Holmes_and_Watson

2 is even more of a fantasy than 1. Martin has pretty much said he'd rather lose than change and that he would never change the fundamentals of his approach. That leaves 3. Martin would have to stay around the top places after the squad settled in, to stay at that point. Much like last season.

Have they been replaced by a data driven model?

SR were looking to reduce individual wages, to maximise sell on values. Villa were looking to pay players for league success. Just two very different outlooks, that extended to their managerial decision making too.

Listening to a Beeb cast where they were asked how they got the result wrong. They had said too close to call, and one said all swing state wins were in the tolerances, just that they went all one way. One response from Justin Webb was revealing. He wondered if they had obsessed on the issues that were so important to what he called "the chattering class" such as sexism. racism, and transgender rights, which just weren't as important to the electorate. He later said that the values behind their reporting are not shared by those voting. The BBC seemed to send a small army across to cover the election. As much as they tried to remain impartial, the sheer amount of coverage makes opinions and tones difficult to hide, and they were very much leaning to Harris. That podcast opinion was as honest as I've heard. However the tone of the programme still comes across as the values held by the voters being somehow wrong. One later voice using distinction between outcome and "normal" people. One of them had asked some undecided voters to get in touch. They all voted Trump in the end, but they didn't chase those views, not getting them until after the last show before the election. Too busy finding a spot clear of another media team in a swing state, to set up a pop up studio.

Opens thread, sees OP in a reply... when discussing abuse is an excuse for points scoring...

He's clearly very popular as a host. He's been doing it for 25 years. During which time the BBC went into throwing money at news and other presenters to keep them away from commercial TV. Then allowing them to moonlight elsewhere too. Also during that time the BBC were only to happy to push people onto social media, or to be self employed. Only to retrospectively leave them hanging with HMRC and pulling them up if the comments cross over rules they've not made clear. The news suggests Linekar was keen to stay (and why wouldn't you, even on reduced amounts from such a big deal), but not much chance of the BBC was going to go down that route, after what happened.

Radical

On the rare times I watch it, I skip any chat. So, happier that some license fee pennies will be saved on a cheaper option. If only to have them wasted elsewhere.

Are you saying I should be suspicious of my invite to the Martin Possession Football Re-Education Camp?

I should think the "which manager got the lowest points total in any top major league, excluding points deduction?" question will come up in pub quizzes across the world in 60 years.

We have our own Arsenal link. The return of Maitland-Niles! 🙂

If it's working on it's coaching badges, it's in.

Probably not the best person to provide observations about the personality of a former PL manager, considering his position.

In unrelated news, Southampton FC have noted a steep decline in beverage sales.

It explains why it was Russ on the radio being quoted about the number of fixtures being played following Rodri's comments. The PL manager they have easy access to?

Only until the Stoneham stadium is ready, I hope.

Pass it back Every now and then I get a little bit angry Hundreds of nowhere balls makes me want to cry Pass it back Every now and then I get a little bit terrified As we wave more points goodbye Turn it round Martin Every game we fall apart Turn it round Martin Every game we fall apart As sung by Kingsland season ticket holder, Bonnie Tyler

17th in League 2

2024 - Rasmus invents Skynet AI manager from his database. 2025 - Skynet, forced to maintain possession based football, concludes the only way to avoid endless relegations, is to eliminate humanity. 2027 - The Resistance overthrows Skynet, and begins rebuilding with jumpers for goalposts. They discover that Skynet has sent back it's AI through time to terminate the leader of the resistance as a younger man. 1984 - A resistance agent is sent back to stop the plastic Martin-800 from terminating promising coach Marco Bielsa. 2026 - Discovering the head of Martin-800 in an old box of Lego, Rasmus has his next idea to break the mold of football...

With tactics beamed to his brain by aliens, MLT returns to football. "It's so left field, it's out of this world," grinned Rasmus at the press conference.

So important to look at the underlying data. That's what separates the historic teams from the rudderless, knee jerk ones where it looks as though they can't get anything right.

Optimist.

Two poster meltdowns in as many games.

Tsk. That could have been 1504 passes, had the players not wasted a pass by shooting.

A EFL pod mentioned that Robins was much more of a manager than a coach. That he worked well with his assistant, who was as key to the success. That assistant left during the summer, along with some other backroom staff.