Feedthewolf

Good spot!

There have been a few British South Asians who have made it in the professional game – I'm talking about people who were born and raised in India.

I'm just not sure there's much appetite for football in India. Despite the amount of money in the Indian economy, they can still only muster a 12-team Super League, and only four of those teams average more than 10,000 spectators. Also, India are ranked 117th in the world, behind the likes of Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania and Haiti. I genuinely can't think of a single Indian footballer who has made any impact in the international game, but I'm happy to be corrected. Baichung Bhutia had a year at Bury back in the day, and Sunil Chhetri (who's India's captain, record goalscorer and widely regarded as the best ever Indian footballer) had short and failed spells in MLS and then with Sporting Lisbon's B team. I can only think that it's the omnipresence of cricket in the national psyche that's responsible for this complete lack of progress in India's footballing infrastructure.

Seems that MS Dhoni is also a part-owner of the club. I'd imagine this is more a commercial than a footballing partnership, which is why Sam Jeffery (our Commercial Director) is our representative out there. A nation of 1.5bn people is quite the emerging market, so if Dhoni is involved then that gives our club quite a lot of exposure in the Indian market. As you say, I'd be surprised if there's much of a talent pathway that could benefit us in this deal.

Batth was signed under Webber, though, alongside Duffy, Forshaw, Barnes, Long and Hwang. At least that was part of a clear strategic decision, i.e. we need more experience and grit in the squad (much as I didn't agree with that course of action at the time, and even less so with hindsight). The SVH/Idah one is really perplexing. This is pure speculation, but I think it could have been Idah and his agent angling to make it happen. From his POV, he's been given a five-year contract here, been roundly criticised by fans for his performances and is rarely starting matches. An opportunity arises for him to play for Celtic (always a big draw for a young Irish lad), and the promise of starting matches that he's likely to win for a team that's always on the front foot, in front of 60,000-odd fans, and a probable Scottish Cup Final at Hampden at the end of the season... what's not to love? Maybe the club accepted that in the long-term, with four years still to run on his contract, it might serve his development better to let him go to Celtic, and then try to loan in a decent replacement. Alas, it appears that the 'decent' element of that replacement hasn't quite worked out; whether that's due to attitude, match fitness, adapting to the new environment or a bit of all three, we're now saddled with a lump who's very clearly not in the manager's thoughts. I'm sure we'll get an explanation about the situation at some point, but only once Idah is back in the building and we've (hopefully!) opted not to pursue Donk on a permanent deal. One can only assume that we've given up on trying to get Aboh to stay beyond the summer; it's a chicken-and-egg thing. If he's said he's leaving, only giving him match time is likely to change that decision; however, why give minutes and development to someone who's not committed to the cause and will be pulling on another shirt come the summer? Once the season's over, it'll be interesting to see how forthcoming Knapper is with his reasoning, as this is clearly a suboptimal position for us to be in – going into a potential playoff run with only one number 9 who the manager has any faith in, he's managing an injury and the manager doesn't trust anyone to play more than a handful of minutes to ease the burden. It's an odd one, for sure.

Came here to say this. Yep, we can extend to 2025. Would imagine Dimi's agent is already lining something up for him, he'll be gone in the summer. Probably back to the continent, I'd guess. McCallum is a more interesting one. Still young, still improving, but only starting due to Dimi's injury. Good in the air for a full-back, good going forward, strong in the tackle although has a tendency to get caught upfield. I'd be surprised if we hadn't offered him a new contract, although the other feasible scenario is that the club won't guarantee him a starting berth next season because they don't think he's good enough, and his agent is trying to find him a first-choice role elsewhere. I'd hope we can keep him on.

It doesn't stop you voting for him, because he hasn't been bloody awful for about a third of the season. If Sarge had been fit all season he'd almost certainly have won it, no denying that. Sara and Stacey would make up my top three. As has been said elsewhere, he was one of our more consistent performers during our very poor spell in the autumn; he wasn't playing well, admittedly, but the entire team seemed to lack any cohesion or confidence. Kenny dragged us through that spell, and out the other side of it, despite being drafted into unfamiliar positions as a DM, a left-back and a centre-back over the course of the season. Wagner deserves a heap of credit for turning the season around from 'dead man walking' status after that horrendous defeat at home to Blackburn, and McLean has started every single game and been instrumental to that turnaround. Class player, class character.

Our beacon of objectivity has spoken, guys...

