If the rules should have been applied at the same time as they applied to Man City on allied sponsorships then it is difficult to see how you can excuse some clubs but apply the rules to others. Doing this could harm the charges against Man City IMO. I was listening to a podcast today about the ruling and they mentioned the charges against City. If I understood what they were saying then onus of proof of wrong doing may be reversed and now be on the FA. It will be interesting to see how the F A can value a sponsorship at what they say it is worth rather than the money that changed hands. Particularly on an area that is trying to promote itself. Our Rwanda deal is a case in point.

But many players want to represent their country. The WC is the peak for many players.

Your not serious are you. Every week in Rugby League and other sports we see the club doctor send a player back on and ignore the concussion etc. Its only recently the s... has hit the fan in this area. And you can imagine the conversation about a crucial player for England íf we give him a pain killer will he be okay?'. That is not an honest assessment. But in any case they have sent him home . I await the diagnosis.

That’s not what is happening. The clubs along with City voted to exclude loans. City have successfully challenged this to waste the premier league’s time money and resources before the 115 charges case. It cannot apply to loans already being repaid because the rules aren’t enacted retrospectively as everything happened according to the rules at the time. Owner Loans should be subject to interest that’s fine. The rules have changed they weren’t broken.

It takes some doing when Simon Jordan is the restrained voice of reason. I think he hits the nail on the head when he said to Souness ‘you didn’t like him because you’re culturally different’ it’s exactly what many managers felt towards Wenger. A sophisticated foreigner who they didn’t understand and were therefore were threatened by. Most probably taking the assumption that Wenger looked down his noses at them and felt he was better than them when the reality was he probably could care less and it was the chip on their shoulder that made them create that narrative. Many of these football men from this era are now pundits and in the mainstream media and even though Wenger is no longer a part of Arsenal I’m sure that resentment over cultural differences remains.

Saka’s injury not serious, Carsley said he was close for today’s game but wasn’t risked. Gives some hope that he should be ok for our next game in a weeks time

Yes I am. No doctor will risk a professional misconduct charge by saying a player is fine when he or she knows the player is not. Certainly given the hullabaloo around concussion no doctor will ignore a player with a head injury.

Its not as if Souness is English himself. Or doesn't he draw a distinction between the Scots and English?

I'm always astounded at the exceptions people make for themselves.

Rice played in a more advanced CM position for England tonight, with Gomes holding deeper. Rice made some good late runs in to the box and scored the third goal. Rice is very good in transitions because he covers so much ground up and down the pitch.

Also Palmer wide on the right showed he’s not a patch on Saka in that position. Fans looking at Saka/Palmer/Foden/Bellingham need to take Saka out of the discussion because he’s clearly and by far the best on the right, the other 3 should battle it out for a maximum of 2 central positions, then you have Gordon or Grealish on the left

I used to play football with a lad who was/still is team doctor for a Premier League team. Under 3 managers, two put him under tremendous pressure to state players were fit to play when they clearly weren’t. He refused, but he said he knew of at least two other club doctors who would give in to the manager or club to play players who weren’t fit.

So like everyone and every type of job, there are some who will bend/break the rules under pressure or perhaps for financial gain.

Gidday Soc ...... well she certainly achieved that it's "parked ' there forever .

Wagons are hurriedly being circled because of her gender .
Our defence minister [ a woman ] has appointed the head enquirer [ a woman] to investigate the cause .

I've got no problem that the person in command was a woman what I have got a beef with is whether she got the command BECAUSE she was a woman .

She is LGBTQ to boot so that in our current society makes her more qualified .

I doubt human error could be admitted otherwise the Samoan government will have a better case , far better to blame it on the North Koreans for jamming the ship's computer system .

NZ navy only has eight vessels ....[ seven now ] four commanded by woman .

I don't know which rugby league you've been watching but in the NRL minimal contact with the head and they off for an assessment .

