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  1. 5 points
    Oh give it a rest.
  2. 5 points
  3. 4 points
    Man wears suit, morons triggered. More at 11.
  4. 4 points
  5. 4 points
    It's precisely why Socrates distinguished knowledge (of) from wisdom (about). In Plato's Apology Socrates explains to a court why he encouraged young people to think for themselves rather than simply accept the professed wisdom of those who claimed to have superior knowledge, such as Athenian politicians. He explains that his reputation for being the wisest man in Athens rested on one piece of knowledge alone; that he knows he doesn't know anything. Wisdom, he says, consists in recognition of one's own ignorance. If one recognises that fundamental truth one will always need to keep an open mind and engage in critical enquiry every day of one's life. Socrates, of course, knew many things (that he was human, an Athenian, a man etc, etc) but recognised that wisdom consisted in being prepared to question the significance or meaning of those pieces of knowledge. His role, he thought, was not to tell the youth of Athens what to think, but to act like a midwife and help them give birth to their own understanding. Needless to say the authorities found him guilty of corrupting the youth of Athens and put him to death. Several centuries later the greatest philosopher of the modern era, Immanuel Kant, proclaimed that the most profound intellectual and social change in the history of Western culture, the Enlightenment, was best best summed up by the motto "Sapere Aude" (variously translated as "dare to think", "dare to be wise", "have the courage to think for yourself"). So, one of the most knowledgeable men in the world at that time described Enlightenment not as the accumulation of facts, but the development of the ability and will to think for oneself. When I was lecturing I used to do outreach in schools to encourage children from less advantaged backgrounds to consider continuing into further education. I would begin with the simple question regarding what the thought was the point of education. Of course they responded with the expected replies that it was about "learning stuff/facts", about "getting a good job" etc. Essentially, a standard (not wrong) means/end rationality for enduring the process of education. However, the minute we began to discuss the thoughts of Socrates, Kant, Descartes etc about education being more fundamentally concerned with their own personal development, about becoming an individual able to think for themself, there would typically be a quite remarkable transformation in the class dynamic and engagement. Learning stuff then becomes not just a boring necessity to pass exams, but a means by which each individual develops their ability to think for themself, a source of self-respect and sense of transformative personal power. Feedback from the children and teachers from these sessions remain a source of pride (and I really don't care who wants to accuse me of egotistical self-satisfaction). Cleverness will vary, but all possess the power to think for themselves and it should be the primary function of an education system to enable each individual to develop that ability to fulness of their potential. Perhaps the fundamental point I'm driving at here is that developing the willingness to learn is as important (if not more important) as developing cleverness (be that measured by IQ or otherwise). I think it a major failing of our modern education system that children do not have the will to learn placed at the centre of their engagement with the knowledge they are taught. An education system that does not engage the will of all the students in a common project of personal self-development is an education system that ensures a divide between those who are able to display their cleverness from those who feel alienated by their "failure" to be clever. Perhaps we shouldn't then be surprised that we end up with the sort of divisive and entrenched disagreement evidenced by the Brexit vote and its aftermath.
