CB Fry

Doesn't fourth place then become the proxy for "the highest non-CL league position", though? It takes the role of fifth in that dopey scenario. If, say, West Brom win the League Cup in March then that's it, surely? They'd be talking about their European tour from then onwards and that's the end of it. I've never known it be dependent on other results. When Wigan and Swansea won the cups that was that. Everton got jack for finishing higher than both of them.

That's what I've gone with, don't know why the Capital One cup winners would be stripped of a spot. Basically at the start of the season there is only one EL place allocated to league finish, the cups get the other two.

The two cup winners go into the EL league, the Capital One cup winner into the group stage. The top two go into the CL group stage. Third goes into the CL qualifier. Fourth now gets the third group stage slot for the Europa League. The Europa League winner and the CL winner get Champions League spots. We have five reps in the CL and three in the EL. Fifth get nothing in that totally implausible scenario but that is nothing like the scenario on row 4 that you pitifully fail to understand.

What has that got to do with row 4, a row specifically about a top five team winning the FA Cup which you are complaining doesn't cover a top five team winning the FA cup? Have you worked out that row 4 is fine yet?

Row four. Simple. If one of the top four win the FA Cup then it makes no difference, they qualify for the CL as normal (1,2,3 group stage then 4th into the play off). No change, either. That's on row four. Simple. If 5th win the FA Cup it also makes no difference - the team in fifth qualify for the Europa League Group Stage either way. The reward for 5th place and FA Cup win is identical. It's on row 4. Clearly there. Simple. Row 4. That row, row 4, it's very simple, is about the impact further down the table, it's about what happens to that slot if one of the top 4 or the team in 5th wins the FA Cup. It's about what happens to sixth and lower. Really simple. Really clear. Row 4. Really simple, really clear. All there on row 4. That row, really clearly, is entirely about a team in the top 5 winning a cup. It's actually what the row is named after. Really clear. Row 4. The title of row 4. You are very special guy.

No it doesn't. If a team in the top five wins the FA Cup that European spot moves to sixth place. The FA Cup winning team has already qualified for Europe in that scenario. How do you manage to misunderstand so many things?

Agree that is dog sh it. Certainly on a level with the two gruesome "big in Japan" monstrosities of the Cortese era.

Wes not a great one for the facts, Tim.

Or, on the positive side, England can do a Leicester and win the whole darn thing. Our squad is about good enough to finish 14th in the Premier League so on paper we have plenty of Leicester pedigree.

The future is just the same people moaning about players that haven't had enough sh it games for England yet. Dele Alli and Eric Dier and the rest are just the players people will be saying "why oh why oh why do we persist in playing him...we need to get rid of him and bring some of the youngsters through" in about five years time.

Cheers mate.

Blimey. Forgotten I'd posted this. Not bad.

So he only needs to be given the budget 14th place Leicester were given last summer then, right?

Tuesday, I've heard. Ronald is on a late train back from Merseyside on Monday night or something.

He's bang on to be fair. They should have finished in the auto spots all day long. I remember saying way back when that the very best we could hope for was an agonising play off semi defeat. And the boys delivered in effing spades. That's four seasons in the bottom tier now, right?

The countdown to the first "I'd rather be us than them" tweet begins.

Yeah, yeah, yeah but remember how he did at Charlton etc etc etc.

I seriously doubt this will stop any of the usual utter dins drivelling on about net-spend like a acne ridden Football Manager geek come the summer. But some people never learn.

I imagine they kept the allocation down to a minimum. It's, err, a play off semi final. Not a jolly old end of season day our they could cream Saints fans for gate money from.

No idea why it wouldn't be appropriate, doesn't really make any difference. If anything it will work to our advantage: United win the cup then they're on the beach. Perfect for us. If they don't then, at worst, they'll be trying to win the match with the same intensity as they would have today to secure fifth, which is fair enough. And, at best, LVG is as good as sacked regardless and the players won't really care. In fact the more I think about it, we really want it played after the cup final.

For once, I heartily agree. Brilliant.

They'll only go and win the cup to spite us.

Big cross on the stadium thread bingo card everyone. MLG has posted the pictures.

There's nothing remotely brave about that course of action.

Nice try. You're the one pretending that Brexit will be some victory against big business, bankers and politicians. Clue: it won't be. They still win. We vote leave, we leave. You sound suddenly unsure of how brilliant a post-Brexit UK will be.