It's Character Forming

For me, we've a lot of players who could do with game time and I'm very comfortable with us fielding a starting 11 made up from them, I think even in the Champs that's pretty normal nowadays.

Assuming Rowe doesn't play (I suppose it's possible he could come on as a sub, although I'd prefer not) that means his scoring run will be restricted to the first five games of the season...

Did anyone else notice the rainbow behind the ground in the 2nd half ? Rather pretty I thought 😀.

LOL yes I can still vividly remember his total lack of mobility.

Good one ! Fave for me is Jordan Rhodes, I can't remember a loan player who was so fully part of the squad but never signed permanently. Honourable mention for Dani Pacheco who made a great impact in a short time not just for that goal vs the scum. Disappointments are a long list, but a certain B. Gilmour comes immediately to mind... not often a loan player coming in has my non-City supporting friends saying what a good loan he'll be for us and then contribute so poorly.

By now my understanding is that promotion odds are 100% driven by punters who are betting, and the bookies juggle the odds so they will always make money. Only one team can win the title so if Team X wins the title, punters who have backed all the other teams will lose their money and the bookies just need to make sure what they'll payout on Team X will be covered by the losing bets on every other Team plus a nice profit margin. If people started to put money onTeam X then the odds will shorten, and vice versa. The bookies won't be too bothered about who are the "favourites", they have to set opening odds which will require a bit of thought at their end, but then once punters start to bet, it's all down to where the money is going. I'd imagine the Championship betting is heavily influenced by fan betting in the UK, unlike say the Prem. So the odds right now say more about how fans are feeling than anything else and clearly binner fans are getting very excited after no real success for longer than most of us can remember.

I'd be interested in how the stats have panned out for the Soton and QPR games ? I would look it up myself but I'm meant to be working....

I always remember when Harry Kane played for us at about that age, he was poor, I knew he'd never amount to much 🙂

I'm absolutely loving the Aussies whingeing about how rough we were - brilliant from just about every angle, not least the fact that in terms of fouls and physicality it was a very even (and generally clean) contest. Anyone who wants evidence that officials are influenced by a home crowd could start with a replay of this game.

This thread is a definite return to form for the Pinkun ! Googling the question about the final clashing with league games, this seems to be the only place where it's being discussed that I can find, so moving our game seems unlikely to happen, which personally I think is a shame.

As I see it there are two possibilities. One is that Chelsea have really identified this guy is both an amazing talent and he gives their squad something extra special that will make all the difference for them this season. I'm not convinced, but maybe ? Alternatively their owner has decided he wants this player and is used to having everything he wants and can afford it, so is willing to pay a ridiculous price regardless.

We’re not looking at selling him to Villa already?!

Seriously, we're talking to someone from the Norwegian canaries ?

According to one of those football stats books (I think it was the Numbers Game but I can't be bothered to check) there is a strong correlation between wages and league position, but there's no correlation between spend on transfer fees and league position. In other words, clubs that spend more on wages tend to do better, but those that spend a lot on transfer fees don't generally get a return from it. These are averages so obv there are plenty of exceptions, last season for us being a very clear example when our wage bill was up at the top end of the division, unlike our actual performance. But if the table above is trying to compare wages with transfer fees spent, then I'd say it's completely missing the point.

I assume it covers all the services so soldiers, sailors, marines, air force etc etc. I don't know another word that covers them all that doesn't sound clunky ?

Yep, that's a pretty full on whack on his leg, I think I'd be falling down clutching my leg if that happened to me. Some people really are on another planet in the way they treat Cantwell.

I really like the City poppy pin and the 2023 version is just out if anyone is interested. Generally the City ones sell out pretty quick, although they may learn and get in more stock this year Norwich City Poppy Football Pin 2023 | Poppy Shop UK

Fair play to Byram in that he always did a good job when he played for us and filled in a few times when we were stretched. But it will be a bit galling if he now plays regularly for them all season.

Alex Neil at Preston, no, Sunderland, no - Stoke ? It's so hard to keep up, I mean look at Carlton Morris.

I thought FFP was about profits/losses rather than what's on the balance sheet, so the debt would impact that if they are charging interest and only the amount of the interest, not the debt itself. In terms of a possible sale, ok it shows they'll want that amount if they want to sell, but as always, it's about supply and demand and if there are no buyers at that price they have a choice of not selling, or taking a write down on the debt in order to sell. I'd be interested to know if there are any other impacts people can explain.

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If a club owes money to its owners, does it actually matter if they are not asking for it to be paid back ?

That's useful to see, thanks for posting, and I'd say it's a fair reflection of the match - the 2-1 scoreline flattered them and we were unfortunate that we needed to get a goal right at the death to get the win. But at least we're comparing a 2-1 actual score with an xG differential of a couple of goals in our favour (not trying to justify a draw/defeat on the basis of xG showing we should have done better).

I think we've quite a few players who could have scored that goal if the defence backed off from them the same way, if you want to say they would have invariably blazed the shot over that's your privilege. It was a really good goal and makes me wonder whether we should have let him go for that price, but if we couldn't see ourselves using him then it's fair enough really.

I am a fan of this change and I hope they stick with it. It's always annoyed me when you're into injury time and the other side take ages over a substitution or goal kick or whatever, cos you knew that time was not going to be added on. It's only fair to add on time and allow the attacking side the chance to get a late goal (viz R Savage strolling off creating the time for Jackson etc etc). If it's kept like this, eventually players will waste less time, and that's got to be a good thing. As to why this has been changed now after 150 years, well I'd guess time wasting wasn't a big issue back in 1880 or whatever. Many aspects of the game have changed as time has moved on e.g. goal line technology wasn't a thing in 1966.