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General Football & Sports / Re: If you were supreme leader of World Football...

« on: April 21, 2021, 10:56:15 PM »

Salary Cap: Each League. % of revenue of each club.

Ticket Prices: Determined by finishing league position

Home Grown Quota: Introduce No. of Academy players minimum selection in squads

Reform European Football: CL for Champions / UEFA Cup for next / Cup Winners Cup

International: represent where you are born. No residencies.

TV: Free To Air football. Set amount paid. Increase with inflation.

Merchandise: Set prices. Across the board.

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General Football & Sports / Re: The big sports thread

« on: April 16, 2021, 11:45:30 PM »

Got right into NRL during lockdown. Liked British League but NRL is just another level. That and the commentary 

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General Football & Sports / Re: OFFICIAL PREMIER LEAGUE THREAD

« on: January 06, 2021, 05:25:03 PM »

We should punish the players who break lockdown they have the got the Money to pay fines so fine and ban them. If they wanted to play tough you shouldn't be breaking a National Lockdown. Also it amazes Me how Lys Mousset a fairly average Striker can afford a 300K Lamborghini Aventador and Black Rolls Royce despite playing for Sheffield United and Bournemouth two teams who are small In comparison to Man City someone like Kyle Walker or Deli Alli I could understand owning cars like that but Lys Mousset. I don't even think anyone at our club owns a Lambo or a Rolls.

Average salary of a Premiership footballer is £3m a year. A 300k car represents 10% of an average yearly salary. Wonder how many people you know drive around in cars that are 10% of the total of their annual salary?

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General Football & Sports / Re: Slaven Bilic

« on: January 06, 2021, 10:38:10 AM »

I'm with Dan. This has happened very quickly in the current circumstances.

Played us like a fiddle. Paid off by us, massive salary there. No doubt in my mind this particular iron was in the fire while he was still an employee of WBA.

Did he definitely get a pay off from us, or was he on gardening leave?

To be honest we all bemoaned the board for the summers transfer dealings. If he had started looking then, who could have blamed him? Unless we all wait to be unemployed before we look for a new job?

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Coronavirus Thread / Re: Coronavirus

« on: January 06, 2021, 10:34:13 AM »

Seen this, thought provoking.

You have a ridiculously small chance of dying from virus. So small it could be argued it's negligible. For this you are willing to sacrifice your children's future prospects via education. You are willing to sacrifice your business you've spent a lifetime building. You're willing to sacrifice the freedoms you've taken for granted your entire life. You're willing to stay away from your family causing mental harm for yourself and your family. I could go on. Point is, is this all worth it?

What I would say is that anyone who feels like that, I totally respect their opinion and if they want to go about their business as normal... crack on. On the flip side, anybody who feels like that shouldn't be allowed access to NHS treatment if they catch Covid.

Have you seen whats happening in LA? (may have already been posted)

Hospitals are overwhelmed out there, so paramedics have to ignore calls of patients who they feel don't have much chance of making it. People in this country have a meltdown if old Doris across the road had to wait three hours after falling over.

Imagine she has a heart attack and the only person who turns up is the coroner?

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: In Game Chat

« on: November 21, 2020, 09:10:36 PM »

Connor Gallagher. Absolute cut above the rest of our side. Class act and absolute work horse.

Awaits dodgy VAR decision to settle the game

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General Football & Sports / Re: Tony Pulis

« on: November 21, 2020, 09:07:54 PM »

Knew that would ruffle a few feathers. Often referred as Makelele role but copied by the  neo-brutalist coaching school who reduced the DM role to the shuffling blocker which would be more accurately described as the Cattermole role, and Yacob was probably better than that but too frequently that was what the role boiled down to. Not saying we have ever got it right but to have that role just takes too much out of the central midfield

Arguably the role of DM is one of the hardest to fill in an XI in my opinion. Three players for me absolutely set the bar with their ability to do it.

Makelele - Kante - Gilberto Silva

These players were World Class at the role, in my opinion the latter actually being the best of them.

