Junior Mullet

I have been genuinely excited about the club this season. We have a fantastic group of players who must surely rank among the fittest in the PL and are capable of playing attractive, exciting football. Over the course of the past 3 or 4 seasons we have developed a genuine brand of football and it is a brand to be proud of. We have some outstanding young players who will only get better, especially with a full PL season under their belts now. Of course some players have been found wanting at this level and others are simply not good enough to be part of a team that has regular European qulification via league position aspirations, but what team coming up from the CCC would?! I think the majority of fans can see that we are just a few good signings away from being a consistently good team. Where would we be now with a bit more solidity and cover at the back and a genuine cutting edge to round off our attacking play? I have every faith that the club will buy sensibly over the Summer and that the squad will be improved. We have a manager who seems capable of squeezing every last bean out of the players and in turn pushing our brand of football to its full potential. The players seem to enjoy it, but you would expect that from a squad who by now have the taste for success and hunger more. A squad without the primadonnas of yesteryear and a Chairman willing to stand up to anyone who does step out of line. The clubs expectations are clear. No longer are we a 'selling club'. We have a competitive wage structure that means we can hold on to our better players for longer. The club's clearly defined ambition also means that players will want to stay longer. Of course some players will leave for a variety of reasons, but it will be at the club's discretion. Let's not forget that even the likes of Man Utd (Ronaldo) and Arsenal (RVP) sell players occassionally and so let's not cry in our beer when certain players leave. My happy-clappy optimism received a massive unexpected shock, I expect like many of us on here, when the news came that Cortesse and Katharina did not share the same vision or perhaps how the vision would be delivered (not that I think the difference is particularly significant). For the first time in years the club's immediate future seemed fragile. It was definately a fork in the road moment. We had come so far under the Cortesse/Liebherr partnership. Could this come to an end, just when things were getting really exciting? Publically we will perhaps never know just how close we were to losing Nicola, the man with the vision and ability to deliver a successful and exciting future. Neither will we publically know the terms of the deal that has been struck between Nicola and Katharina but one can draw inferences from the fact that he is staying and developments over the next few months will give us a greater insight. And so we are back on track and all the things that seemed so exciting as the season played out become exciting once again. There are ups and downs in the life of any football fan. We are currently enjoying a serious up. Let's enjoy it and hope that enough progress is made during this phase that when Nicola or Katharina do decide to call it a day, the club is in a strong position and able to withstand their leaving, perhaps even able to benefit from it, at that time. COYRAWM

There were serious issues dividing Cortese and Katherina. It was not made up. I am delighted that the two parties seem to be united now. Cortese has incredible ambition for the club and therefore if he is happy to stay it means he will be given the resources to fulfil that. Exciting times indeed.

I don't think that is possible. These are not spoiled kids falling out for whom a quick banging of heads together would sort it out. These are smart, well advised people who have different opinions of how things should be.

Nothing at all, I just want stability.

There is already a transfer committee. If this were the issue then I would not be as worried as I currently am.

Phew! I no longer have to keep this to myself. Anyway, the following is purely my opinion: 1. Cortese is seriously ambitious and the Champions League target is genuine; 2. he feels that Katrine Liebherr is unwilling to provide the necessary investment to achieve this; 3. he contacted The Times himself in an attempt to force her arm; 4. he will leave if the club is not sold to someone more willing to spend to achieve Cortese's goal.

You might just be ITK ;0)

No worries. Most people come on here without knowing the facts.

This sort of project requires a great deal of stability between owners and directors. This is where a lot of clubs fail.

A new owner.

We could officially be in the ****. Worried.

Saints very nearly dropped the mother of all clangers by letting Bale go before he broke through.

I was playing in my back garden. I came in to ask what the score was and my Dad told me not to watch and explained what was happening. Will never forget that he said at the time it was because Beardsley had hit the crossbar with a good shot and the crowd were very excited. I was young, but things like this seemed to happen at football fairly regularly back then. Safety in grounds has improved immeasurably. I remember watching Palace with my Dad as a kid (he being a Palace fan) and we stood on the home terrace and I couldn't believe how much it filled up and how little room we all had. I liked the atmosphere but it was bloody chaos.

Thank fhuck for Dalek. We need this to balance Lawros optimism.

I was thinking that. I concluded that we had good technical players who can probably take a good penalty, not that we'll ever know because we have the best penalty taker in the country taking all of ours. Also, think Boruc would be good at saving pens. Kelvin is a fantastic penalty stopper also. Here are my 5: Lambo Schneiderlin Shaw Clyne Lallana BTW how comedy was Adebyor's miss, lol. Joke player.

Yes, sorry - I hadnt been paying much attention to the FA Cup and therefore assumed from the post that it would be a Chelsea Man City final. You are absolutely right, the winner of Wigan Millwall will get to play in Europe provided that their opponent in the final qualifies for Europe via the league.