That doesn't stop you from voting for Kenny. Putting him alongside Lee Croft is just farcical. Obviously Oliver Skipp was, and is, a better player than Kenny McLean and was a huge part of our brilliance and dominance that season. But putting McLean alongside Lee Croft as a potential POTS winner speaks for itself in terms of your one-eyed, one-man crusade against one of our most consistent, loyal and versatile players of recent years. I know you're too far gone to ever change your views about him, no matter how well he plays or how many people disagree with you about his efficacy. I absolutely cannot wait to see him lift the Barry Butler, it will be richly deserved.

I agree with the logic. Sadly, I think that also means that the horrible lot down the road will probably make the top two now. Praying for a Southampton win on Monday, and then another opportunity for us to derail them next weekend.

We'll see. Obviously I bloody hope you're right! 😉

I know Maresca had been coming in for a bit of criticism even when they were top and cruising, but a squad of that quality could still quite easily turn us over. I don't fear them, and I think we've got a chance of getting a result on Monday, but if players of that quality get some momentum they could just as easily do a job on us.

Sainz definitely got away with one on the handball. Not sure what kind of view the ref had of it, but it was on the assistant's blind side. If he had a clear view and didn't give it, we definitely dodged a bullet.

That's bold! I think we'd have a decent chance, but 'do them comfortably'? I know they're not playing well at the moment, but they've still got a ton of class in that squad.

Just behind McLean for me, but he's been an excellent signing for us for sure.

If we get to the playoffs then obviously we'll be playing one of the current top four in the semis. I genuinely think we'd have a better chance against the scum than anyone else. All the other three have lots of proven PL class, but the scummers are punching above their weight and I think they'd bottle it.

That was an excellent save at a pivotal moment at the match. Also being a River Ender, I had a great view of the 'penalty shout', and he absolutely played for it. Ref was spot on, as he was all afternoon in my opinion. Sainz was great today, but Kenny shaded him for MOTM for me; buccaneering runs forward, good distribution from deep, and a bullish desire to close down the ball and get tackles in. Absolutely our POTS in my book, it astonishes me that some people just can't see his quality and value at this level.

As soon as Plymouth scored early I was kicking myself, I knew we'd score at least one, and the corners and cards duly followed as a result of our dominance. Fair play to Plymouth though, they didn't just sit back and defend, they created a few very good chances themselves.

Thought he had an excellent game. In the first 15/20 minutes he tried his very best to let the game flow, a few possible/marginal fouls either way that he waved away. But once Plymouth started committing cynical fouls, he punished them accordingly. There wasn't a 'bad' tackle in the game in terms of endangering player safety, but they just kept on taking the yellows to stop promising situations with deliberate fouls. I was at the right end for the yellow card for simulation, and he was absolutely spot on with that. Up there with the best we've had this season for sure, Sunny Singh Gill also had a great game when we played WBA.

I knew I should've put a couple of quid on that bet builder myself! Very well done, great effort 🙂

Post of the week.

Good morning everyone – wishing you all an excellent Easter weekend, bookended by two strong NCFC performances. For the six, I'm going to try a bit of reverse psychology and say that West Brom will definitely, definitely, definitely win at home to Watford on Monday – it's a foregone conclusion, even at 8/11. They've only lost 1 in 10 since we beat them at Carra, and that was against Southampton. Watford, on the other hand, have only won 3 in 15 since Christmas, and two of those were against Rotherham and QPR. The only slight caveat is that all three of those wins were away from home – they haven't actually won at home since they turned us over back in November! For the Plymouth game, I like the look of BTTS, Over 4 cards and Over 11 corners at 17/2 (it's a featured bet on William Hill's page for the match). For the Leicester game, plenty of value to be had if you back Norwich to get something from the game. I like the look of Leicester/Draw for the double result, again on Bill Hill – that's 16/1. Good luck all, especially @littleyellowbirdie and @Hammond1612!

On February 14, Wagner said: "Unfortunately, it is a serious hamstring injury. I can't give a serious timeframe, but we speak more about a couple of months rather than weeks … We have to wait and see for the first four weeks how he progresses in his rehab to give a clearer picture of his timeframe. We strongly hope that we will get him back at the end of the season and that he will play for us. Hopefully, the season will not be finished at the beginning of May." A couple of months from February 14 takes us to April 14, so if he's slightly ahead of schedule it's not beyond the realms of possibility that he could feature against the scummers. Obviously if he is ready to play them, Wagner would be daft to announce it in advance and keep them guessing. Preston seems a more realistic target based on Wagner's comments above, I'd say.

Was that symbolic? I think that was the last year they beat us...

Not sure the 'friendly and fair' approach will work with the kind of knuckle-draggers who beat up a 70-year-old Cardiff fan for entertainment. Let's hope the tiny minority of feral idiots on both sides of the divide can behave themselves, and we can use our performance on the pitch to send them skulking off back to Binville with their tails between their legs and automatic promotion hopes in tatters.