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Thread | Back in January
at 15:04 28 Oct 2024
I'm about to take an extended leave from work and from this forum.
So I thought I'd share some observations and predictions.
First I predict that when I'm back in the UK, we will have the same manager, making the same post defeat statements and continuing to think that the tree which does not bend in the wind is stronger than those that do.
Second, I predict that by January we will six points.
Third. we will fail to secure a decent striker in the January transfer window.
I was at the Arsenal/Liverpool match this weekend with a small group which included a couple of youth coaches for an East coast USA franchise which hopes to have an MLS team in a season or two. There were a number of instances in which players went down under minimal (if any) contact, screaming their lungs out.
I observed that - to me - looking to con the ref in that way was cheating.
They observed that they would "encourage" the reaction we saw, use it as an excuse to deliver some positive reinforcement, claim that this was just "part of the game", "winning" a foul is a form of victory.
We agreed to disagree and moved on.
Just before the Liverpool second equaliser, one of these guys was buried in his phone which had live statistics from the game. I made the mistake of asking him about them. He was so engrossed in telling me how the game was now all about the numbers, that he missed the goal. I observed that getting lost in statistics, often leads to not watching the game. He refused to be discouraged.
So for me all that is wrong about the PL in particular and football in general is in those two incidents.
I predict it will not change by the time I'm back.
Have a good Christmas and Happy New Year all.
COYR |
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Thread | Which rules to observe?
at 14:30 28 Oct 2024
I see that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Tommy Robinson) has been given 18 months for contempt of court. This follows earlier cases where he was given a suspended sentence and then 6 months. It also comes after the incident he is jailed for this time (sharing a film in which he makes false accusations) was aired despite his being under court direction not to.
Can't say he wasn't warned.
In mitigation his brief is saying that the sentence is likely to be spent in solitary and that this causes his client anxiety and panic attacks.
So he wants to make false allegations about people and then spend his jail time in some open prison, protected around the clock by warders.
I would say that as a functioning adult he was aware of the consequences of his actions and should bear them.
I also accept that he can say what he likes and so long as it is true and does not amount to defamation or harassment or bullying,.
It's only when what he says or does crosses the line drawn in the sand by the law does he lose that privilege.
Or am I wrong? |
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Thread | Why do people deny mass killings?
at 16:11 23 Oct 2024
The BBC reports today that a former TV producer who claimed to be journalist - and was therefore able to act in the public interest - was guilty of harassment against two survivors of the Manchester Arena attack.
Said alleged journalist claimed that the attack never happened; that many of the alleged victims were already dead by the time of the attack or were outside the UK; that his "analysis" was based on sound principles; that his tracing of victims of the attack to "check that they acted consistently with the injuries claimed" was reasonable; that the multiple videos and book he produced were not based entirely on a falsehood.
There are charges about breach of data protection which will be decided later.
This has echoes of the Sandy Hook mass killing in the USA which Alex Jones - a person with some right wing views - denied ever happened. He has been whacked with a huge fine and a promise of jail time if he does not pay.
I don't know what sanction the UK denier will get.
What drives these people?
Do they really think that it was possible to "stage" the bombing in Manchester in the middle of a concert attended by tens of thousands? Does he think that a public enquiry and ample evidence of life changing injuries to people are all false?
Or is this really all about him. He's a desperate narcissist who was never going to amount to much and so chose notoriety?
If I were young enough to retrain, I'd be interested in doing a PhD in how and why these people think as they do? |
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Thread | City v football v PL
at 08:41 23 Oct 2024
The war of legal words between City and the PL intensified yesterday.
City say that their "victory" in the first round means that all of the Associated Party Transactions (APT) rules are legally invalid and cannot apply.
PL says that only a few of these APT rules need to be changed and that this will be done in the next three weeks.
A meeting of the PL clubs was not asked to vote on whether City's view was correct or if they favoured the PL view.
At the same time the City fan groups staged a protest outside the offices of the PL claiming that the PL was under the control of Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs and that the legal witch hunt v City was for the benefit of those clubs.
Ironic really because three of those clubs will be destined to join City in the European super league which is now a lot closer.
This also demonstrates just how hard it is for clubs promoted out of the Champ to gain a toehold in the PL. It seems that the annual amount paid to City by its sovereign funds owners, desperate for the world to forget their human rights record, is probably more than certainly our entire annual turnover and probably a good half the clubs in the PL.