Assessment but that’s an opinion. If they are knocked senseless then that’s different but everything else is an grey area. Just watch the amount of court cases that will emerge over the next 10 years. And then there is the following week : is he fit to play. They have tightened up but it’s still a doctors opinion who may very well be pressured .

New TV initiatives could be in place next season where 3 ideas are being pushed forward:
mid-game interviews with substituted players
controlled dressing-room filming
half-time interviews with either a player or a coach as they leave or return to the field

I'm sure clubs and players won't like this but they will be happy to take the TV money as it increases and rolls in. Probably just a sign of the times for the desperate clamour for more access.

TV companies may get something juicy from a subbed player or manager at half time but 99% will likely be run of the mill media trained speak - won't stop people lapping it up though

For a while now in Ireland managers are interviewed in the middle of the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpN8I_T ... E&index=16

Calafiori


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q0gZdj ... E&index=17

Saliba

https://billycarpenter.substack.com/p/t ... revolution

A very long and very good tactical blog focussing on timber and Calafiori to start with but also going deeper.

Apparently Tomiyasu is injured again and out for a month after playing just 6 minutes againest saints.

Has the English media written its first negative story about Tuckel yet?

Can't help thinking this will end in tears from an outwardly emotional man. It may eventually end with many people saying how good Southgate was! Tuchel's benchmark seems to be to win a major international trophy or be a failure. Not much room for mistakes there - but at least the money is good.

Southgate was good. He also had a few recent tournaments where the draw really opened up for England. Still over here we would love some of the players England has available to them. Sometimes fans have to manage expectations: the media don’t.

I think the moment he leads England to a victory they aren’t favourites for he’ll have achieved something Southgate’s England never did.

That will be progress in my eyes. Perhaps England manager is an impossible job, but I’m not sure Southgate distinguished himself beyond any other we’ve had - on the pitch at least. Away from that he was a step up from Allardyce taking bungs on camera and being a massive bellend. But this “statesman” bollocks has to go. How about the sole requirement being results on the pitch?

Think this is a little unfair. Southgate knocked Germany out of a euros, beat Italy away in the nations league for the first time in ages, beat Netherlands in euro 2024. I felt we were unlucky against France in Qatar and the final against Italy. Couldn’t get it over the line but he did elevate our performances and bring results that prior would have been a challenge. He was a solid but unspectacular coach.

I actually think England have done the right thing although Tuchel won’t have a clue what’s in store for him.

In fact it mostly is the results that do for them in the end rather than their character failings. I don't think it is a bad thing that the FA expect high personal standards from their manager - after all it is a position under the national spotlight. One way or another Revie, Venables and Allardyce were all authors of their own downfall - the rest were moved on by results. Of the England managers only Walter Winterbotham had what felt like a sinecure in the job. Even so, although he was in post from 1946-1962, he was never allowed to select his own teams! Since Ramsey the FA have employed many good, even great coaches, without gaining that final success. Probably the biggest mistake was not hiring Brian Clough and Peter Taylor when they were at their peak.

OMG, the media and pundits are knock themselves out over the Tuckel appointment. I think they should have appointed Garry Neville and Jamie Carragher as joint managers. They are so good at telling everyone what should be done that it would be a breeze for them.

Feels very brexity and embarrassing. This paired with the nonsense about Carsley not singing the national anthem really makes us look like an Island of complete dickheads

Arteta was coy on the injuries, lots of players are 'close' and 'we'll see' including Saka, Havertz, White, Timber, Zinchenko, Martinelli. Arteta said Partey was fit, Ødegaard not ready and Tomiyasu picked up another knock but won't be a long injury.

Worst case team if all the above are injured would be:
Raya, Partey, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Jorginho, Rice, Merino, Trossard, Sterling, Jesus

Meanwhile no English manager has won the Premier league since its inception 32 years ago.

I understand Partey has seniority and it may be that a run of games is doing him a lot of good, but I wouldn't mind seeing Josh Nichols at right back again, or Lewis-Skelly if he can play that side.

To be fair that is the Daily Mail, which is no longer even recommended for use as toilet paper seeing as you only have to wash your arse again afterwards.

