Exiled in Texas

Yes - that's certainly not helping them develop players that are appreciating in value in the long term.

Kinda But it really points to the fact that Ashley has been working on a sustainable financial model (even if we don't like the results on a Saturday afternoon). Fans want more that 17th or lower-mid-table, but is it a viable financial plan to "invest" $$$ when the pay off is only $$ (or more likely $). These discussions do point out that fans see their clubs as a football club not as a business (but the business needs to be viable for the club to survive), and there are business decisions to be made that should be made with a business mindset. I do like some of the RTG rantings, that are better observed from the outside looking in (probably similar things said on here too for NUFC/Ashley too but wheres the fun in that) Invest - Short should invest more of his money in the team, and give us a team we deserve. Translated to Short should keep tipping money into the pit without any hope of seeing a financial return. Administration - If we go into Administration its the fans who suffer the most. Nope - I think its the shareholders who invested their money in the business and who lost it all who suffer the most. Spend to get promotion - They only way out of this financial mess is to spend and get back to the PL. That would be the same PL where SAFC was losing money every season. And when you are already spending more than you earn...spending even more that that is probably not the best approach But, see how the Mags spent their way to promotion, they spent 50M/80M on new players to get promoted - Yes, but they also sold 50/80M of players because they had bought quality players who they sold for a profit We are truly fooked - Yes. Yes, you are. But enjoy saying 9-1 and 6-in-a-row as that makes it all worth while.

It's more money going out than coming in. Primarily because they Buy-High and Sell-Low. They pay high prices to get players in, and if/when they sell them the players value is always lower than what they paid and they lose money on the transfer. It was something like only 3 players out of 38-ish who were sold for a higher price than they paid. But they are in denial about the costs incurred by their frequent manager changes (All Short's fault), and also in denial about the support/attendance. They assume that 40K attendances in the PL means that their game day revenue is fine - they won't recognise that the FTM (Free Ticket Marras) is diluting their game day revenue as many of that 40K is not actually paying for the tickets. (RTG-"how can we be losing money with 40K attendances every week?")

Grumpy has been leading the charge for a while to explain to those RTG Dim Wits who think that Short is trousering all the "para shoot " (sic) money and all the Pickford money, and explaining how Short has been propping up the club year after year. Of course anyone who even slightly challenges the notion that Short/Bain are to blame for the financial state and more so the state of the team, is immediately labeled a Mag and the pitchfork and torch Mob set upon them. His new series of posts looking at the financial situation of several clubs are great - and really explain the predicament that Sunderland find themselves in. The penny is now dropping for them (although based on their financial state, they might want to save those pennies)

Perfect [emoji108] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

C Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

RTG is glorious today I love their Hypocritical nature... Short is the Devil for destroying the club by not investing in the club any more and refusing to pump any more money into the bottomless pit of a business. (by the way... how is it that "Invest" really means piss your money into a hole). But would the Free Ticket Mackems truly invest their own money in their club? But what would they do if they ever did buy out Short? Umm, Isn't that what Short is now doing. Not spending what they don't have. Good times on RTG... Good Times

I love the look on all the other players faces ... as if to say.. F*** me, that's a hell of a jump