  6. 3 points
  7. 3 points
    I actually can’t argue with that
  8. 3 points
  9. 3 points
    https://video.leedsunited.com/video/dm9kJTdDMF9nMXBmM2pwNCU3QyUyRnBhZ2UlM0ZzbHVnJTNEaG9tZSU3Q2hvbWUlMkZsaXN0JTJGMCUyRmZlZWQ%3D for those who want to watch the whole game https://video.leedsunited.com/video/dm9kJTdDMF9oZTFnNGxpOSU3QyUyRnBhZ2UlM0ZzbHVnJTNEaG9tZSU3Q2hvbWUlMkZsaXN0JTJGMCUyRmZlZWQ%3D and Cameron Jerome has joined Bolton, hopefully to stick a goal or two past the binners
  10. 3 points
    Can't see too much consensus. Even for an idealist like me. Labour has been talking up making Brexit 'work' and Starmer has been very cautious. We've discussed why on many occasions on threads here. There is little pro reunion talk apart from pro EU interest groups. The ERG still appear to have Sunak mostly in their pocket - he isn't able to unite his party. We have leaders of both parties being partially weak. Starmer doesn't want to alienate his base either. The Tories will lose power in 2024. Could be sooner if there are more serious events that emerge undermining this most appalling political period in our times. Maybe in 5 years Labour might approach? Then, there's the EU themselves. Why on earth would they want us back? They will have reorganised all their infrastructures and arrangements 'sans' the UK. They will have moved on (and forward). Not that the EU hasn't it's own problems and challenges ahead. To accept a UK back at the table they would have had to have witnessed and worked alongside many years of a serious UK government - not watching on from the sides an appalling and shambolic husk of an administration that we see virtually on a day to day basis. I wouldn't want to get involved with much to do with the UK at the moment. Toxic. Brexit has damaged trust and our reputation. That kind of thing needs years to repair. The 52% vote really has done that much damage. It's all in Cameron's court aided and abetted by some of the worst Tory politicians who've seen Brexit as a coat hook on which to hang their personal ambitions. I don't share the hopefulness of that article. Though I would dearly love to.
  11. 3 points
    Exactly. Will the Tory Government ever look beyond the old Bank Manager lifestyle? How many retirees are going to go and work in a totally different vocation on less money than their final salary pension and then pay even more tax? If they are talking about getting the workforce back to levels required they need to admit Brexit is a flop rather than talk about the bonus of it.
  12. 3 points
    Can someone explain, how he moves between spots?
  13. 3 points
    That was after years and years of Jason Lee asking for an apology and being met with silence.
  14. 3 points
    A major problem with the British publics understanding of the issues of the day is the standard of journalism. Not just the spin that we have come to expect, but also that the journalists and columnists themselves seem to display a poor grasp on the subjects they are writing about (possibly, even if they haven't) Exhibit 1, below, from the Daily Mail Can you solve this dragon's den contestant's equation? I certainly couldn't solve it, despite having passed maths A level. Simply because it isn't a fĂşcking equation. It should be pretty obvious to anyone its not an equation, even if they don't recognize it as the notation to the opening of The Queen's Gambit I don't know what the journalist/sub-editor is trying to convey with this headline, maybe they see letters and numbers together and think the reader will relate to the word "equation" without thinking any further. Maybe they think it is some kind of alphanumeric alliteration Personally, I think it's ignorant
  15. 2 points
    Well it says Brexit in it so I can sumerise the post is full of rubbish, false promises, lies and garbage.
  16. 2 points
    Been seeing the ads for the Fantasy Football League show with Matt Lucas when watching matches, and it got me reminiscing about the Baddiel and Skinner original. So starting watching a few of them after Forest vs Man Utd match last night. ...Second episode in and Delia showed up on S02E02 here if anyone wants to watch: Quite interesting to see her discussing the club when she was just a fan, and her remarks about us getting it wrong about Robert Chase.. I can't even remember her being out-spoken on him at the time, anyone else? (Around 11 minute mark she talks) Great show, anyway... And she was pretty sassy back then too! 🙂
  17. 2 points
    A short, terse summary in the school magazine for former pupils was as follows: "You don't go to school to learn maths, algebra, physics, etc. You go to school to learn how to learn. Master that, and you can teach yourself almost anything". And if there is a fundamental problem in our education system, it's micromanagement to the n-th degree such that pupils are coached to pass exams and not to engage in depth with the topic matter.
  18. 2 points
    Ten Hag brought him in as a half way translator
  19. 2 points
    Maybe he learned the same as Vincent Kompany, that its a special stadium, and home to a pretty decent football team these days as well. “Whatever camera angles you guys have, they don’t do it justice, it’s bigger than that when you come in,” he said. “I’ve travelled all over England, but it’s a special place, for sure" https://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/44265/kompany-portman-roads-a-special-place Don't worry though, i'm sure Vincent will be equally as glowing about fortress Carrot road, when he visits you next week!
  20. 2 points
    That's the sort of comment only a brexiter would come out with. Get him boys.
