Abacus

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rafa-benitez-reveals-detail-mike-17307918 Sorry for sharing a Chronicle article, although there's some great detail in there about someone in the top team not knowing how to microwave his lunch and Rafa having to help him (my bet is Charnley). Anyhow, whether true or not, it seems like St Max wasn't his choice. To me, he does seem too much of a libero to fit in with the kind of meticulous planning Rafa goes for. How do you coach him, or a Ben Arfa, for that matter? But who knows, and I'll stop derailing the thread now.

If I set up an 'unrealistic optimistic transfers' thread, intended to be about how Messi would fit in with our current team, how he might improve certain players etc or indeed accommodate Shelvey as well, that might be a laugh. Or how we might drop him for Hendricks every now and again. If people then started piling in, saying "We'll never sign Messi, I'm just being realistic, just don't send me back to the real transfers thread with other people like me", I'd think they'd have missed the point. Anyhoo, back on track. IF we had money to spend, who would you trust it to for transfers? I know there's a lot of people that would have Rafa back in a heartbeat. I'm not sure I would. I don't think he'd have bought St Max for one thing. Not actually sure who's idea that transfer was, because someone did something right for once, and I'm confused about who gets the credit.

Well he's right then, that's a definite tail off in form.

Again, based on nothing but guesswork and idle hope.

FWIW, my own opinion is that both Big Picture and the ESL were blatant attempts to pull up the drawbridge on any competition. I think we all see it that way, so nothing controversial there, and obviously the whole collapse was delightful. But now, rumours that some of these self appointed 'big' clubs are unofficially up for sale, which have two alternative optimistic points of view. The first is that their long term growth projections were based on constantly expanding TV money; now they've been blocked, can't see a way to keep the whole bubble inflating, and want out, because their values would crash. Optimistically, that could cause a much bigger correction across the PL. And / or, as complete speculation, do they fear a bigger competitor (or more than one) is already in the wings and are trying to bail out before they get in?

Me too.

I believe the reason that wouldn't happen, is that on promotion back to the PL, the owners then face the exact same test that has delayed things so far. They could then be excluded from the PL until such a test is passed putting everything right back to square 1, of constant delays. I'd speculate that might support no relegation being crucial. E.g., let's say we're relegated, then bought, then the arbitration goes against PIF, meaning they can't own a PL club. Where would that leave them? Also, re objecting to one of the arbitration panel, they have brought potential conflicts into the open and ensured that the reasons for any decision are made public, rather than being hidden away (which would enable another lack of transparency on the decision). Well, that's the reasoning I've read - no idea myself.

It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.

Like a bouncy castle

I thought so too, but I'm more excited about the shit film idea. Like Goal! Or the Bruce version - Mole! But if he does blow this whole alleged Richard Masters conspiracy sky high, then I'd opt for The Mancunian Candidate.

I suppose I read this and it's just people having a spat on twitter. I don't know who they are, what this is saying or what their credentials are. Can you summarise what you think, please? Is it that the Saudis didn't prove their separateness from PIF, or else at least didn't provide enough evidence to do so? I suppose that was what the PL letter was insinuating first time round, reading between the lines, since we're all just inferring. If you agree with the PL, then fair enough, by the way.

Hold on just a minute lads, I've got "Enter Labia" so far. So, if only I can work out what to do with the letters "Fez", I might have a joke on my hands.

Well, surely wrecks the whole thing then if Chelsea go. They haven't even got their founding 15 agreed in the first place, and now they're down to 11 already? Yes, there should be punishment for every team that signed up, but the worst should be for those clubs who were most active in sorting it. I also wonder if contracts were signed, they might even all have some external financial penalties there as well. Oh, and hahahaha.

And on the plus side, if they are all thrown out of the league with immediate effect, that makes our run in look much more bearable.

Ironic that the owners of all 6 of these clubs are deemed 'fit and proper' despite trying to fundamentally destroy the league, and the integrity of the sport as a whole.

So, both us and Fulham have Burnley to play. Let's assume we get the same result as each other in that one. We have two games in hand, but I say write off Man City and Leicester in our run in. Funnily enough, I wouldn't rule out a point at Liverpool either given the form they've been in, and that other bottom teams have got something there. But anyway, let's assume not. That leaves Fulham eyeing 3 points against Southampton, and us 3 at Sheff U (which of course we've blown once already, but let's assume). Even assuming that, I still think that puts us in a likely last day shoot out with Fulham, where a win for them sends us down on GD. Funnily enough, I'd rather we were below them in the league going into that scenario, which I know sounds stupid. I just think it's much clearer knowing you've got to go for a win, rather than thinking a draw is enough and that putting doubt into your minds. The fear of losing your 'advantage' rather than going for it can do funny things. I think that's why you often get a team dropping into relegation contention late in the season, or a third placed team fluffing a play off game.

In his pre match press conference on Sky, Steve Bruce said that "the one thing these players are capable of is rolling up their sleeves". So, all this talk of him skipping training sessions is clearly wrong. I'm glad that's the one thing they're capable of, and they can now do it. Before you kick a football, you see, you must first roll up your sleeves. It's a lot like making love to a beautiful lady

I'd say it's 50-50, and Burnley is huge. Fine, we're 3 points ahead with that game in hand. GD isn't very different. On the other hand, lose that one, and GD means it's effectively 2 points, barring some freak results. I.e. if Fulham catch up points wise, they'll have also opened the goal difference gap. I also thought West Brom were gone, yet they're a bit of a wild card now, even if they've got too much to do realistically. But a couple more freak results and you never know. But momentum wise, us playing quite well, getting an unexpected point, and Fulham losing as they did feels like a big one. Should never have been this close, except for this manager and the total lack of care from the top which caused this manager, of course.

With profuse apologies to Charley, both the person and the drug, I meant Charnley

I quite enjoyed filling that in. My polite question to 'the hierarchy', presumably Charley, was just to ask what qualifies them to run a football club. They must realise they don't know what they're doing, surely.

Every sentence is a riddle wrapped up in an enigma. "If I thought I would do that, I would resign tomorrow." So, it's not if he actually did something, it's if he THOUGHT he might do something. But why would he think he might do something so terrible, that he wouldn't do it? Does his mind have no control over what he does, perhaps? That might explain an awful lot. It's also interesting to note that he wouldn't resign today. No, he'd wait until tomorrow.