a feeble exit from the Premiership from Blackburn tonight....

[nutty nigel 7,586]

I have a feeling we won''t be left in the same position as Blackburn. I trust Delia to make the right calls.

[Zak Van Burger 0]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

[quote user="Jeremy Cluckson"]I''ve never had any respect for Blackburn after they cynically bought the league title in 1995. They were the start of the ''money bags'' syndrome which has got steadily worse as the years have gone by.I''ll take City''s remarkable 3rd place any day of the week.[/quote]

 

Except when you wanted the Venkys here and slated Delia for not letting them get their hands on her dolls house.

 

You can fool some of the people all of the time and all the people some of the time but you''ll never fool me.

 

 

 

 

[/quote]Any chance you could show us where this happened please Nigel, I''ve used the search feature to search for Venky and Venkys but I can''t seem to find these posts you''re on about where people are slating Delia for not letting the Venkys take over?Cheers buddy!!

[nutty nigel 7,586]

I think you''re taking this off topic worst wizard. Pete will not be happy with you. Well, that is if someone bothers to retort with report. However, if you really want to know try asking cluck and her cohorts how Blackburn managed to attract the venkys while we were still looking.

 

I''m glad Delia didn''t let them get their hands on her dolls house.....

 

Aren''t you?

 

 

[Frankel 0]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

I think you''re taking this off topic worst wizard. Pete will not be happy with you. Well, that is if someone bothers to retort with report. However, if you really want to know try asking cluck and her cohorts how Blackburn managed to attract the venkys while we were still looking.

 

I''m glad Delia didn''t let them get their hands on her dolls house.....

 

Aren''t you?

 

 

[/quote]

 

You''re obsessed.

 

Like it or not, your Potato Peeling Princess is going to have to relinquish the reins if we''re ever going to challenge like we did before, the longer she holds on the more potential investors pump their money into other clubs like QPR.

 

We can''t keep missing this boat.

[nutty nigel 7,586]

We missed the Venky Masula and the Evans Bathtub. Both floated the boats of cluck and her clan. In fact I don''t think they were ever on Delia''s radar.

 

 

 

[Jacko 0]

But Nutty Nigel look at the impact of the Tony Fernandes money. QPR have done so well by spending a fortune on bringing in that proven Premier League quality.

[drurys testamonials V 15 0]

I vote we sign the chicken as competition for Captain Canary''s place as mascot

[grantroederdisaster 0]

Can''t say I had any sympathy whatsoever for "Barnsley with money" Blackburn!

 

Nice club being run badly with a well meaning but poor manager!

 

Whats scary is that now after relegation, Steve Keen still is refusing to backdown and wants to continue!

 

I can see Blackburn being nowhere near the promotion shakeup next season if Keen remains in charge for most of the season!

[Desert Fox 0]

If you look at the leaked letter (which is published in full on the Sporting intelligence Facebook link) that has jut got their CEO sacked, they seem to be in the poo financially and we can expect a Portsmouth mark 2.https://www.facebook.com/pages/sportingintelligencecom/355347150182?created

[PurpleCanary 5,580]

[quote user="Desert Fox"]If you look at the leaked letter (which is published in full on the Sporting intelligence Facebook link) that has jut got their CEO sacked, they seem to be in the poo financially and we can expect a Portsmouth mark 2.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/sportingintelligencecom/355347150182?created


[/quote]

 

Today''s analysis in The Guardian by David Conn (who is normally pretty reliable on such stuff) suggests otherwise. That although Venky''s have made some terrible decisions they have paid off debt and supported the club financially, and so:


With increased parachute payments of £48m over four years, clauses which reduce players'' wages on relegation, and some coveted performers, notably Junior Hoilett, who could be sold, Rovers look financially quite able to withstand relegation and, even if crowds plummet, very unlikely to fall into administration.

[Desert Fox 0]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]I have a feeling we won''t be left in the same position as Blackburn. I trust Delia to make the right calls.[/quote]Nigel,PMSL Are we talking about the same owner who appointed Hamilton, Grant, Roeder and Gunn? Are we talking about the same owner that stuck by Worthington well after it was obvious to anyone that he had lost both the fans and the dressing room?I dont buy into the Delia is a wicked witch theory, but let''s just say that she has learnt a lesson the hard way not to interfere in something she doesnt understand. She is well meaning, but completely clueless when it coems to picking managers. Thank god that McNally and Bowkett had the balls to stand up to her. The humility (i.e. low profile she has adopted since) says a hell of a lot for me. I am not a Dlia basher, but we are in a better place now after having learnt some harsh lessons.By the way, what''s with this ''buddy'' business - it is hardly endearing.