  21. 2 points
  22. 2 points
  23. 2 points
    Brilliant 👏 stuff. Having been out of the UK 🇬🇧 a long time now. DO they make anything similar or are we so politically correct and a bunch of snowflakes now. That was a great watch. And for the purists deary me even Delia I'm sure liked it. Delia was very nice on the eye when I was a younger lad. 💥🤫😉
  24. 2 points
    Good luck to him. Though he does look like your stoner cousin who is forced to wear a suit to your sister's wedding.
  25. 2 points
    To be fair if you had such luxury hair like Todd you’d be posing too. I’m guessing not though 😁
  26. 2 points
    It's an odd quirk of football fandom, this. Because a great many Norwich fans hold that Cantwell was given a much rougher time of it- and much less patience- simply because he was 'one of our own' from the next town over. I've actually used Gilmour as an example of a player that attracted quite vicious feedback from fans, didn't look up to it for us (whether or not that was down to player or role notwithstanding) but never hid & was selected whenever fit. Personally I feel with Todd it was a bit backwards, that it *seemed* like he was given less patience but only because it was *assumed* that because he's local he should get extra. I don't feel Cantwell was any worse treated than others in the past few years. Furthermore whilst thinking about this, in the Athletic piece on TC it is suggested the player/agent felt his game was much more suited away from the rustle-bustle of the Championship and would would thrive in the PL. Yet we have a recent example in Gilmour, who obviously has technical ability, utterly wilting from the pace + power of that league. Perspectives are peculiar things.
  27. 2 points
    You say "shocking ability" but he was essentially a Cameron Jerome, and don't think you'd be as forgiving if some TV presenters did this to Cameron Jerome whilst he was at Norwich. That you would defend blackface says all I need to know about you so you can have the final word.
  28. 2 points
    Oy loiked Faarrrka much more than Vaaarggna......now he was orseome, that fella. That Vaaarrgna boiee, he have a lot to prove, he do.
  29. 2 points
    Pragmatism tells me we will never be a part of the EU again. Despite the mantra of equality, we all know that we could not face being junior partners to Germany and France. We will never join the Euro. So we have to find common ground in the UK for what we can achieve in terms of a relationship with our neighbours. If us remainers can accept we won't be back in the EU and the Leavers can accept that we have to live with and trade with the Worlds biggest single market, then we have a template for forging ahead and getting back to normal.
  30. 2 points
    Losing 0-1 at half time H Follow here: https://www.scorebar.com/team/19151/fomget-gsk-women
  31. 2 points
    yep...as well as working as delivery drivers (supermarkets, Amazon etc) to pay the electric bills. Thinking of folk being on a golf course (and similar) is such a crass statement reeking of the class system too. It was Osborne and Cameron whose austerity (directly in my case) made people redundant when they were previously very actively engaged in trying ameliorate the worst aspects of government policy on those least able to withstand it. Those who worked in the charitable, public and third sectors would tell you too. And now we have Hunt about to install a fresh round of austerity. No wonder over the decade, our public services have crumbled, with parts of society with it. I'm sure he has a softer side and has to say these kinds of things to attempt to influence. The state of our public services, our care system, the shortage of labour though is a matter of record. Brexit has been a negative at the heart of many things.
  32. 2 points
    I have nothing against religion but as far as I am concerned it was manufactured by humanity.
