Feedthewolf

My two potential picks have already been snaffled (Mansfield and Dundee United), so I'll go for something a little riskier. Chelmsford are second in National League South, and on reasonable form (averaging 2.00 PPG in the last 8). They travel to Taunton, who are on the fringes of the relegation zone and averaging 1.14 PPG in their last 8. The odds on an away win should be around even money. As for BTTS, Notts County and Salford City both tend to have a lot of goals in their games, so that seems like a decent shout.

I really liked Mitchell Dijks when he was here on loan. But then there was also Fernando Derveld and Jos Hooiveld, so yeah.

Lungi was very good last week against Rotherham, and although I didn't see the match today, another clean sheet implies he's doing just fine. Fingers crossed Scotland decide to leave Hanley on the bench for the upcoming internationals so he can have another couple of weeks of recuperation to get back up to speed for the run-in.

Probably a bit late now, but we went here a few years ago and were made to feel very welcome: https://www.facebook.com/groups/137056690271893/. Pretty close to the ground, too.

Yeah, fair enough. But what possesses someone to post something that crass before knowing the facts?

Or it might be that it is serious, but he's incredibly committed to this football club. I'd rather wish him and his family all the very best than take a pop at his team selections and tactics – are we not all supposed to be NCFC fans on here?!

What a moronic, knuckle-dragging thing to say. Have some bloody compassion.

That's true. He took the club to the Football Ombudsman, and the Ombudsman found against him and said the club should not feel it necessary to respond to him any further, such was the amount of club employees' time he had wasted. He's been very excitable on here about his lovely Cambridge United season ticket, but sadly not excited enough to drop his tedious one-man crusade against NCFC.

Howdy! Lincoln City are absolutely flying at the moment, having won four and drawn one of their last five, including a remarkable 5-1 win at Barnsley and a 6-0 thrashing of Cambridge in their previous two. They're only three points off the playoffs, while Bristol Rovers are very much in the mid-table doldrums. 8/11 seems generous on the home win. As for the Norwich match, it was only that ridiculous red card that derailed us in our last away game, and I'm confident we can get the victory on Saturday. The bookies actually make Stoke slight favourites, which means there's plenty of money to be made on a positive result for us. 2-1 Norwich and Sainz to score any time at 35/1 is just one of many interesting scorecasts you could choose. Good luck, everyone!

I had no recollection of this, but a quick search reveals this rather short thread with little in the way of detail: If we do go up, I wouldn't be surprised to see us accept a 'managed relegation', as we did before – budget for 20th, anything else is a bonus. I can't imagine that Attanasio would want to throw big bucks at it so early in the project; that wasn't his way at Milwaukee. Plus, if Wagner takes us up we're unlikely to give him the boot – but neither would we want to entrust him with a generous transfer budget. As and when it happens, Knapper's first head coach appointment will be the clearest indicator yet of the direction he wants to take us in – and I can't imagine that direction is anywhere near a manager like David Wagner (or, worse, Dean Smith). And, as with Farke, the new man will invariably require a good amount of patience from the fans while he embeds his style of play.

What a piece of work. Content Count183 JoinedAugust 21, 2010 Last visitedSeptember 27, 2023 He last visited in September 2023, so he obviously still logs on to pat himself on the back about how much he's p*ssed people off by defaulting on charity money owed to our Down Syndrome football team.

We do have the option to extend Sorensen's contract by a year, and I'd expect us to exercise that option.

Is he one of the lot who beat up a 70-year-old man in Cardiff last weekend? If so, I'd heartily recommend the Snakepit, wearing full Ipsh*t colours.

I must admit I'm only passing on second-hand tittle-tattle here, but others on here (can't remember who, sorry!) have said that the club have tried to get him to sign a new deal but he has refused as he (no doubt aided by the sweet nothings being whispered by his agent) believes he can do better elsewhere. Of course one can hope that making his first-team debut might sway his decision more towards staying, but I think the most likely outcome is him 'doing a Matos' and joining the loan farm of a bigger club.

Damn, I didn't realise Montóia was injured. Can't find anything about it online; do you know what the injury is, and when he's expected back?

Definitely offers more aerial presence; one of Farke's greatest weaknesses was the small and lightweight fullbacks (Aarons and Lewis) constantly being outmuscled and outjumped with balls to the back post. Stacey and McCallum offer us a lot more strength in that regard. McCallum needs to track back more quickly when he gets caught upfield – he was fine against Rotherham who offered practically zero threat, but that remains the greatest weakness in his game to my eyes.

We know that Lungi, Kenny and possible even Fisher at a stretch could cover LB, so as long as McCallum stays fit this shouldn't derail us too much. Hamstrings are awkward sods – it's even possible that Dimi could have played his last game for us.

