Beefy is a legend

It won't be the clubs paying huge salaries that need the help. It will be the Macclesfield's, Wigan's, Bolton's of this world.

The PL already advanced £125m to EFL clubs during this pandemic. PL clubs have already lost budgeted TV cash too. I'm not convinced that there's a tremendous amount of money just 'going spare'. The government is going to have to help some lower league clubs to survive.

If the government was honest enough to say that full lockdown couldn't go on for economic reasons that would be fair enough, I might even agree. But no, they blame the rise in cases on the public, even though the public did fine for four months and the rise in cases actually funnily enough coincides with telling people to eat out, go back to work, opening pubs, restaurants, casino's, schools, universities and having no contact tracing app and a shambles of a test and trace system which isn't NHS run but sub-contracted to Serco. But sure, blame a few silly individuals for what's going on. That's much more convenient than the government admitting that they opened up too far and too fast and now they have to u-turn.

Too easy to blame the public in my view. The public was doing fine in June and July. The government decided to encourage people to go out, the government opened pubs and restaurants, schools and told people to go back to work. They are ending the furlough. They have to take responsibility and they should factor in an inevitable minority of non-compliance with rules.

But Paul, the issue is that you aren't allowed to see family outside in groups above 6 either, not just inside. And I suspect after tomorrow you may not be allowed to do even 6.

Personally I find the mask thing a little half-arsed - you can sit in a pub or restaurant, or inside at work not wearing one so how important are they? In takeaways the staff aren't wearing them, it's also the case in many other shops. I'm not making excuses for anyone choosing not to wear one, but at the same time it does make you wonder. Why were they introduced so late anyway - no one was wearing them in May/June time! My point is this. We know that some percentage of the population will be Covid deniers, or won't care about the restrictions for whatever reason. That must be accounted for in government policy. And the reality is that we were doing fine in early summer, it is only when the government opened things up more that we are now facing another surge in numbers.

Personally I think it is way too easy to blame people and not the government. We were doing fine through the summer. The government chose to encourage people to get out more, the government opened pubs, the government opened schools, the government told us to get back to work, they are ending the furlough, their testing regime is woeful. They have a tough task, but they are doing it very very badly.

I have to agree, I wouldn't be surprised if we are back to 0 fans for the next home game. We are in a difficult place. As soon as we open up society the virus will return. I don't see how any of the measures can prevent it. As soon as they are loosened it will come back. We can't have workplaces, schools, universities open without the R number going above 1. Until there are very effective treatments and/or vaccines, we are stuck with this situation.

The difference of course, is that fans at football is an economic benefit to the country. Sadly you seeing your family, isn't. That's why one is being encouraged and the other is not.

Yes overall it was pretty good. Inside the stadium no problem at all. We were herded into close quarters on the way out but otherwise it's an 8/10 from me.

I was there and in my 'bubble of one' I had a clear row in front, a clear row behind and two clear seats either side. That side of things was fine, the main issues were outside of the ground where we were herded into small areas and tight queues.

Don't forget the quality performances from McSkipp, McPukki and McIdah. And of course McLean.

There are a couple of things to say about Mario. First, he is never going to play for us again in the Premier League. We are trying to recruit players that will help us as and when we get back there. He doesn't have the mobility off the ball to play at that level. He's also the wrong side of 30 and pretty unlikely to get an extended contract. There are certain games, against the weaker sides where we should boss possession, where you could use him as an attacking sub. Otherwise, I don't think you will be seeing much of him unless there are injuries.

Never understand why people expect new signings to waltz into the starting XI. They have to earn their place, like everyone else. Hugill has two pretty good forwards to compete with.

NCFC may not have the best owners in football. They are nowhere near having the worst owners though.