  33. 2 points
    I signed in just a moment and saw your reply H. So, I wanted to applaud your piece. I think you've touched on such an important thing - that the journey, the process of finding out something is a joy and an interest in itself. That you can have this curiosity I believe, will serve you well enough. I ought to make some (quite) personal references here and say that for me being curious does have a double-edged side to it. That's because you so often question yourself too! Well, when i say 'you' I certainly mean 'me'. Only yesterday, a friend called over and in a brief part of our conversation (on where time goes!) I mentioned that I had very little self to speak of when I had thought about it! A weird statement but I tried to explain that I felt I had always been rather a blank piece of paper - or maybe blotting paper would have been more apt a description? I have not known a lot of stuff and life just slowly 'writes on the blank piece of paper'. You'd think then that the paper would be full but actually what tends to happen for me is that the next day it is quite a plain piece of paper again! It is a deliberate act - call it curiosity or a real annoyance that I don't want any tying of myself to any mast! I don't wish to be tainted (not quite the right word - perhaps that should be over-influenced) with a fixed position. Fixed life positions are not helpful in my understanding (over the years). The world doesn't really care and has ways to upset the apple cart. Therefore, one needs to be nimble as possible. I think I have been drawn to Sartre's existentialist world (Nausea is one of my favourite books - world changing because it speaks of the sheer 'thingyness' of life but also hints at what one might do as well). So, I tend to observe and absorb and process. But, like so many posters on this forum I don't then really have a strongly held point of view - on much at all! It has worried me but also it helps me being freer (the double edged sword again!). It's why sometimes it's only over the length of a post that I will work out, through the writing, what I actually think. It's why I posted that I may be rather dim (whatever my IQ scores say). My ability to simply logically lay out sides of an argument is weak. That's because I hold different views up in the air often at the same time and I suspend belief / suspend decision a lot of the time. I often end up with loads of patterns (best way of describing it) which takes me a while to work out. My values are still there (about unfairness, kindness, loyalty, friendship, equality etc etc) but I tend not to dislike anybody! It is very strange. I dislike certain things people say and the ways some people act but I still think I could find things I liked too if I was ever in the position to be alongside them. Anyway, I'm veering towards a stream of consciousness essay again in responding to your sentence about willingness to learn 😅 so don't wish to be a bore. Being alive and working out who one is, how to be happy etc is a bloomin' battle (using one of Raymond Briggs' terms). Any help that teachers, lecturers, mentors, good supervisors etc can give in helping us all, especially when we are young, to conjure with these ideas would be enormously helpful. I think I've just had to work it all out myself but so wish I hadn't felt as stupid - or rather 'at sea' with not knowing HOW to try and look at the world when growing up. I'm an (older) man now but really, I'm probably still the little boy who wonders about things. The biggest question of all, as one ages, is knowing what bloody use one is to anyone else! And that's my current predicament, finding a purpose after my active fathering and careers have ended. I think I might speak for many others?
  34. 2 points
    And now the government is so desperate to remedy the post-Brexit labour shortage without resorting to immigration that it's using financial and emotional blackmail on early retirees. It depicts them as 'on the golfcourse' when an increasing number in their late 50s/early 60s are looking after grandchildren so that their children can work, and/or providing care for their parents to keep them out of retirement homes, thus saving the government billions.
  35. 2 points
    Chuck Norris' tears can heal the sick. It's just a shame he never cries... ever.
  36. 2 points
    Singles & doubles titles for Alfie. 😀
  37. 2 points
    Ronnie F*cking PICKERING!!
  38. 2 points
  39. 1 point
    I'm sure the GFPA will be along to dissect this shortly, but I'm guessing this is to enable the Attanasios to take a larger share in the club? https://www.canaries.co.uk/content/club-issue-notice-of-general-meeting
  40. 1 point
    I know its early Sweary , but I agree 100 %. There's a lot more post interviews and he speaks very well balanced , humble and a guy with a mission. WTF has been going on at this end of the country.
  41. 1 point
    Ah bless, don't worry you guys will get a star on your shirts one day, when you win something...........which i'm sure you will, one day
  42. 1 point
  43. 1 point
    That’s interesting. How does one become one of the Pink Un intelligentsia? Or if you need to ask does that exclude you? (Bonus points if you are quoting Groucho Marx to yourself at this point). I can think of a few strong candidates. I’m imagining a Venn diagram to be made of the Usual Suspects, Guild of Fag Packet Accountants, Inner Circle, Intelligentsia, Delia Apologists, Cook Outers… the list goes on.
  44. 1 point
    Realised he is not quite as good as as Wes ... ?
  45. 1 point
    I bet that is the first time he has ever worn a shirt and tie in his life. 😜
  46. 1 point
    Looks like a 12 year old wearing his dads clothes.Seriously though will be interesting seeing how he does
  47. 1 point
    Great opportunity for Webber to quit 👍
  48. 1 point
    I don't care what anyone says, this show was brilliant. Does anyone remember the Saints and Greavsie mini-series they did that replaced "Phoenix from the Flames" for a few weeks, and Mike Walker starred in it? It was after he'd been sacked by Everton.