We therefore have a very unequal playing field and inevitably this will mean that the "poorer" clubs will be unable to compete as the "richer" clubs buy all the talent. This can only end with the PL being reduced to either 8 to 10 super wealthy clubs who care nothing about where the money comes from and who send all the wrong messages to the millions of fans or the PL being effectively all the poorer clubs plus some from the Champ.
It also means that the refereeing bias that favours "big" clubs will continue to grow because the cost of an "error" will be enormous. The PL management will cease to exist, TV will focus only on those big clubs and the fans? Nobody cares, they contribute a small percentage of money and cannot see that their clubs are being used to sportswash repressive regimes.
If the PL clubs were offered a vote on keeping the APT rules - as modified - or going the City route which is essentially an unlimited, untested and untouchable "hands off" message to the PL, then Saints would do the right thing for the game and the fans. I do not however have any confidence that they will. Money talks and City and probably Newcastle and others owned by regimes with something to hide, will throw us a few million to keep us in line and because owners are business people first and football fans a very long way back second, they will not care where the game is in ten/fifteen years time.
This is the thin end of a very big wedge that will split the game forever.
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Thread | Money, mouth and missing a world cup
at 12:29 21 Oct 2024
Today, more than 100 women international players have signed an open letter to FIFA, condemning the sponsorship deal with Aramco.
The claim is that the Saudi company (state owned) represents a regime that supresses women's rights and that the sponsorship is the regime trying to sportswash their image. In other words, Saudi Arabia is trying to but reputation and credibility.
Some observations.
1. We do not see the male footballers doing this and so far no sign that they will support the call for the sponsorship to be ended.
2. FIFA will be unable to hear this call from the players being deafened by the sound of counting machines keep pace with all those dollars arriving.
3. How many players will boycott the next two world cups (one male, one female) when FIFA declines to stop the money rolling in? And will you need two hands to count them?
4. Faced with a choice of appearing in a world cup or standing by your principles that the Saudi regime is detrimental to human rights, especially femal human rights, what would you do? |
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Thread | Commitment and confidence have gone missing
at 08:40 21 Oct 2024
So we're 2-0 up, playing about as well as we can. The opposition is having a reasonable game but is unable to score.
Then we let in a goal and the fragility of our commitment and shallowness of our confidence kicks in and we could have lost by more.
In my view, the players have no confidence in the passing style the manager wants because in their heart of hearts they know that either they or their teammates lack the skill, fitness or concentration to maintain it. Unfortunately they also know that going to a more basic style risks a dressing room row and probably no first team bonuses for a few weeks.
The manager is culpable for this.
Either he plays to strengths - say passing style for an hour and then a defensive style, or he finds one tactic that can last 90 minutes.
Presently he is confusing the players and imposing an unsustainable system on players who don't have the ability and lack the confidence and therefore the commitment.
This manager has had had a long time to get this right and has still not achieved it.
I have no faith that the ownership wishes to see him gone or is perhaps unable to see him off. The manager says he is is dedicated to his style (don't mistake that for pig headed stubbornness).
So as fans we can look forward to more last 30 minute collapses in what is turning out to be a seasin in which we set all the wrong records. |
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Thread | And so it begins - City v football
at 18:29 8 Oct 2024
The opening salvoes have been exchanged and both Man City and the PL are claiming victory in the opening skirmishes of the 110+ charges laid against City.
It was always going to be the case that City would spend big on lawyers but I have to say that their initial statement has surprised me.
They claim that the preliminary finding of the panel is that ALL of the APT rules are illegal.
If this is correct, then football has forever disappeared from the reach of the normal fan and we will see teams funded, like City, by an entire country being able to spend whatever they want to build a team. They would be able to buy other players and not play them just to keep other teams from having them.
It brings a European perhaps even a global super league closer.
It means that many League1 and 2 clubs will cease to exist.
It means the end of competitive football in the UK, perhaps Europe.
If City get away with this approach, then we will see the 2034 edition of the world cup being played by oil and gas rich nations with all others being unable to compete. |
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Thread | 1984 and all that
at 17:48 8 Oct 2024
I've recently been contacted by a prospective client who wants to relocate to the UK from Canada because he fears that new laws there amount to the Gov't, via the police, being able to arrest him (and anybody else) merely for thinking about making derogatory comments about race, gender, politics, etc.
Should I take him on ? |
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Thread | Post Arsenal reflections
at 08:43 7 Oct 2024
Have only seen extended highlights and was not at the match.
The first half was a little desperate at times in terms of hanging on and not conceding but given the opposition, probably expected.
