shefcanary

Join me in the Vets team RNL. 🙂

And is the prime reason why I hate Hillsborough. And the awful blue seating. Cold, cold, place. The way they treat away fans is abysmal, the fare on offer at the recent match made me feel embarrassed for my adopted City. No way is Hillsborough anywhere near a good ground. Knock it down and start again.

I just thought I'd lay out why pursuing this would be a difficult thing to do. There is a risk in that unless Brum are also "safe" from relegation at that point. If there is a possibility they could get relegated and we put out a "weakened" team and thus give Brum a potential "advantage" over other teams facing relegation, we could land up with a financial penalty or even risk a points deduction (although I think I am right in saying that this would be in a future season not this one because of the subjectivity over what is a "weakened" team). We have 22 players you could deem as "experienced" in our squad (at some point having started a game this season). Gibbs and Dimi are unlikely to be fit until next season, and Onel, Hanley and Lungi have not made a squad in a month. If those latter three are fit, then sure, you could rest six of last week's starting line up without being deemed to start with a "weakened" team. However if any of them 3 do not make it back then the number of players you can rest reduces further to avoid such an accusation. This is where I think Wagner may have scored an own goal in not bringing players like Aboh and Welch on more often in recent weeks to prove they are truly part of our squad. With wholesale changes there would also be a change to the tactical set up as well which could undermine continuity. Finally there would also be a more than two week break between Swansea and the first leg of a play-off, after a long season a player could go stale in that time. The balance between keeping players sharp and fit and avoiding injuries is a difficult one to tread, so is avoiding the wrath of other clubs and the EFL.

Plenty of time on her hands to knit something then - I hope she doesn't get too carried away with the wild life in her choice.

I'm turning out for the veterans team, purely for Charity!

He also jointly managed the first team for a while between Smith & Wagner (alongside Mr Polo Neck). Perhaps he has been offered a Head Coach / Managers role elsewhere?

I don't know if this is the case, but what if Aboh was such a player? I only say this because we've never had the opportunity of checking this out, neither has Wagner - it wouldn't be the first time there was a difference between training and the real thing for a player. Is that Wagner's fault?

I would have thought she's in a better position, if Uni is an option, than others. I guess it all depends on what she is planning to study. If she was at Loughborough for instance, who have very good facilities, she could almost train as much as our men's' first team squad. Inevitably however that would probably mean she would have to play for them if she is really of international standard. The club could "loan" her to the club nearest her Uni for the duration of her studies if it was out of reasonable commuting distance (does that mean anywhere other than UEA or Cambridge?) and / or arrange for local training during the week with expense paid travel for matches at weekend. She could study at Sheffield and be loaned in her first year to either Sheffield Club or Wednesday to prove herself (both at similar level to Norwich), then aim for a loan to Sheffield United, currently in the Championship, for the remainder of her studies? Then come back to Norwich a fully formed footballer and still with 10 good years ahead of her. There have been a few male pro's who managed to get a degree before fully focussing on football and playing at the highest level, although that was a few years ago now. Stevie Coppell springs to mind, there were others.

And who "we" beat 4-3 to win the FA Cup in 1986!

The club only started directly managing the women's team two seasons ago. In a former guise the women's team actually won the FA Cup, something the men's team have failed to do! The impetus that could have followed the non-affiliated women's team winning the women's version of the FA Cup in 1986 was totally lost. By the time the wider world woke up to women's football you could argue the club were either too slow to react positively with full support for the team that existed, or right to take a more cautious approach. It certainly has been the cheaper so far.

Nah, as Sheffield is on that route and it is 3 and half from here to the Carra' without engineering works, so 5 hrs without works sounds right. Given when I went to the FA Cup match at Anfield my train went via Huddersfield because of the Hope Valley engineering works I think it might take nearer 7 ATM.

She also worked for the marketing dept. of the club. The £6K you mention were her match payments (equating to about £200 per match as I used in my calculations above), she was on £30K as a marketing executive.

Whatever Glad knits for me!

