Trevor Hockey's Beard

While we will need a "thinking" playmaker should we lose Emi, I do believe that the "Bishop" 's best days are behind him. It wouldn't fit with our policy of buying young and selling for a profit (as opposed to a prophet).

Trevor Hockey of course; came in when we were fighting relegation; kicked a lot of people in a dozen or so games; we stayed up; he moved on to kick people elsewhere. Legend.

I was saying to a friend yesterday that with the number of UK players they have fielded over the years it should be easy to like Manure, but it just isn't. One reason is their use of the Dark Arts - fouling off the ball, tripping over any available leg in the penalty area, bullying the ref. Their buying policy since the Fergie days has been woeful ; no clear policy and a habit of paying too much (eg Fellaini £47 million, Maguire £80 million). They could really do with Stuart Webber, but are too proud to make the structural changes needed to make that happen (thank goodness).

Thank goodness, the voice of gloom is back. My well of misery has been missing your posts Highland. I think mediocrity has been underrated and given too bad a press.

Wow, below King's Lynn. I can remember when they beat us 2-4 at the Carra in one of our promotion years - they ripped our left flank to pieces. As I say, that's what I remember, but that doesn't make it a fact.

Well either our players aren't as good as we think, or other teams are trying to get our players on the cheap. If we were strapped for cash we wouldn't be in a very good position, but haven't they been watching for the last 12 months?

There is no such department as the "Thought Police" ; they are "Opinion Expression Enablers". Big Brother is watching you and he has a piggy face with mad blond hair.

Well COvid has changed that a bit and there's a difference between having to sell for financial reasons and having to sell a player who wants away.

Now Pukki has his second headed goal the ball will be flying in from the wings for him to nut into the net.

By today's standards this line-up doesn't give the back 4 much help, but it would be a fantastic team to watch on the attack - Sutton would have to be subbed at half-time as he'd be exhausted from banging them in - a bit like a Terrier on a straw-stack. Maybe put Hockey in for Crook to toughen things up a bit - and run a book on how long he'd stay on the pitch for (I say 10 minutes)?

I think that long instalments could be a thing of the past - cash will be king now as we don't know which clubs will survive longterm financially.

BBC are saying that Wolves have bought the Barca Right Back for £ 37 million - 30 million euros plus 10 million euros in add-ons, so me thinks they can buy Aarons or go whistle.

Boo

Is no one going to shout for Soham Town Rangers? OK I will: "Up the Rangers". My blood is 100% Soham and my Dad's Cousin used to play for the Rangers. I have no idea about hashtag losers, but they can go and do one.

Mike Riley was a rubbish Ref and I wouldn't trust him to sit the right way on a toilet seat (as Rowan Atkinson would say).

On MOTD they say "He had a right to go down there as he felt a touch." Since when has footy been a non-contact sport? Rubbish penalty yesterday. At this rate ( with 2 not given for us last week) people will be calling for VAR in the Championship on here before long.

Surely this is a video about British Industry post Brexit.

How about the Blues classic "I've got a mind to give up living."? Just about sums up being a City fan. When we are in the Prem we could have "Going down like the Titanic".

Has there been a worse time to get promoted to the Prem? Fulham and West Brom have had little time to action their plans for being in the Prem and budgets will have been squeezed. Could a team win promotion and then turn down the chance to join the Prem?

Surely of all the teams below the top 6 we must be one of the best placed financially, due to "the project"?

Gibson must have been well down the pecking order as Burnley are now turning down offers for Tarkowski. I hope it was just a clash of personalities and that Gibson isn't just rubbish.

Has football ceased to be a contact sport/ That was an incredibly soft (or wrong) penalty.

I'm happy with yesterday's result - at the moment. It reduces our game load and no one went, so no moaning about letting the travelling fans down for once. Next Saturday is the game which counts, be it the result or just the performance.

We all say this before the season starts, but the grim reality is that it is almost impossible to "kick on" in the second season. The analysts will have worked you out, the players won't be quite so motivated and the teams who have been in the Prem for longer than you are nearly all stronger and focused on grinding out results. It really is a sad state of affairs. The powers that be have allowed the Premiership to become a stale product and very unbalanced. Us "old timers" must sound like a scratched record, but it really was more interesting when the gap in quality between all the clubs was less.

The fault lies with those who supposedly run football and are supposed to vet potential owners. The management of the Premiership, EFL and FA leaves much to be desired and I suspect that they have failed to develop or buy-in the skills required to be running football in the current financial world. They act as if they are bedazzled by the riches of Premiership football and the top clubs, and show a serious lack of vision or any plan to make football in this country sustainable. If they saw the need for a long term plan they would be seeking ways to funnel money down through the different leagues and to support "grassroots" football. They would also be more professional in controlling who takes over ownership of clubs.