labibs

I thought Manassas might run into a place, so for him to win at 14's is great stuff. I've been pretty lucky this week with some longer ones coming in. Out for beers this evening, will have a look at the cards in the morning and post up some stuff. Provisionally, there are rumours Elzaam (who I would have backed) might be a non-runner. If so Bated Breath looks appealing at 8's.

Tough day today, not much jumps out at me, so a few e/w shouts. 14:30 Sweet Chilli 15:05 Glen’s Diamond (touch opposition, but has won cash for me before, so will stick with him) 16:25 Circumvent (would have a chance on best form and price looks big to me. 17:35 Manassas (Paddy’s paying 5 places makes this a decent e/w bet)

Two winners for me today, Sagramor and Brown Panther, both at decent prices so very happy. Makes up for a not great first couple days. Really good ride from Jamie spencer I thought today on F&G, kept him calm and conserved his energy, then made a move at the right time. Great stuff

Tough day today. Silver heels, blue bajan e/w and brown panther for me today. Won a good few quid on SAGRAMOR last time he won at Haydock, so might chuck a couple of quid on him as well. Good luck everyone

Thank god for Strong Suit coming in! After all the talk of getting bashed yesterday, the bookies are absolutely laughing today. Not a single favourite won and one of the bankers of the festival in So You Think got turned over. SYT might have taken out quite a few lucky 15's etc over the festival as a whole. Bloodbath

Only had a bet on a few each ways at longish odds last night: 14:30 - Strong Suit e/w 15:05 - Music Show e/w 17:35 Traffic Sister e/w

I've heard others saying that Frankel went off hard deliberately as there were question marks about the others' stamina and he def stays a mile so they wanted to turn it into a stamina test. Looked like madness to me, but even under a bad ride, he won well and beat some decent horses. If possible, I think they should try and hold him up a bit, you know he has hell of an engine so as long as he is not left too much to do, he should have the beating of anyone at the finish. Terrible days betting for me today, minor returns on a CC / Frankel double but not great overall. Just having a look at some of the form now, will post something up in the morning. On first glance, Strong Suit looks a big price in the first if back to anything like last year's form. It's placing a lot on the basis of that wind op sorting him out though...

Won't be wading in very heavily this week, but will have a little dabble. I quite like the chances of the Japanese horse GRAND PRIX BOSS, in the without Frankel market. I think that foreign form tends to get quite underrated over here and he should be shorter. I am thinking similarly about BRIDGETOWN in the 15:05 (E/w) Canford for me in the opener as well. Think he is a great miler and Goldi may find age starting to catch up.

As far as I know, spending on youth development is exempt from the FFP rules. You would still have to pay for scouting, but this (I imagine) would be nominal against players wages and transfer fees. In fact producing youth players becomes even more important, as a home-grown player will have no value in a club's accounts (As you didn't buy him from another club, there is no 'asset' to depreciate)

The Uefa Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules dictate that any sponsorship deals, purchases etc must be at reasonable market value, to stop people doing exactly this. Basically the authorities decide if you are trying to get round the rules and will come down on you hard if you do so. It remains to be seen how effective they will be in actually punishing clubs though. This rule would benefit the parahcute playment clubs a lot in the NPC, but it would see Saints relatively well placed, at least in the NPC. Will not come in for several years yet. If nothing else, clubs would have to be given time to allow existing player's contracts to run out so they can adjust to the new way of doing things. Transfer expenditure would also become very important. Fees are written down over the length of the contract for the player. So if you buy a £5m player on a 5 year contract, this will show as a £1m cost to the club, every year until he is out of contract.

Cardiff had 2 keepers on loan at the same time! That is mental. Koumas would have been on decent wages from the prem and he hardly played him. To be fair, I think Jones should have got promoted with that squad and he must have known the writing was on the wall when they slipped up again.

£2.5m?! Isn't he out of contract? Why not just make him an offer and let it go to tribunal? Madness. Anyway, might make some on here realise that players from the premier league who are any good will have existing prem clubs after them this summer. They are unlikely to come to a club in the NPC.

Good point. I hadn't considered that...

I imagine that they weren't released, but rather refused their new contracts. Bothroyd will definitely go to a prem side (Sunderland need a forward?), Burke possibly. As for Hargreaves and R. Johnson, I know it's fun to speculate, but please can we have a little bit of sense. I am certain neither of these players will be joining us in the summer. Why would Hargreaves accept a pay as you play deal in the NPC? He will have offers from numerous Champion League clubs. Johnson is an established premier league defender, under the age of 30. Why would he come to the NPC when he would have a range of clubs in the Prem after him?