[Desert Fox 0]

Purple,Have you read the letter - which is from an insider?Do you think Venkys will re-invest the parachute payment in the squad?Do relegated clubs ever get top dollar for want away star players?Are all of their players really on reduced wage contracts post relagation?If you were a Rovers fan would you be as optimistic?Paul Hunt''s letter is fairly bleak.

[CanaryOne 0]

[quote user="Jacko"]But Nutty Nigel look at the impact of the Tony Fernandes money. QPR have done so well by spending a fortune on bringing in that proven Premier League quality.[/quote]Qpr only really got to spend the Fernandes money in January and although their away form is still poor there is no getting away from the fact that those five home wins on the bounce against some very tough opposition has been eyecatching .If they stay up this weekend they will be even stronger next season because they will spend decent money and Hughes is already talking of a £7million move for Victor Moses .How long can we expect Lambert to keep pulling off miracles with bargains bought from the lower leagues ? if we want to keep Lambert and our place in the top flight we need investment from somewhere .

[PurpleCanary 5,580]

[quote user="Desert Fox"]Purple,

Have you read the letter - which is from an insider?

Do you think Venkys will re-invest the parachute payment in the squad?

Do relegated clubs ever get top dollar for want away star players?

Are all of their players really on reduced wage contracts post relagation?

If you were a Rovers fan would you be as optimistic?

Paul Hunt''s letter is fairly bleak.


[/quote]

 

Desert Fox, if you mean the Hunt letter, yes of course I''ve read it. I wouldn''t take Conn''s analysis totally on trust. And as far as administration is concerned, which is your prediction (another Portsmouth), Hunt''s main point was this:

2. Owners to invest in the club
As you are aware Barclays have asked for the owners to put £10m into the business. This needs to happen and I am confident that this could only be a loan as we would increase the value of the club significantly. With all the speculation in the press the playing staff value and overall club value is depreciating on a daily basis. By putting an end to this the owners would be protecting their investment, putting their trust in the executive team and the club. The position with the finances is a cause for grave concern. Auditors KPMG have put as many obstacles as they can in the way of signing off the accounts due to their concerns. We continue to try and work with Barclays but they are very quickly losing patience as we cannot give answers.

 

But that letter, it should be remembered, was written back in December. Things have moved on from there. As Conn points out:

 

Barclays, though, has told the Guardian that Rovers'' overdraft and loans have been fully paid off, suggesting strongly that the club''s owners put at least the £10m in. The accounts, for the year to 30 June 2011, were signed off by KPMG on 20 December, in fact the day before Hunt''s letter. They show that Venky''s had injected real money into Rovers, much more than the Walker trustees had annually in their latter ownership. On top of the £23m paid to the Walker trustees to buy the club, Venky''s paid off £10m of club debt when it took over. In the year to 30 June 2011 a further £5m interest‑free loan was paid in. Assuming Venky''s then paid off the £10m, at least, which Barclays was chasing, the Indian poultry company has pumped at least £25m into Rovers.

 

So Hunt''s concerns about the £10m and KPMG not wanting to sign off the accounts seem both to have been resolved. No-one is claiming the Venky''s takeover was anything less than the takeover from hell. From that doesn''t mean administration is looming, and Conn''s view that it is probably not seems based on fact.

[Jacko 0]

Having lots of money can also be a bit of a double edged sword though. For a start in the case of teams like QPR and Leicester, teams know you have shedloads of it and therefore will alter their pricing accordingly. That was shown by Leicester paying stupid money of about £6 million for Matt Mills. Just because you are paying big transfer fees doesnt necessarily mean you will actually get a player of that quality. Shaun Wright Phillips in particular looks a pale imitation of the player who was in the England squad not too long ago.

