One Flew Over...

[quote user="C T has left the building "]Make no mistake glenn has assembled a very good side which can challenge the top side in this division (i.e birmingham city) and that was without our ''missing piece of the jigsaw''.. now we have that I expect us to push on and finish in at least the playoff places. The only problem will be injuries and loans going back - but we can just use Cullums millions to make the loans permanent [;)]I am fully in support of Glenn and the team NOT THE BOARD [/quote]It feels as though the team on the pitch is certainly on the up at the moment..even if we''ve not won yet. If we carry on drawing confidence could plummet and we''ll be in for another struggle. If we win a couple we could get on a roll. It''ll probably come down to the ball either going in off the post or not..Glenn has the contacts to bring us in a higher calibre of player than Grant. Seems that''s a requirement of being a Championship manager. If you can''t get quality Premiership loanees that''s the end. Grant may well have turned out to be a good manager, but if he had to employ people with "contact books" to try and get players to the club then it was never going to work. As for the board - they got the current manager in, and let him get on with the football, even though I guess Glenn will need a few million if we are going to keep the same players together for longer than a season. If 5-6 loanees change each year we''re treading water. We need to buy the top performing 2-3 loanees if we are in the top 10 (and not in the top 3..) next May. Maybe by the New Year would be better?

[quote user="Houston Canary"]Judging by the comments, I guess Ed Balls is an MP?  Whomever he is, the name is hilarious![/quote]He should have been a footballer. Apparently there was an Australian goalkeeper called Norman Conquest..Anyone hear the Ian Rush interview just after? Seems he remembers a goal he scored when we beat Liverpool 2-1..what year would that have been?

[quote user="Shack Attack"]Do you really think it''s that simple Jas? Surely nobody would sign ''as many foreign players as you like'' if they were restricted in the amount they could play at any one time. Therefore, there is some restraint of trade which breaks EU Employment Laws.[/quote] Maybe not saying directly you can''t have more than 3 non-English players on the pitch, but making each player register with a single football association, and then limiting players from different associations in a team would work? If the EU employment laws are so powerful then I''m suprised there haven''t been cases of players arguing their right to "ply their trade" when they have a 3 match suspension, and as mentioned above the maximum number of loan players on the pitch at one time. Not sure if it is just me, but I have almost no interest in the Premiership. Championship to watch my own club, and Champions League to see world class players, the Premiership kind of falls down a hole somewhere inbetween.

The whole world of football seems to be heading towards tulipmania..[W]Wages and prices of footballers are totally out of proportion to the real world. I also know a couple of people who have cancelled, or are about to cancel subscriptions to Sky Sports. Partly because of less spare cash, and partly as the games are now split over several channels. At the peak of tulip mania in February 1637 tulip contracts sold for more than 20 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble. The term "tulip mania" is often used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble.If you''ve paid 135 million for a player then the market collapses, and he is worth half of what the club paid then that is a lot of money to make up. Gate receipts, selling land, and players won''t return this money. Maybe we are best sticking to bricks and mortar, and loan players for the next year or so..

Well the BBC site seems to think we have the most newsworthy signing of the window:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_1/default.stm(Well as of 2am!)

[quote user="KeelansGlove"]Not wishing to pile more fuel on the fire but as I said in another thread she cannot even claim responsibility for the one bright spot in the last 10 years someone else financed the Huckerby arrival[/quote]That''s a little like someone buying everyone dinner in a restaurant, and someone else getting all the credit by leaving a big tip..

[quote user="Mark Smith"]But I feel people (not you) are missing the point. Yes, he got Thursdays sigings wrong BUT SO DID ROEDER. Roeder said on Tuesday that we might get a few more on Thursday. [/quote] Maybe GNG is Roeder! [:O]

[quote user="Evil Monkey"]Yeah, sorry but Wiki hacking is a persistent and often hilarious problem for its owners... There was a thing a few years ago where the words "Steve Likes Men" kept appearing on random Wiki pages... it got to be quite funny, but then I guess they clamped down on it... Inspired by this, my mate went onto Becky Mantin''s page and wrote at the end of the article "Becky is not nearly as attractive as she thinks she is."  And some time later I wrote on Ray Parlour''s page that since his public divorce he had started a relationship with the aforementioned mate... I doubt anyone gets too upset, they get removed pretty quick, the best idea is to change it then take a screen shot for posterity...[:D] [/quote] Except there''s no such thing as "owners" as all the information is added and updated by volunteers (literally anyone) worldwide, and made freely available. Which means everytime someone adds nonsense to a page, someonelse has to spend time removing it. On pages where lots of people contribute things get removed quickly, but on others it can be left there for months. Then there are people who change things like the dates of births of players, which is a lot harder to spot. It''s the equivalent of scrawling over the pages of books in a public library..

