Ex Lion Tamer

I just came on here to say what a brilliant pass that was. Perfect weighting

Good stuff. Once again our opponents have had an off day, funny that

Why not? I mean, I don't think you can confidently predict it will happen, but I don't see why it can't either. If you get girls playing in schools then the rest will follow

Graeme Jones must have been slacking off this season because they're back in the relegation zone

There was also the dodgy sponsorship deal. But I basically agree with you. Imagine if Gao gave Alan Pardew an eight-year contract! Or tried to rename the stadium. Or got us relegated twice. Or hired Joe Kinnear. Etc etc

Exactly, it has a lot more to do with an emotional desire for a "regular guy" at the top, ideally English, who will speak to the fans and seem nice. Ok Gao doesn't do that, but all that stuff is window dressing. He's overseeing the club well enough, he just can't invest unfortunately

We could also achieve this by getting relegated to the championship, if it's really what you want

For every Pogba there's a dullard footballer though. Some of them are actually dedicated to their careers

I don't think he's premier League quality but I'd take this with a pinch of salt. The author has clearly based it on goals and assists and never watched him play or talked to anyone who has. Only 3 of the 7 appearances were starts and those starts were the last three games so he's building a first team place. How many games did Adams go without scoring for us? Hack journalism basically

Since you ask so nicely, there was an Athletic article about how all the Chinese owners bought clubs to get in the government's good books, only for the government to change its mind. They're now not allowed to invest in their clubs but they're also not allowed to sell at a loss, putting people like Gao in an impossible position. One way or another they're definitely being monitored. That's how it works if you're a wealthy businessman in China.

Yes

Cortese isn't at the club any more because Kat turned off the money tap. If she had allowed Cortese to keep spending and we had hired Ralph then Ralph would probably be doing a lot better with a better squad

Ralph needs to prove himself over the next few games for me, but there's no way I would want Ranieri

Quite

Do you think Gao would be bothered if we get relegated and he loses millions? I reckon he cares just as much as us, if not more

Why would they come to us over Everton?

I'd be very happy for him to get some game time on the clock against the Faroe Islands. Good prep for when he comes back to us

So we're still 3 points up in the head to head comparison. Something to be hopeful about

He's definitely got something. Our spells of good form show that. The next few games will tell us more about whether he can turn around this bad run or if it is time to move on. I could definitely see him getting another team overperforming though if he does leave.

Even a charity can't afford to spend more than it earns

A good manager will know which players either need or are strong enough to take tough feedback in public, and which need to be built up. Tino for example has the world at his feet at the moment (almost) so needs his feet kept on the ground. Do the same to Redmond and you'd break his morale

We desperately need Stu back. The interesting question is whether Tadic would have the work rate for Ralph's system

10 games always seemed a reasonable time to judge this season and that's still the case

Mate, did you see that blog about our tactics for Man C? We've got plans up the wazoo

The thing is, I don't think the manager necessarily wants the players fired up with emotion. He wants them to execute the gameplan effectively. I see the logic of that although I'm sure some will disagree