 

Lambert already has already assembled a very decent squad and I am sure he will be able to add to it this summer. Managers like Ken Brown showed it is possible to continue to pull off very astute signings. Our success in the late 80s and early 90s was founded upon it. The only issue comes when a player is sold and not all that money is subsequently given back to the manager in order to replace them. This is definitely the way to go with these financial fair play rules coming in across all the divisions. Hopefully we will see the influence of wealthy benefactors restricted in the coming years which will play into the hands of a club like Norwich which has a strong fanbase.

[Monty13 2,241]

For all those moaning about us missing the gravy train of dubious investment opportunities as our only hope of long term survival....

Just out of interest how much has the billionaire that is bill kenwright ploughed into evertons transfer dealings recently? Oh no wait, over the last two years they have made a sizeable profit on transfers so that must mean they have failed to compete! they must be staring relegation in the face...........they certainly couldn''t be on a par with their rivals who have invested over a 100 million in players over the same period...

Maybe there''s something other than throwing millions of pounds at mercenaries at work over there.

Maybe Moyes is a half decent manager instead

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]It''s not very long ago that the usual suspects on here were wailing about Blackburn''s new owners and Delia not letting them get their hands on her dolls house. Would they really have wanted that foir us? You betcha!![/quote]

What have the Venkey''s done, apart from investing a heap of their own money, that so upsets you Nutty?

I''ve read comments that they''re wanting to relegate Blackburn so that they can get their hands on the relegation money. Do you believe that comment?

Wouldn''t it make more sense for them to keep Blackburn in the Premiership where they can can their hands on an even bigger pile of money if their intentions were to bleed Blackburn dry?

And how about Bill Kenwright at Everton? Is he a bad owner, too? Should we be hollering because he hasn''t put money into his club for a couple of seasons now? What an evil owner he must be?

I can''t see what the Venkeys and Tony Fernandes have done wrong apart from being foreign and having lots of money. Is it envy that foreigners can have more money than locals and therefore can come in and buy up ''heritage''?

Did the Venkeys relegate Blackburn? Did they take to the pitch and put in some miserable performances. Did they pick the team, devise tactics to defeat the opposition and motivate the players before kickoff. Were the Venkeys out coaching the players and taking charge of training?

Somehow I very much doubt it. And yet Nutty Nigel heaps all the blame at the foot of these foreigners, while dear Delia is whiter than white in his eyes.

Owners are not bad just because they are foreign and have lots of money.

Owners are bad when they make poor decisions and when they make poor appointments. And over the past fifteen years and more our very own Delai has been there somewhere near the top of poor decision-making when it comes to owning a football club.

We fans have had to put up with a string of poor managerial appointments that culminated in us dropping into the third tier - and bottom of the table after that first game - and taking us too the brink of administration.

So you see Nutty it isn''t about Delia good and foreigner bad. It''s about the right people doing the right jobs. After nearly two decades our owners seem to have realised that there are people around better than them at running a football club. And they should stick to the ambassadorial side of things.

Delia has had several years to learn but you want to crow about owners who have just had a few months of club ownership and are still finding their way in an alien culture. Yet you ignore all the Chesters and Aldershots and Darlingtons and these clbs who fail and go into administration under British ownership on a regular basis.

I reckon more league clubs fail under British owners than under foreign owners, so maybe we should ban British people from owning football clubs huh? (that was not meant to be taking literally by those who don''t get irony by the way).

What we are now seeing at Norwich is the result of our owners letting those who know how to run a club, do so. Just imagine if Doncaster had never been appointed and someone as good as Bowkett and McNally had been appointed a decade ago. We may well have been an established Premier team for the last ten years with the occasional minor European campaign or cup-run thrown in as well.

Delia is not our saviour. She''s been a millstone around our neck for far too long.

[PurpleCanary 5,580]

[quote user="Rock The Boat"]

What we are now seeing at Norwich is the result of our owners letting those who know how to run a club, do so. Just imagine if Doncaster had never been appointed and someone as good as Bowkett and McNally had been appointed a decade ago. We may well have been an established Premier team for the last ten years with the occasional minor European campaign or cup-run thrown in as well. Delia is not our saviour. She''s been a millstone around our neck for far too long.[/quote]

 

I''m with you on this, Rock the Boat. If we hadn''t had those clowns Smith and Jones and Doncaster in charge we might actually have survived the collapse of ITV Digital in 2002 through something clever like a share offer (backed by the clownish owners) and avoided going into administration and relegation as a result. And if we hadn''t gone into administration plus relegation then we might, strange as it seems now, have - I don''t know - reached a Championship play-off final that year and only lost on penalties?

