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Reply | Transfer rumours 2024
at 12:52 26 Jul 2024
I don't want him back either but very harsh assessment here IMHO. When played in a five thought he was excellent. Crucially when he left us you soon saw what that loss of passion and fight meant. |
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Reply | Transfer rumours 2024
at 12:22 26 Jul 2024
Loved Yohan but when has it, as the songstress Sade told us, been as good as the first time with a returning player? Steve Wicks, Clive Allen, struggling to think of any in recent times. Smyth debatable. Wonder as a fanbase if we are more nostalgic than most or if it is a common football phenomenon. Whenever a popular player retires the cry goes up "make him a coach". |
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Reply | Transfer rumours 2024
at 11:04 24 Jul 2024
Precisely, Dozzell was more ruff and tumble gelling his hair. Not sure how much those stereo-types about English players still apply. Many have been coached to "play football" and we have had many a midfielder ala Tom Carroll who regarded the prospect of a tackle much as Ann Widdecombe would a venereal disease. I don't care about nationality, its all about the attributes of the individual. |
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Reply | Jimmy Dunne
at 13:13 19 Jul 2024
Interesting. Perhaps thats the system we will play next season with Heverton and Paal playing wing backs with Field and Coleback holding and Chair/ Andersen playing further inside, more as 10s, with Celar up top. Pragmatism seems to be one of Marti's key qualities so maybe he wants to have the option of 4 or 5 at the back depending on the opponents? |
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Reply | Transfer rumours 2024
at 13:07 19 Jul 2024
If the figures quoted are anywhere near accurate amazed we haven't been charged with daylight robbery... |
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Reply | Armstrong
at 13:04 19 Jul 2024
The media dept will have a grid with days to announce things to optimise interest through the summer - personally think they have done a very good job. Logistically it also takes time - they have to have a sit down interview with the player ready, for example, a background article about his career, photos, quotes from the manager etc. Not sure it takes any longer these days, its probably just that word tends to get out early as there are so many outlets/ social media tipsters. If this is honestly the biggest complaint about the club at the moment - that they are being a little tardy in announcing the potentially 20 goal a season striker they have just signed - then that's probably as near a win as the club is likely to score with sections of the fanbase. |
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Reply | Trump shot at.
at 10:42 19 Jul 2024
Except our so-called "independent" nuclear deterrent can only, in practical terms, ever be used with American co-operation and even authorisation. |
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Reply | Trump shot at.
at 10:40 19 Jul 2024
You really are most insightful if you can tell I was typing through gritted teeth. My teeth did not need to be gritted one bit to say the shooting of Trump was horrific. It shouldn't need saying that we must use logic in a democracy, not violence. Besides, quite apart from the human element, pragmatically this was a disaster for anyone (like me) opposed to Trump. As soon as I saw the defiant - defining - image of Trump with his arm aloft it was clear to me that he had almost certainly just won re-election.
Agree name calling doesn't get us anywhere. I would never use the word "Nazi" to define Trump and we should be very careful about the use of that word. I wouldn't as yet call him "far" right, any more than he should call Democrats "far left extremists". He is, IMHO, "hard right" for sure, with the potential to be something more.
Where I disagree is people on the right IMHO often struggle to see cause and effect. Just as crime rates typically rise with levels of poverty, so if your language is all "fight, fight, fight" it shouldn't be entirely surprising that in a country where crazed, lone gunmen are not exactly an unknown phenomenon, someone will take you at your word - it could have been a Trump supporter taking a shot at Biden, it so happened to be a nutter (motivation unclear) taking a shot at Trump. That is not to justify an act of violence but it is to say that this assassination attempt hasn't come from nowhere and perhaps the Trumpeties need to be a little more self-reflective about the culture that produces such violence - a violence that is particularly American. So its not an ad hominen attack or "whataboutism".
There was a very good article in the FT a few days ago analysing opinion polling data (stay with me). It showed that Trump's single biggest appeal was his macho, tough man image. Its why he is massively more popular with men than women, for example. So if your whole schtick is "I'm the tough guy", "I could shoot someone and people would still vote for me", "spent a great day at the firing range" etc etc etc its not entirely surprising that some lunatic out there took all this talk of violence not as metaphor but literally. Again, to be clear, it was clearly wrong.
Is Trump now big enough to see his lucky escape as the moment to bring people together? That to me would be proof that Trump was genuinely courageous. |
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Reply | Trump shot at.
at 09:35 19 Jul 2024
You had me up until “dehumanising Trump”.
Think he has done a pretty good job of that himself.
