Stal

Which season was the shield on the back with the numbers?

This is very niche but every time I see his name on here I think "Sinister Minister", even though that's James and not Paul.

Why? So he can wait in for an Amazon parcel if everyone else is out?

Went onto their forum and there are some level headed, decent fans there which is lovely. What I did notice though is there were far too many acronyms, which would indicate players with double barreled names. No.

Totally get this, however I do enjoy the prestige of having internationals in the squad and if they are capped whilst playing for us I am even more joyous.

Reckon we should get a remix of those yellow and green away shirts from around 92-ish.

I see both sides of this and there are reasonable points on both sides; He should be able to enjoy a drink out however he is the face of the company when he's out. There should be understanding as he's going through a tough time and he has proved his loyalty to the club 100 times over. Couple of my own additions; as a professional athlete then just don't drink before matchday (which he didn't) and don't drink to excess in public What did we say about that mackem player (I can't remember his name but I think they signed him from Everton) who got absolutely shitfaced and slagged off his team? I know Trippier hasn't done this, the point is more about embarrassing your club in public through drink. I think the world of him for what he's done for us and I'd happily keep him at the club for years to come. That comes with a certain expectation of behavior in public though.

I saw that pic purely by accident on my fb feed from some advertised site. Back of his head, surrounded by 3 lasses at a table and wearing a jacket that had the same pattern as the girl from the table behind's handbag.

I was in the summer

I have a bit of a soft spot for Forest, probably because of Clough and Pearce. I absolutely want us to win of course but I'm happy for them to be successful too, just after we've stuffed them.

