stevegrant

Only two of the top 9 in the Championship are currently receiving parachute payments, and one of those (Wolves) has been down to League One since starting them. Teams currently receiving parachute payments (year 1/2 payments are double the year 3/4 payments): Year 1: Norwich (4th), Fulham (20th), Cardiff (14th) Year 2: Wigan (22nd), Reading (19th) - QPR since re-promoted Year 3: Bolton (17th), Blackburn (10th), Wolves (8th) Year 4: Birmingham (15th), Blackpool (24th) - West Ham since re-promoted

He played for the Combined Campuses and Colleges against Nottinghamshire a couple of weeks ago and tore through their entire (more or less first-choice) lineup with 8/40, so he can't be in that bad form.

a) Seems somewhat strange for someone who "resigned"... b) Has always been the case, I believe the FA takes a cut as well.

Promoted teams (straight back down in bold): 2013-14: Leicester, Burnley, QPR 2012-13: Cardiff, Hull, Crystal Palace 2011-12: Reading, Saints, West Ham 2010-11: QPR, Norwich, Swansea 2009-10: Newcastle, West Brom, Blackpool 2008-09: Wolves, Birmingham, Burnley 2007-08: West Brom, Stoke, Hull 2006-07: Sunderland, Birmingham, Derby 2005-06: Reading, Sheffield United, Watford 2004-05: Sunderland, Wigan, West Ham 2003-04: Norwich, West Brom, Crystal Palace 2002-03: Portsmouth, Leicester, Wolves 2001-02: Man City, West Brom, Birmingham 2000-01: Fulham, Blackburn, Bolton 1999-00: Charlton, Man City, Ipswich 1998-99: Sunderland, Bradford, Watford 1997-98: Nottingham Forest, Middlesbrough, Charlton 1996-97: Bolton, Barnsley, Crystal Palace Not happened since the three promoted teams in 1997 went straight back down. I still fancy one of Hull or Sunderland to drop in, Burnley seem to at least be having a go. It's interesting looking at that how the perception has always been that promoted teams are up against it in the Premier League because they're all playing catchup, there's a huge gulf between the PL and the Championship, and other such clichés, but the actual statistics suggest otherwise. In the last six completed PL seasons, only 5 of the 18 teams relegated had been promoted the previous season.

Jovetic would still have missed out, as the squad spaces they had reduced by the sanction were all for home-grown players.

The resources of QPR's owners would dwarf most of the rest of the Football League's owners put together. I'm not convinced that any organisation that imposes FFP sanctions can do so with any real guarantee that they're on solid legal ground - even UEFA watered down Man City's punishment which meant they could get away with only two home-grown players in their Champions League squad this season.

As if the Football League would have the balls to do that They'll come to some sort of convenient agreement where QPR pay a tiny fine in exchange for not taking legal action against the FL (which the FL couldn't afford to defend) and it all quietly goes away...

And it didn't really "fall from the sky" in the manner you'd expect from a technical problem.

Fairly obvious change in regulations to come, I suspect, where it's a requirement for at least two people to be present in the cockpit at all times.

But then you're penalising someone who could be genuinely gifted but just happens to have been born in a country that's got a **** team. Latvia have almost always been crap (apart from 2002-2004), and we needed multiple appeals to the Home Office to get Marian Pahars a work permit. I don't think anybody would argue he wasn't good enough, but we probably wouldn't even have bothered scouting him if the rules were that tight back in 1999. In theory, players from Japan, Australia and New Zealand would automatically be denied work permits if they did put in a blanket "top 50 only" policy. Someone like Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wouldn't automatically qualify (despite being a genuinely world-class player), and yet all manner of second-rate Brazilians would be allowed in (as has been the case for years). There's no easy solution, obviously. I definitely agree that reviews throughout the period of a player's contract should be conducted, although I wonder what sort of dodgy legal grounds clubs could find themselves in if a player has his work permit rescinded but the player refuses to leave the club...

But that's all completely subjective. How do you determine whether a player is going to be mediocre when they're signed? The original FA report suggested a £10m transfer fee as a benchmark, but all that does is force clubs to pay £10m for a player who might only be worth £5m, and that's not even getting started on the number of mediocre ageing English players who get contracts at Premier League clubs (most of QPR's squad being a prime example), potentially at the expense of younger players.

Some sort of rapid decompression issue, perhaps? [/wild speculation]

While 2014 saw a number of high-profile issues, it was actually a record low in terms of the actual number of plane crashes. I think it's just that it's been well-known airlines in this part of the world who have been involved that has brought it into the spotlight a bit more. You're still apparently 7 times more likely to die by falling out of bed

The Internet. Serious Business.

The three who have been picked are those "in possession". Even in international football, you need some semblance of continuity in selection, otherwise how can you hope to have a properly-functioning team when a tournament comes around? If a player in a previous squad has demonstrated why he shouldn't be picked, or he is unavailable for whatever reason, then you look for a suitable replacement. It's pretty rare that you get a situation whereby a player is making an unanswerable case to be brought into the squad, Harry Kane being the obvious example, and so then you have to assess whether any of the existing players should make way. As it turns out, Rickie Lambert's non-playing for Liverpool made that decision very easy. Left-back is the one position where we have genuine strength in depth - the three that were picked for this squad could easily have all been replaced with Bertrand, Cresswell and even Danny Rose, but if the manager kept chopping and changing every time a squad announcement came around and then we ended up making a pig's ear of the tournament again (which we obviously will, because we're simply not actually that good), everyone would point the finger at the manager saying "you've only got a small number of games to form a functioning team, why did you keep making so many changes?". Shaw and Baines have had injuries, yes, but they're both fit and available right now. Intrigued how Gibbs can be categorised as a "reserve" when he's played 30 games this season for Arsenal. By way of comparison, Ryan Bertrand has played 31 for us.

Ben Foster got injured last week. Jack Butland will step up from the U21s if required, which he probably won't be.

In qualifying, he was up against Finland, Moldova, Wales (who lost to San Marino), Lithuania and San Marino. If a Premier League player can't do well against those opponents then there's a serious problem. The finals this summer will be the real acid test, Portugal, Sweden and Italy in the group stage - if he can perform against those opponents, then there's a discussion to be had.

Hang on, someone at the News has written a piece that appears to criticise the PST. That seems to go against editorial policy, Ellie Pilmoor can expect a reprimand from Factless Neil later.

I believe that as Schneiderlin served a suspension based on those two yellows against Chelsea in December, they don't count towards his tally for the season. Transfermarkt (generally the most reliable data source in recent years) has him down for 7 qualifying yellow cards - Liverpool (away), Swansea (away), Sunderland (home), Leicester (home), Sheffield United (away) [ONE-MATCH BAN SERVED VS EVERTON], Ipswich (home), QPR (away). He'd have to get booked in each of the next three games to pick up another ban, which seems fairly unlikely. If he ended up picking up yellows in each of the next two, Koeman could even take the decision to rest him for the Hull game to ensure he doesn't reach the 10 cards before the amnesty point.

Seems a strange one to throw furniture at yourself

I'd be very surprised if this one didn't make general sale. Trains are screwed all weekend, and we never take a big following to Everton.

I'm going to regret this, aren't I?

Consider it done

Cheers, that's now fixed Tapatalk is a difficult one, I've seen some issues on other forums where Tapatalk just doesn't work very well anymore. It's worth noting that there is a mobile-specific skin available, which you should be able to activate in the bottom-left of the screen (but it has no SaintsWeb-specific styling, it's the vBulletin default, which is blue ) and I think that'll give you all the functionality Tapatalk offers without having to use that app.