How would you characterise his attitude to immigrants (calling them sub-human etc) if that is not “de-humanising”. His entire modus operandi is to belittle others and see them as transactional commodities: “how useful are these people to me?”. The violence against him was terrible, no question, but let’s put it in context: since he came to the presidency, the number of security incidents against members of Congress have sky-rocketed. Am not sure that’s entirely coincidental.
Will he finally now grow up, dial down the hate and attempt to unite the country? A big test for such a fundamentally little man. |
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Reply | Trump shot at.
at 08:57 19 Jul 2024
My god just had a gander at this thread.
Can’t believe some really believe it is a conspiracy (on either side).
Surely we have all seen enough to know that shit happens, particularly in this febrile, hate-filled environment - in part fuelled by Trump - when guns are almost as easy to acquire as candy.
Never underestimate how many nutters there are out there. Let’s not sound like nutters in here! |
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Reply | Armstrong
at 21:59 18 Jul 2024
because we are selling a player who has scored 4 goals in 65 games - who we would lose for free in 9 months - and replacing him with a striker who scored something like 40 goals in 90 games for his last club. It’s us so something will probably go wrong but in principle it’s the deal of the bloody century. Just baffled by remarks from others (not you) saying they are gutted etc. We have been crying out for a striker who scores goals, we are about to get one and still a minority are complaining! |
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Reply | Armstrong
at 15:24 18 Jul 2024
Our fanbase has its share of moaners but I believe most fans would conclude that after years of mismanagement we are finally being very well run, and that the recruitment team has earned the right to be trusted. Generally they seem able to replace with better. Would be very sad to lose Dunne - as much for his spirit as anything else - as think he embodied our "never say die" attitude from January. But with the exception of JCS and Chair - and to a lesser extent Cook and Field - I would be confident now that we could secure decent replacements. Which itself sends a message to players that they can't hold us to ransom. I like Paal but if someone offers a big fee for him, lets be pragmatic - personally I'd be excited to see who they would bring in as a replacement. |
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Reply | Armstrong
at 15:08 18 Jul 2024
Yes, don't want to tempt fate by being super greedy as would be delighted with Celar but IF we were able to off-load Dykes and bring in the striker who was on loan with Sheffield Wednesday, just imagine. We could even play with two strikers if Marti wanted! |
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Reply | Armstrong
at 14:58 18 Jul 2024
Plus it would appear his departure allows us to buy Celar, a proven international striker coming into the peak years of his career.
In an ideal world we would rack and stack promising young strikers and send them out on loan with a view to breaking them into the first team a year or two later. But we are not in an ideal world and we have lacked even a decent first choice striker since Nakhi Wells years ago now - and he was on loan.
IF we land Celar surely that massively outweighs any feeling fans might have about losing Armstrong - even if he were not, as you rightly say, free to leave for nothing at the end of the season.
If these reported transfers and amounts are anywhere near correct I think fans should be celebrating and giving our CEO a huge amount of credit for running a brilliant transfer strategy: significantly improving the first team and all on apparently very minimal spend. Imagine Hoos and Ferdinand pulling any of this off!
We lose a player who scored 4 goals in 65 games for us and are reportedly replacing him with a striker who has scored 40 goals in 95 appearances for his last club. Genuinely baffled that anyone could not be delighted by that. [Post edited 18 Jul 15:04]
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Reply | Armstrong
at 13:53 18 Jul 2024
I can only assume if he the headline figure is £2m it will consist of a huge number of ad ons, mainly based on what would currently look like fairly fantastical scenarios eg if sold on for 10m to a Prem League club, etc. Then again the economics of football often leave me scratching my head. |
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Reply | Armstrong
at 22:36 17 Jul 2024
Some genuinely laugh out loud posts in this thread interspersed with some very sensible ones.
4m for Dykes not enough?
2.5m for Sinclair perfectly reasonable?
Marti a merely basic coach only achieving the minimum with the talent available?
Respect all opinions but think i’m going to take a lie down… |
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Reply | Transfer rumours 2024
at 12:35 17 Jul 2024
Great if true, sounds a promising talent with huge potential (admittedly am influenced in the last name in saying that). And how good would that be to send one of our young players out on loan to a Continental club learning different skills? A bit different from sending players to Crawley to be racially abused by some Alf Garnett manager with the demeanour of an extra in a John Smith ad. |
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Reply | Transfer rumours 2024
at 13:36 15 Jul 2024
OK, I'm braced.
Think I will just about recover from the disappointment if he is "poached". |
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Reply | Trump shot at.
at 18:02 14 Jul 2024
OK chief, enjoy your echo chamber |
| | Stainrod
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