Saint Mikey

'Only a few weeks ago, the Slovakia international admitted that he wanted to stay at the Rio Tinto Stadium. But, for whatever reason, an agreement over a new deal could not be reached.' Investigative journalism at its finest!

On the face of it, this takeover seems very promising. With the info we have, I feel confident that even if we were relegated - we could weather it, rebuild and maybe return within the parachute payments period. Under Gao, it felt like relegation could be catastrophic. Due to the lack of investment and flexibility we were working under - I could only see a gradual demise in a tough league. Hopefully, we won't need to find out, but I feel the club is in a better place to weather such an event, which is likely for a club our size at some point.

Interesting thread. Some of you guys may enjoy Ryan Holiday's material. I have read three of his books and they have fundamentally changed the way I view stresses/challenges in my life. His lessons are aligned mostly with Stoicism principles and draw on a millennia of examples, including Marcus Aurelius, Lincoln, Edison, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson etc. The biggest thing I've taken from them is the self-awareness and the sense of personal responsibility that it encourages, particularly the book on ego. He also has a podcast 'The Daily Stoic' and has done the rounds on loads of others including Rangan Chatterjee, Tim Ferris etc. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18668059-the-obstacle-is-the-way?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=rgykQklapo&rank=1 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27036528-ego-is-the-enemy?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=rgykQklapo&rank=2 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43582733-stillness-is-the-key?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=rgykQklapo&rank=4

Yarmolenko maybe his replacement. Looking at Wiki, he hasn't scored in two seasons in the league (no goals in 20/21 or so far in 21/22). So, pop him down for a hat-trick if he plays...

Didn't he turn down a deal with us, yet hasn't been picked up by another club? May be injured I guess, but looks a strange one.

I suspect a Skate Lube Salesman.

Just need Ralph to two-foot Lewis in training, then we can get an emergency loan in.

Sounds like an Only Fools and Horses sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNvRo68rBxE

Aye. The combination of the diet (haggis, deep-fried Mars bars, Irn-Bru) and the fitness regime (tossing the caber) clearly not working out for Stu.

What would we call the bar, the Cement Lounge?

An elite player is lucky to a) be good enough to go to a World Cup, b) be part of a team that's good enough to qualify and (c) be fit enough to participate. Any top player may be lucky to play in 1 or 2 WC finals. Do you think they should forfeit that because FIFA made a decision on where it should be held? Is it the players' responsibility to make a stand here? I bet they couldn't give a fuck and just want to play football - which is what their focus should be. Instead, because of media pressure they almost feel that they have to do 'something' and this is what you get, a token gesture.

Yeah, this will be their approach I reckon. Top 6 squad players that want to play more, but don't want to commit to a side that might get relegated. These players you mention plus maybe, Dele, RLC, Barkley. In terms of perms, they might get established players in the final 6 months of their contract by wafting huge sums under the clubs noses (Tarkowski would be in that boat). You'd expect them to have a stronger squad, post Jan, but whether it'll keep them up - who knows?

He did a great job for us and I really enjoyed the football we played in those promotion seasons. He did have players that were far better than the league we were in (clear to see that now) and we also spent heavily on transfers and wages for League 1. However, he got the manager's position for us off the back of very good job at Scunthorpe - taking them to the Championship twice and then keeping them up in one of those seasons. The resources he would have had in that job were far smaller than anything he's taken on since leaving us, so it is a bit of a mystery that he hasn't managed any semblance of success. Each job he's taken has yielded pretty poor results.

Off the top of my head, I think they scored 1 goal between them. Edit: Just checked, they both scored 2 each.

To be honest I don’t recall anyone saying Sims was going to become the next Le Tiss. He looked like he had a bit of potential and hasn’t managed to realise it. Clearly has some injury issues, as should have a club at Lge 1 level, but personally I didn’t think he’d make it in the Prem. More widely, many players show a lot of promise but for varying reasons just don’t kick on. We have countless examples over the years. The Guardian are running their Next Gen series at the moment and it’s interesting to see that many players seen as the best players in the world at 16/17/18 still don’t go on to make it at the top level and some drop out of the game all together. Players picked as the best prospects at Prem clubs also vary on whether they push on, less than 50% usually do. All this highlights that it is extremely difficult to become a pro footballer. Even more difficult to become an elite player at Premier League level. The guys playing in this league are amongst the best in the world, the top 0.1%.

To whittle it down, I’ve only used players that I really enjoyed watching and played 2 seasons or more: Flowers Clyne Monkou Van Dijk Bridge Case Schneiderlin Rod Wallace Le Tiss Lallana Lambert

Were you at the game? If not, you seem to be going in hard on a player you still haven't seen play. Thanks for the balanced report. I will reserve judgement until I see him play a number of times. There are comparisons to the reaction to Mane, but last season some posters were going mental that we'd bought Salisu, who 'was clearly a dud' or some such bollocks. Should teach people to be a bit more rational, but clearly doesn't.

Indeed. May work in our favour: https://www.hammers.news/international/west-ham-star-michail-antonio-lasts-just-70-minutes-of-international-debut-for-woeful-jamaica-after-10500-mile-round-trip/

Just seen your other post, great minds! Yeah, it’s an odd one. Was training with the skates too, I think.

Still without a club. Strange as he was clearly good enough for Lge 1 at least. Anyone know if this injury is the reason?

People keep banging on about Romero, but there must be a reason why he's still without a club and someone like West Ham haven't even picked him up. It must be crazy wage demands or his professionalism. You have to question why someone who was Argie's No1 decided to willingly go and play second fiddle to De Gea and then stayed there playing very little football at the peak of his career. Maybe just wants to be a Stuart Taylor type now.

To be honest, he doesn't actually come across as that passionate about football or the club - just seems like a job he's fallen into. Nowhere near the level of Carl, or the previous Echo journalist (name escapes me), or someone like Adam Blackmore. He doesn't seem that bothered and it is reflected in the quality of his output.

If he was as furious as the article makes out, I think Small could have been a bit more creative with the destruction of his contract - maybe dowsed it in lighter fluid and set fire to it?

Nice finishes from Doyle. One to keep an eye on. Whoever put the vid together thought we were playing Brighton!

Sending tactics in by post? I'm sure Redknapp employed this method in our relegation season.