Whitey Grandad

You're either very brave or very stupid posting here after tonight's performance.

To be fair to him, in the first half he did make a run to the goal-line and put a good ball across the face of the goal but nobody got near it. Was it after that that he went into a sulk?

You're asking the wrong person. 'player trading' showed a profit of £5m, £7.5m on disposal less £2.5m amortisation - writing down of player's values over the length of their contracts.

That is their prerogative. The same thing happens at a general election and it's called 'democracy'

Ta for that. I've just had a quick scan through the 2007 figures but there is precious little detail in the figures for operating costs. Basically, as I see it, on a turnover of £23.27m we had total costs of £27.2m (including £5.658 for 'admin') and players'/coaches' wages of £10.5m. Total staff salaries were £15m on 212 employees, which presumably includes the players, giving an average employee 'salary' of over £70k p.a. From what I can see interest payments were about £2m and we had more than that in the bank. We come back to this figure for 'cost of sales' at £21.35m of which over £11m is not player-related and does not include admin costs of £5.66m. The resulting small losss for the year was mainly because of the profit from player sales. Interestingly the loss amounted to 2.44 pence per share. I look forward to the figures for 2008 with interest.

Can anyone publish a detailed copy of these? All that I have seen has been mainly speculation. There is still the question of the big imbalance between first-team and non first-team spending.

The defining question is: 'Where has all the money gone?' From what we can gather we have been spending less than 50% on the playing and coaching staff.

Did we get an elucidation? All I can say is that Blackstock must be sh!t-hot in training!

I think that we can see the results of that. Of course, the understudies may one day be stars in their own rights but in the meantime the punters have taken their hard-earned dosh elsewhere.

I see where you're coming from, but to extend your analogy it's like paying top price for a West-End show and finding that all the stars have been replaced by understudies. If the management continues with the same policy then the crowds will dwindle.

We don't have the players for Route 1 to be effective, but pretty football doesn't seem to be working either.

There appears to be two completely different opinions about the style of play. One group thinks that we are playing fantastic football and just need a killer touch up front, the other that it is lightweight and ineffective and getting worse. From my point of view, what I saw last Saturday was one of the feeblest, boring, depressing performances that I have ever paid to watch. Yet some others thought it was a good game. We can't both be right - or wrong. I think that there is a dimension missing in our game, call it physical presence, athleticism, power, I just think that we look a little 'thin'.

Me too, I'm sure it would have counted. Did you see Wotton jabbing his finger at someone for giving the ball away? Was it McGoldrick (again)?

Whilst we're on the subject, I've just noticed this smiley: :smt046 I can guess that the 'R' and 'L' stand for Rupert Lowe but what does the 'F' stand for?

Those are two words that you don't normally see next to each other.

One more couple get voted off 'Strictly Come Dancing'

Well said! We could carry on debating all day when surely it's not too difficult for the club to contact those who have not renewed their season tickets and find out why they haven't.

It is a sporting convention among football teams that the away team play towards their own fans in the second half.

It's the one theory that explains everything.

Not you too! This is getting to be like 'the Body Snatchers'

Er, it's not even half-full

I wasn't referring to you or me because I shall be there regardless, and I expect that you shall too. I was referring to the thousands who don't want to pay to watch second-rate reserves. All the famous names that you mention were first-rate reserves and were introduced to the first team gradually. Lallana apart, I don't see anything in the current bunch to suggest that they will make the grade.

Could that be because he is the one in whom they see the most profit when they sell him?

boys against men

I think we must have gone to different games. Our passing, long and short, was some of the worst that I have ever seen.