It's time to end the Ross Stewart experiment. He's too fragile to be a starter, especially when up front on his own. Impact sub.
Dibling needs to be told to stay on his feet and not go to ground looking for a free kick. He was booked for a stupid incident and then was lucky not to be booked again for diving.
Last season Forest were using a low block, possession at the back and took around nine passes to get out of the defensive third. This season they have a high block, take four passes to get out of that third and are doing better. RM could do worse than look at how they did that.
Finally, we scored a soft goal and then immediately went into panic mode. We had opportunities to clear the ball and prevent both the first two goals against and instead chose to try to keep possession. That is naive and against a team at the top of the table, almost always going to be trouble.
I really, really hope that RM can be persuaded to learn something rather than be too stubborn. We're a commercial football club whose fans are loyal but exasperated. We are not a platform for one man's ego and refusal to look in a mirror. |
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Thread | A dispassionate view post the B'muff game
at 10:09 2 Oct 2024
I was away for a few days and have only just seen the "highlights" so appreciate that I may have a biased view of the match and its outcome.
The team that was picked looked to be unbalanced and unlikely to cause the opposition much trouble.
Whilst I was pleased to see a more defensive mindset and having only one up front, to make that "one" a teenager with a gifted left foot who has demonstrated his ability to skin full backs, is inept, incompetent or tactically naive. Take your pick. If Tyler was in the team, then you need two up front to get the best from him.
B'muff put us to the sword in a 25 minute spell in which the whole team was pushed into panic mode. Lack of direction from the bench or a central midfield player or a CB meant that the opposition could have scored twice as many goals in that period. Better opposition will.
Keeping you best or most experienced players out of the team and failing to use them when panic struck, is also baffling and bizarre.
The B'muff striker who scored their third also said "we watched some videos and were told and shown how slow Saints were to organise after giving away a free kick". And he's right. That is schoolboy stuff and the whole coaching staff should hang their heads in shame.
Calls fro RM's resignation are pointless as are calls for his sacking. We're stuck with him and look on course to set a new PL record.
I just wish their was an eject button because I'd rather we did not have to suffer what promises to be more dreadful results. |
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Thread | A huge sense of entitlement
at 12:23 23 Sep 2024
I watched some of the City/Arsenal game.
Had to turn it off (before the late equaliser). Then read some of the reaction today and got angry again.
The payers in the PL were all told that kicking the ball away would be a yellow card. Trossard clearly did that and Arteta moaning about the ref following the rules is pathetic and childish and does him,his club and the PL no favours.
Then we see a whole half of time wasting at every opportunity from Arsenal in particular.
The day I run the PL, it would mean Arsenal losing the point they claimed.
What arrogance to think that your club is big enough to have its own rule book. |
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Thread | Does a small improvement against a weak team = corner turned?
at 08:39 23 Sep 2024
Have seen extended highlights of the Ipswich match.
I'm pleased to see that our possession stat was lower than usual but that the ratio of attempts per minute of possession was better.
Less pleased to see that Ipswich had more attempts than we did. Allowing the opposition to have an effort at goal, will eventually allow then to score and Ramsdale kept us in that match.
Disappointed that we did not score another especially as Ipswich came forward and allowed space at the back.
In my view the subs brought on killed our momentum and ambition and I'm baffled as to why RM did that.
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Thread | Beware Apostle and Goodchild
at 08:33 23 Sep 2024
There was an accounting firm called Apostle Accounting.
They were owned and operated by a Zoe Goodchild.
Following a high profile campaign from HMRC, the activities of this firm were deemed to be unacceptable and a Tribunal case was accelerated to a hearing.
In short, Apostle/Goodchild would encourage "clients/victims" to make claims for expenses that had never been incurred. Because HMRC operate a pay first, check later system, many taxpayers got a refund, a good percentage of which went to Apostle/Goodchild.
It was close to fraud.
In the Tribunal case HMRC made a huge error. Not only did they fail to observe the terms and conditions of the assessment they made, but they then failed to bring their witness to the hearing.
Unsurprisingly, they lost. Not because the taxpayer had a good case but because HMRC failed to bring any case.
Goodchild is now crowing that she has "won". She has not. She also thinks that the taxpayer's case is the actual decision. I suspect that she is not the sharpest tool in the box but she is a good saleswoman.
Her firm is now renamed "Innovative".
HMRC will stop this fraud and will punish all those who used it.
Please - DO NOT - use this firm, this adviser or make any claims on HMRC that cannot be justified and supported with evidence.
