Badger

I'm not sure what you mean here? I am not saying that it causes a psychological illness or disorder if that is how you interpreted it: merely that it changes their behaviour on the pitch - players become less confident/ more risk averse/ "hide"/ perception of the task changes so that it seems harder or impossible/ physical effects - players tense up and miscontrol the ball/ overplay passes (Iwan Roberts talks about this in his book) Of course it affects players behaviour. Even in the examples I have given: Gerrard - risk averse - safe balls/ play safe Bale - perception - goal seems much smaller next chance etc A large part of the game is in the mind - it is why booing can be so damaging.

True.

1. I can't say that you are wrong - a Hughtonesque style or Pulis ball might improve our chances of staying up. We certainly had one good season under Hughton. However, it was never very popular with the fans and talk of "the Norwich way" came to the fore. Would they be prepared for the pragmatic style now? I wouldn't like it, but others might. 2. The problem is when trying to switch from the pragmatic to something more attractive after a few years. Palace tried this with de Boer but sacked him after 5 games! It is one of the interesting things to see this season with Viera - can he succeed where De Boer failed? Post-Pulis Stoke got relegated etc 3. The third problem of resorting to hoof ball is that if we are relegated again it may make if harder to get back up again. We will just be another pragmatic championship team. You won't be able to transform the pragmatic bruisers you have bought for Pulis ball into possession dominating thoroughbreds. I would be against a reversion to Hughton-style pragmatism myself, but it is only an opinion: others might welcome it

Yes - I think that this could be the new line of attack - "we are too ambitious!" 1. Instead of buying young players with huge potential we should pay massive ages for middle aged has-beens (or nearly-weres) - "too ambitious in who we buy." 2. Instead of trying to play attractive football we should get 8 massive lumps and sit behind the ball, and when we get it kick it forward to the head of a big 'un with a quick 'un nearby. Oh and spend 3 days a week on set pieces. "We are too ambitious in our tactics."

They are also in denial about the ownership of other clubs and can't see past Leicester. Two very noticeable trends: 1. "Every PL club can spend more than us..." This is demonstrably not the case 2. New ownership will bring more success - the vast majority of new owners at clubs "our size" fail. (Normal response to this fact is - but we could be Leicester) However, whenever facts are produced which challenge both vacuous assumptions they proclaim disinterest in any other club other than Norwich. Fair enough, but don't then post claiming to know what other clubs do, or proclaim the supremacy of other forms of ownership - even "stinking rich Chinese investors" have a very mixed record!

If somebody finds it, can they help Graham Paddon's Beard out - he may be needing it.

Didn't you ever study English Lit at school? Every great tragedy has "comic relief" for periods of catharsis.

There is overwhelming anecdotal evidence from footballers saying that it has effected their performance. There is a wealth of psychological impact of stress on the decision-making process and performance in general. I don't think that there is any real doubt that it affects player performance and I think that there is plenty of evidence to support this. I will agree that there is no evidence on whether supporters leaving grounds early affects performance - TBH, I don't expect that there ever will be - it would be almost impossible to conduct such research.

1. If we want to be pedantic about it neither of us are correct. The value of a player's contract is amortised on a straight line basis over the duration of his contract. 2. However, to say that it the difference between budget and cash flow is additionally wrong - much of the cash that will flow, will not be from this season at all, but over future years. 3. There is a newspaper reporting convention to look at the window and to work out (as best they can) how much has been committed by a club in the window in transfer fees and deduct from that how much other clubs have committed to them. It is extremely "rough and ready" and technically inaccurate from an accounting perspective. 4. Every other club will have their transfer spend reported (again not strictly accurately due to the amortisation convention) as what they have committed in this window. Have you deducted the money that Man City/ Leicester, and anybody else did not spend last year although it was in their budget + every other club to whom it applies. I can tell you that none of the press will have done so, so you will have to work "SG system" out all on your own if you want to make any sort of comparison, and nobody else will know what you are talking about. It really is a nonsense to say that money that we spent in this year's transfer window should not count as money that we spent in this year's transfer window because it was left over from last year. I don't know your occupational background but if you roll over unspent money from one year's budget into year two, you can't say that you spent it in year one - you just refer to it as an under-spend in year one that was carried forward to you two and spent then.

