Whitey Grandad

Yes yes, I knew that, and that’s why it’s wrong. What about the decisions that aren’t given and the game carries on?

But how do you know what they key moments were?

I saw what you did there For the record, everything I say is tongue in cheek. At least, not to be taken seriously. [emoji14]

What the hell was McCarthy doing? The ball comes across at head height and yet he has both hands below his waist and actually flinches away from the ball. We are all, quite rightly, incensed that the handball went unnoticed but if it had come of his head McCarthy would have been nowhere near it anyway.

If you review one decision then you have to review them all. It’s a sport, it’s not Russian roulette.

Indeed it was [emoji2] That’s the trouble with t’Internet, no sense of humour.

When there is obviously something wrong, as in this instance, the ref should ask the ‘offending’ player if he wants to ‘fess up and remind him that if it turns out that he did actually punch the ball into the net then he would get a substantial fine and a long term ban. Maybe other sanctions such as his club being docked three points. That’s what ought to happen. The rewards, one point in this case, far outweigh any negative sanctions. He’s a cheat and should be banned from all football.

Need you ask?

Ha ha, so was my reply ?

The thought of this nincompoop in charge of us in the Championship is truly depressing.

Should be a lifetime ban. That’s as bad as taking drugs.

Why involve me, I wasn’t even there.

The Times today (paywall) has an analysis of the probabilities of final positions. They have us at a 31% possibility of relegation. ‘Yet perhaps the most shocking figure in the halfway spreadsheet is that the other team expected to go down is Southampton, managed by Mauricio Pellegrino, left. Now “expected” refers to averages and probabilities, rather than being used in the colloquial sense. So, there is only a 31 per cent chance of the south coast club being relegated, but as I’ve noted concerning Arsenal, 31 per cent is pretty substantial.’ Huddersfield Town rank 32nd in our all- team ranking, which is halfway down the Championship. So it’s quite an achievement that their relegation chance is also 31 per cent. https://extras.thetimes.co.uk/web/interactives/bca314ed6a27eb1a7ce8434de54e3453.html

Hmm.. ‘making jokes about Puel’ and it’s not his fault?

Yes, it’s worrying. With Stephens there is at least the slight hope that he will get better. With Yoshida this is as good as he will get.

Correct. Everything is by agreement. When Abramovic took over Chelsea they were paying upfront for every player that they bought.

Thanks. I suspect that supporting Saints might sometimes be given as a cause of death.

The club said that they weren’t allowed to sell the seats. Something about the plastic not being kosher. Or something. I couldn’t get to the Brighton game but my daughter did. She told me that the chants of “Stand up, if you’ve got your seat” had started before half time. This was sung whilst waving the seat over your head. She couldn’t actually get my seat but she did bring me back the little number from the backrest. Very thoughtful of her.

Indeed, we just don’t know. You’re right, the fees are in instalments but we don’t know about the sell-ons. My neighbour at St Mary’s, whose knowledge I respect, told me that Liverpool were paying Celtic’s cut on top of the reported fee. In the end it doesn’t really matter. We shall get a big lump of money which should be enough for a couple of good, but not fantastic, defenders. The net value won’t be the full £75m though but the exact figures are not important unless you’re playing Football Manager.

I’m happy to have a chat but I don’t do Twitter.

Why wouldn’t they get it all upfront? It’s all down to the Terms and Conditions of the agreement and none of us is privy to those. The contract when we bought VVD could easily have stipulated full payment to Celtic of their cut when he was sold. Or then again it may not. There are no rules or regulations for this sort of thing.

I was there with my daughter. Upper East Stand centre. Finest view of any football ground anywhere. I had to rush away afterwards and drive to Harwich for a school reunion for the 50-year olds. I can still see everything in my mind exactly as it happened.

For the source see post #25 and the full text in #32. How much truth there is in this we don’t know. Full sell-on fee upfront might be a condition of the deal when we bought him. Who knows? https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/football-notebook-virgil-van-dijk-fee-will-not-lead-southampton-to-spend-big-ph85g7bln

What made it a "wonder goal" was that it was a wonder that a player like Chris could have scored it.

What happened to him? Edit: To save anyone the trouble of looking him up, and to avoid accusations of being a lazy old git (even if they are true), he is playing for Ionikos FC at the age of 40 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Camara