enshrined in law that the advantages you build via cheating don't end when you stop cheating. It's also within the six year period for claims, though I suspect that will have to be wavered (meaning there is recourse for Liverpool and co.) when there have been no claims that could conceivably have been made until now. I suspect the easy way out will also be the messiest. Punish Man City robustly for their historical advantage with relegation / fines / embargoes applied now, and leave the door open for similar individual compensation claims by other clubs. Let the EFL decide where to accommodate them, which probably won't be tier four, five or six. And try to retain the integrity of your competition by leaving past winners nominally, at least, intact. But the chances of people being happy with that are frankly zilch. And they may well be able to do something about it.

I thought he looked very capable and tidy too. He was operating in tight areas and did well.

No, I'd be perfectly happy if he'd scored no goals whatsoever and looked a decent player in his overall game. I don't think he did, particularly. You can have a fairly lousy game in which a few things work out for you and, like I said, it's quite extraordinary that - in his case - he bagged a hat trick in the midst of a very mediocre display. Joe Dodoo scored a hat trick once, but if you watched him that night, it was still fairly clear that he was unlikely to make the grade. I'm not writing Bristric off quite yet, but I don't think it's wise to let those goals against that opposition cloud your judgement too much.

Well, given just how woeful the opposition were and the chances he had, maybe. More than anything, if he'd looked the part in his overall game, that would have been a start. Like I said, to score a hat trick but still not really look the part - I'm not sure I've ever seen that, until today.

It wasn't a statement performance, in truth.