Does anyone know if this will actually happen? Seems crazy. If it is being mooted I hope her family step in soon and say that they do not want a minutes' silence for everyones' sake.

Ummm, no that is not what David in Sweden asked. Mr Sweden, if both Man C and Chelsea qualify for Europe in their own right the cup place will be reallocated to the highest placed Prem League team not already qualified for Europe. BTW, Finland got a place last year and two years prior to that, so a similar record to our own. My hunch is it will be tight between Finland and England.

UEFA Europa League There are three places in the UEFA Europa League available: the FA Cup winners will enter at the Group Stage; the fifth place team in the Barclays Premier League will enter at the Play-Off stage; and the Football League Cup winners will enter at the Q3 stage. In the event the FA Cup winners are qualified for the UEFA Champions League the FA Cup runners-up will qualify, but in the place reserved for the lowest ranking Barclays Premier League representative. The place with direct access to the Group Stage will be given to the club that finishes in the highest position in the Barclays Premier League of the clubs qualifying for the UEFA Europa League. English winners of the UEFA Europa League will enter at the Group Stage, gaining an extra domestic place only if they fail to qualify through other means for the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League. If the holders of the UEFA Europa League have already qualified for Europe, no extra domestic place will be gained. Should the FA Cup winners, runners-up (if applicable) and the Football League Cup winners already have qualified for Europe, their place goes to the next best placed clubs in the Premier League. Fair Play winners enter at the Qualifying round 1 stage. This place will automatically go the three best-placed national associations in the UEFA Respect fair play rankings provided they achieve an average of 8.0 points or more. The top three associations will then be entitled to enter the club that has either won their domestic top-division fair play competition, or if they are already qualified, the runners-up and so forth. Please note that the above is purely a guide to the qualification procedure at present. From time to time other scenarios may occur which could mean that the above procedures may need to be reviewed. Fair Play League: The Fair Play League is not just about yellow and red cards. Each club is also ranked on positive play, respect towards opponent, respect towards referees and behaviour of officials. UEFA Fair Play Ranking: All representative teams from a football association are responsible for the score of the Fair Play ranking of that association. This includes matches of all national teams and all clubs in all UEFA competitions. The ranking is composed from 1 June until 31 May the following year. The criteria for the ranking is Fair Play. Criteria: Teams are judged on the following criteria: Yellow and red cards: If no cards are shown the score will be 10. Every yellow card will deduct this total by 1. A red card will cost a team 3 points in the ranking. If the red card is the result of a second yellow card the deductions of the second yellow card will be ignored. But if a player gets a direct red card after he got a yellow card earlier, the yellow card will be counted as a deduction. This score could become negative Positive play: e.g. attacking tactics, acceleration of the game, efforts to gain time, and continued pursuit of goals. A team can score a maximum of 10 points and a minimum of 1 point Respect to the opponent: e.g. returning the ball to the opponent at a throw-in, helping an injured opponent: maximum 5 points, minimum 1 point Respect to the referee: maximum 5 points, minimum 1 point Behaviour of the team officials: maximum 5 points, minimum 1 point Behaviour of the fans: maximum 5 points, minimum 1 point NB: this criterion is ignored when the number of fans is negligible e.g. if there are no fans at all or because of penalty that was given by the UEFA The total number of points will be divided by the maximum number of points, 40 (or 35 if there are a negligible amount of fans), and multiplied by 10 which will result in a score between 0 and 10. The score is calculated to two decimal points and not rounded up. Fulham got in in 2011 and Man City in 2008. Scandanavian teams dominate despite the weighting system applied. Pretty subjective this bit: The Respect Fair Play assessments are made by the official UEFA delegates, based on criteria such as positive play, respect for the opponent, respect for the referee, behaviour of the crowd and team officials, as well as cautions and dismissals. There does not appear to be a running 'league' as such. The ranking showing us 4th was compiled based on assessments for the first half of the season. England was 4th behind Finland. Sweden and Norway look like bolt on's for a place. Between us and Finland it seems.

Oh and by the way....we may get a chance to send Sunderland or Stoke down in our last few games and therefore we are likely to be focus of attention rather than obscure. Much prefer things being that way around.

Thank Bugggery I'm on a site where trolling doesn't exist and people can exchange frank views without fear of being shot down by one group or another.

Nope. Feeling very excited at the prospect of a top half finish. Want us to get as many points as possible and finish high up the table as possible. How can anyone watch our fantastic team and feel anticlimatic? And BTW the prosepct of Summer and next year are fraptastic.

I don't think the words "Lawro...beloved...Lazy...toss...passion" are words that go together.

Would you have taken a point at home to Chelsea, Liverpool and City? Have faith in the team - they have the ability to win any game.

Rickie should never and will never play for England. He's too bloody good. How the hell do Cleverley and Milner keep turning out for England BTW? Limited players.