On the face of it quite absurd. But the dreamer in me thinks it possible. Heck, we could even have built on that play-off appearance and won the Championship by eight clear points a couple of years after that!

We could have had some kind of affordable family football policy coupled with a sensible increase in stadum capacity that meant we had full houses every game with a 1,700 waiting list, instead of the ludicrous situation we have now of a three-quarters empty 50,000-seat stadium/a 21,000-seat stadium with a waiting list of 15,000 (pick one option according to taste but you are not allowed to pick the option we have, because that is the legacy of those clowns Smith and Jones and Doncaster).

We could have actually paid the Revenue what we owed, instead of - as we are - facing a ruinous Glasgow Rangers-style court case that will send the club, if there is anything left, down to the Blue Square League South. We could also have found that the financial difficulties into which those clowns Smith and Jones and Doncaster got us (partly through doing the decent thing and paying the Revenue on time) - though not to be downplayed - were actually quite manageable (especially compared with some other clubs), with our banks quite willing to do a deal to keep us in business.

Sadly, of course, as we know that was not the case. Our financial position was totally hopeless, and Axa and BoS called in our debts and we went into administration for the second time in a decade. With the Premier League now not so much a distant dream as an impossible one.

[Ruddygore 0]

I despair sometimes. Christ I wish someone like the Venkys would inject huge amounts of money into the club and take us into relegation too.

[Zak Van Burger 0]

Good post Purple but as RTB says there''s a tendency to cherry pick the exceptions to prove the rule, yes some clubs did indeed go into admin and placed the blame on the ITV digital collapse but wasn''t it about six meaning that approximately 75 clubs didn''t go into admin for this reason.

BTW are you telling me that the club was close to admin under Delia, what with Mcnastys press statement a while back it appears the score in the "Bringing the club close to admin stakes" is Delia 2 - Chase 1.  FACT!! LOL........ [:D]

[. 0]

History will eventually be kind to Robert Chase.... of that I have no doubt.

[PurpleCanary 5,580]

[quote user="Stirrinitup"]Good post Purple but as RTB says there''s a tendency to cherry pick the exceptions to prove the rule, yes some clubs did indeed go into admin and placed the blame on the ITV digital collapse but wasn''t it about six meaning that approximately 75 clubs didn''t go into admin for this reason.


BTW are you telling me that the club was close to admin under Delia, what with Mcnastys press statement a while back it appears the score in the "Bringing the club close to admin stakes" is Delia 2 - Chase 1.  FACT!! LOL........ [:D]


[/quote]

 

It depends what you mean by "close". Certainly not "days". And there is a difference between theoretically close and close in practice. And in practice, no, we were not close to administration.

The key indicator is in the accounts for 2009, when we were at our lowest ebb, financially and in footballing terms. If we were "close" that was when we were closest. What the accounts say is that our main lenders will waive money due to them in order to keep the club in business at least until May 2010 with a willingness to keep the club in business at least until May 2011, as part of a debt restructuring. So we were being given months of leeway at the least, with effectively a promise of further time.

What is unspoken there is that the banks will want us to cut costs, which happened, of course. Non-football staff cut by about 22 per cent, for example.

[Zak Van Burger 0]

Were we say as close to admin when ITV went down the tube as we were sat when Delia took over the club? If not then can someone explain to me how exactly Delia, Doomy et al saved the club from a crisis that er now appears not to have been a crisis?

[nutty nigel 7,586]

[quote user="Desert Fox"][quote user="nutty nigel"]I have a feeling we won''t be left in the same position as Blackburn. I trust Delia to make the right calls.[/quote]

Nigel,

PMSL Are we talking about the same owner who appointed Hamilton, Grant, Roeder and Gunn? Are we talking about the same owner that stuck by Worthington well after it was obvious to anyone that he had lost both the fans and the dressing room?

I dont buy into the Delia is a wicked witch theory, but let''s just say that she has learnt a lesson the hard way not to interfere in something she doesnt understand. She is well meaning, but completely clueless when it coems to picking managers. Thank god that McNally and Bowkett had the balls to stand up to her. The humility (i.e. low profile she has adopted since) says a hell of a lot for me. I am not a Dlia basher, but we are in a better place now after having learnt some harsh lessons.