To play the role you need to have defensive awareness of the entire team and the ability to read the game, that is what seperates the best. Not just that but you also have to be absolutely selfless. In that sense I think Yacob was absolutely that. He was selfless and disciplined.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: ASTLE PROTOCOL

« on: November 18, 2020, 07:40:18 PM »

Worth noting as well that it wasn't just Jeff Astle, from this club who passed away from dementia. Not only where there a spate of players full stop, but a number of old Albion players passed in the 80's where questions where raised back then. As time wore on, naturally more began to pass.

It's such a sad thing. Personally I don't think it should be attributed to one person, given how many former players have passed and the severity of it.

The work done by the Astle family has been immense. But it is built upon the foundation of, I dread to think how many, scores of ex-footballers who have suffered.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Anything England Football

« on: November 18, 2020, 07:28:37 PM »

Makes me laugh. Because I threw in Foden, now we're talking about trashing a Grealish / Gazza comparison.... which is fine. It's a tragic comparison.

Think Foden running with the ball is a lot more Gazza-esque to be honest, but I didn't have the honour of watching Gazza at his best. Only from what I can get on YT. But the direct, strong ball running with the ball glued to the boot is reminiscent of how Foden travels.

Again, the 10p of a Welshman 

Koumas was closer to closer to Gazza than Grealish 


Where do people think Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling stand in the grand scheme of things? Given that they've been rated behind Grealish on here as being Englands best player?

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General Football & Sports / Re: Anything England Football

« on: November 16, 2020, 04:37:20 PM »

Disagree about Grealish being the best player. Think Phil Foden is England's best player irrespective of how he is used. An absolute wizard who should be playing more for club and country. But what do I know.

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Coronavirus Thread / Re: Coronavirus

« on: November 14, 2020, 03:01:29 PM »

That's not what my NHS friends say, maybe its different in different hospitals.  They said that if lockdown hadn't of happened two hospitals up here would have struggled massively.

Salford hospital was on the brink and absolutely welcomed the Lockdown.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Kenneth Zohore

« on: November 07, 2020, 08:24:56 AM »

In this extraordinary time of empty grounds and reduced revenue streams, the club must protect its future for the short to medium term, it is for this reason that there will be naff all spent !

Ken, merry xmas xxx

If that's the case then I would have much preferred the club come out during the summer and clarified their stance. To the tune of, we are giving our youth a real shot this year. In light of a) their ability and b) the need to safeguard the financial future of the club.

Think fans may actually have accepted that, potentially saw youth flourish and in turn accepted what may be.

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Coronavirus Thread / Re: Coronavirus

« on: November 07, 2020, 08:19:33 AM »

Well ive been put back to furlpough again from Monday..it is what it is!

I see no need to furlough me, but the government are giving companies the opportunity to not pay the wages of staff for the duration of the lockdown.

Ill just have to suck up another 3 weeks off work......not happy about it to be honest and especially not this close to Christmas for financial reasons

Hopefully there's long term viability for your job mate, would certainly expect there is. Unfortunately a big part of the issue for companies is additional operating costs due to Covid.

My company officially went into administration yesterday and I have little hope of any form of survival. Luckily with the writing on the wall I have been applying for quite some time and at least have work elsewhere until the end of January.

It's just the beginning and the more ambiguous it stays the more companies will end up buckling as going in and coming out of Lockdown just isn't helping anyone. It's also giving the employers the upper hand when it comes to just about everything and will have a massive impact on the workers, in terms of potentially being used and abused to keep their job.

Sad times.

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Coronavirus Thread / Re: Coronavirus

« on: November 04, 2020, 10:06:30 AM »

Just need the deniers to come forward now and refute the figures

Or the conspiracy theorists. They'll tell you Covid is a lie and the earth is flat in the next breath

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General Football & Sports / Re: Slaven Bilic

« on: November 02, 2020, 12:24:13 PM »

I think he will already be under the microscope given his Hegazi comments, indeed the pressure will most definitely be on him if we fail to get a win.

