The9

I know too much about football for that role.

You do. We now have a team full of players who've played 20-30 matches who are loads better than the ones who hadn't played any at the start of the season.

I'm sticking with the above as still open to question. Loaning Sharp without at least giving him a chance was at least questionable, it's obvious how he's regressed at Forest without Adkins' regime. Clyne's been great but Richardson also never had the chance to prove he definitely wasn't up to it. Like Sharp, he may not have been, but we don't actually know. I'm just kidding about number 11, though I did genuinely believe it at the start of the season for about a month.

It's alright, an interesting enough flow, and certainly promising enough if you're only 15. Word of caution though, there are a few errors, and one of the few places people still expect good spelling and stuff like the use of the right "there/they're/their" is in the media, so a bit of work required there. Also, getting the conventional spellings of player names (like Rickie) right on a regular basis is going to be important too. Good luck though, take every opportunity you get.

Not remotely, I am now too old to justify picking myself which takes all the fun out of it, and petrol has gone up about 20p since our last 90 mile round journey or trip to Portsmouth in the rain for a late postponement. Also, unless 2/3rds of the people you know have learned to drive...

He'd make a superb DM with his possession and tackling abilities.

And Argentinians ?

Great minds. We should run a team together or something.

FWIW I am the world's worst person at assessing defensive midfielders, but what exactly do people expect to see in a highlights video of a defensive midfielder ? All the goals they would have stopped had they been on the pitch, or recreations of parallel universes where they didn't make the interception/tackle/track back ? Seeing as we're loving the DM here, I'd also like to take this opportunity to point out that Cork's stooping header whilst running towards his own goal on Saturday in the rain was one of the best goalline clearances I've ever seen, along with Morgan's 6 yard box saving tackle a couple of weeks back in the DM Hall of Fame.

Anyway, here's a picture, because, y'know, I think all HCDAJFU-type threads should have one. It is also a subclause of Rule 1.

As opposed to the mighty goalscoring record of Jack Cork ?

Answered my own question : http://www.canarycatering.co.uk/ They have two restaurants operating off the back of Delia's name (Delia's Canary Catering is a trading name of Norwich City Football Club PLC). I guess this covers a chunk of their corporate business too.

I'm talking about specific by-club merch, as opposed to generic "league branding", though I suppose plugging their league online store is just a different way of selling shirts and is another difference between the way Premier League and the NFL's teams sell stuff based on the different roles of the organisations.

As good a time as any to repost a few of the Swiss Ramble classics for comparative purposes :

I dare say that's to do with Delia's personal branding... somehow. Is that food counter service or corporate, and how much is non-match day ?

I'd be interested to see if it's as simple as in the Prem tv money = wages compared to Merch = wages in America. I've been banging on about how ticket prices and matchday revenue are going to be all but irrelevant in the new tv deal era for a while. What these figures do show is the huge hike in income even now from the Prem tv deals, even for relegated clubs.

I don't think I've ever seen an advert for team merchandise during an NFL/NBA/NHL match in the US, the tv companies are the ones selling the advertising and it's how they make their money. It tends to be the matches themselves (and the branding and association with success) that cause people to buy the merchandise, not direct adverts for the merchandise.

I think the most significant figures in the charts above are the ones which show Reading and Saints' income to be around £15 and £21m respectively, whilst Wigan's is the lowest of the 2011/12 Prem clubs listed with a turnover of £52.6m, or two and a half times what Saints get. It shows the massive difference in income levels gained by getting to the Prem, even West Ham's turnover figure with their parachute payment is more than double ours.

I'd be interested to see the numbers of baseball shirts shifted compared to Premier League clubs, NBA and NFL - but I'm pretty sure the american sports shift lots more "other" merchandise than the majority of Prem clubs.

Interesting to note the number of relegated Prem sides going for it in year 2 after relegation as well as year 1 now, due to the increased parachutes (and they'll be increasing again next season to £60m over 4 years : http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22171365). Now the money is still significant and the revenues are going to be bigger than ever, there's more justification than ever in going for it in the Championship and risking ruin in year 3 (on which note, Middlesbrough are my tip for Championship relegation next season), as there's still a shortfall in contract commitments and parachute money.

Plain backs on both kits : Got to say I REALLY like the socks though.

As for "those who turned up late" and "those without tickets", I believe the findings were that the numbers of ticketless fans were not a significant factor, the police should have been ready for a late flow of fans to the ground (after all it happens every match), and the outer pens still had capacity for people, had they only been directed away from the downhill slope and central pen immediately in front of the gates.

I'm not sure I agree with either your timeline or most of the conclusions you've come to, though I do agree that the justice campaign deserves praise. The Taylor Report was far from the condemnation of fans that an anti-fan government would have wanted, though I agree that the all-seater demands which came from it were not really the crux of the argument from Taylor's perspective. As for rights being eroded due to Hillsborough, I completely disagree. The alcohol legislation (still in force) came in 4 years before the Hillsborough Disaster, the legislation about frredom of movement (eg coach parties not drinking etc) was years after and not related to the disaster at all. The only changes which impacted on fans after Hillsborough were beneficial and safety-based, even implementing some of the Popplewell Report findings post-Bradford which had been scandalously ignored by football. The only arguable reduction of "fans' rights" is the removal of standing, and that was widely accepted in the immediate aftermath. There is far more than one person to blame in this - the clubs who allowed grounds to get into disrepair and channelled funds into transfers instead of safety or new facilities, the local authorities which didn't enforce safety guidlines, the FA for choosing a ground which didn't have a safety certificate, and had changed significantly in terms of capacity and fences since the last one it did have, Sheffield Wednesday for failing to signpost other enclosures correctly, the person who opened the gate, and arguably many others. The key however is to learn from it. And football, albeit in the rush for new money, certainly improved facilities and safety.

Both horrible (too much white) and the 2012/13 season's template. PS This is what I'm referring to :