By the way, what''s with this ''buddy'' business - it is hardly endearing.
[/quote]

 

Oh Dezza, Dezza,  Dezza buddy! If only this were true. You, along with a few other posters on here, have continually posted ridiculous slurs about our club''s owners. Over the years I''ve seen you suggest that their vanity has caused them to falsify the club''s accounts to hide how the football had been subsidising their loss making catering business. I have seen you suggest that their vanity was the reason for the Turner''s departure. I''ve seen you suggest they syphon off money from the football side to subsidise land deals. Not just Smith & Jones either. I''ve seen you post how Foulger was feathering his own nest when matching the rebates whilst what the fans were expected to put in was a gift.

 

Now you highlight what you see as mistakes by the Smith & Jones during their tenure but mention none of the successes. And suggest that Bowkett and McNally have some how "stood up to her" and that the three majority owners have nothing to do with our current success.

 

I don''t buy it Dezza. not any of it. Have a look at the clubs, our contemparies, from our relegation in 1995. Have we really fared worse than Ipswich, Leicester, Palace, Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Wimbledon QPR and Nottingham Forest in the last 17 years? But we''d dropped much lower when Smith & Jones became owners. The three subsequent seasons had seen us turn into relegation candidates to League One. I would suggest that in the bigger picture the years where Smith, Jones and Foulger have been owners haven''t been as bad as the picture you paint. Your logic that every good thing that has happened is down to others and every bad thing is down to the owners is ridiculous. They have always put a team in place to run the club. That was one of the first statements Delia made. She spoke of how Chase was the "all singing all dancing" decision maker but that they would put together a team. Now they had failures, of course they did, but it''s not the way some of you like to paint it. Their first appointment was Cooper. Now yes he had the black mark of Hamilton but the bigger picture was one of success having taken the club from relegation candidates to the play off final. He left after that and Doncaster was put in charge. Within two years we won the Championship by a street. Then later when it all went wrong after three unsuccessful managerial appointments they sacked him and appointed McNally. So there have been continual ups and downs as you would expect from a football club but over all there have been more ups than downs and the last three seasons have been amazing.

 

PMSL??? Is that text speak? It''s hardly endearing for someone your age Dezza m8........

 

[;)]

 

 

 

 

[nutty nigel 7,586]

[quote user="Rock The Boat"][quote user="nutty nigel"]It''s not very long ago that the usual suspects on here were wailing about Blackburn''s new owners and Delia not letting them get their hands on her dolls house. Would they really have wanted that foir us? You betcha!![/quote] What have the Venkey''s done, apart from investing a heap of their own money, that so upsets you Nutty? I''ve read comments that they''re wanting to relegate Blackburn so that they can get their hands on the relegation money. Do you believe that comment? Wouldn''t it make more sense for them to keep Blackburn in the Premiership where they can can their hands on an even bigger pile of money if their intentions were to bleed Blackburn dry? And how about Bill Kenwright at Everton? Is he a bad owner, too? Should we be hollering because he hasn''t put money into his club for a couple of seasons now? What an evil owner he must be? I can''t see what the Venkeys and Tony Fernandes have done wrong apart from being foreign and having lots of money. Is it envy that foreigners can have more money than locals and therefore can come in and buy up ''heritage''? Did the Venkeys relegate Blackburn? Did they take to the pitch and put in some miserable performances. Did they pick the team, devise tactics to defeat the opposition and motivate the players before kickoff. Were the Venkeys out coaching the players and taking charge of training? Somehow I very much doubt it. And yet Nutty Nigel heaps all the blame at the foot of these foreigners, while dear Delia is whiter than white in his eyes. Owners are not bad just because they are foreign and have lots of money. Owners are bad when they make poor decisions and when they make poor appointments. And over the past fifteen years and more our very own Delai has been there somewhere near the top of poor decision-making when it comes to owning a football club. We fans have had to put up with a string of poor managerial appointments that culminated in us dropping into the third tier - and bottom of the table after that first game - and taking us too the brink of administration. So you see Nutty it isn''t about Delia good and foreigner bad. It''s about the right people doing the right jobs. After nearly two decades our owners seem to have realised that there are people around better than them at running a football club. And they should stick to the ambassadorial side of things. Delia has had several years to learn but you want to crow about owners who have just had a few months of club ownership and are still finding their way in an alien culture. Yet you ignore all the Chesters and Aldershots and Darlingtons and these clbs who fail and go into administration under British ownership on a regular basis. I reckon more league clubs fail under British owners than under foreign owners, so maybe we should ban British people from owning football clubs huh? (that was not meant to be taking literally by those who don''t get irony by the way). What we are now seeing at Norwich is the result of our owners letting those who know how to run a club, do so. Just imagine if Doncaster had never been appointed and someone as good as Bowkett and McNally had been appointed a decade ago. We may well have been an established Premier team for the last ten years with the occasional minor European campaign or cup-run thrown in as well. Delia is not our saviour. She''s been a millstone around our neck for far too long.[/quote]

