benjii

I'd rather have Cosimo Sarli and a strawberry nesquilk.

No it isn't. That's like saying Kevin Friend or Lee Mason are arguments against having a referee.

With respect, I very much doubt he will have the first clue about Gao's financial situation. It was reported that our board couldn't answer questions put to them by the PL so I doubt Ralph can. Having said that, I agree that it looks (although it's early stages) that he is feeling well supported. I speculated that the lack of fanfare about replacing Leslie Reed might indicate that we plan to give the first team manager a bigger say in things and perhaps that is indeed the case.

Interestingly, we had a negative net spend on transfer that season. We spent net 2.4m.

I believe Lee Todd was pictured standing on a step ladder next to Paul Jones as part of our PR when we signed them both.

It's believable. I'm not sure there are many PL sides who he would strengthen as first choice so if Liverpool are interested he has a choice of sitting on our bench watching us scrap around in the league or sit on their bench and potentially scoop some medals. I know what I'd do!

A great example. Like women’s tennis, one watches solely for a glimpse of gusset. I played hockey to a reasonable level and I can assure you that a good boys u18 team would win Olympic women’s gold if they were competing.

I like women’s gymnastics. Different sport to the men’s gymnastics. Other than that, women’s elite sport is typically at the level of a good male amateur or semi-pro and, in my opinion, not particularly interesting as a spectacle. Obviously there are exceptions in less mainstream sports like ultra-marathons, free-diving etc.

My thoughts on the VAR are: 1) it shouldn’t be used for subjective matters (should be for offsides, mistaken identity, was it in/out of the box, did the ball go out, check for contact with the arm on handballs etc.). The exception to this is off the ball incidents that the on field officials didn’t see (potential violent conduct at the other end of the pitch, for example) 2) the decisions should be made by the VAR, not the ref pitchside 3) I should be called in to do the big matches.

Is it a Doris watching the VAR though? Probably not concentrating if Love Island or whatever is on the other channel.

WelCom3 tO Liverpo00l11!!! LOLZ HEY, Liverpool annOunce DJENEAPO!

I like the little boat in the video.

Sources are telling me this is done.

Sillage is the wake of a perfume. It's the extent to which a smell lingers. She looks like she would smell of lavender. She brings to mind scents of granny. She's probably got a drawer containing Fry's mint cream, some Murray Mints and some Opal Fruits, has a mild opioid addiction fuelled by medicines containing codeine and puts way too much butter on everything, on account of it no longer being rationed. RIP grandma.

So Stewart looks like the most sensible candidate by a country mile. That probably rules him out. Javid is playing the "change candidate" card strongly but Ducky's blue rinse brigade dont want change they want things like how they used to be in the good old days. Raab is too odd. Leadsom could do ok if she makes it to the member vote. She combines a hint of Thatcher, she's a visual sillage of lavender with lashings of whipped double-yesteryear on top. Can't see Hunt or Gove beating Boris. The others are too low-profile. It's going to be Boris. My goodness.

I dunno. The Bernaise sauce there is lovely. Maybe la grande dame, Rabiot, likes it there. Last I heard they were smashing into the isles flottantes.

Adrian Rabiot, then? Spotted in La Parisienne in Romsey.

By impetus, I don't just mean money. I mean a strategy, a direction, a plan. Something that everyone gets behind that gives them a goal to work towards. Self-sustaining is fine but it needs to be more than just "surviving". It needs to be purposeful. Like them or loathe them, the likes of Lowe and Cortese etc. had discernible strategies (whether they were ultimately sustainable or not). Even under Kat's ownership you knew what you would get, more or less, with Ralph K and Les. At the moment, I'm not sure. They've gone and we don't know what the plan is. Perhaps his strategy is to recruit the best coach possible and hand over more responsibility to the coach than we used to. That's fine if it works and maybe he'll turn out to be a great owner in that respect. As for the other points, they might not directly impact the eleven guys on the pitch but the football club is more to most fans than just that. It's an emotional thing. It matters who owns it.

Nothing to do with the FA, numb-nuts. The PL reluctantly passed him then changed the rules to refer to prohibited conduct that would constitute an offence were it to have occurred in the UK. This has been reported in the press and if you can be bothered you can read the PL rules and find the relevant section that was added (I have done this before but can't remember the reference).

Better than Erick Black or worse?

My point is that I have concerns about an owner: - with a history connected with criminal bribery, according to reports - who has not once made any effort to show he gives a shiny **** about the fans; what are his plans, what is his vision, why is he here? - who struggled to complete the initial purchase either due to lack of funds or inability to expatriate the funds - who's main source of wealth, as far as we know, has absolutely tanked in China over recent years - who has implied his sole reason for buying the club was to get some money out of China - who adopts an extremely opaque overseas ownership structure: why is his daughter the sole director of the ultimate UK holding company and why are the groups accounts consolidated in BVI? - who doesn't appear to offer anything in terms of impetus (that's not "feeling entitled", it's just observing that compared to a number of rival team owners (Brighton, AFCB, Wolves, Leicester, Watford etc..) he appears to bring nothing at all to the table, which is obviously a shame) - plus a very odd sponsorship deal with a company with a very odd website; that's not the biggest problem in the world but feeds into the narrative that there are odd things going on. You might find none of that worrying but if you think it's not sub-optimal then that's very strange indeed. Ultimately, sub-optinal ownership and lack of executive direction in an era of power-house ownership will lead to regression. So, at worst, I think there are things to be wary of that are deeper than just footballing. At best, I think we may continue to regress in footballing terms, simply because there will be an ever-increasing number of clubs we can't compete with. We are lucky that, at the moment, we seem to have a very good coach so we will probably survive next season.

I have never said there was one. Read the thread. Charlie Miller says there is. I have been saying there is no evidence for that.

Exactly! Dumb people like Egg and Soggy seem to think that: - this isn't the place for conjecture (er, it's a fakcin footbaw message board); or - conjecture is necessarily the preserve of the ill-informed and unthinking. When, in fact, there is plenty to merit conjecture. You didn't even mention the Chinese bribery cases or the PL's reluctance to have him join the club. Then there is the FT's use of "flamboyant", which is clearly code, as he appears anything but flamboyant. The only person posting things as fact is Charlie Miller. Everyone else is conjecturing because there are plenty of questions to consider. Nothing wrong with that. I haven't said he's done anything wrong or there is any great conspiracy. I am saying, in a level-headed and intelligent manner that these dimwits (Egg, Soggy) would do well to learn from, that there are legitimate questions and concerns.

What conspiracy theory am I advocating?

Mings is ****e.