1. I have every sympathy for your distress, I really do, but nevertheless we have to accept that it is inappropriate to it is curtail and stifle opposition. History shows that to do so would be counter-productive. 2. On a purely practical note, can I suggest that you record Strictly and then rewind the bits when you PTBD overcomes you - at least this way you will be able to follow what is going on. Also, you save the mushy peas and microwave them another day - they should last a while. Nothing we can do about the Dandelion and Boodock, though - I'm afraid there's a CO2 shortage. (Isn't it meant to be flat anyway - I thought fizzy D and B is a modern thing? I can't afford such luxuries myself, since I gave up work to become a full-time Pink Un poster).

I can see what you are saying and there is definitely something in it. However, the pragmatic style of say, Hodgson etc, who have kept palace in the PL for so long did not get down well here when we had Chris Hughton. He was not just unpopular at the end when it started to fall to pieces, I can remember people having a go at him for the negative style well before this.

I would say this but confidence is low and we have a lot of young players - I don't think it helps. I know that some do, but they have offered no evidence, just opinion. But sorry, I have to say that saying it is the only reason we are struggling is going way too far.

I didn't see any, did you?

With regards the FFP angle, the simple answer is last year's revenues. Promoted clubs will almost certainly have made a big loss in getting promotion - bonuses, add ons etc. So although promoted teams get a big financial boost they are starting from a relative negative position. There is also the issue that you will have players on your books that you suspect that you no longer need and quite likely have to pay them off - I suspect our loans and free transfers will have cost millions. The big issue is staying up the first year - achieve this and you get extra money. (17th placed team will get about £10 million more than bottom because of performance payments from the Sky Money) and 3 years rather than two of parachute payments giving you time to get more expensive players that haven't worked off the books. I would challenge "every other club:" nearly all promoted clubs have this difficulty except for obvious exceptions like Villa and Leeds who only visited the Championship because of financial mismanagement in the first place.

From another perspective, my Wife said at the time "Why do men behave like this." She was actually a bit more forthright, but made the point that no women seemed to be behaving in the same way as the men were. I can't recall seeing any women booing, can you?

this simply isn't true. We paid more than several other clubs at the time - more than Newcastle, Leicester and more than double Bournemouth and Watford.

Well no wonder you thought the thread was boring - you missed all the exciting bits!😃

I think you need to update yourself on other threads. We are now being told that we don't have a gun! 😉

Amazingly, no they haven't. Similarly, a lot of them ignore all the financial evidence as well. Ostriches spring to mind.

Like the Barnsley owner?

Like Reading, for example? Thought to be worth £700 million but can't even get promoted from the Championship, let alone sustain a place in the premier league. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/sep/21/reading-in-line-for-points-deduction-over-breach-of-efl-financial-rules

We did have, but Uncle Fred has nicked it, so that he can shoot Delia and replace her with Xi Jinping!

Well I certainly have "lost my rag" and said things to family members that I shouldn't have. However, when I have done so, I have regretted it and have often (not always TBH) apologized. I don't think of it as a good thing and something that I am perfectly entitled to do, especially when I know that it has been damaging. It is something I try to control and certainly know of family members who bear the scars of arguments decades ago. Sometimes it is difficult to forget, as we see in marriage breakdowns + I have known good friends never speak to one another again. (Not aimed at you HSS - please don't start enraged posts saying that I am comparing it with marriage etc - I know the differences, I was responding HSS's point about family behaviour)

I think that it was Dennis Healey who said that "if you are in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging." Of course there is alternative of panicking, which some seem to prefer as they can't control their emotions.

1. If you are now arguing that it is a "controlled vent" I am a bit confused - I thought that you were arguing the opposite, that it couldn't be controlled? 2. Getting up and walking out does not negatively affect performance, booing does, therefore it is a better expression of frustration. It is similar to walking away from a fight or argument, although you might not wish to.* * In my own case, I prefer not to walk away from fights, I like to run like hell!