stevegrant

It was removed as it's quite an intensive query to load all that data, and as we were having major problems with the database coping with the number of requests, that was one way of easing the load. Now we've managed to tweak the settings to make it much more robust, I will try to phase some of those small features back in over the next few weeks.

I suspect the £8m he's talking about is broken down as follows: £6.9m advanced to the club when they went into administration (documented in the administrator's 6-month progress report) Plus another advance (or possibly a legitimate scheduled payment - not sure when parachute payments are actually paid) The most intriguing thing there is that Duffen has come out and said all of this, considering he's likely to be bound by a non-disclosure agreement...

Incorrect. They were deducted ten points for the actions of previous directors in relation to payments to agents. That sanction was imposed by the FA. They were also deducted twenty points for failing to exit administration with an accepted CVA (which was the third time they'd been in administration). That sanction was imposed by the Football League.

Good game, I thought. Don't see how anyone could complain about the red card or the penalty, City did well to create as many chances as they did with ten men, but Arsenal always looked pretty comfortable. That said, 3-0 flattered them.

Intrigued by this part of the FL statement: Does that mean they're still under an embargo?

Decent end to the game, nothing in it really. On a complete tangent, anyone seen the score from the Eredivisie this afternoon... PSV Eindhoven 10-0 Feyenoord

How does Mandaric owe Gaydamak money, when it was Gaydamak who was the buyer, not the other way around?!

Why is Delgado in the list of disliked personnel?

Fair enough. Was that accounted for in the budget, I wonder...

Not entirely sure, I don't think they have to start making the CVA payments until they exit administration anyway (hopefully Clapham Saint can confirm), so there's probably not a great deal the creditors can do right now. The administrator will be liable for any debts accrued during administration if things go tits up before the CVA is paid.

They won't be able to start next season in administration, although I guess there would be scope for allowing it on the acceptance of a massive points deduction. The CVA has been agreed, so there's no danger of any CVA-related sanctions.

I'd be very wary of taking things AA says at face value. I was led to believe that the advanced parachute payment was paid to them before they went into administration, and that Chainrai had said he would guarantee £7m during the administration period.

Unfortunately, I think Mann was right to throw out HMRC's appeal on the case that they presented to them. I'm no legal expert, but it seemed to me that they went at it from completely the wrong angle. With the players being allowed to claim for the money they would be owed over the remainder of their contract, HMRC should have counterclaimed for the PAYE/NI payable on those wages.

Correct. If it gets to the stage where there's no realistic prospect of finding a buyer, he could just pull the plug. I'm not convinced it'll come to that in the near future, it'll get strung out until at least the end of the season, IMO. That said, they would still be losing £1m a month if it wasn't for Chainrai putting in that £7m loan, so perhaps the situation is (for once) as AA says it is, i.e. end of this month or bust.

Someone should organise a down on Hayling Island, tbf...

He's already contributed £7m during administration, so I expect he's (finally) discovered some financial sense.

Summary from that report: Zero cost up front Repayments only made when graduate is earning £21k or more Repayments are a fixed 9% of salary over £21k (e.g. if you're earning £25k a year, you pay 9% of £4k a year) Repayments stop if the graduate stops earning £21k (could be interesting for those that go straight into self-employed work...) The interest rate on the loan is the same rate at which the government borrows money Any balance remaining after 30 years is written off.

Dress codes for the nightclubs vary massively. Most of them will have promoters hanging around the hotels during the day giving out promo entry vouchers, so it's a decent idea to check with them before you head out for the evening. For example, there are basically no dress code requirements at all in Coyote Ugly (in New York, New York), but in Studio 54 (MGM Grand) it's much more "smart casual", no trainers, etc. Studio 54 is highly-rated, but having been there last year I thought it was a load of crap. Overpriced and overcrowded.

Correct.

I've always subscribed to this theory as well, and yet professional managers up and down the country have been bringing every player back for corners for years. I think I heard someone on Goals on Sunday a year or two ago say that the idea behind it was that the more defenders you've got in the area, the harder it is for the opposition to score, but there are clearly major flaws there.

To be fair, I'd suggest that might be more to do with Tranmere only having one player in the area for those corners than any particularly pre-determined tactic. There's no point bringing everyone back to defend a corner when you already massively outnumber the opposition, and I doubt it would have been something that would have been expected, especially in the first half at 0-0. That said, I'd rather we left at least one player up for corners, simply because of the problems associated with bringing everyone back - if you clear it the first time, you're still giving the opposition the chance to put in a better cross from the second attempt.

Brighton have been very fortunate with the run of fixtures they've been given at the start of the season, IMO. Before today, only 2 of their 10 games had been against teams in the top half. They drew at home to Rochdale, and lost at Sheffield Wednesday. As you say, they didn't really show much in today's game that would concern me. Bournemouth failed to muster a single shot on target until the last-minute penalty (what an incredible decision that was, by the way), and yet they were barely deserving of the lead. Peterborough, despite all their goals, have failed to go unbeaten for more than two consecutive league games so far. Before today, Huddersfield had lost three in a row (without scoring), and Sheffield Wednesday have looked way below par after a decent first month. This league is ripe for the taking - if we can build a bit of momentum with the wins we're now starting to pick up, it could be difficult for anyone else to stay with us.

Tranmere were crap and showed very little ambition to actually win the game (they had a whole ONE player in our area when they had a corner in the first half, allowing us to leave two players on the halfway line), but that sort of game has still been our problem for years, and it's a test we passed very comfortably. Good to see Guly get a start, and he certainly justified that selection with a great performance, and shows that sometimes it genuinely does just take a bit of time for players to settle in. For the second week running, I can't think of anyone who had a bad game, Lambert looks like he's getting somewhere approaching full fitness and sharpness - quite what the story is there, I'm not too sure, but it's been a big problem for us which we're now hopefully overcoming. The biggest improvement I've noticed since Adkins arrived has been Dan Seaborne. Previously, he seemed to lack the confidence to do anything other than take a touch and then launch the ball to Lambert's head. Obviously that's not been particularly fruitful this season, and also not really the way that's likely to help us win games, so credit to him for adapting and becoming more confident with the ball at his feet. Next week will be a massive benchmark to see where we stand. Huddersfield have had some iffy form lately (today aside), so they're still going to be a bit vulnerable, but they are still one of the promotion favourites, and it'll be a harder test than the two sides we've played in the last 7 days who have barely turned up at St Mary's.

Arcade should now be working

Slight issue still to be resolved with the arcade, so that'll have to wait until Sunday, I'm afraid. The rest of the upgrade has been done though.