[quote user="Shazzakidd"][quote user="Canary Chris"]Does anyone know what would have happened if Turkey/Czech Rep. weren''t playing each other tonight and finished on identical records? Couldn''t do penalties obviously. Coin toss?![/quote] It goes to some confusing statistics such as Fair Play Record, Club''s Records In Europe etc and eventually Choice by Lot. (It''s all on Wikipedia somewhere) [/quote] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2008#Tie-breaking_criteria According to the official UEFA rules for the tournament[13], the following tie-breaking criteria will apply, in this order, should two or more teams from the same group finish with an equal number of points. In keeping with previous European championships, the head to head record between the tied teams takes precedence over goal difference. Number of points earned in matches between the teams in question; Goal difference in matches between the teams in question; Goals scored in matches between the teams in question; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; In cases where exactly two teams are equal in all previously listed critera and play one another to a draw in their final group match, kicks from the penalty mark will be conducted in lieu of the remaining criteria; Coefficient from the qualifying competitions for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and 2006/08 UEFA European Football Championship (points obtained divided by the number of matches played); Fair play conduct of the teams in the group stage; Drawing of lots.

I thought club accounts were published annually, so shouldn''t this be a better indication than someone with a "foot in" at Carrow Road who works at the market?

What with Sepp Blatter pushing for 5 English players in each team, how about 5 English coaches in the Premier League?!

Imagine the prices of English players if this rule is brought in. I''d imagine we''d see every team in the Championship with 5 foreign players within a season as any half decent English player will be snapped up. Also how long before people start switching nationalities so they can play in the Premiership? Welsh and Scottish teenagers would be put under imense pressue to declare themselves as English. Anyone with a claim to British nationality would also switch if the rewards were big enough.

[quote user="Mook"][quote user="One Flew Over..."] As for club loyalty the only other player I can think of in the modern game is Le Tissier and Southampton. Maybe Gary Neville and Giggs, but if you start at Man Utd there aren''t going to be many clubs coming in for you that would be a step up. [/quote] Oh for God''s sake, get a grip!!! Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Matt Le Tissier stayed at ONE club for their ENTIRE career. Hucks has been here for four. He arrived in a blaze of publicity and will leave the same way. Yes he''s brilliant, yes he''s a "legend", but he''s also very good at telling the fans what they want to hear. NCFC will go on without Hucks but, I must say, I hope he stays for one more season. But with any luck, if he does leave it will work for us as well as it has done for The Arse now Thierry Henry has left. [/quote] Yes that''s why I mentioned them... LeTissier could have moved "upwards" if he wasn''t loyal to his team, but where would Man Utd players go that wasn''t a sideways step? Hucks could have stayed in the Premier League when Norwich were relegated, but chose not to. And hoping your team improves when your best player leaves is fantasy. Have Arsenal won anything since Henry left?

Huckerby will be remembered for a long, long time. I can only think of Sutton as coming close in recent years. As for club loyalty the only other player I can think of in the modern game is Le Tissier and Southampton. Maybe Gary Neville and Giggs, but if you start at Man Utd there aren''t going to be many clubs coming in for you that would be a step up.

One win all season?! They may as well get rid of relegation from the Premier League if this is what happens to teams that go up. Our generations tulipmania is in full flow! [W]

The game isn''t being televised, so unless the website is going to be taking a camera crew to the match then there will be no "live streams." Can''t believe it doesn''t get enough interest to get someone to film it [:(]

[quote user="bendylonglegs"]They probably went to hospital to ensure they could claim against the guy who drove into them.  "ooo my neck hurts".[/quote] Lets just hope the person who went into the back of them wasn''t dressed in their underpants trying to find a training ground..

And a 5 million team investment from Delia would be the equivalent of a 2 billion pound team investement for Abramovich. A five million investment by Abramovich would be the equivalent to average Briton of £42.50! 

