The Fish

Just had a quick nosey around and in 2016 Sunderland employed 480 people. I'm guessing the figure is lower now, but their owner's modest wealth will be stretched pretty thin to cover even half of that number.

Them being excited about this takeover is like being excited about going to a Harvester. I know Short is vilified on Wearside, but he fired managers they wanted rid of, backed the new manager in the windows, and covered their cash shortfalls out of his own pocket. Now they've got a bloke who's apparently pretty frugal, who can't back the manager in the windows to anything like the same degree, and surely isn't able to cover the shortfalls that Short took on. £40m is nowt for a recent Premier League club, with a 40k+ stadium, and all the trappings of a top flight club. It doesn't sound like he's backed by billionaires, the fans will sharp fuck off if results don't go their way (plenty of them won't be going back either way), so where's the money coming from to cover their costs? I mean Rodwell's annual wage is £2.08m alone. FWIW this new owner might have enough to make them competitive in the 3rd tier, he might even oversee a promotion within the next few years, but he hasn't the finances to be able to fund a rapid return to the Premier League, and the longer they're away from the riches the top flight provides, the harder it will be to return. Every season, the teams in the top flight grow richer, the teams who yo-yo between the leagues grow richer. The Championship is quicksand and they're going to have to crawl out of a tarpit just to get there.

Kid's got talent but he's like nearly every single talented kid ever. Skips and tricks his way past a few challenges and is in the box at a very tight angle, instead of passing to the now open man for a simple assist, he takes a 100/1 shot and misses. Needs to grow up a lot.

The kids have just beaten Leicester kids in the "HKFC Soccer Sevens" to get to the final. Final is live on youtube.

Change in the laws of the game at the beginning of the season. It's a yellow card if the offender makes an attempt to get the ball. Means you're not double punished (goal down and a man down).

Then administration and points deduction?

I don't think there's any point in England training for Penalties. They're not going to get to that stage.

Could you imagine the fewm?

Rob Lee's son has signed for HEarts, hasn't he?

Surprised enough to click a link?

It gets him attention.

Don't think it's good enough for him to leave us and join them.

Oh it's plausible, but why would you suggest it in an open forum? Some nightmares are best kept to yourself.

For Sorcery?

Because he's expensive to employ and expensive to get rid of. Moyes would need to bring a Championship club up to manage in the top flight again, I reckon. What is wrong with you?

Will either of them get another Premier League job? Maybe one of the promoted sides might panic and give Allardyce 12 games to save their season, but I can't see anyone going for Mr Moyestivator, even in desperation.

He got them to the heady heights of 17th, with a remarkable 39pts, no team relying more on Long Balls, 1 team playing fewer short passes (WBA), 31% of their points came from draws, only Villa relied more on draws for points. I wonder, if we'd brought Benitez in a couple of games earlier and stayed up (not even necessarily at their expense), would he still be a Wearside hero?

fucking hell. Worst that happens over here is some virgin shouts down a FanTV camera, or a Father For Justice unsuccessfully tries to plant a corner flag. Europe is weird, probably for the best we're leaving. Aye I can't imagine they'll be in a hurry to get back for pre-season training.

You've got this Strawb. Worry for whoever follows this with a moan about Wednesday being a bit shit because the person they don't like at the office is chairing an afternoon meeting or something...

They're 3rd in their league and are in the Cup Final. Wonder what's sparked the violence?

Playing a dynamic midfield of Smith Butt and Geremi, iirc They faced 6 of the eventual top 7 teams in Koeman's 9 games in charge. Even if that poor form had carried on throughout the entire season they would have stayed up. Had they got in Silva they may well have finished lower than they did, but the football would have been better and they wouldn't be looking to replace their manager again. £9m they reckon he got for those 6 months... Probably wouldn't have spent £27m on Tosun in January as well.

Tragic that.

I have. It is. Apparently West Ham, Everton and Newcastle fans are deluded for wanting more than Premier League survival though.