That title

Re the Canadian football article. I get where you want to take the article, which is to show how soccer/football has blossomed across north america. I'm not sure that positioning the intro about a mainly-foreign sport not being reported in the local paper is really a good comparison.... Does the Chronicle have any NHL coverage? And why would a local paper have coverage of a sport from another part of the world? Perhaps that's a good comparison, and one that would illustrate the change in popularity in the sports between then and now. Still no NHL in the Chronicle but you can now find EPL coverage in the local US/CA TV media. Plus if you want to find goalposts, then looking in the park is the wrong place... you should be looking on the ponds/lakes as you'll find plenty of signs of sport... just a different one. And of course the climate has a lot to do with this... in the dept of a Canadian winter a frozen pond is much easier to play hockey on than a snow covered field. I like the personal story aspect of the article, trying to find the scores when abroad, so I would get to the comparison as quickly as possible and move on from the negative statement to a positive one (which is the purpose of the story). Living in the US, Soccer (i'm going to call it that because talking football in the US but meaning soccer is way too confusing) was always a niche sport mainly for immigrants (Mexican, South Americans as well as those with UK/European backgrounds). And even after getting football games onto the TV in Fox Soccer channel or now NBC Sports it still seemed to be rather a niche sport. The interesting point came where you saw ESPN (which focuses on the big US sports - NFL, NBA, MLB etc) was including soccer scores (prem league, la liga, bundesliga)in their ticker or their high light packages. And even local talk-sports radio was adding small segments on soccer games into their daily talk shows, or even (as here in Dallas area) adding a Saturday afternoon soccer/football review show completely dedicated to the EPL. This is what's telling me that soccer has arrived (and I don't just mean for 4yr olds as their first sport before they move onto Football or Baseball). Office workers now have fantasy soccer leagues at work with often the Americans outnumbering (and out performing) the Brits in predicting games. Saturday and Sunday mornings are for EPL soccer games before the college or NFL football games come on. And wait till the world cup (or even European Champoinships) come around..... Breakroom TVs are tuned to the games and its not just the brits/brazilians who are watching. The american sports fans are watching now. Yes, we all laughed at Diana Ross and her penalty kick in 94, but America loves the world cup now...especially now that USA can compete as a reasonable level (and is not a token invite). Deep down Americans want to compete in a world sporting event with a seat at the adult table that they have earned. Yes, they love winning the Olympic medal count, but I think they know that being Olympic champions in basketball is nowhere near as satisfying as it would be to win the world cup and beat the world at their game. Would love to read the full article when you are finished Forgive my criticism of the opening paragraph... I wasn't able to see where you were developing the article, but I just wanted to offer a reverse view and I think that it would balance your article nicely to contrast the increased popularity of soccer in Canada/US compared to US sports in UK. You might also consider a comparison of the growth of the NFL in London, as a contrast to an overseas sport becoming accepted in a country dominated by its legacy sport. Yes, the NFL sells out their games in London, but you don't see an uptake of American Football in the UK parks on a Saturday afternoon. This probably provides more data points to your article about how soccer is really taking over in north america. No it will never overtake football or baseball here in US (or Hockey in Canada), but it's climbing.

The only thing on target all day was the bottle that was thrown

More Mackem gold WTF?? How can he be this thick??

Half of RTG are up in arms that the free tickets are being stopped, will leave empty seats etc Other half saying that it's about time and as ST holders the free tickets need to stop. I love how it's more important to them to fill the ground than actually earn revenue Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I thought they had settled on Larry as his name Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

FYP - Championship Charismaras

This is the reason why socks must be light/dark - usually referees and ARs are looking at the feet for throw-ins or fouls in the box

My uncle Jim once told me "If you can leave your home town, your friends and your family it will open your eyes and make you a man." And that makes coming home all the sweeter ..... Ahl brave the dark at St. James's Park, At the Gallowgate End in the rain, Ahm coming home..

They are planning on selling them all to raise a large kitty for the new players they need, but also keeping them as the foundation of their championship side which the new players will slot in around. Best of both worlds, when you are the worlds leader in Mackematics

came back from 0-2 down

There was no way Klinnsman was ever giving up his SoCal life for Wearside. He commuted back/forth to his Germany National Team commitments, but he likes his life in California too much.

Warren Barton coaches/is involved with a soccer academy in San Diego Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not intentionally, but there are penalties that rebound from the posts (and sometimes the bar) and if the penalty taker touches the ball before any other player then he is guilty of a second touch and it's an IFK coming out. I think this rule is being considered to make it one-shot...and no rebounds for anyone. It would be either a goal or an IFK coming out.

Just got Mauricio Pellegrino massivley mixed up in my head with former Man City manager Manuel Pellegrini. Glad I worked that one out

Isn't Mrs Pards Swedish?

You're right....it would need to be a UEFA decision to be possible. And we know how that would go. A more likely solution would be putting fixed squad limits in place for the First Team, "Reserves" and a U23, with restrictions on where loans can play depending on the players squad contract. For example, no loans within the league for the first team squad (or equivalent rated league (i.e. EPL/Bundesliga/La Liga/SerieA) must go down a league or move to a smaller country. Reserves cannot play in First team or be loaned to league down without clearing a squad place in the first team. This would prevent clubs from stockpiling players and encourage players to sign for clubs they would play for (not have the 67+ Chelsea loan players)