  49. 1 point
    What intelligence means is very interesting. I saw a programme about Wayne Rooney that included an interview with someone who had coached Rooney when he was 11. The coach was fascinated by his ability and at one point stopped him on the halfway line and put his hand over Rooney's eyes. Rooney was able to tell him where everyone on the pitch was and where they were going. He went on to explain his options with the ball based on the varying abilities of all the other players and where they were. The coach said he'd never seen anything like it from an adult let alone an eleven year old. He described him as a genius even though at that time Rooney couldn't read or write very well. It seems that IQ is very limited in what it can tell us about someone. During my working life I got to meet a huge number of owners of medium size businesses. Those sort of people employ approaching 30% of the working population. As an ice breaker I used to ask them about their personal history and history of their businesses, most of which had started from scratch. The number of people who replied that they had left school with little or no qualifications was extraordinary. One of them even told me that it was a good job he was thick because he was too stupid to realise the financial risks he had taken. It would seem that a high IQ is no guarantee of success or happiness.
  50. 1 point
    Some friends and I were chatting about this again. Here are some of the thoughts for those who are interested …’….I take zero pleasure in any of the current discontent and sporting decline. I do also however think that Webber was highly compromised by our extreme zero external funds model. He was seemingly given too much of a corporate free rein - as x have all outlined - and the ‘We let our managers manage’ mantra has reared its daft head again. The difference this time is that the football momentum is a negative runaway train. I am afraid we have blown the budget, the momentum, the interesting (and historically successful) appreciated approach on the gamble and subsequent methodology change. And for what? To be Crystal Palace? QED Attanasio. Not quite the rather ugly (and racist) phrase ‘camels coming down Carrow Road’…but a long, long way from the puritanically high scratching post that was set for would be owner-investors for the past 2 decades. I hope Delia doesn’t fudge her equity gain - which currently stands at around +£43m. She’s left herself in an awkward position. She either takes it and the £5m training ground bond, the sale of Buendia and the ‘We don’t want a penny’ look a bit daft, or she passively hands it on to Attanasio to cash in another day. Even more ridiculous. It’s a huge issue and may be it is above Webber’s head. Though it is all absolutely central and fundamental to the forced decisions he had to make. And the position we find ourself in now. Any half-decent non-Exec would make the connection. It is a shame that there are not more sophisticated corporate finance minds engaged, because the effect on nexus point sporting decisions is far more acute than anyone sees or realises. All things are connected. Make no mistake. Attanasio will have his eye on all of it. He’s Smiling, credible, plausible, excited, family-oriented, food-lover, legacy-oriented… …yes. I’d be all of that for £43m. ——- On the tactical side I honestly think that there is almost zero chance of Webber forcing 433 on anyone. I like Petriix and Shef, though I completely fail to see this one. I can quite believe that 433 was the vision for the signings we made and the preferred idea for the premier season. It was a zeitgeist formation that Liverpool worked well with. I have advised repeatedly that nobody - not Liverpool or Man City - play with anything like chalk-on-the-boots wingers. It is strategic suicide even for the best. That we spent all the Buendia money on wingers and a striker who played wide (and actually defends wide quite a lot) is utterly bizarre to me. It didn’t work, but it couldn’t have. Ditto Gilmour popping it around freely in front of the defensive pairing á la a Paisley Pirlo. Again huge triumphs of wishful thinking over football reality. It looked flawed before a ball was kicked and even worse on grass. Farke simply cannot be excused his part in all of that, though he never wanted to lose Buendia, Skipp and he was by nature very collegiate. He knows the unwritten demarcation lines of the Sporting Director role and simply gave Webber too much flex. Webber thus certainly entered the green playing arena. 