Okay, the accountant in me can't let this pass without comment and analysis. I would estimate that Step 4 of Women's league football equates to Step 8 or 9 of the men's game in terms of player payments. In men's step 8 or 9, the standard is players get up to £200 a match (more if the Chair of the club is splashing the cash on former pro's - my mate is assistant manager of a local Step 8 club and let's slip occasionally what his sometime errant Chair authorises for an ex-pro, which can make your eyes boggle a bit). So currently with about 30 matches, a squad of 20, at that top rate gives a cost of £120,000, with management team costs and other running costs (pitch costs, match fees and payments to referees, overheads for marketing / HR etc.) taking the total cost to c.£250K. I think realistically they might sell 250 season tickets ATM (based on attendances at the Nest) which barely scratches the surface of costs. I can't see sponsorship (both club and league) bringing in more than £100K. At the moment (assuming the matches at the Carra break-even), I estimate a cost to the club of c. £150K. If the club does move to "semi-pro", it implies c.£15K cost per player (including on-costs) based on 50% of full-pro status at NMW rates (I've read that Arsenal's 1st team players were only on NMW until the WSL came into being so realistic here); for a 1st team squad of 20 say that's £300K p.a. Management team would add another £100K, say, with other match costs (as above) giving a total cost of c.£450K. At £45 the club would have to sell 10,000 season tickets if that was the only income to break-even. It isn't the only income stream however. I think realistically they might sell 250 season tickets ATM (based on attendances at the Nest) which barely scratches the surface of costs. After sponsorship and gate money (see above) I estimate the club would have to support the women's team with c.£300K, doubling it's cost. In either case, the club's support is perfectly legitimate piece of marketing cost one could argue, spreading the club brand across a wider audience. My conclusion therefore is if the club should gain promotion to EPL, a move to semi-pro basis of the women's team would be guaranteed, but otherwise it might be dependent on the women's team gaining promotion.

Hwang or SvH? Aboh!

Someone accused you of being a Binner - you're a lot of things but you're not that bad!

I didn't realise he was from the other side of Hadrian's wall. Explains a few things, like being happy with only 5 pieces of Scampi.

Deadly was a great watch on those BBC2 marathon watches of the early 70's. A true master of his craft. RIP Derek.

I thought that was the Board's benchmark already anyway - top 26 club! That kind of tension can help focus the mind and bring out the best of those around them if they do not take it personally but try to prove the other wrong. As appears to be the case ATM.

For those who can't watch this, this was one of the most bizarre MP votes ever; if he had represented the Raving Loony Party he wouldn't have looked out of place. O'Mara was a DJ at one of the worst of the cheap student dives on West St (called West St Live, natch) in the years leading up to selection. I can only think him and his mates just woke up coked to high heaven one morning and thought it would be a laugh to nominate one of them for role of Labour candidate. Up to that point it was Nick Clegg's constituency. I think Labour never really thought they would shift him, so didn't want to waste a good candidate taking him on. Probably having sobered up O'Mara got through the selection process on a minorities & disabled candidate ticket (he has a minor form of cerebral palsy and could be quite persuasive if he put his mind to it). The student vote (Hallam is a constituency with a mix of the very richest in the country, a lot of student "villages" and many lecturers) decided anyone was better than Clegg and a lot of them recognised O'Mara from that club so they voted en masse for him. Once an MP, stories of female students being verbally abused by him from behind the decks emerged, Labour sacked him, and he seemed to forget about politics and reverted to drug taking big style. His interview with my mate James Vincent at the height of the scandal when he was high on coke and champagne was pure car crash TV. Poor all round. And now O'Mara languishes in prison having been found guilty of fraud by squandering most of his MP's pay and expenses on cocaine.

Hallam FC - destined because of their sloping ground (oldest football ground still in existence - see picture) never to play above level 8 in the pyramid, but have a set up to rival everyone at that level, currently enjoying attendances between 500 and 1,100. Sandygate is a football and cricket stadium in the Sheffield suburb of Crosspool, South Yorkshire, England. It is home to Hallam F.C. and Hallam C.C. First opened in 1804, Hallam F.C. have played at the ground since 1860. Sandygate has been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the "Oldest Football Ground in the World".[3] On 26 December 1860, the world's first inter-club football match was played at the ground, Hallam taking on Sheffield F.C. The ground offers viewing for spectators from 3 sides of the pitch, the Shed End, the Main Stand and the Cricket Net End. Followed (remotely) by Attleborough Town FC, my home town team, who have been struggling on late.

He's Waveney. He's a weird one but normal for Norfolk; he's a Norwich fan, goes to all home matches, sits in the Gunn Club pre-match and eats his five pieces of scampi, then comes on here and moans about almost everything to do with the club.

Agreed, given he's contracted until 2026, if he's not getting minutes at a League 1 club he needs to go on loan down a division or two next season to get regular minutes to prove himself. At least we should get a loan fee for him, but does seem someone ultimately we should pass on.

Was I? I set out a proposition that Wagner tends to have long streaks of similar results over his career. All that has been proven is that with a one off loss, his long winning streak continues. I'm taking a Purps position here, and say my statement means I was right either way! 😉 🙂 😜

If his recent social media post (see the highlight on his comment) is to be believed he seems to think he won't be ... 🙂