 

Your post is centred around ifs buts and maybes rock the boat. Football isn''t about if buts and maybes. Our owners record is about what happened.

 

 

[Edmund 0]

In 20 years time, you''ll be able to look back and see clearly the wasted opportunities under Smith and Jones and see how they took our club to the brink only to be bailed out thanks to Bowkett and McNally.

 

You''ll also be able to look back on our success under Chase without the Delia Hype Machine whirring in the background. Perhaps then he''ll get the credit he deserves.

[Desert Fox 0]

Nigel,I think that you have me mixed up with someone else. I have been very critical of the way that the club was run in the past, but I have never let this morph into personal slurs about Delia. I stand by what I have always said, I basically think that she is a well intentioned amateur who has had a very close encounter with it all going wrong, and she has now wisely decided to let the professionals run the club. Unfortunately, if you look at Paul Hunt''s letter re the Blackburn situation, this is a lesson that Venky''s are learning the very hard way.You and I will never agree about the money side of things, but must surely recognise that Delia''s track record of picking managers has been very diastrous, which was the point of my response to you.By the way, do you know how old I am? I am not sure that I have ever mentioned this on here? Have a guess, I would be interested to know what you think and I will tell you whether you are right or not.Your buddy "Dezza"

[nutty nigel 7,586]

Dezza buddy..

 

I haven''t a clue how old you are but your articulate posts about our clubs history SUGGESTS to me that you are no longer a spotty teenager. And to be fair I was just having a bit of fun with you in the same way as you were about me using the term "buddy". A term I use in spoken conversations as well as written ones.

 

I don''t think I mixed you up. I''m not the brightest light on the street but I do have a good memory. Many people in football disagree with your view that our owners "are well intentioned amateurs". They have 14 years experience of owning a football club and they have safely negotiated those years which have been probably the most challenging years ever for football owners.

 

I''m happy to debate the whole thing with you buddy but in the past you say to me that it''s your opinion and you have no wish to debate. That''s fair enough too.

 

 

[Desert Fox 0]

Nigel,You are right, I dont see any value in debating the past anymore, but I couldnt help challenging the view that Hamilton, Grant, Roeder and Gunn were examples of  good judgement, either at the time or in hindsight.As for my age, of course you are correct. My first match was Everton at home in 1984 (when if my memory serves me right Disco got the winner) and the mighty Kevin Drinkell is still my favourite City player to this day.Dezza.p.s. You definitely have me mixed up with someone else. Personal slurs are simply not my style and i would challenge you to prove any evidence which suggests otherwise.

[nutty nigel 7,586]

Dezza..

 

You are prolonging this for some reason. If you honestly don''t remember what you post the put "desert fox delia" into the search facility and all will be revealed. "Axe to fall" is one of many threads that I have just found. Here is just one of your posts : -

 

[quote user="Desert Fox"]

|BA,

Sorry I missed the last part of your post.

The reason for dressing up the catering division''s performance (which includes the highly lucrative matchday operation) would simply be vanity of the majority shareholders. This is particulary given the mess we are now in. Do you think it would sit well with increasingly nagry fans if they found out that the team was being drained off funds to support non-essential side projects - dont even get me started on the land disaster which makes the cost of the catering operation look like petty cash.

[/quote]

 

Now Dezza, I have no wish to prolong this but I''d be quite happy to discuss the clubs preformance, financial or football, over the past 15 years. There''s no requirement to "fall out" or trade insults. Just pure discussion on something that I think we both hold close to our hearts.