oldtype

I mean, guys, even Colback has to be pretty good in the Championship. Right?

I recognize like one dude from that entire Fulham teamsheet.

To each his own but honestly I didn't find that particularly offensive. Wijnaldum probably got a huge signing on fee/pay raise for joining Liverpool. I just read it as "congratulations on the huge paycheck" rather than "congratulations on getting the fuck out of this shithole of a club." Moves are very lucrative for players.

Meh, in ten years the only thing people will remember about his Chelsea goal will be that it was when I got caught on camera in the away end.

Wanted to name our dog Shola as well. Girlfriend wasn't having it

20m is peanuts now anyway. That's basically the going rate for a replacement level premier league starter - - which is exactly what he is.

This. Well said. It's a shame because we all remember how much he used to be loved. To be fair, the club firing his best friend for having cancer probably played a part in his disillusionment.

"Good shot stopper but can't command his area" has been used to describe every one of our keepers from Given to Harper to Krul to Elliot. Honestly I just think it's a lazy man's way of assessing goalkeepers because it's so difficult to identify good keepers with the naked eye aside from obvious mistakes like dropping the ball.

He was never a scout in the football manager sense. He's a networker - he has connections with clubs that make it easier for us to sign players and connections with agents that make it easier to convince them to come. We probably never even get our foot in the door for the likes of Ben Arfa or Cabaye without Carr. Obviously those connections are a double-edged sword and there's a valid criticism that by the end he was signing players that his mates wanted to send to us instead of players we actually needed, but identifying unknown talent was never his job to begin with.

Agree with Ian. In principle I find the traditional "manager controls everything" model ridiculous but our club is shit and Rafa is brilliant so whatever.

Aye, they are happy they have won it as one fluke season will be enough for them to say that anyone can win and have an equal chance. Next season referee's will be even more biased for the big clubs to ensure it never happens again. If anything Sky is precisely the reason this is possible. Now that every Prem club has spending power that outstrips 99% of clubs on the continent, anyone can build a decent squad/hire a good manager by spending through the roof. Once you do that and everything breaks right for you like it did for Leicester, you're in business. Obviously Man Utd/Chelsea/Man City will still have a slight built-in advantage but it isn't insurmountable like it was just 5~6 years ago. This is bad news for the Spurs and Newcastles of the world who have/had fanbases and financial means that far outstripped those of other second-tier clubs, but it's great for everyone else and the watchability of the Premier League in general. Who knew that Sky money would end up being the great equalizer? Have Leicester really spent that much though? That's the point. Their best players have been Vardy and Mahrez. Yeah Leicester are kind of a bad example because they've been so unbelievably lucky with those two, but nevertheless they've surrounded those players with a squad that was built around a 25m+ net spend in each of the past two seasons. That wouldn't have been possible for most recently promoted clubs in the past, nor would it have been possible for them to attract a manager of Ranieri's caliber.

Aye, they are happy they have won it as one fluke season will be enough for them to say that anyone can win and have an equal chance. Next season referee's will be even more biased for the big clubs to ensure it never happens again. If anything Sky is precisely the reason this is possible. Now that every Prem club has spending power that outstrips 99% of clubs on the continent, anyone can build a decent squad/hire a good manager by spending through the roof. Once you do that and everything breaks right for you like it did for Leicester, you're in business. Obviously Man Utd/Chelsea/Man City will still have a slight built-in advantage but it isn't insurmountable like it was just 5~6 years ago. This is bad news for the Spurs and Newcastles of the world who have/had fanbases and financial means that far outstripped those of other second-tier clubs, but it's great for everyone else and the watchability of the Premier League in general. Who knew that Sky money would end up being the great equalizer?

It isn't. If I did this on Football Manager I'd be like "eh, that was nice, but this game is way too easy. Can't they make it more realistic?"

How the fuck is this even possible

So it's more likely than not that four teams will be relegated this year? Not sure I agree with that, like. Math died a little with that comment there.

I totally disagree, the damage done to the club in terms of supporter apathy during that time was absolutely enormous. That's fair I guess. I don't think I actually stopped caring completely until Carver but maybe it was just the culmination of a long process.

I mean, we were a shitty midtable team when Pardew arrived and a shitty midtable team when Pardew left. Obviously the process in between was not fun at all but nothing much changed.

The performances are encouraging but we're running out of games.

I hope you are right, i doubt it but none the less hopefully it's the case. I don't know how the contract is written up but I imagine Ashley would ask him to work for fifty cents an hour or something once we're in the Championship and in cost-cutting mode.

Literally dozens of bent decisions. That's two points lost that could send us down. I think this is the first time I was actually convinced that the ref was against us. Like, not "I'm a sports fan so I have a victim mentality" against us, but "holy shit he actually wants us to lose" against us. Gives Man City a free goal, every time we do anything in the box we're offside, ends stoppage time 30 seconds early prior to a throw in from a dangerous position. What the hell was going on?

You reckon? Yeah, I imagine we'll at least have a glimmer of hope when we see... say, Rotherham(H) on the fixture list. Before they turn us over 1-0 at home when Siem De Jong scores on own goal off his arse that ruptures his intestines and puts him out for the season.

Them not being us?

Is there any fixture that wouldn't get this reaction? Good thing we won't have this problem next season

I've realized that I'm just not going to watch this game. A bipolar combination of habitual apathy built up throughout the season and sheer terror knowing that the club as we know it is probably done if we lose.

Jesus, caring about a football match is weird.