This is why we need a Football Regulator with powers to kick rogue owners out of Clubs. And to FIFA if they don't like it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cnv73qqrm0po The situation at Sheffield Wednesday is unacceptable. Players are considering striking, and I don't blame them. The line has to be drawn somewhere. Bury should have been the last time this happened.
Meanwhile, at the Elite end of Football... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cly4x95pv98o The three big hitters (Prem, UEFA, FIFA) squabbling over how much they can throttle the goose laying their golden eggs before it expires. Unedifying, to say the least.
I used to enjoy watching the transfers in the premier league role in now it just completely turns me off elite football
Lardi - do you fancy setting up a first 11 prediction thread for the Watford match - sure will be difficult
It looks like the end for Morecambe FC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cd7yez08p8zo Since the decline of the domestic tourism industry which underpinned Morecambe's boon, its 105-year-old football club has filled the gap - providing jobs, powering local businesses, and offering a sense of community, identity, and spirit. But now, Morecambe FC faces the imminent prospect of shutting down due to a deepening financial crisis, with owner Jason Whittingham's failure to sell the club leading to suspension from the National League. A disgrace that shames the people who are supposed to look after English Football. Every Football Club is unique. When one is lost, it can never be replaced like-for-like. To fans it hurts like the death of a loved one. How many chances have there been to prevent this? Too many. RIP the Shrimps.
Late payment of suppliers is bad enough, though sadly widespread in industry. But one thing an employer can never do, is pay his/her own workers late. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ckg4zl3g07do I worked briefly for a firm about 30 years ago, and my first month's wages were paid a week late. Other workers just shrugged and told me it happened all the time. When it happened again to me the following month I resigned, and won a case for constructive dismissal. The Sheffield Wednesday players have every right to refuse to play in my opinion. Any other Club staff who have been paid late or not at all have the same right to cease working.
If the season ended now we’d be playing Millwall in the playoffs and the other tie would be Portsmouth v Southampton. That would be spicy
Ho hum. There seems to be a universal assumption that Liverpool will be even better this season because of the huge wad of cash they have splurged. Football rarely works like that, unless you repeat it over 3 or 4 transfer windows in a row.
Just to digress for a moment. Been reading up football history just prior to WW2. This was the time when numbers were added to the backs of platers' shirts for the first time. The reason for that was not quite as simple as might be thought. Naturally, for commentators, newspaper journalists and fans, numbers on shirts made identification of players easier - especially at a distance. But that was not the only reason the change came. In the late 1930's a new 'fad' swept through English football. Managers began swapping players into different roles during matches. Usually switching wingers or inside forwards left to right or vice versa, but sometimes in other areas too. This led to a demand, principally from the press it seems, for a way to know which player was which as this switching around was going on. So eventually shirt numbers were introduced. Remember, this was decades before substitutions could be made, so switching player roles in your starting XI was one of the few tactical tools a manager had in that era. Just thought I would share that bit of historical trivia... Not exactly 'news', but then we don't have a football historical trivia thread.
I've just heard on TV news that a minute's silence to honour Diogo Jota had to be cut short at Wembley because some Palarse fans started booing. Pure class Watford fans joined in the minute's applause for the fallen members of our Charlton family on Saturday. I think had there been a minute's silence instead, they would have observed it.
Short of the likes of Putin pushing up the daisies, disrespect of a minutes silence/applause is beyond words.
Looks like the Title race in Scotland is already over If there's anything duller than a two horse race it's a one horse race.