saint1977

There's also the question of what was 'fit' under the Hughes and Pellegrino shambles and what is 'fit' under Ralph. Add in having surgery and then the catching up to Ralph's level and intensity which has seemingly gone from sloppy standards around the club to proper, full time, professional standard and getting back to PL levels again. To me, it says that both player and manager want it to be right and wouldn't be surprised if Lemina has a phased return as well. The bigger comment is on the previous managers - I use that term loosely for Hughes and Pellegrino. I didn't like Puel but at least there seemed to be some standards, even if they were below Ronald's, Poch's or Nigel's.

Burnley should have had a stonewall pen first half so we can’t complain too much at Crouch fouling Stephens. Just getting in terms of the timing. Could still be a valuable point with such a depleted side out. Really need Bournemouth to help us! CP beating Fulham helpful.

That’s what happens when you allow someone astonishingly inept to carry on in a senior role 2 years past their ‘summer of glory’. Reed has done this club more damage than Rupert and Branfoot combined.

As Michael Heseltine said in his book ‘my colleagues on the right think they always know how things should be done’ but lack the real world experience and need for attention to detail and compromise in negotiation when it comes to it. Gove has found a number of problems with no deal and Brexit, not least the huge reliance of water purification chemicals from the EU with disasterous results for consumers and farmers. You didn’t mention the worst of all - Chris Failing and Fat Boris, the latter couldn’t put his cream cake or latest mistress down for long enough to bother to any read any of his briefings and embarrass the UK around the world. Endorsements from the DT are irrelevant when none of those are proper journalists but the Barclay Brothers subservient minions. Grayling - cabinet equivalent of Pellegrino at SFC. I haven’t seen a single Brexiteer fit for office yet. If anyone is surprised that the US pre-talks are so lopsided, they should stayed on at school beyond 15 and paid a bit more attention.

Agree with some of this, although Boufal I think we'll get a buyer for as long as the fee is £10-15m. Maybe more from a Middle East or Chinese club. Carrillo - done OK at a very small club and although Pellegrino was a disaster here, you'd have to say the same about him so far. So it does prove some players and managers suit certain leagues and situations. With Carrillo it depends how much we pay Monaco up front as he's only made half-a-dozen appearances for us. His wages aren't too hefty be all accounts and might be easier to shift then we think. I also think Cedric is good value for that low fee, although hefty wages. I think he'll go, Inter or not. Clasie will probably settle for a % of his last 12 months wages for a small fee from Feyenoord. The more difficult ones will be Fraser and Hoedt. Crazy decision and very inept by Les on Fraser but equal criticism aimed at Kreuger for not over-ruling him and getting rid of Les as well at the time. Obvious even to a non-football leader that Forster was shocking in 16/17 although under Pellegrino he really did regress staggeringly. Rodwell and Sunderland all over again - Fraser needs a loan to L1, L2 or non-league to keep fit for the rest of this campaign. Or take 25% of what's left and retire. Contract is a contract though and club can't force him. They apparantly have a good relationship with him, but the agent may have a say. Hoedt - things have to get better than his Celta debut! Hopefully he can do enough to secure a £6-9m move somewhere, maybe Ajax or one of the bigger Belgian clubs? Or a promoted Bundesliga side? Going to have to take another bath though and learn the lesson that DoF/Vice Chair role is only for the mentally competent. Austin we'll get a buyer for - Champ side wanting to go up. Long will see out his last months as a squad player as RH likes him, but no extension. All might look better in the summer but purely contingent on avoiding major injuries before then...

Totally agree. Trust the manager but if keeps them up he has done an amazing job and the disappearing wages black hole needs a serious assault in May. Huge risk and they will have to rely on Cardiff and Fulham not going on a run of results. I think we will do enough but it may be tight, tighter than it should have been. That assault on waste includes a purge on the hangers on around the board and the useless scouting team. Gao and KL need to sell up as well.