433 is also a paper formula. It’s not really how coaches create patterns on the pitch. The only exception to that is if - and it can - paint pictures in the players minds about where they should be and how they should move in certain situations. You do not need to be a genius coach to sense that this could be a good or a bad thing (depending on the player in question). Connecting to this last point, The future of player development and elite performance will come from something I have studied for the last 10 years (and am now writing a book connected to): neuroplasticity. The way that our grooved patterns fix us (‘neurons that wire together, fire together’) for good or ill. This is where the sale of Buendia comes in and how it connects to other points about Webber. Webber calculates carefully, though from the prism of his own mind, his own strongly-drawn red lines of certainty. He can easily create a well-reasoned argument - with a corollary list of justifying possible outcomes and negatives confirming his decision (say in the. case of Buendia) - though is commensurately unable to forecast the negative emotional effects on vast swathes of the squad left behind. Their subsequent ‘feeling’ - whether they ‘should’ feel that way or not, whether it is rational or not, whether it ‘ignores the noise’ or not - that all their hard work was wasted, the ground sold from beneath them, the club ambition limited, the finances ultra-restrictive, that the 2019 failure was NOT after all in preparation for a real go as promised, that the club is now on the slide, that ‘Guardiola won’t watch us anymore’. That is players for you. They have an acute sense for the way the football wind is blowing. It can be irrational, over-sensitive, simplistic and ‘street-rat’ wise. But THEY are the talent. THEY are what we are here for. THEY get up on stage and make your visions real or unreal. Nobody sells a Buendia at the point of promotion for THIS reason. You can sell him at other times no problem. Those intangibles don’t sit well on spreadsheets (which I love too), though they MUST be factored in and factored in large. The Cloughs and Fergusons probably did not study Neuroplasticity, though they instinctively placed it at the top of their agenda. Clough said ‘they come to me with false confidence, I strip that away and give them real confidence’. Ferguson said Beckham (ultra, ultra professional) ‘had to be sold, because he was too big for the club’ though he indulged Cantona (chaotic, violent, tormented) far, far worse and let him be bigger than the club. I do not criticise it at all. Wenger simply developed masterful ‘wilful blindness’ and simply didn’t see what didn’t suit. Actively, calculatedly, strategically. I do not criticise that at all either. It is football. These are hugely overpaid, hyper-competive, rich-beyond-Croesus, testosterone-fuelled young men. THEY are the talent that make the spreadsheets either tally or create circular references. An interesting subplot for context comes from a friend. FOI Government documents pertaining to COVID are interesting. They are vast and detailed. They’ve been studied closely of course, as all are now free to do. What was incredibly, remarkably striking to my friend - though in retrospect, and despite his first reactions, quite logical - was the huge weight (majority directional weight) given to Behavioural science. Not pure Science. Not medical Science. Behavioural Science. In effect ‘we know what’s true, we know what’s necessary, we know what will-should happen’, THOUGH ‘this is how people will actually act’. So they redacted, amended, distorted somewhat the advice and largely based it on the realpolitik of what people would do-reckon-think despite largely knowing it was wrong-flawed-compromised. Webber massively, catastrophically underestimated the impact on the remaining players (and their agents, friends and the wider footbal world and the ‘noise’ - which I note he could ignore then, though which he cannot now ignore even from fairly tepid local paparazzi) on what he already knew was a very fine line decision. He over-believed in his Midas touch. It was a huge self-justified gamble that even the much-lamented Smith would have made a back-me-or-sack-me moment. He sure as hell knows football momentum (and its black-hole sucking vortex opposite). Farke of course paid high for his collegiate nature (and inexperience?). I long counselled for the Sporting Director model. I firmly believe it to be fundamentally important for a provincial club, with limited funding, a somewhat closed-shop catchment clientele and particularly with the benign, credulous, hugely decent, though occasionally cultish-minded fine owners we have. I dread the thought that the lovely Delia will fudge the equity gain issue and allow Attanasio to hoover some of it. There is absolutely no need for this. He makes his money spotting assets and corporate carcasses that have been under-rated by more conservative financial institutions. Whether he is good, bad or indifferent as a person is utterly irrelevant. Asking whether he could switch-off, disown, forget it, or just simply get so enthusiastic or excited about Norwich that he forgets-forgoes his 40 years of