Ex Lion Tamer

Women's football is only where it is because the FA banned it for decades. There's no reason it shouldn't be like tennis with broadly equal interest, it just needs a push so more people get to know the players and so that more young girls start playing and raising the standard. I find it hilarious that people get so butthurt about it - it really doesn't impinge on you if you decide not to click on the articles

Is it me or are women 50% of the population?

Leicester may have had success that we can only dream of but they're actually quite similar in the sense of having a great few years after promotion and then coming down to earth. Perhaps the owners will pump in more money to keep them going but it may be they can't keep pulling rabbits out of hats in the transfer market

Thank you for that information

Sport Republic approach to goalkeepers:

I'm interested in how these buy back clauses will work. Can the transfer back be easily triggered and the player sold on immediately for a profit? Or is is more an agreed price subject to the player agreeing terms / wanting to go back? If the latter then it puts us in a pretty strong position, because City will have to want him back and promise first team football if they are to tempt the player

Sometimes players have to move in order to develop. It seems that not being able to get into Swansea's team was the kick up the arse he needed to buckle down

https://twitter.com/Footy_Tipster/status/1535672334316707842?s=20&t=m50ouaad1wfiVMWOyYtEzw

I do hope you're wrong because I'd much prefer the next manager to have some sort of track record of success. Promoting number twos is a massive shot in the dark

Lemina? Boufal?

Why do you think he is overqualified out of interest? Ok we're not in the Champions League, but I'd say we're still a step up from Copenhagen. Definitely in financial terms

The plot thickens. I guess the club doesn't have to provide any evidence, just say that a contract has been offered. Ultimately you would think Long's wife would know...

Can you provide a link?

Maybe I'm being generous but perhaps the club want to give him a proper send off rather than announcing his departure as a one-liner alongside the retained list, but weren't ready so cooked up the story about contract negotiations at the last minute. Does seem like another comms cock up one way or another

It was still an astonishing achievement but Vichai invested £60m in the club after they were promoted and was planning to invest £180m over three years to make them a top 5 team until they won the league ahead of schedule. Significant outside investment that we don't have unfortunately

Decent goal https://twitter.com/RTEsoccer/status/1533853477297954816?s=20&t=KUXGa6liKIpoCo5o9ENwMw

I think Bazunu intends to play and wouldn't come here if we were signing a new goalkeeper ahead of him

Tim Flower became a first team regular at Saints at 22, though he was playing for Wolves in Div 2 as a teenager

I did think we were going to be coming out of that period by now and our wage bill doesn't look that high anymore. I do take the directors at face value though when they say this is what we can afford - I don't think they're on the grift

Spending within your means and managing your costs if you get relegated is definitely less risky than overspending and going out of business if you get relegated anyway

Buffon was also first choice at Parma at 18. Manuel Neuer was a first team regular at 20. Oliver Khan was 20. Richard Wright was playing Championship level at 20. I'm not sure what this is necessary proving to be fair

I agree that I don't fully understand why we have so little money compared to others

If we don't have the money though then it's as much of a risk to spend bigger

If you can take the time to read it, this is why Southgate's defensive approach is ultimately working: https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/nov/14/southgates-pragmatic-shaping-of-england-is-recipe-for-success-at-international-level

Converting central midfielders into the no. 10 role is the way to go IMO. This guy looks like a player - love the first finish on that YouTube video