[quote user="chicken"][quote user="One Flew Over..."] "The IBM study, which was based on data from income tax returns collated by the Inland Revenue, concludes that the average Briton has a net wealth of pounds 82,400. This includes the value of people''s homes and their cash and investments, but not their pensions. " So Delia''s 5 million is the equivalent to the average Briton of £15,846. [/quote] Hmmm - please correct me if I am wrong but I don''t think that equates very well. What is the national average wage now? I only ask this because £15,846 in my mind is a hell of a lot of money. I mean I earn not much more than that and if I had that much money I would be putting it down as a deposit on a house (I am house hunting at the moment). It would take most people in the situation I am in the best part of two years at least to save that sort of money. And I don''t have kids or that sort of commitment at the moment. I don''t think many people could afford that sort of gamble. And if they could they would be better off giving it to research! The other thing is Delia is worth £26million but how is that tied up? She is married so is that including MWJ wealth as well? Is that including her resteraunt and properties etc. We all know she has a place in London and if it is any where in a decent location even a two bed flat can be worth into millions. The real factor with Abramovich is that its not that he is "worth" anything - so far as I know he sold his oil company - its that he has billions of pounds in account sitting there waiting to be spent. He lives in Monaco most of the time and must have appartments all around the world but it doesn''t really mean much when you have at least 100 times more money in the bank than you have invested in other things! [/quote] I assume the average Briton means adult, so ifsomeone has a 120k house, and has paid off half their mortgage (60k investment), has a 5k car, 5k savings, 5k shares, and 10k of possessions, they would be average. Obviously most people at this stage will probably be 40+, and cannot spare 15k without remortgaging their house. I tried to stay neutral when making the comparison, but a 5 million investment in the team would be a huge amount, and it is easy to spend other people''s money. Ask the same people if they would stump up 15k on a very unsure investment and I guess not many would.

In finances a billion is 1000 million. Still Abramovich''s team got stuffed by the Turkish Canaries last week, and they''ll hopefully finish the job tonight!

If a promotion war chest is, for example, 5 million pounds this would be about 19% of Delia''s 26 million pound worth. A study in 2004 states: "The IBM study, which was based on data from income tax returns collated by the Inland Revenue, concludes that the average Briton has a net wealth of pounds 82,400. This includes the value of people''s homes and their cash and investments, but not their pensions. " So Delia''s 5 million is the equivalent to the average Briton of £15,846. So I guess it is up to the individual whether a 15k bet is worth the risk.  

[quote user="jas the barclay king"] If it was a player then does this create an "us and them" Atmosphere in the dressing room for those who like to party and those who knuckle down and stay home?  what next for Pattison? if this is the case have we seen the last of him in a city shirt.. as a split dressing room will lead to Roeder having to get rid of the root of the problem to restore harmony? will those players who like a night out now resent those who dont who have spoken up? jas :) [/quote] Fotheringham the club captain says "“We''ve got a lot of good professionals at the club. A lad like Darren Huckerby never takes a day off never mind going for a night out. We have good characters here. To be honest with you as club captain I don''t even think about those things." So on the one hand there is the club captain, the fan''s favourite (Huckerby for those who forget!), the manager (if it is true Roeder has imposed a ban), Cureton (who has come out with statements recently about helping youngsters learn from his mistakes), and no doubt senior pros like Dublin.. and on the other? I doubt Pattison is going out much at the moment.

Shouldn''t it be the fourth officials job to check the squad lists, and if everyone is eligible to play? It wouldn''t take much to have a simple program to do this.. It sounds harsh docking them points if it was a genuine mistake, but as no-one outside of Sheff Weds can tell if it is a mistake or deliberate they have to be punished to the maximum.

Roeder has done a great job in pulling us out of the relegation places, but I''m not quite sure where we are going with all the loanees..Will we have to start again from scratch next season?

[quote user="Happyhammer Andy"] Sorry, I advised what I thought was a big story. If you think that it had nothing to do with your club and, should not have been raised, I apologise. [/quote] It was not meant as a serious comment.. I was quoting from the thread that seemed to have set this one off. I couldn''t care less who posted here. And it is always interesting to read about wider footballing matters in general, and by the nature of the majority of this board there will be the NC point of view. Besides I can''t be bothered to chack more than one football related site - so keep posting!