I was about to post this in the 'Contract conundrums' thread, but decided there was enough to justify a new thread (a rare indulgence for me)… Now is an apposite time to look at the overhaul that might happen in the summer; for the purposes of this exercise, let's assume (as is most likely) that we will be playing in the Championship next season. Here's a list of all the players who are out of contract this summer and next: 2024 McCallum, Mair, Barden (+1), Gibson, Giannoulis, Sørensen (+1), McCracken, Rose (+1), Riley (+1), Lima (loan), Batth (+1), van Hooijdonk (loan), Aboh (13 players, 6 with an extra year)2025 Gunn, Hanley, Rowe (+1), Warner, Tomkinson (+1), Kamara, Shipley, Hills (+1), Clarke (+1) Hernandez (+1), Barnes, Fassnacht (+1), Montóia (+1), Long (14 players, 7 with an extra year) At this juncture, I think it's fair to assume that none of the 'class of 2024' will be offered new contracts; one would expect that if both club and player wanted an extension it would've happened by now. Of course we could activate our option on the five players who have one, but my guess is that Sørensen is the only one we'd be actively seeking to keep for the extra year (and maybe possibly Barden). As for those without an option, one expects that Gibson's advancing age and high wages, coupled with the development of McLean as a left-footed centre back, will mean that he leaves. I expect Giannoulis will probably get offers from top-tier clubs on the continent, and Aboh has apparently already decided he's on his way. McCallum is an odd one; I'd be happy to keep him on, but it appears that either player or club (or both) are in no hurry to continue the relationship. As for the others, I'd assume that Mair and McCracken will probably leave. Pedro Lima is a defensively minded midfielder, which is something our squad could use – can anyone offer any insight as to how he's been performing for the U23s? And as for SVH, I think his performances so far are making a lot of fans realise that it's probably wiser to continue investing in Idah's development. Next summer offers some very interesting conundrums – none more so than Angus. I think he'd be extremely difficult to replace, and if he's happy to stay then I'd expect him to be offered a deal on a par with our top earners. Hanley and Barnes are unlikely to be here beyond 2025, although I'd expect them to be part of the squad next season (although it's possible that Barnes might fancy a fresh start elsewhere). I doubt Fassnacht or Hernandez would be offered extensions to 2026. The other big name there is Rowe; obviously we'd activate the extra year if it got to that point, but given his form this season and his experience with England U21s, I think he's the most likely one to be 'turned' for a big profit this summer. If he wants to stay, of course we should keep him – one would expect Attanasio's part-ownership to be rubberstamped before the summer window opens (we live in hope…), which should give us a little more financial flexibility. If Jonny has top-flight suitors and wants to go this summer, it'd make sense to cash in to the fullest on the 'young and English' premium. As for the others on the 2025 list, hopefully our academy enthusiasts can offer some insight into which of our young loan players is most likely to make the grade: Warner, Kamara, Tomkinson, Shipley, Montóia and Hills are all out of contract (Tomkinson, Montóia and Hills with an option). Montóia and Shipley are left-backs, so with Giannoulis and McCallum potentially leaving, it'll be interesting to see if the academy team believe they're worth trying to invest as first-team options. That just leaves Clarke (who I can't believe we're still paying wages to after his appalling behaviour and subsequent prison time), and Long (who may or may not be retained as a backup, depending on whether any of our multitudinous young goalkeepers make the grade). There is certainly the potential for a huge overhaul of players during the summer window. I'm interested to hear people's views on the synopsis above!

Thanks for that – really appreciate your attention to detail on these matters!

The left leg does seem to deviate towards Sainz, as far as I can see. I think he wanted to stick one on him, as Ayling had done earlier... definitely looked like they were trying to target him. But it's all academic now anyway; justice has been served, and Sainz has still never received a straight red card in his career that's been upheld. His slate is clean, he's a top player, and tomorrow we can take a big step towards the top six. Onwards and upwards.

30-odd contentious decisions every match, 40-odd matches a season... that's more than 1,000 contentious decisions. It's not reasonable to expect referees to never make mistakes, just as the best players will make awful mistakes every now and again. I was a fan and a player for many years before I was a referee, so I understand how it works. But you can't complain about the standard of refereeing when the fans who are judging those referees are inherently biased.

Really glad that someone is prepared to stick their neck out and say this. The human brain has a negativity bias, that's just science. As football fans we remember bad decisions that go against us very clearly, but ones that go in our favour just get filed under 'well the ref got that one right', and then forgotten about. Every weekend I see this when I referee at local level. You'll get probably 20 or 30 'contentious' decisions in every match, from throw-ins all the way up to red cards and penalties, and some teams/players just suck it up and get on with it, whereas others are determined to make a 'rap sheet' of every single 50/50 that goes against them and use it as a stick to beat you with. Transfer that mentality to professional football where you have thousands of fans watching and judging, and acting with a herd mentality, and the poor refs don't stand a chance. Of course you get bad refs who seem to actively court controversy (Andy D'Urso and Keith Stroud are two that spring to mind), but fans and fanbases will remember individual occurrences for time immemorial and just never let it go. Simon Hooper is now a reasonably decent PL referee – not good enough to get on the FIFA list or get the top matches – but we will always remember him as the idiot who disallowed Jerome's overhead kick against Palace (which was an appalling decision), and that's curtains for him whenever he referees Norwich.

He's still responsible for his other leg, though. He does get to the ball first, but goes in two-footed and the other one plants straight on the back of Sainz's knee. When both feet are off the ground simultaneously, you have no control over your momentum. I get lots of stick for this as a referee at local level... someone leaves the ground and jumps in, wins the ball 'cleanly' with both feet off the ground and studs showing (even though it's not 'two footed' with both feet flying into the tackle together), and I blow for a free-kick even though he's made no contact with an opponent. Player goes nuts and starts berating me, then I tell him that if he'd made any contact whatsoever with an opponent, he'd be getting a straight red. Usually after a quick chat, they can see where I'm coming from.