Gloucester Saint

Joe Aribo next I reckon. ABK won’t be until right at the end of the window for 2-4m Euro to help the buying club offset his wages.

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It’s odd because he’s only what 31? Unless he’s had a horrible injury I can’t recall, he shouldn’t have lost most of his pace. He’s had spells under Howe and last season not playing but not the same thing as wear and tear/physiological decline.

Source is Alan Nixon, take with a Scafell Pike sized pinch of salt.

12 months as that’s how long his previous and what should’ve been his final deal had to run. I think we could’ve lived with 12 months extra with the second 12 months focused on his coaching badges if the club felt the need to be generous. 3 years was moronic and totally unwarranted.

Most of us know our football on here but since SR came in, the club is run by people who quite simply don’t. We all hoped Spors and his team would be a departure from that, but the Stephens three years just drew bold and underline under the yawning chasm between the club and fans, on top of the arrogance shown by Semmens in our direction. If they’ve any hope of getting at least a segment of the fanbase onside, they have to be perfect in the next month in the window and wins and draws at the start of the season. The Stephens debacle has cut off any realistic prospect of patience at a poor start and God help them if we don’t beat Pompey… In the window, Ramsdale, Fernandes and Dibling, assuming one or all goes, MUST be replaced.

Swap Ramsdale for a new first choice keeper and I’d agree with that. I still think one of the strikers will leave - BBD or AA. Not ITK, just a feeling.

Very nice finish from Downs, Poch and Still alike will have enjoyed watching that. I agree with Still on the penalty, joke and seen people brushed past harder in the corridor at work. WTF Stephens to a greater extent, and Manning to a lesser, thought they were doing for the first goal is beyond comprehension. You’d think it was the first pre-season match they’d played together, not team-mates of 2 whole years. When Taylor is fit again, I reckon Manning is out on loan. Lack of movement and craft eg taking defenders on in forward areas and not hard to see why Still wants reinforcements in advanced positions. Hope he is quite loud about it over the next couple of weeks to force the club’s hand.

I don’t think the pitches have been relaid since we moved? Probably time to do it over the next couple of season, get some pace and bounce into it.

Not as if the Dukes are doing that much either, look at the Test series. As @stevegrant says, factor in baking weather killing most of the live grass and bat has beaten ball frequently. The lack of pace in most of the wickets is a concern though, whether or not there’s any sideways help on offer they should be picking up pace and more bounce as they harden, then some gradual deterioration through 4 days. A few pitches need relaying around the country over the winter, including some of the Test venues, as sluggish puddings don’t encourage the spinners either, and white ball cricket is better with bounce. The trueness I don’t mind, you don’t want Darren Stevens type bowlers getting 50-60 wickets a season, we want to see more point of difference bowlers emerging. Kookaburra is perhaps encouraging domestic bowlers to think a bit more.

I get the logic but judging by Will Still’s post-match comments he doesn’t agree and wants to freshen up those areas plus moving on far more of the squad bloat. I would think that means the likes of Bednarek and ABK might be going on much lower fees than Spors would like - better than them training with the u21s and paying them some of bigger wages.

Unless he throws his toys, no point whatsoever in loaning him overseas especially paying half of the wages. The club has messed up massively in the last three years and some remedial work is going to cost money. Better to offload Bednarek and Aribo on nominals if they’re worried about PSR…and they shouldn’t be as Rasmus’s January 2023 binge has passed.

Crucial month or so for Spors now, good start with Sulemana and Onachu sales but huge misjudgement on Stephens, Downs looks alright but Still believes, as do we, that the squad is severely lacking in creativity and also acceleration in wide areas. Not seeing an obvious improvement on 8 years of shockingly bad and slow/casual transfer windows. Moreover, some obvious higher earning departures eg Bednarek and Aribo are still here.

Interesting, suggests Ramsdale move not imminent, no McCarthy. Downes, Dibling and Taylor we know are injured. No Bednarek and Edwards starting, Jan’s agent told to get on with it, shit or get off the potty. Aribo on the bench but suspect the messaging similar. Who is RWB? Quarshie by the looks. Spors needs to hurry up around bringing wide players in with pace.

You don’t have to be liked as a manager to be successful, a lot of the Liverpool players found Benitez remote but they certainly respected him. The issue is when the methods and messaging wear off and players tune out, plus Ralph wasn’t backed in the transfer market with the types of players his system really needed.

Looks like it at the moment although still time - albeit not a lot - for it to change. Depends if Leicester get any sanctions (doubt it).

The Greens did have a spell of being left of everybody but since their breakthrough last July they’ve pivoted back towards the Caroline Lucas ecological centre ground. With the amount of houses the other parties want to build I can see them staying there. The Greens might hurt Labour in a few urban seats actually if they climb down on net zero and Miliband gets the tin tack.

Apart from Brum, I’ve not been that fussed on most of the Championship transfers so far. Ipswich signed 40-year old Ashley Young today. Imagine the reaction on here if Spors had done that…. Wrexham are incoherent - signing some decent mid-table Champ players, although not as many as they need to, and then suddenly going for Eriksen. Norwich have gained a couple of very good players for this level but then lost one and about to lose another. PL is warped by Liverpool’s spending spree. Still time for things for change but the current crop of DoFs in the top tier of English football are pretty uninspiring at the moment.

I’ve heard he’s absolute mustard

BMA and RMT have got a better strike rate than Guido Carrillo 😂

Dunno, depends what transpires. If you’re prepared to vote Labour as a rarity Lib Dem is more the next logical step.

I remember Les Reed at the fans forum in August 2018 actually trying to convince the audience in response to a question about Guido Carrillo that he was still going to be a huge asset to the club in the future. He got the huge roar of derisive laughter he so richly deserved. Shortly afterwards he was reunited with Mauricio Stresshead at Leganes, scoring a whopping 7 goals in 56 games. Still, better than he did at Elche, 5 in 50. 😂😂😂

As long as Stokes only has cramp, that’s about as good a day as England could be hoping for. The commentary box might need nose pegs though https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/michael-atherton-no-sense-smell-35610826 😂😂😂

Not in places like Herefordshire not too far from here where the Greens have seats. Some of their voters are ex-Tory left and would never vote for Corbyn plus he’s mainly urban appeal. Not much for rural areas.

Mark Carney speaks sense https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/25/mark-carney-israel-gaza-aid-flow-humanitarian-disaster-00476658 Israel’s global empathy from the Hamas Oct 2024 attacks has run out. Sadly, without an American President without the intellect to contain a nutter like Netanyahu, the situation is deteriorating rapidly.