I think that one of the things to note is that Webber has consistently said that we won't stand in the way of players that 'outgrow' the club. That's an important factor for players when we sign them on 4 or 5 year deals - that they sign because they know that NCFC won't hold them back if a top club comes knocking. It allows NCFC to get full transfer value because the player is willing to sign a long term deal knowing that they will get a move if the deal is fair for all parties. As soon as you refuse to let Emi go, you make other young players, like Idah for example, think twice about signing that 4 year deal. If a Leicester, a Wolves etc come calling for Emi and it's a step up for him, a huge wage increase, and a £25m plus add-ons transfer fee for NCFC, I can't see anything other than a deal being done.

It seems to me that Farke, and particularly Webber, are looking to select players this season that are going to be capable of helping the club to survive and thrive in the Premier League if and when we get there again. That's why Trybull and Leitner are out, they couldn't cut it at the top level. Stiepermann is similar, as are Mario and Tettey probably more due to age than anything. I don't expect much game time for any of them unless we have several injuries.

I agree with you Wacky. However, if you look at the 23 opponents in this season's Championship, I have to say that it's almost impossible for us to finish outside the top 6. If we had to hand pick 3 sides to go up last season to make this league weaker, I would have picked Leeds, Fulham and WBA. If you look at the division our realistic competitors are Brentford, Watford, Forest, Derby, Stoke, Swansea, Cardiff, Middlesbrough and Bournemouth. It's hard to see any other side being able to finish above us with our overall squad size and resources. Even among those, Cardiff have nowhere near our overall squad strength. Bournemouth are in serious transition, Boro are a long way off a promotion challenging side at the moment, as are Stoke. Get one of our strikers firing, preferably Pukki, and this division is there for the taking.

As a few have mentioned, equating our admittedly poor defensive record under Farke only to back 4, or to the centre halves, is way too simplistic. The XI as a whole has to defend. So many set piece goals came from us being smaller as an XI then the oppo. But you don’t drop Max Aarons for being short because he’s outstanding in other aspects of the game. You have to compensate for his height in other areas of the pitch. Hugill, for example will make a big difference to set pieces defensively as well as offensively. Placheta and Sorensen look like tall lads or taller than what we had before. Hanley and Zimbo being fit will also make us a much stronger, taller unit. Overall it is pretty mean to complain about anything in this summer’s business. We look a very competitive squad for this level.

You can't really judge the new signings, particularly those from abroad, until the season gets going in earnest and much will depend on how players like Placheta and Sorensen perform. Adding more strength and ballast into the midfielder is a crucial ingredient to improving our defensive record. But irrespective of that, I will say that if we keep 3 or 4 of the big 5 then there won't be a better squad in the division. Watford and Bournemouth face far greater upheaval with managerial changes and the lengthier period that they've been out of this league. It is difficult to see stronger sides like Brentford or Swansea having a bigger or stronger squad than us. If our key players stay fit, I think we have a great chance of the top two. The three ideal sides to go up, went up, in Leeds, WBA and Fulham. There is little to fear in this division. Pukki, Emi, Max, Jamal, Godfrey, Cantwell would get in every other side in this league. Zimbo too I suspect.

I understand that there are only about 300 fans in the crucible and all are in family bubbles.

Can't think of anything I'd want less.

If you want to know where NCFC spends their income it's really easy. Just read the accounts.

Lower King, but my point is that whether it is £7m or £27m makes very little difference at PL level. What is far more important than any headline transfer fee is getting the scouting right and, for us, getting our youth development right.

We've spent far more than most people realise. Various signings have been on an undisclosed basis and no information on loan fees for players like Fahrmann, Amadou and Roberts have been disclosed. That is why a number of supporters have bandied around the figure that we 'only spent' £750,000 in the summer. It's probably closer to £10m with all of the signing on fees and loan fees. The point is that if it just comes down to pure finances we will never be a sustainable Premier League club. We have to find a competitive advantage in other ways. Youth development - improving the players we have - is a massive area for us. We've created £100m of talent just by developing, and then playing, Aarons, Cantwell, Lewis and Godfrey. Shrewd recruitment is another massive area - we have £25m players in Buendia and Pukki, we just didn't have to spend £25m to get them. That's the way for us.