Sunderland 'Til I Cry: EFL and beyond 19/20

What is this new Bolton bullshit

they were just calmly preparing to field an XI of children as they normally do and some spoilsport postponed the game!

Squeaky bum time in the most exciting footballing action of the day. I imagine "C&N Sporting Risk, headed by Henry Newman and Rory Campbell" are running round the office printing off bank statements.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49455433

Reminds me of the collapse of Hereford United where the scumbag owner didn't turn up for refinancing in court as he was "stuck in traffic" and the company was immediately dissolved.

Bury FC Crisis: Company which bought £7m debt for £70,000 and now wants £1.75m for it, reportedly owned by partner of daughter of club owner Steve Dale. Jaw-dropping detail in the wreckage of this football club. https://t.co/IGVPxYAddp

— David Conn (@david_conn) August 23, 2019

EFL did some cracking fit and proper testing on this Dale fellow.

Steve Dale has been telling some media that a deal has been done. The potential buyers have told James Frith MP that's not the case. Yet. #BuryFC

— Chris Hall (@chrishallitv) August 23, 2019

we've had quite a few momentously big scoring win lose draws against Bury in my lifetime - including 0-6, 6-0, 4-4, 3-3 in the last couple of decades. I love Gigg Lane as well despite only going there twice. Good luck Bury.

we are going through the longest period of terrible football and sustained losing since that 70's period that some older fans with a slight touch of grandiloquence refer to as The Great Decline. When the designated disabled area is abandoned by the contemptible prem daytrippers that took over it like a fucking disease - i'll be happy to get a season ticket again, because half empty stands is the only environment that works with the kid. At least yesterday our useless caretaker manager realised Elphick is an old slow liability that is finished at this level, probably finished at L1 level (where we are headed) as well so a complete waste of a wage. It reminds me of when we signed Unsworth when he was an old knackered useless bastard as well.

I've often complained to stewards that there should be an autism friendly section of the ground, and they agreed. But shite football is the only real solution for empty banks of seats.

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/17751427.middlesbrough-continue-investigate-transfers-garry-monks-time-charge/

he always looked like face from crimewatch did this cunt, never trust anyone who spells Gary with 2 R's and wears wooly cardigans in the summer.

BREAKING: Bury FC Crisis: The proposed purchase by C & N Sporting Risk is OFF; owner Steve Dale was given until 5pm today for it to complete or the club would be expelled from the Football League, so this really could be the end.

— David Conn (@david_conn) August 27, 2019

it looks like Bury will be gone within the hour.

Ugh, I feel very bad for the Bury fans suffering at the hands of a bunch of stuff outside their control.

Having said that, there's a piece of me that would be irritated by their being saved at the last minute, rewarding them for massively overspending to buy promotion last year (my lot finished one point outside the play-off places, remember). I try to keep that piece of me under control because ultimately it's the Bury FC community that loses its club, and it's hardly their fault they enjoyed last season on the never-never.

Presumably the ground will be disposed of as part of an insolvency process? That's quite an important factor in any phoenix club starting up.

I'm not sure tbh - some phoenix clubs retained their grounds didn't they? Just currently balancing the genuine sadness of a great old historic football ground getting turned into shit new houses vs the idea of telling Danny Boyle that this is fucking karma - you complete stain!

Ha!

When we nearly went under, the fact that the Council owned the ground (which is a whole other dumb story in our dumb history) was very helpful, because it meant that it couldn't be sold to cover the debt the previous owners had run up. I think this is a common experience for other teams where the worst has happened - if you have to find / finance a new ground that's a whole different order of pain from recruiting a football team.

Going to be uber #FBPE and look at the EU ref results for Bury and Burnley and have a wee chuckle to myself

oof actually if i still had twitter i could go on a deep dive for supporters of those clubs who have made fun of the SPFL.

too bad i have work to do today

there's no silver lining to this

just don't look at Scumbet next Town manager odds rn

I think the silver linings are (a) the EFL actually beginning to enforce its rules instead of eternally granting extensions (b) the widespread calls for re-examination of the rules around football club ownership, which might actually come to something this time. Might not, of course.

I feel very sorry for Bury fans but it was going to happen sometime.

I hope they can somehow remain at Gigg Lane because it's a fine old ground.

Yeah I hope so too, seems from the bit I've read that it's mortgaged and the unwillingness of whoever owns the mortgage to sell it on to the bidders was the reason the bid failed (NB this may be a total misreading or misunderstanding on my part). I suppose any successor club will need the Council to intervene in some way to safeguard the ground, otherwise it'll be "developed", ugh.

oh look we're still really good

we are still really shit and doomed despite having a bigger wage bill and being officially worse than when we had the 2nd lowest outlay in the championship and went up. but this is the cyclical nature of things and i'm already planning for a L1 season ticket when all the happy clapper prem detritus has fucked off!

all is not lost... at Leeds got beaten at home

you really aren't going down, plenty of dross about

nathan jones surely doomed

nah we're doomed, we had our last of about 3 wins in 18 months, way back in February. Most the team need pulping. The club owner is out of his depth and hasn't a clue what he is doing. He was ready to sell Billing for the first offer of £7m a few weeks back, it was only due to the intervention of our previous chairman that blocked it till we held out for £15m.