I see what you did there. No Carrillo white elephants at least incoming to further clog the wage bill. All of things Les did, he might as well have done a KLF and burnt £20m on an island somewhere. Hoedt is no loss although a red card start suggests he may not be easy shifting longer term. Davis went with best wishes and suited everyone. Fraser was another one of the senile one’s master strokes and still here however. On the other hand, unless Cedric was so toxic Ralph really wanted him off the premises, not at least an RB on loan on lower than Cedric’s alleged 60k a week was abject stupidity. Still, little Ross has had plenty of term to learn from Les and stupid does as stupid says. No reason to keep Ross, get the scouting team ripped apart, new blood and ready for whatever division the club are in. Even better luck would be Gao selling up now someone has given him a large share of Lander’s shares and take money grabbing Kat with him.

Ah the DT. When I looked on their online pages in the new year. every single article was about Charles Moore demanding/pleading for no-deal Brexit. Imagine if he actually had to write his own views and not have the Barclay Brothers bellowing at him?

Happy to take the point, JWP has played better recently but very helpful scoring habit and liking the edge in his game. Stephens was shocking but we haven't got lots of options at CB. Lucky not to at least get booked for that first half challenge. With Lemina seemingly out long-ish term, when Yoshi gets back I'd play Jack at DMC. Has the engine to play in midfield. PEH and Romeu poor, Valery defended OK but limited going forward, but that may have been the instruction tbf. Targett very poor, need Bertrand back Sat big time as one of our few proven PL standard players. Ings and Redmond very isloated and Palace defended well. Finally, not having watched a stream, what did Zaha do after being sent off? He got 2 yellows for reaction/dissent but the comments on the match thread he'd done more as he was leaving the pitch? Will be interesting to see if turns up in Marriner's report. A one match ban becoming 2 or 3 would not please Hodgson.

No point showing the loonies that, they only believe in unicorns, not facts.

Very good 2p it is as well. With the Maggie rebate, we've got a great deal. If people are concerned about any risk of getting drawn into further political union or very far fetched, EU armies, become a customs union member. I agree that the Remain campaign was total cack and could have sold the above far better. It would have helped counter the blatant lies from Leave - although I think a legal threat to Johnson might have stopped the bus. Joint R&D between our companies and governments has reduced serious illnesses including cancers that helps all strata of society, and now Brexit threatens to get in the way of that. Madness. Trouble is, a lot of the swivel eyed on here don't want any connection with the EU at all - and the views and obsessions are entrenched. All they are interested in is becoming Singapore or USA lite. Meanwhile the Leave campaign headliners will have it all piled away in the Caymans. The pragmatic side of me wins, and I say take the flippin deal. Sort the backstop out with the EU and let's all move on.

Targett will need help dealing with him, as he destroyed Matt in the cup game under Ronald a couple of years ago. Shame Berty isn't fit as at least his pace could have helped cover if Matt got skinned.

Report in the Independent about a Brexiteer walking behind Muslim girls in Tower Hamlets and recorded muttering revolting comments about stopping them from having children and breeding like rats. Racist incidents up 40% in the last year. Members of my family from mainland Europe have received racist abuse picking up the kids from school in the midlands. Now they have moved to mainland Europe wholesale with their engineering skills. Can’t blame them, England turning into a cesspit. People criticised Blair for having a target of getting 50% of young people to Higher Education or at least to equivalent vocational training like NVQ level 5 and upwards, I was one of them. I was wrong. The areas where there are higher proportions of graduates and highly skilled professionals/trades will be better placed whatever the final outcome in Westminster. Meanwhile areas left behind who chose to stick two fingers up are going to get the worst of it if is no-deal. Poor education and lack of skilled trades capacity in those areas will large economies totally ill-equipped to benefit from any opportunities that do arrive for new trade deals. Areas like Barnsley thought it couldn’t get any worse - congratulations, you voted for Thatcherism on grotesque steroids. Oh, and the Tories are looking to cut funding for post 18 education. You couldn’t make it up, as a certain Murdoch columnist used to say.