Forest proving this is good title race – but Newcastle and United should be in it too This could be an even better title race if clubs such as Aston Villa and Brighton were not handicapped by financial rules that only serve to maintain the status quo Nottingham Forest are third. Now imagine where they might have been had they not been forced to sell Brennan Johnson to Tottenham Hotspur? Higher? Top, even? We’ll never know. He’s in rare form now, Johnson. A goal a game in six fixtures across three competitions between September 18 and October 6 and another yesterday in an impressive 4-1 win over Aston Villa. It was the big goal, too: the equaliser at the start of the second half that sparked Tottenham’s revival. He had never hit such form in the Premier League with Forest, or even with Tottenham last season, so there are no guarantees that he would be in the same nick and having the same impact had he remained with his first club. What we do know is that Forest did not need to sell. Not really. Their best player ended up at Tottenham because that is what Premier League rules demanded. Johnson had to leave to finance Forest’s investment in a Premier League future. Evangelos Marinakis, the owner, wasn’t allowed to finance that with his own enormous wealth, even though Johnson was an obvious asset. So Forest have thrived despite Premier League regulations. They have succeeded despite the intentions of rivals who are very keen on these limitations. Long may they continue to occupy the spots believed to be the preserve of others. Forest are where ambition gets you, sometimes. On other occasions, a club can spend big and end up where West Ham United are now, or Ipswich Town, who are still without a win despite a summer investment of £106million. The right recruitment is as important as selecting the right manager, or the right tactics. The difference being that the league does not rule on those choices, beyond outlawing tapping up or foul play. Yet Forest had to sell Johnson to meet some bogus calculation of what made the club sustainable. And when they delayed to get a better price out of Tottenham — one that looks more than reasonable now — it resulted in a points deduction. Tottenham’s first offer was an undervalued £30million, but they went low because it was common knowledge Forest were struggling with their Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) calculations. Forest held out for £47.5million but missed the accountancy deadline. The Premier League actually punished them for making a further £17.5million profit. Yet look at them now. Forest occupy their highest league position since September 1998 and are the only club to win in any competition against league leaders Liverpool this season. Arsenal couldn’t do it. Nor Manchester United, Chelsea, RB Leipzig and AC Milan. Yet Forest went to Anfield on September 14, kept a clean sheet — also unique against Liverpool this season — and won through a goal by Callum Hudson-Odoi. They have also got creditable draws this season at Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion. Some tough matches are to come — Newcastle United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Aston Villa and a Rúben Amorim-inspired Manchester United are among their next six opponents — but nobody mocks their scattergun recruitment now. Nuno Espírito Santo has even found a way to turn Chris Wood into Erling Haaland. If there were no regulations around profitability and sustainability or financial fair play, Manchester City would just win the league every year. That is the argument. It’s wholly false. Forest, who fell foul of PSR, are what can happen if smaller clubs are allowed to dream. They become a pest to all those who feel entitled. As for Manchester City, if they don’t win the league this year it won’t be because of noble red tape. It will be the usual myriad collection of factors including injuries to key players such as Rodri, or maybe the mental toll it takes to remain at the top. There is a reason nobody had won more than three titles straight until City made it four last year. Pep Guardiola admitted the celebrations at getting over the line were so great his players were still suffering the effects when they faced Manchester United in the FA Cup final. And if the fourth is the hardest title any team has ever won, then five is harder still. It isn’t PSR that might stop City running away with the league again — it’s football. What PSR stops is the likes of Forest, or Brighton, or even Brentford, getting too good. And Newcastle United, of course. Particularly Newcastle United. After Alexander Isak scored the winning goal against Arsenal on Saturday, he was talked of as having passed his audition, because Isak is the striker Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has his eyes on to bolster his forward line and relieve Kai Havertz. Yet why should a club that is backed by the wealth of Saudi Arabia have to sell their best goalscorer to Arsenal? It’s because profitability and sustainability requires Newcastle to pretend they are poor. It keeps them exactly where the elite wants them: tenth, at present, so that their finest players become frustrated and wish to leave. And where would they go? To the established elite, the ones who shape the rules to ensure they stay at the top — unless an upstart disruptor such as Nottingham Forest comes along and spoils it. Newcastle, like Forest before them, may need to sell so they can buy. Yet selling could strengthen a rival, so the impact of buying has a diminished effect. Clever, isn’t it? And all because those elite entities were so unhappy about what almost happened to Portsmouth, when they nearly went bust, but didn’t, 14 years ago. They still haven’t got over it, poor lambs. That’s why they vote for these rules to ensure no club outside the Super League six ever attempts ambition again. Aston Villa, meanwhile, have dropped four points in three home league games that have followed their Champions League matches this season. They defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers, but drew with Manchester United and Bournemouth and Sunday was the first time they had conceded four goals or more since a dead rubber against Crystal Palace on the last day of last season. Might they have fared better, then, and made this season more competitive, had they not had to sell players to meet the artificial construct of PSR in the summer? Villa are not in financial jeopardy. Indeed reaching the Champions League — or any European competition in the case of a smaller club — invariably necessitates squad improvements. Instead, Villa had to asset strip. As a result, the demand on their squad is greater and their league form is not what it could be. Imagine the contest there would be at the top if every club could operate to its potential, rather than have the dead hand of Premier League chief executive Richard Masters and his ever-expanding team of lawyers hovering over their accounts. This is a good title race, but it could be a better one. Newcastle should be in it, even Manchester United if Ineos was allowed to finance the change required. Aston Villa should be stronger, Nottingham Forest should be able to stay the course — maybe even Brighton, too. Beyond this season, we should have the most competitive, strong and open league in the world. Whatever the verdict after the 115 charges have been heard, Manchester City look to be nearing the end of their period of dominance. If Guardiola does not leave at the end of this season, in all likelihood he will be gone at the end of 2025-26. Either way, it is hard to imagine City towering over their competitors when that happens. Guardiola may be right that City will handle succession issues better than Manchester United or Arsenal, but they were never as dominant before he arrived. They won titles, sure, but as singles not quadruples. So there may be a vacancy at the top and as many as ten teams capable of contesting it. How tedious, then, to run that race as a handicap — particularly with the weights applied to those needing to be lightest.

Arsenal fans: We want Isak at our club. Also Arsenal fans: We can't pronounce his name properly.

Bet it's not gillespie's though

There are those that say any striker coming in would have to be 3rd choice, but they really wouldn't be as Wilson is never ever fit. A lull in Isak's form and bam! you're first choice. I reckon the thing with Wilson is that he's super ambitious, but he realises he can't beat Shearer's goal record so he's going to eclipse michael owen's sick record instead.

