stevegrant

Obviously I can't quote verbatim as I wasn't there, but I recall the comment was more along the lines of "we're tied into a long-term contract that would be expensive to get out of, but if we get promoted we may look into doing so". I guess it all depends on just how expensive it would be...

Unless we get struck down with injuries, I can't see Hooiveld getting another PL game this season. His confidence is shot to pieces, two penalties conceded and two own goals scored. Anyone got him in their Fantasy League team?

My point being that Graham was available, he was simply not selected. In fact, the last game he started was a month ago, when he was hauled off at half-time with Swansea 2-0 down at home to Reading. Graham isn't crucial to the way they play, certainly not as important as Lambert is to us. The West Ham game was a strange one because we did look like we were lacking a focal point for attacks without Lambert, but we actually played a lot better before he came off the bench.

Danny Graham was on the bench.

To be honest, I'll be very surprised if we make any changes for Saturday. I guess there's an argument for chucking Boruc in instead of Gazzaniga but his mistake on Saturday wasn't a mistake born out of a lack of communication, which you often get with goalkeepers who aren't familiar with the defenders in front of him, and apart from that one moment (which I'll be amazed if he repeats it, he'll just put his foot through it next time) dare I say we actually looked reasonably solid at the back against Swansea.

3 times more likely one of them will make a mistake then

Neither Lee or Mayuka have taken their opportunities to prove their worth when given a starting place in the Capital One Cup. Of course, that needs to be in the context that they're playing alongside a load of reserves, but even so, Lee was disappointing at both Stevenage and Leeds, while Mayuka obviously only played at Elland Road but did very little. For all the plaudits he's received for cameo performances against Villa and Spurs, in his other outings he's not shown anything. He was on the pitch for 20 minutes at West Brom last week and I can't remember him touching the ball.

And the first bit? Why direct your ire at companies who are merely doing what companies do, rather than the succession of governments who allow it (arguably actively encourage it) to happen?

If the various loopholes are closed, great, but it seems somewhat odd to have a pop at companies who are doing what any good business should be doing and minimising its expenditure within the laws of the land they are operating Why would you pay more than you need to? That had nothing to do with corporation tax. That was a bunch of NIMBY types getting uppity that their town full of 1970s-esque tea rooms might have faced some proper competition.

I'm always amused by the idea that boycotting a company that doesn't pay much corporation tax might actually prove any sort of point. If such a company receives less revenue as a result of negative publicity, all that will happen is their profits will be smaller which will encourage them to cut costs (i.e. jobs), which of course then results in less PAYE/NI being paid As if the company would think "oh noes, we'd better pay more corporation tax and fewer dividends" rather than "let's keep the same dividends but trim the staff"

The football industry is quite similar to banking here, if you whistleblow or bad-mouth ex-employers publicly, you tend not to get another job within the industry. NDAs are also very common.

If you're after a list of names of people who have provided information as a basis to decide whether you think something posted on an internet forum is reliable or not then you're going to be very disappointed. Writing on a forum or in a newspaper is a completely different kettle of fish to writing an A-Level essay. Nobody with any sense is going to reveal their sources because doing so would probably ensure they never receive any information from them ever again, and depending on the source's role, could see that role jeopardised.

There is the $64m question... As SFC is now a privately-owned company, there is pretty much nothing any one of us could do even if we had any ideas about what to do.

Bankers have never failed at anything financial

They should do, considering they invariably cost football clubs more per season than any transfer spending.

This isn't just about MLT's ticket gripe, which was clearly vindictive on the part of someone within the club (seems fairly obvious who that someone would be), as season tickets are regularly transferred for the odd game here or there when the owner can't make it and nobody bats an eyelid. I know people who, as adults, have gone to games using a friend's child's season ticket, and the stewards just stand idly by and let them walk on in, despite the turnstiles flashing up an extra light when a concession ticket is placed in the scanner. Also, you could easily make a case to state that he has no other option because let's face it, if Cortese can't be arsed to talk to him (which I would suggest is clearly the case), nobody's going to be kissing and making up any time soon, are they? The article says "At least one former employee who was sacked took legal action". There have been loads. I'm sure there are many users of this forum who know someone who has been through such a scenario, the club appears to have a vindictive policy when it comes to legal action, appearing to be willing to fight industrial tribunals all the way only to then offer a settlement the day before the hearing. As a result, the number of tribunal applications has probably been a lot lower than it could/should have been, simply because the stance taken has led the former employees to become so drained and depressed by the situation that they simply can't be bothered or can't face going through the whole process.

neither - the adult thing is to speak one-to one and sort it out, out side of the media spotlight - if nothing is resolved you move on and let it go, especially if you know taht speaking out in public could harm the very thing you love or divide those that also love it... Its not as if the spat was ever something major that would impact on the success of the club - it was a personal thing... immature behaviour to use media connections to try and get public/fan support for your argument over something like this... It must be a lovely view up in your ivory towers, Frank. If I worked for a very public company like a football club, I was sacked or forced to resign from a job I'd been competently doing for many years for no good reason, and those involved in doing so refused to engage in any sort of conversation, what other option am I left with? I sure as hell wouldn't be willing to just "let it go".

They should be in the top 2 with the squad they've got at their disposal and Howe's return and the subsequent upturn in performances and results only shows what an utterly appalling job Lee Bradbury and Paul Groves did last season and this.

Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day. Throwing this one out there: Guy Whittingham will do a better job at Pompey than Appleton did, and Blackpool won't finish in the top 6 this season.

I find it amusing that they invent a system that would have been genuinely useful over the last 2-3 years and then realise that the software they've paid a fortune for can't cope with it, but much like somewhere like North Korea, they can't admit they made a mistake because losing face would be their worst possible outcome, and so just carry on trying to push the relevance of the system anyway

Because the new ticketing system doesn't actually have the points system - as designed - built into it. When ST renewals were being processed, they had some sort of recognition of loyalty points on the home screen when you logged in, but that was solely on a "one point per pound spent" basis, which clearly isn't the basis they're using (and rightly so - the most expensive games are usually the ones everyone wants to go to). I genuinely believe that, now they know the ticket system won't count up the points assigned to each game for them, they're now just making it up as they go along and hoping they don't cause a massive ****storm by ballsing everything up for a big game. They've been relatively fortunate so far that, as far as I can see, the majority of tickets for away games have been sold to those a) who most deserve them, and b) who put the most effort into getting them. A mate of mine got an email before the Sheffield Wednesday game which told him that tickets for the Wednesday game would give fans priority for any game in the next round. They've decided not to bother giving anybody credit for trekking all the way up to Leeds for a reserve game as that game doesn't appear on the list, and there's no real sense in not including QPR in the process as most of the tickets for that game will have been sold by the time the Liverpool ones go on sale. Has anyone actually bothered to keep a tally of how many "points" they're supposed to have?

Even if it does sell out, it'll have reached general sale comfortably.

Noted and fixed. Will be doing a full software upgrade shortly.