The Fish

Warnock genuinely tells a story about interviewing for the Norwich job, ages ago. And some senior exec asks "Will the fans like the way you play", Warnock proudly tells how he looked them all in the eye, took a deep breath and said "Aye, I think they'll like winning". Proudly, like it doesn't make him sound like a cunt. Also, it sounds a lot like one of those stories where the teller swaps in what he wished he'd come up with, for what he really said.

Yeah, the dead don't talk.

Sister in Law (yes I'm married, didn't I mention that?) had a survey done before a move late summer 2022. Response was that the roof needed doing. Vendor wouldn't either pay for the work themselves, or knock the cost (or a significant portion of it) off the asking price. The house is still For Sale now.

Prutton asked the pair of them about young English managers at the moment and they both talked about Frank and Steve. Not Potter, Howe, Cooper, O'Neil who are all currently out performing Lampard (18th in the League) and Gerrard (Unemployed after being shit), no, they're happy for Frank and Steve. They both sounded very much like Old Men shouting at Clouds. "Players can't go for 6-7 pints of an evening now." "Won't be as much fun though" That's right Steve, that's right Neil, professional fucking athletes can't go and get shit faced the night before a game because they're professional fucking athletes. Jesus Christ. Then Prutton asked if any young managers had asked either of them for advice, and they seemed genuinely offended that a young, modern manager wasn't desperate to shadow them. Sorry Steve, not many young managers are going to want to sit on a Portguese sun lounger watching you turn puce as you escape criticism for how fucking awful your brand of football is.

He definitely wanted a quick sale, but a working, fit-for-purpose academy, training ground, facilities are part of the club you're trying to sell. And the academy, unlike the other two, is a revenue stream. A businessman of his success should have seen that.

Even before the takeover we were in a position (if we had an elite academy setup) to attract players from Edinburgh down to Hull, and all the way across to the west coast. We could have been attracting talent who weren't taken up by the North West clubs. You mention those 4, but if you include Adam Armstrong, Matty Longstaff, Sammy Ameobi, Dan Barlaser, Callum Roberts, these are all local talents who we had at the academy who've gone on to have a professional career in the Football League. And that's without investment. Imagine what we could have done if the club was better run on that front. They don't all have to be PL quality, they just have to show promise and be moved on for actual money. I also think it's important to have local lads playing for your team, fill a club with those from afar and they're less likely to 'get' the club. Have a few Longstaff's, Burns and Dummetts and that culture gets carried onto the pitch.

Brentford Problem, not a Newcastle Problem.

Aye, I read up on them and put myself firmly in the 'Well that's not fucking worth it' camp. We'll be replacing the boiler soon, but it'll be combi for combi and nothing else.

That sounds like a BP, not a NP.

Is that one of those heat pumps?

This is the thing, I've been paying £15 a month for Homecare for the past 4yrs, only had to call out a British Gas engineer at most, twice. Now, when the call out is £99, that's £918 I've pushed their way for- fuck all. I would have spent c£120 if I'd just used a local guy. Maybe even less if they'd fixed an issue that prevented shit down the road. So I could have already put £850 towards a personal trainer for Renton. So it's him I feel bad for, it's for him that I'm fighting British Gas. #PrayForRenton

We had to get a boiler guy out a few times in the past 3 months, first one was British Gas because we pay for the Homecare. Our boiler was leaking, so they came out a couple of days later replaced a part, tried really hard to sell me a new boiler and then left, which cost me £124 including call out. Then the boiler packed in just before Xmas and I phoned again, they said the earliest they could get out was like 4 weeks later. Understandably I said, fuck that, and phoned a local guy. He came the same day, replaced a different £15 part that should have been replaced by the BG bloke, which only cost me £80 including call out. We then had to have him out for the frozen condensate pipe and he fixed the pipe, showed us what to do if it freezes again and would only accept a cup of tea and a mince pie for his troubles. So now I'm in a protracted complaint process with British Gas because, what the fuck am I actually paying for?

To be fair, setting aside the wrongful accusations, people from Liverpool are awful, awful people.

Me and Alex dropping knowledge.

I 100% believe that he thought that. But honestly, I think that a well financed, well staffed academy is a production line of saleable assets. Sure, few of them are going to go for tens of millions of pounds, but plenty will go for north of a hundred grand. If you can sell 2-3 young lads to Championship clubs for a total of around £1m you've surely covered the running costs of the club, plus lads who go for sub £100k to lower leagues and Scotland. You'll occasionally get some who'll go for millions and rarely one or two that'll either be good enough to make part of the team going forward, or sell for tens of millions to an elite club.

That and the dancing.

Do the beach up to Blyth. Do a bit of paddle boarding too. Get a Dog! Bikram Yoga!

To be fair, Casey's 'scoop' was before Perrone moved to Man city and he just said 'contact had been made'.

I saw that the owners had sold another wedge of shares, but only about £14m. What could that possibly be about?

Shocker

Don't flirt with me.

I said it was FUCKING MOOT!"

That joke, ironically, never gets old.

I honestly think it's more that who we are now, does not scan with who we were when his transfer made sense. Our high-pressing, more fluid style just doesn't work with Chris "Plank of" Wood. But the whys and wherefores are moot now. He's not now, and nor will he be a part of our future. Better to get shot now.

Just read that Man City have signed him for a measly £8m