SteV

Probably, but I’d guess wherever he went (assuming it was to be No.1), it would be a step down. Given the career he’s had, he’s probably absolutely buzzing to be playing in cup finals and CL.

Statistical aberration mate. If anything there’s actually quite a few less going into the ballot compared to two seasons ago. Also, queue numbers are a bit misleading. They are often vastly inflated by people on multiple devices (so obtaining multiple places) and also people leaving/being kicked out the queue, but their ‘number’ still effectively remaining.

The who’s gone to Ipswich is 16 I think, but I understand your point.

I suppose the question is, is it right for 15yo’s to effectively be poached by bigger clubs? Thus depriving the smaller club of a bigger transfer fee further down the line? Although having said that, even if a player has been at a club from say 8-15, I’m a bit sceptical about how much actual ‘development’ takes place due to the coaching. Obviously there’s some, but good players are good players at that age.

This is quite interesting because my cousin, lives next door to a family who’s son also came through the academy ranks at Barnsley as CB and has just recently left to join Ipswich. My cousin was talking to his dad, and apparently we also made an him an offer, along with West Ham, but he chose Ipswich, partly due to a potentially quicker route to the first team, and also because (surprisingly) Ipswich offered the best financial package.

That might well be a semi-regular occurrence tbh.

Aye, it was his last game. I think people almost forget about it / ignored it pre-match. Or maybe we just all knew the change was inevitable. By the end of the game it was massively flat like, but I think everyone walked away knowing it would get better.

Pre-match and the first 10 mins of that game were up there with best atmospheres of all time.

https://x.com/craighope_dm/status/1978884755060871459?s=46&t=OQLMckSuatbpqWF13Al4mQ

Well regulated militias / being able to shoot who you want.

Won’t you think of the Second Amendment

Everton were 0-4 down to Bradford at ht yesterday. And they had a couple of first teamers playing in Patterson and McNeil, presumably coming back from injury, but still. I also happened to notice that Everton’s keeper was called George Pickford, which seems an unbelievable coincidence.

Isn’t because his nicknames ‘Sniper’?

Ah, possibly the reason then. So, if you want a refund you have realise you can’t go almost immediately after buying them 😂

If it’s at a point where he hasn’t been fit enough to play for us, but is ready to start playing again, then I think it’s fair for us to be in contact with Congo and basically say we appreciate the importance of the matches but it’s not sensible for him to be starting back to back games, especially with the AFCON coming up, so be sensible. Wissa would have to play a part in that too. If he’s had a reasonable amount of minutes for us, even just off the bench, then I’d be less concerned, but still probably prudent to speak with them.

Think you might have got lucky there. Not sure they’re supposed to do that according to the rules?

Agreed. I sort of understand why they don’t allow the transfer option, but can’t see the reason for the no refunds. I know you get credit (I think?) but given how hard it is to get tickets for a lot of members, that’s not always a particularly viable solution.

Yeah, I understand that. Tbh, if it comes in, and you're in a group that kind of pass tickets between each other, the group burner phone becomes a sensible, if more difficult, option.

Probably, and (if done properly…) should make the overall process easier in that there’s nothing additional for people to download, so less chance of ‘user error’. If it all works properly, I’d like to think it’s the precursor to members getting some kind of digital card which is has any tickets automatically loaded to it. Would at least make the touts job a bit harder if that were the case.

I think everybody realises the ridiculous efforts people like yourself have to go to, to consistently get tickets. I think the Trust did a survey (possibly in conjunction with the club) a while back asking which option out of ballot, stickman (gen sale) or a combination of the two, people would prefer, and the combination was a relatively clear winner (if I remember right). Now not withstanding issues that the club could improve on to weed out / reduce touting, such as ID requirement for membership etc., would this current combination approach always be people’s preferred method, until capacity increases?