Jackie Broon

It'll be Leicester.

Reminds me of a story my Dad tells about when, soon after moving to Newcastle, he took a friend from Leeds to see us play Bastia in the UEFA cup in 77. We apparently got torn apart by Johnny Rep and lost 1-3. After the match they were approached by a kid who asked for a tab, my Dad's friend said "sorry I don't smoke" the kid, hearing his (Yorkshire) accent, responded "you're from fuckin' Bastia aren't ya"

It was last season I heard that though, and that element of his game it likely to improve with experience.

Burnley fans I have spoken to said he is a great shot-stopper, good with his feet but poor command of his area and flaps at crosses / corners.

I think that's a bit of a leap, and not a likely effect of the ESL ruling. The whole concept of FFP/PSR is to some extent anti-competitive, the argument would be to what extent is that necessary in the public interest.

I read that as Man City are after Matt Targett

It benefits Man City too, the tribunal aside they're in the best position in terms of PSR, they've been able to game the system to put themselves ahead of everyone financially. And I don't think the other big 6 clubs are even that bothered about winning trophies provided that the big 6 is a closed shop.

Not going to happen unfortunately. The government's stance, even with the football governance bill, is that the PSR is a matter for the PL. I, like a sad fucker, wrote to Lisa Nandy about the way PSR enshrines the dominance of the big 6 and this was the response i received: Thank you for your correspondence of 8 October, about the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules and I apologise for the delay in responding to you. I had constructive conversations with a number of Premier League clubs prior to the introduction of the Football Governance Bill earlier this year. I am committed to ensuring that fans like yourself are at the heart of the game - and that clubs up and down the country can continue bringing joy to millions, rather than worrying about financial losses and instability as is so often the case, and as you have written about. That is why the government has introduced the Football Governance Bill to establish an independent football regulator. Whilst the regulator will not have responsibility for profit and sustainability rules, it will protect and promote the sustainability of English football more broadly, in the interests of fans and the local communities football clubs serve. Ultimately the Premier League is responsible for implementing its own profit and sustainability rules. The Premier League's processes are outlined in the Premier League Handbook at the start of each season, and agreed by all clubs. If you are dissatisfied with any of the Premier League's processes or decisions, I would recommend contacting them directly to request a fuller explanation.

It was an absolute no-brainer for Leicester and Everton, they have £132m and £451m of shareholder loans respectively, they would have been screwed by any rule change that applied FMV to shareholder loans retrospectively. There's the added bonus for them that the rules that were voted in could still be unlawful and that could potently result in PSR being unenforceable for the current period.

There was a point mid way through the half where we started to take control again, but then rather than keeping the pressure on them we started passing it backwards and sideways between the defense, they pushed out and and it handed the momentum back to them which we never really regained. It was a great win, but on another day they would have taken the chances that presented to them. Then again, on another day we would have been 4 or 5 up by that point.

That’s something we're still not great at though, we almost always play ourselfves into trouble when we try to play it safe.

I've been expecting Villa to get found out by other managers for a while, I thought it would happen last season but no other team seems able to exploit their high line like we do.

I don't think Bruno sees himself as a 6, I think they both see themselves ideally as 8s.

Credit to Howe for changing it, but how long have people been saying Bruno should be played in the No.8?

A conditional land deal could definitely be done privately then.

They could have an agreement with the Freemen subject to planning permission being granted, that could be done privately without the land registry record needing to be updated. Depending on the council's scheme of delegation, which I can't be bothered to look up, it's likely that a decision over selling council owned land would need to be made publicly. I know the Freemen own Castle Leazes but I think Leazes Park is owned by the council? They could potentially have agreement with council officers that they will recommend the sale or lease of the land to the club, but it's likely that the final decision would be need to be made by a council committee in public.

Whether he knows fuck all or not it's almost certainly going to be a new stadium on Leazes Park / Castle Leazes that the club go for.

It follows the accounting period set by the club, for us that ends on the 30th of June.

Hall did.

I definitely am. I respectfully didn't celebrate though.

I actually had the last touch on the ball before he put the ball over the wall into our net when he played for Wigan. I was in with the home fans at Wigan, the ball flew straight to me from a foul, I threw the ball back Taylor spotted it up for the free kick and scored the only goal to win 1-0

There was no battle with the council last time, the council would have approved it. This issue was that the government were going to take the decision out of the council's hands.

And for what? Even though they have around 1000 staff that's saving them about 3 days wages of one of their players.

I don't think it's as straightforward as 7th in squad cost should expect to finish 7th. There's always going to be one or two of the 6 that underperform and we have the advantage of not being in Europe. Whilst our squad cost may be 7th, there is a big gap to 8th, we're not far off Liverpool and Spurs and there are currently 6 teams all with squad costs of at least £145m less than us above us in the table. Also, unless our form really turns around, we're not finishing 7th this season.

Not really in the context of the kind of money we'd need to raise to make a difference to PSR.