carcass-picking, would be like asking a writer to forget how to spell, or to lose her sense of syntax, or to write with poor punctuation. If I was Delia, I wouldn’t want Webber protecting my interests on that one. Though I hope someone is. Hugely ironically ‘what’s best for the club’ could be a hugely-influential argument over her. Both Webber and Attanasio could use it on her for different reasons. She could have leveraged the equity gain differently with different advice. Though she has ignored it right up to the point of sale. She did it out of decency, though now huge errors could easily be made and painted as something different. By people with differing agendas. Again. Equity gain as it pertains to Norwich-Delia is reasonably straightforward. Regardless of intentions or motivations, you buy as asset (in this case the majority shares in a football club) for £8m. You enjoy it for 25 years, then an American comes along who wants to buy it. He buys other shares from other private individuals at about £30 and takes a C-Preference deal (that buys him leverage, gives the club cash, creates an internal due diligence process for him and his team, and allows time for everyone to smell each other, that provides a pathway to a full buyout. Caveat: in my experience minds are typically made up already) for about £100 per share. This means your original purchase asset (the majority shareholding) is now worth a likely minimum of £51m (and of course potentially more, depending on how you negotiate and project the future). So this is the equity gain. £51m (buyer to pay) - £8m (original purchase investment) = £43m (‘profit’) Now this is where the issue is. Delia never really wanted to think about this. Making a profit from the football club was ‘not her intention’. They were ‘never in it for the money’. She has - intentionally or otherwise - been the driver of the anti-sky, capitalism is bad, Football is crazy, self-sustaining model. Because she didn’t have any more ready cash. Because wages shot up. Because ‘camels came down (not Carrow) Maine Road’. Except football clubs became hugely valuable assets. People wanted to buy them. People did and do pay billions for them. Delia couldn’t believe it or foresee it. Glazer was crazy. Borrowing was awful. Risky. Remember administration? Then Glazer bought for £0.5bn (with Man United’s money) and will now sell for £5bn??!!? So - once again - everything we know to be true is wrong. A Mike Ashley would be hammered for making a huge equity gain then making the fans fork out for a new training ground because the portakabins leak. I love and respect Delia, but that money was there. It can be used. Other owners leveraged the equity - in effect funded improvements and used it to fund the football club, keeping Buendia at a key point say - because they considered that they were investing in the asset they owned and it was gaining value because of their investment. They also used club money to do this too - and ‘underwrote the risk’ via their own funds and of course the equity gain. Delia rejected these choices because she had no access to cash. She couldn’t risk leveraging the (theoretical-until-true) equity gain - like everyone else did. But she DID buy a football club. This IS the world she chose. All of this is actually a defence of Webber. He had to square some very difficult circles. Ironically of course it is the very Sky money that Delia despises that has kept Norwich sportingly competitive. The story of Webber, Farke, Smith cannot be told without the story of Delia. These are the corporate principles and economic drivers that create the fixed fence lines that dictate policy. That policy forces the imperfect compromises. Attanasio knows or senses all of this. As he has some access to funds, he does not have to force such autistically narrow operational lines. He can promise (and deliver) some flexibility. Some ‘keep Buendia-Skipp’ moments. Intoxicating . He likes stadiums. He might talk about expanding Carrow Road. He is excited and enthusiastic. He offers change. He offers a competitive future. Does he offer £51m? Does he offer £8m? Delia owns a Ferrari she hasn’t - and can’t - put petrol in. Webber might be excited about what Attanasio can bring (him). Attanasio will encourage and groom him (until he doesn’t). If anyone - for any reason - takes less than £51m - that is like putting that cash into Attanasio’s pension pot (or his children’s trust fund). He will not feel guilty about that. Though of course Delia might. She will know how that will all be presented. Do you see how that sense of guilt might be used against her? By both Webber and Attanasio (though he will happily hide blind and innocent behind Webber if he thinks he’s pushing it the right way) Delia is credulous, she rather loves a new Messiah. I worry for her….’…. Parma
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