Three or four that stand out - Short on Beattie in Sturrock’s last game - Pahars v Everton early in 02/03 - R Wallace v Newcastle early 90s to end a hideous run without winning - Saganowski v Yeovil x2

Great thread, although tragic circumstances. I can't claim any great knowledge of aviation but this seems set to run and run. Difficult question - but what impact could this uncertainty about registration and licencing have on insurance for those affected? Clearly, thoughts primarily with the friends and family of those involved but because there is an expensive elite sportsperson involved this could be complex from the outside looking in.

I seriously flipping hope so but after the Fonte debacle, you just expect the worst.

Wee Ross not faring any better despite not having gramps to take to the toilet. Even if RH didn’t rate Cedric the squad is so weak there that deal is pathetically poor for a regular international. Plenty more useless turd to clear out of the club yet.

And that's who the Brexiteers want us to have a major trade deal with. As if you can seriously believe or trust a word he says (Trump or Liam Fox frankly). Meanwhile, another example of what polarised bile in a society produces. There are different views here of who said and did what, but I would ask the school and Alt/Far Right groups 'why are the students wearing Donald Trump campaign hats if they weren't planning on being involved in trouble or partisan behaviour?' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46943364

Llorente having a shocker, og and then misses a sitter. Ref dreadfully poor. Alli just looks like he has pulled his hamstring. Would settle for Fulham not winning now. They were good in first half but poor this half and Spurs should have put them away.

Totally agree with this. Corbyn is abysmal but May's dogma is a large part of the issue. She was obsessed with immigration control at the HO, setting meaningless net targets that did the economy major harm and setting a culture that led to the Windrush scandal. Even the like of Fox, and especially Javid (several times) have spoken ouut against her on this. It's hard for her to speak out against the swivel's because she created some the conditions for them to thrive and obsess. Moreover she also led David Not-so-Nice but Dim right up the garden path on the issue, although appeared unpopular with Osborne/Cable/Willets Group.

JWP, Stephens and Johnson good, Rom tidy, Cedric, Ramsay, Armstrong all poor. Ely after a couple of nice touches early on a total passenger. And it’s 1-0. Surprised Murphy didn’t cheer. Ramsay gave a stupid ball out. VAR ruled out. F uck you Danny Murphy plus Derby and their c nut fans. Forest fan at work will have cheered that. Murphy stop whining. I know you are a scouser and it’s in the DNA but it’s the same for both sides. And again. Even the tater has effectively said ‘it’s offside, shut up’. Used at the right times? It’s either offside or not Danny.

Long misses a sitter. Great ball by Johnson who looks bright but could be off already with the stupid foul and dive. Overall not a bad display so far given the side we have out. Frustrated at missing that first big chance.

You were right, Franny on 55. Deano in fact didn't join us until the following summer, after the crazy season that was 98/99! Dailly had scored a header just before that at the Archers End. Also far more likely that Franny would do something like that than Deano! Still not as blatant as the Ruel Fox sending off v Norwich though.

Yeah, I don't know what happened with him Badger. Very good record at Torquay but was seemingly touting himself for bigger jobs. He came a cropper at Bristol Rovers and Luton were an unstable club at that stage. Cheltenham I remember less about but he never stayed any more than a year anywhere after Torquay although see he's had a job in the US. He'll fit a corporate style which seems to be most PL and Championship clubs these days. Could see him fitting in at SFC. Those short duration jobs would be a concern - why didn't it work out at BR, Luton and Cheltenham? I've only seen him as a manager at Torquay so don't know how he is regarded as a coach? Guessing he's Martin Hunter's replacement?

Just to clarify, I don't mind that Derby beat us in the play offs, you win and lose at any sport. It's the fact that they should have been down to 9 men in the first half, Fagan's tackle in particular was appalling, one bad tackle nailed Bale and Kenwyn each. Should have been red cards for both. Explains why ref bottled sending off Pele when he brought down Pearson for the pen. Was amazed they beat WBA in the final but we saw their true selves in the PL the next season - record low points that even Hudds will beat - and Billy Davies bubble first. Saw his PNE side play at Leeds and they were just as dirty then, Revie End was frothing at Davies that day and some serious bile vented around us.