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Coronavirus Thread / Re: Coronavirus

« on: November 02, 2020, 12:17:15 PM »

Covid is a funny old thing:

1. My company is about to go into administration due to the impact Coronavirus has had. Has filed for an intent to go into it, and had it delayed once already.

2. I had a job offer today, this job has arisen because of Coronavirus... albeit it a 2 1/2 month contract, it means that money will be coming in for the short term.

Funny old world.

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Coronavirus Thread / Re: Coronavirus

« on: November 01, 2020, 12:01:18 PM »

That’s all well and good...but children are starving.... punish the son for the sins of the father???  Come on lads you’ve got a bit more empathy than that

What they should do is feed the kids and offset the benefits. Fairest solution all round.

Also allows that money to then be spent where it's needed. As opposed to just throwing money at the people who do sweet F.A. for our society.

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Coronavirus Thread / Re: Coronavirus

« on: November 01, 2020, 11:36:21 AM »

If you can't afford to feed your children don't have them. No one paid for mine but me and no one paid for me only my parents. Children have never had free meals in school holidays before. If the parents spent there universal credit and family allowance on what it was meant for instead of fags, booze, 50 inch palsma TVs and drugs there wouldn't be a problem. And the lockdown as come again because of selfish people not doing as they have been asked by distancing and masses of them meeting in each others houses. Now because of them  i along with many others are stuck again and with my mental health problems this ain't going to help but i understand why it as been done.

A £20 a week boost, worth £1,040 a year to households on universal credit or tax credits, was introduced by the government in April as a 12-month temporary measure to help some low-income families cope with the extra costs of coronavirus.

This is something that seems to have gone under the radar.

The ONLY people who haven't been impacted but Covid (financially) are those who actually don't work. These people have actually benefitted. Work that one out.

I also feel a lot is being made of 'people in poverty'.

The government are squandering money away at the minute and whilst this will be an unpopular opinion, they shouldn't be feeding the poor. IMO. Not when you could go into any one of these households and find a packet of fags or four empty cans of lager in the bin!

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Where Does This Squad Stand?

« on: October 30, 2020, 10:23:06 PM »

Harrowing?

With some of the things going on in the world it might be worth having a rethink on perspective.

For what it's worth this squad is good enough to compete for 17th, that's all that is needed this season.

Perspective? In hindsight then we should never criticise anything football as there will always be perspective.

Perhaps the wording was too strong, well it was, but I think deapite being in the Premier League our playing squad is absolutely terrible. And wondering where people would place it in comparison to the post Megson era.

I think it's incredibly poor personally.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Where Does This Squad Stand?

« on: October 30, 2020, 10:19:46 PM »

Due to my age I find the concept of our demise being "harrowing" as quite bizarre.    In footballing terms I grew up thinking I would never see top level football and that looked likely until the arrival of SGM.  So I've seen some poor poor players pull on the stripes.

This squad is ill equipped to survive in the PL but with the addition of Grant I would expect the team to be automatic favourites for promotion should we go down, and without external investment this is what we are.

There are a few players of real potential throughout the team in Semi, Perreira, Grady, Grant and some homegrown players who are solid squad members and may yet push on in O'Shea and Edwards.   We have a few decent senior pros In Ivanovich, Livermore and Gibbs and some players punching above but putting in the yards such as Townsend and Furlong.  Even a player like Sawyers, who seems out of his depth so far in the PL is a class above many of the players I grew up watching.  The loan signings of Krov and Gallagher, whilst not ours, could also really turn out to be quality additions for the year as could Robinson.

Our younger and better players are on long term contracts and the last of the old guard see their contracts run down over the next few years.  Although we are relative paupers in the greed league any parachute money should allow us to remain a bigish fish in the championship pond.   If we can finish fourth from bottom and stay up we  can build on the signings made in this summer and again I would hope to see us looking ar players under 25 still to hit full potential.

Guess it's all about perspective.

Good points. I think I'm looking from the perspective of where we went from when Megson took over... to the lofty heights we reached under Roy. To where we are now.

Harrowing may have been a poor choice of word, but why were we not able to build upon superb foundations? This squad is probably the most sub standard we have had in terms of top flight since the one we had on our first jolly into The Premiership.