So good they named us twice

Took me a second then properly giggled at this

Everton and now this. Beyond underwhelmed. Fuck that Brighton might be a good side, I don't give a shit, WE are a good side, on paper at least. These are the games we should absolutely be getting points from, and full points at that. I love Eddie and want him to do a ferguson here (without the arrogant fucker's attitude and personality that has thrown a sense of entitlement into man u fans to this day) but this is not acceptable. In that press conference I reckoned then that he was saying that it's intense and he'll have to have a break soon. Sadly, and it's heartbreaking to me, I reckon it'll be sooner rather than later. I can see us getting knocked out of the cup and I've made peace with it. Do I blame Eddie? No. I blame the absolutely corrupt pro-red cartel (and hangers on spurs for some unknown reason) rules for not allowing teams to invest. By the time they suddenly have to rip up their silly illegal bullshit rules I think it might be too late for wor Ed.

Nah, I reckon Razor will ask it just to get it out the way, get the "no" from Eddie and move on to proper questions, and he'll do this to stop the idiot journos asking later. Although saying that, fucking hope asked if he'd spoken to Paul Mitchell this week straight after Mark Douglas literally just asked that a few seconds earlier.

Could they be sacking him from the ambassadorial role to replace ten hag?

No investment as the EPL will make a rule that it needs to be included in our FFP.

Yeah, absolutely this. I don't even remember him playing that much for us, maybe the odd sub appearance, but according to wiki he made over 50 appearances for us, more than he did for any of his other clubs. I was convinced he hadn't got anywhere near that number of appearances.

I know you're talking complete sense but I'd like to spend a day or two contemplating getting golden bootlace sponsorships for forty gagillion pounds per month so we can upgrade the squad. I'll come back down to earth soon, I just wanna dream for a bit

I would guess on whether they are to remain, go or change. Haven't seen anything else on it.

I feel pretty bad now because I said I didn't mind craig hope because of the fact he had a pop at bruce. After watching the pre Fulham press conference and his stupid little video later, balls to that. He's an arsehole who is just stirring up shit for no reason. He came across as an inept dickhead anyway when his first question was "have you spoke to Paul Mitchell?" RIGHT AFTER Mark Douglas had already just asked that. He made louise taylor sound like a decent journalist, that's how much of an arsehole he came across as. He's behind this trouble behind the scenes storyline and I don't know why. He knows he's not popular for it and he's not wanting to be the shot messenger, but he's not just the messenger as he's the bloody one forcing this bollocks narrative. craig hope can fuck right off. Watch now as luke edwards does a face turn.

They essentially go for the classic lead commentator supplemented by a colour analyst. In regular sport, football included, this should be someone who calls the action as it happens ("play by play" in American parlance) and the colour analyst, usually an ex pro who is knowledgeable and has an ability to talk coherently to provide insight on why a player does something, what formation they go into during transitions, the role of a libero etc. The problem is we don't have that, we have former players who had nothing to do in their downtime but play call of duty and watch WWE, whilst the lead announcers trying to get themselves over whilst belittling clubs they dislike. The colour analysts are so poor because they think the wrestling format of straight man/face lead commentator and heel colour analyst is the way it should work and so they try to come out with controversial comments about teams that aren't one of their darlings. This doesn't work as we expect decent analysis and insight from that role in football and not not just heelish jocularity or bitterness. The lead commentators seem to want to get themselves over in the same way too which then adds into an absolute mess in the commentary booth. This encourages both parties in the commentary team to do the most basic of research (read the teamsheet) and hope the fact they've watched/played football will carry them through the broadcast, without ever trying to improve themselves. As a commentator, research is a vital tool in your armoury, alongside having the presence and voice, a deep knowledge, and a sense of timing. The piss poor watered down wrestling style commentary teams that they're using as a shitty template isn't what a football fan, or indeed any serious sports fan wants. Yes, we want it to be entertaining and informative, not ignorance and bitterness.