I think we could definitely do with a wide player. How many games did Lallana and AOC miss this season between them? 20 or so? They are obviously first choice, but you can't guarantee they will be fit for every game. We would look a lot weaker lining up with Holmes and Guly on the wings. Would love to see Martin go on loan, maybe a loan until christmas at a L1 side to see how he gets on? I would like to see Gobern get another deal and go on loan as well, he needs a run of games to see if he can progress

It's Tonge a central midfielder? I doubt we will sign a new keeper, possibly a youngster with potential, but can't see a big name keeper coming here with Kelv on the books. Onyewu is unrealistic (He could get a CL club somewhere IMO) and I think Gera would get offers from Premier league clubs (QPR?) but the others are reasonable shouts. Not sure I would want McFadden, great on his day but maddeningly inconsistent and been out for a long time with injury. Would want massive wages as well.

I am delighted they didn't go up this season. They have spent a load of money this season, mainly by making a bit of a mockery of the loan system and had such an unbalanced squad. Loans for Koumas and Keogh must have cost a substantial amount in wages / fees, yet they hardly played (Keogh was a three month, but still). Their problem has been their back four all season, yet Jones seemingly did nothing about it (Kienan is rubbish). Rumours are that their Malaysian owners have quite a bit of a cash, so they might not implode, but I expect Bothroyd, Bellamy and Olafinjana (SP?) to not be there next season, whilst I'm sure Chopra and Whittingham will get offers. Hopefully they will slip away and be one less team to worry about.

Completely agree. Went to the last game at Swansea and it was terrible. Never seen so many police at one game. Also would like Cardiff to not go up as I think it would be hilarious after they have spent so much and even got Bellamy on loan. Really hope Davies stays at Forest manager next season. That is a game I would love us to win!

Too early to write them off yet I think. They have a lot of players that prem sides will want, which will bring in decent amounts of money and may prevent a full fire sale. They have a promising crop of young players (Tomins, Sears, Stanislaus etc, who may be able to do a decent job in the NPC. The board backed Birmingham when they went down and kept a lot of the squad together for a promotion push for a single season, so I could see them doing something similar again. New manager will be a big appointment as well. If they get a right b*stard like Warnock or Allardyce in (managers who will get them organised and solid) they could have a decent chance of coming straight back up. They could implode, but at worst I would expect them to do a pompey and be midtable. League will be tough next year. If Cardiff don't go up and say wigan and Birmingham both come down, even getting into the playoffs will be difficult. If Wolves came down, I would expect them to win the division.

Don't want Jason Roberts, less mobile even than Ricky. Mancienne would be a brilliant signing, but I would be surprised if he was prepared to drop down into the Championship. I think a lot of players at the level of Mancienne will get offers from prem teams, we would do very well to get a current premier league player here next season (barring someone looking for a contract (I.e Beattie)) I would be astonished if Owen came here! He clearly isn't that bothered about playing every week anymore and coming here would make it difficult for him to get to his stables (which are near Chester I think) From the way Adkins is talking in interviews, I expect he already knows who he wants to go after in the summer.

whilst those players may be available on a free, some of them would want massive wages. Bothroyd (for example) turned out for England this season! If we are looking at these players, I'm sure there are plenty of NPC and prem clubs sniffing around them as well. Are Lambert or Lallana going to be happy with playing alongside someone on 25-35k we brought in on a Bosman (assuming they are on substantially less, even with a promotion clause in their contract)? Also, now that relegated clubs get 4 yrs of parachute payments from the premier league, I don't think there will be that many fire sales and those that do leave will probably go to other prem clubs. I think we need a commanding CB (QPR have shown that a mean defence is what gets you success in this league) as Jaidi cannot play 50 odd games at his age next season. Kilgallon would be a good shout. A new pacey right back would help as well. A lot will depend on whether AOC stays or not, if he carries on his progression, he could be a hell of an asset next season. I would be delighted with CMS. As for Bullard, I know a number of Hull fans who absolutely hate him! Allegedly he was out on the p*ss eery night whilst up there and was only in it for the money. Class player though.

This. Could have all been so different

Yes Guly can be inconsistent, but he is one of the few players in our squad who can do something a little bit different on the pitch and break down sides who 'park the bus'. I don't really think he's lazy, he does put in effort. I think a large part of his difficulty is in adapting to English Football after a few years in the much slower pace of Italian football. I for one am very pleased we have him here.

The interview in that link is ridiculous! Harry has given him a little bit more ability? Exactly how has he done this? Just naturally upgraded his ability? Sad to see really

I think it'll go right to the end of the season. Would like to see Wolves stay up, but they look to be losing form at just the wrong time. Would be happy to see Wigan and Blackburn and Blackpool go down, but that would mean some more long trips to away games for our fans (Round trip to Wigan on a Tuesday night anyone?)