If you are already a victim, go and get unbiased and proper advice. Most firms operating in the tax enquiry space will give you 30 minutes for free. |
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Thread | Benefits - essential safety net or invitation to abuse?
at 11:58 19 Sep 2024
There's a report in the Times today claiming that 3.9m people are on sickness benefits in the UK.
That is one in five of the working population in some ares of the country.
Various nuances are identified as possible reasons for the increase in claims. Covid of course gets a mention. Cost of living increases as well on the grounds that some who have not previously bothered to claim, now do so to offset some costs.
It is suggested also that this is a situation which other countries are not experiencing. Again, one possible reason put forward is that the level of unemployment support int he UK is lower than comparable European countries meaning people turn to sickness benefits.
(This is the Times as well so there is a suggestion that this is a problem caused by or made worse by Labour being in power rather than something that has been going on and getting worse under a decade and more of Tory mismanagement.)
Is this a problem we need to solve and how?
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Thread | Man U - lesson learned?
at 08:32 16 Sep 2024
I was not at the match and therefore have only watched the extended "highlights" which as always with TV is very partial to Man U.
We know that our defenders struggle to play the ball out of defence and that it has costs us at least two goal against this season (so far). It seems however that there is a lack of confidence spreading which now means that they are not doing the job of defending either.
To not mark players from a corner or a cross following a slow build up will get punished.
I suggest that the coaching team need to go back to basics with the defenders.
I also think that the fiddling with defensive positions is unhelpful. They don't really know who is marking which player/space and are looking at each other. Now that Stephens will be missing I suggest it might be a good time to play the same players in the same positions for a few matches and rebuild that confidence.
Part of the problem remains having the ball but failing to make a chance. I cannot for the life of me understand why we play slow balls across the pitch, trying to create an opening, whulst having two wide players on the pitch.
I do hope that RM sees what we see and has a plan to change things, because doing ghe same things and expecting a different result is insane.
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Thread | A turning point perhaps?
at 15:53 3 Sep 2024
I see that Koeman (present manager of the Dutch national team) has said that the international career of a 26 year old winger is now "closed" following his transfer to a Saudi club.
Koeman says that the move shows a lack of ambition to play at the highest level and therefore makes him unsuitable for international duty.
He distinguished the case of a defender he took to the Euros on the grounds that said defender went to a Saudi club because his PL team was not playing him.
I'm very definitely in the Koeman camp on this.
I think the Saudis (and other rich Arab nations) pose a risk to all football in Europe and if enough players are tempted by the money, we will see a drop in standards.
I also think that players should examine their conscience at least briefly and see if they really want to paid by those with such a poor human rights record. |
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Thread | Financial con men
at 09:05 2 Sep 2024
I've previously mentioned here the activities of an Iain Stamp.
He is a con man. He promises people financial freedom which is based on:
1. Paying him a big fee
2. Claiming that UK tax and financial rules cannot apply to a sovereign citizen
He was accused by an organisation called Open Democracy of being a con man. He went to a Court (one of the Courts he says have no jurisdiction over him or anybody else) to sue them. He failed.
He has since produced a 48 page document which seeks to justify his criminal activities. (This might be a contempt of Court).
If you run across him in any way, shape or form, please distance yourself and your funds as quickly as possible. |
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Thread | individual errors v team tactics
at 08:59 2 Sep 2024
Another loss (to Brentford) largely created by two individual errors which Brentford scored from. Aside from that, they were not that much better than us.
It's now unfortunately known that we will try to play out and I'm expecting to see more teams press us high and unfortunately, without a change of approach, more goals given away.
We saw last season that RM thinks changing the plan is somehow making him less of a man (whereas I see changing something that is not working to be a sign of strength) and I think he will need to lose more games before he admits this.
Dibling can be a good player and we could do worse than start him in the next game. |
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Thread | Too stubborn to be flexible?
at 12:41 27 Aug 2024
Lot of threads here about tactics, team selection and the hate/hate most of us over the possession and passing game.
My view is that teams promoted to the PL on the back of a possession/passing game tend to do poorly - Burnley, Norwich etc.
teams who learn to speed up passing and play fewer more direct passes, tend to do better. Forest are a good example. That style however needs a central striker willing to make a dozen runs into the box and get the ball once. We lack that focus.
So we need to manage with what we have but playing the same way we did in the Champ is not going to work.
Is RM so stubborn and/or convinced of his way of playing that he is willing to risk the chance of losing a lot of games?
Or should he react to what he sees every day and find a new way of playing?
Answers on a postcard please.
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