The Kraken

No, we’re being run like a shoddy B&B.

Welcome home Gareth….. A while ago I’d have thought Tottenham would be nailed on for him. But with Kane, Son and Kulusevski they’ve already got a very good front three (assuming they keep them together). Still a good option for them and him though. If he doesn’t go to spurs I’m struggling to see where Bale may end up, he’s imo still good enough for nearly all squads in the PL. I think it’ll need to be a bigger team in the division though, he can’t and won’t start every game, I think for spurs he came on as sub just as many times as he started. Saints would want him starting every game, which imo makes us a less attractive proposition for him. And I don’t see going to Cardiff or a team in the Championship.

Alpine_Potter must have been delighted with that.

I don’t think it is, it’s last seasons shirt so probably all they’ve got left in stock. There’s leaked pics of Celtics 22/23 shirt online with no sponsor. I may be wrong and my memory failing me, but I thought either the Ireland football or rugby shirts always used to have a logo on them, but it was possible to pay more for a sponsor free version. Like I say, not sure of that but just what I thought I remember. Personally there’s no way I’d pay more to have a sponsor on a shirt, they pretty much always make the shirt design worse.

There’s precedent for it elsewhere too. In 20/21 and 21/22 Celtic sold a no-sponsor version of their home and away shirts. https://store.celticfc.com/celtic-mens-2021-22-home-shirt-with-no-sponsor

If you’re talking about the ones with just a spout then, yeah, those things are rubbish, just chaos and so much waste booze. From the reviews I’ve read these beer machine things are actually very good (price aside).

The kegs don’t seem like great value, £30 to £35 for 6 litres, that’s what, about £3 a pint? It would have to taste like nectar to justify that cost for lager, which IMO is perfectly alright out of a can.

A sense of being a pedantic twat.

Ah, so that’s what the noise was!

Thanks. I assumed it would be something like rolling contracts with some looked on a bit more favourably depending on their closeness to the manager. I’ll admit I’m still trying the circle the square of the dilemma of the three coaches who have just left, and what the dynamic was with SFC before that. I have lots of questions based on rumours in here and beyond that Ralph wasn’t entirely happy with his coaching set up. If not, who wanted them? And why didn’t Ralph bring in others if he wasn’t happy with them. Or, did he try but was rebuffed? I’ve heard Ralph’s tactics go down into Academy teams, so I’d be surprised if he’s refused coaching personnel. Or, was Ralph actually happy with the setup and it’s just some untrue rumours coming out? Questions, questions.

Pretty much a spot on assessment IMO. Stephens has occasions when he looks actually quite a reasonable player. Never amazing, but if he’s on top of his game you think ‘ok, there’s a player there’. But then just far, far too often he reverts to type, there’s too many mistakes in him, and at this level he just simply isn’t good enough. The fact that fans on here says he’s just about alright for a fourth choice centre back says a lot. He seems a good lad, I’m sure he trains hard, but he’s just a bit too awful too often.

While you’re here MLG, I’d appreciate if you could answer a question for me, in line with the previous discussion, if you know. I think we all know that managers of PL sides sign up to contracts that tie them to the club for a number of years. We know that Ralph has two years left on his extension that he signed with us. My question is, what usually happens with assistant managers and coaches? Do they get the same sort of term deal? I can’t imagine they just go on the club’s payroll, as that makes them a bit harder to fire/release. But signing them all up to a term deal in line with the manager seems a bit of a risk. Genuine question. Cheers.

A bit?! That an understatement! What a basket case of a club. You love to see it. Glory glory indeed….

If the replacement coaches are in work at other clubs at the moment (or have been this season) then they’re likely under contract until at minimum end of May, so they may not be announced with us until after that. That’s the optimistic version. The pessimistic version…….nah, I won’t bother, too many variables. I’m hoping something is in place already or is imminent. If it isn’t, well, it’s not a good look, as much as I hate to be all Alpine Saint about “where are the signings” when we’re not even into June. Talking of Alpine, whatever happened to him? Hopefully he found some joy in his life, cos he had none on here.

Fair play to that DSB lad for doing some mock-ups based on the rumours so far. I can only hope that his kit designs, while being accurately aligned to the rumours of the colour schemes we’ve heard mooted on here, are nowhere near what Hummel have planned for us. I’ve seen some awful mock-ups in my time but the white with red narrow stripe, the blue sea wave, and the camo green; those three are right up there as the worst ever actual kits or mock ups I’ve ever seen.

Get Uncle Les on the phone, I’m sure he’s got them on speed dial.

If anyone thinks Danny DrinkDriver is the answer, I’d hate to know what the question is.

Not a good moment for that Levi lad.

Not a fan of that myself.

Yes, it’s potentially a massively difficult decision. We don’t know how much the individual terms are but, at this level and the level of funding available to such a small group of personnel of footballers, it’s definitely a difficult choice to make. For example….Chloe Morgan plays for Crystal Palace in the Championship. She is a personal injury lawyer, a solicitor. Her day job would likely earn her more money and definitely much more future opportunities than a career in football. From what I gather a number of our players are either students or recent grads. They have a whole career ahead of them in whatever field they studied in. As such they may well have an extremely difficult decision to make. Football is the glamour but, outside of the elite clubs and the top top players, it’s a risk to take. It is not flippant to suggest that a full time pro contract may not be in everyone’s interests.

I’ve not been made redundant myself, though I’ve both previously sacked and made redundant people that worked for me. I can’t imagine doing either of those things, as their direct manager, without being involved in the process and being there when the final decision happened. The owners, they’ve got no business getting their hands dirty with this. No blame in them. I’d like to imagine Ralph talked it through with the three personally beforehand about what was going to happen. If he did, then fine. It’s a shitty thing to have to do and it needs to be done properly, both legally and morally. No idea if he did or didn’t so can’t comment on that process, but as their direct boss he should have interfaced with them at some point in the proceedings.

Two poor examples. Brian Clough in particular relied upon having a strong right hand man working alongside him. Peter Taylor is rightly remembered as being a major part of Clough’s success. Alex Ferguson had a few number twos, and gave them a lot of responsibility to take the hands on coaching while Ferguson had an oversight role.

No you don’t. You do in the WSL. I looked into this just recently and, from what I could tell, most of the clubs in the Championship are semi pro.

He has actually. Granted he was youngish at the time. Decent player like I say, but I think it’s telling that no one has come in for him since he let go by Leicester. At 28 and as an attacking midfielder, he has maybe not got too long left at his peak. But as another poster said, if he’s free and doesn’t cost mad wages, he can’t be much worse than what we’ve got.,I’m just hoping for a lot better than we’ve got, and Tom Lawrence isn’t that IMO.

Decent player in the championship, not cut out for premier league imo.