Howard Webb appeared on Neville's sky show The Overlap, in it they asked him about 'delaying the restart' and he said tried to clear up the difference between Trossard yellow vs the Szobaslai non red for near identical incidents including the time after the whistle the ball was kicked. Webb said Arsenal were winning at the time and Liverpool were losing so why would you waste time if you're losing, so now its not 'letter of the law' Webb is asking his referees to assess the 'game state' as he put it. A few questions would immediately need to be asked:
1) What if the game state is a draw? The ref is to decide which team is more happy with the draw!?
2) what if a big team is 1-0 up and the small team is still trying to waste time to slow momentum of the big team getting a 2nd goal and putting the game to bed?

We were also told that the Leicester player didn't deserve a yellow card because he kicked the ball off the pitch so the quick free kick couldn't be taken (Rice kicked the ball off the pitch), and also that because Saka was down 'injured' from the foul he wasn't ready to take the quick free kick (just like Bernardo was down for the Trossard one).

These guys just tie themselves in knots trying to explain away the inconsistencies. Rice and Trossard are the outlier decisions, certainly for 2nd yellow cards, in most cases refs display leniency and discretion when dealing with most 2nd yellow card decisions, Rice and Trossard were clearly more harshly treated by 2 trigger happy refs as opposed to the typical way of refereeing both before and after the incident.

I'm not a huge fan of Partey at right-back so hoping one of Timber or White are fit, but I actually thought Nichols looked nervous and a little bit out of his depth in the League cup game. He certainly kept things very safe and relied on Kiwior a lot to deal with anything physical or aerial on his side. I'd play MLS ahead of him even on the unfavoured side

Indeed, and with the big clubs favouring foreign managers that is not changing soon. Worth adding some context - of the 32 times the trophy was won, just four managers took the overwhelming percentage of the honours (Ferguson x 13; Pep x 6; Arsene and Jose 3 each). In that time just one German winner and no Dutch.

Contrary to what the media like us to think, football didn't begin with the Premier League. Looking back over the 32 years prior to its commencement the First Division was won 21 times by English managers, including a few great ones such as Nicholson, Ramsey, Catterick, Revie, Clough, Paisley and Kendall.

True, although given that Jozef Venglos, in 1990 with Villa, was the first non-British or Irish manager in the top flight, prior to that, those aforementioned managers (who were all pretty good!) had a grand total of zero continental opposition to contend with on a week-to-week basis. So, it's a bit difficult to tell how good the likes of Catterick and Kendall (for instance) really were, compared with their non-British contemporaries.

Very true, but while we don't know exactly what criteria the FA consider when selecting new managers, I think we can safely assume that "being alive" is on the list somewhere.

Yes, I would favour MLS if it's an option. Like you I'd rather avoid having Partey at right back, but I'll take your word for it about Nichols cup performance. I only saw brief highlights.

Couldn't agree more about this. It's obvious, pathetic and dishonest.

Any ST holder had the email about their season ticket utilisation?

I have and i’m sorry whilst the information is useful I suppose it reads like they are attempting to flip your ticket to a new user at some point and it’s an early justification to cover themselves,

At the moment I’ve had a very sick relative and been unable to attend many games so utilised the ticket exchange. What if I hadn’t been able to sell them ?

What if you can’t utilise your seat for merely 3 games a season? Should the club honestly rip it from you and hand it to somebody else. If the success of the team takes a downturn I think you could see a massive rotation of ST holders leaving.

Sorry to wang on about this again, but focusing on living managers even the few who have achieved upsets in the last 15 years have not been English.

The issue of the big clubs all having foreign managers is chicken and egg really, the big clubs just want to win things so they will hire someone who looks capable of that, regardless of nationality. But away from the big clubs it's been Ranieri, Rodgers, Martinez and McLeish at the helm when smaller clubs have won silverware in the last 15 years.

I'm not especially pro Tuchel or even against English managers. They're just aren't any with much of a track record at all at the highest level.