I also think it sits below a few of our Championship squads too. Just find it staggering

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Where Does This Squad Stand?

« on: October 30, 2020, 08:22:59 PM »

I haven't been active on the footballing side of the forum for quite some time, for a number of reasons. Most of which is falling out of the love for the game. Secondly is money absolutely destroying English football (from top to bottom).

However I think Albion squad right now leaves a lot to the imagination, it's a sad state of affairs and in my opinion after years of taking forward strides as such, it has culminated in being in the top flight with one of the poorest squads we have had for quite some time.

Where do people feel it compares not just to some of our Premiership squads, but Championship ones too? (Talking post Megson-era)

The demise of the club is harrowing, when we have arguably our biggest name manager (perhaps Robson aside) at the helm. It's almost as if we have Lewis Hamilton in the driving seat and sent him out on the grid in a Little Tykes yellow special.

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Coronavirus Thread / Re: Coronavirus

« on: October 30, 2020, 08:12:15 PM »

We've only got ourselves to blame.
The government advised social distancing and wearing of face masks. Two basic instructions that appear to be too much for some morons to adhere to.
A friend of mine has a son working as a teacher in Japan. He was talking to his son the other day and said that they are almost back to normal.
And Why?
Because the population has a different mindset and do as they are told.
Here we get all the conspiracy theorists and the 'Nobody's going to tell me what to do' brigade kicking off.
Just look at all the numpty's in Nottingham last night having a blow out before lockdown.
The guidance hasn't been brilliant but neither have we

In fairness the government advised face masks after questioning their effectiveness. Such mixed messages haven't helped.

Agree with the sentiments of people being above doing what they're told though. At the same time what has been done to those who have flaunted the rules? Sweet F.A.

The reaction of people in Wales on the back of 'Non-essential' items being taped up in Supermarkets said it all for me. We live in a Kingdom of extremely self indulgent and self entitled people. Who lack rational and would white was black if it meant 'sticking it to the man'

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Coronavirus Thread / Re: Coronavirus

« on: October 30, 2020, 06:28:23 PM »

If Covid is so bad, and I made this point very early on in the pandemic... it's arguably more of a point now...

Why have 3rd World Countries that don't have clean water to drink, let alone wash their hands not perished with unimaginable death numbers?

I'm in Wales, so currently under a lockdown. All that's done is help my company apply for a 10 day extension of intent to file for administration. I'll be lucky to still be employed by the end of next month. So Covid has a lot to answer for. However I'll not kick up too much of a fuss as it's quite simply a case of being unlucky I guess. On the grander scale, anyone wishing for a lockdown now as opposed to Christmas... all the best.

Society got back to half normal and it spiked and put us in this position. There will be a lockdown I'd imagine from 20th Dec (whenever kids last day of school is) until around the 2nd Jan I'd hazard a guess. That is inevitable.

What I do think is that we are very much protecting the few for the sake of the many. I dread to think the financial implications that this will have for future generations.

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Coronavirus Thread / Re: Coronavirus

« on: May 29, 2020, 10:28:47 PM »

3 Weeks ago the Welsh government said the easing of lockdown is completely dependent on the R rate lowering.

It hasn't, changes have been made and non essential shops being told to prepare to reopen.

And they wonder why we're confused.

Didn't watch Boris' today, assuming that it was very similar.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Coronavirus Thread - Games provisionally to resume 20 June - CLUB RELATED ONLY

« on: May 12, 2020, 11:52:14 PM »

Sky have a market valuation of $36 billion & bt £24 billion.

Think they could afford to prop up the prem for a year, without the prem they don't have a UK product to sell

The real issue is relegations & promotions.

Personally, I'd be happy to re-set to August 2019, provided the transfer window was closed, so that the prem bottom six couldn't re-build

But why should they do that when Premiership teams will go and spend what is owed and more come the summer. (If they didn't have too pay Sky back)

Id quite like too see a transfer ban in the sense of fees this summer. Agents payments restricted.