VLP put in another absolute stinker of a performance, and our chairman accepted an offer for him from Red Star Belgrade during the game. Strange transfer that - as he was getting picked I don't there was any realistic expectations we could move him on, especially to a decent Euro club for money. When you can get the best out of him he's a very limited but useful tool, when he can't be arsed (for such a shit talent he's a total needy diva) you might as well play someone from the stiffs in his position.

i hear ya

I want to be optimistic, new manager and all that, but the deficiencies in the squad really stood out yesterday when Reece Styche looks like your best player. Thank fuck for the international break.

Also apparently yesterday's Chester game had the greatest sending off of all time.

Players involved in clash of heads. Ref decides the Chester player should leave the pitch for more treatment so he can get the game going again.
Chester player disagrees and remonstrates with the ref.
Ref books him for dissent and sends him to the touchline.
Chester player gets minimal treatment and comes back on.
Ref decides he didn't wait for permission to re-enter the pitch and books him again.

First win of the season yesterday for FCUM (having opened with three consecutive defeats following relegation).

we got turned down by the cockney brothers management team at Lincoln City after a million comp was agreed between clubs. Some of our lot were having a jizz fest over them and talking up their progressive coaching/tactics chops. They've rapidly risen up the leagues with a ridic amount of promotions but I'm not convinced they'd have been good for us tbh. But now they are all ready to top themselves as Adkins is apparently the 3rd choice behind Stendel who also will probably turn us down because of how we headhunted his no.2 and unceremoniously sacked the fucker after a few months. That Wagner era has really spoiled us and warped our expectations as fans of a small club in a biggish Town. Adkins is dull as dishwater but at the moment some steady competence could be all we need to start building towards a winnable relegation dogfight season.

Adkins was doing good work at Hull before the Allams decided they didn't want to pay him

I think his record is much more impressive than his dour demeanour and dull rep would make some people think, and that "go for the b-coach at borussia dortmund" thing has been tapped out to fuck now - we need a known quantity with champo experience at this point!

Adkins did well at Soton too iirc.

In October 2012, Adkins disclosed that he recites the Dale Wimbrow poem, The Guy in The Glass to control stress.[12]

:)

He's the feller to please, never mind all the rest,

For he's with you clear up to the end,

And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test

If the guy in the glass is your friend.

It looks like the truly massive Sheffield club are about to hire Monk. Odd choice considering his corrupt transfer dealings at previous clubs are following him like a bad smell.

ffs Neil Harris is current fav for Town. Can't be having another p/t London manager who is allergic to fresh air. and paying compensation for a pretty uninspiring looking manager would be terrible business.

next manager odds-watching is so futile but addictive. Those Cowley brothers from Lincoln City are favs again. Allegedly some pro-gambler whale has put a large sum on them and there have been other whispers. After that Neil Harris scare I have lost all the reservations I initially had about them.

it's definitely Cowley now!

our new management team the Cowley brothers are ex PE teacher siblings who seem quite earnest and naive, albeit with a very good management cv in the lower leagues and recently L2 as well.

Concord: 3 promotions in 6 years to Conference South. Reached the FA Cup first round

Braintree: Took them to their best ever position, a part time team, 3rd in conference. Took them to first round FA Cup first time

Lincoln: 2 promotions in 3 years. Won EFL trophy. First non league team to get to FA cup quarter finals

apparently they have cost us £1.5 m. Like the cut of their jib so far.

I feel like the footballing gods of fate are getting ready to take a big dump on us tbh. But see how it goes.

First non league team to get to FA cup quarter finals

Wait till the ILXSpurs contingent log on...

IME the Crowley’s are admired for their success but not really liked for footballing style (Lincoln played hard and agricultural but had the gamesmanship turned up to maximum, I like to see big strong effective teams but it irks me when those same players crumple as soon as they’re breathed on). The brothers themselves use pre-Zen Warnock approach to touchline behaviour, continually screaming at the officials for no obvious reason.

That said, they did brilliantly for Lincoln, most importantly by cultivating a real sense of togetherness between club, fans and the community more generally. Hope that works again at Huddersfield because when it works it’s the best thing.

Haha Cowleys, I might not love them but they’re not Great Beasts.

satanic lols! I think at the moment a lot of the fans would take some ugly wins. But after Wagner as a long term project I'd prefer to see more of the hard pressing, high tempo style he brought before he lost faith in his methods after a few prem maulings. Even if it meant there wasn't some instant turnaround in results from it. Hopefully having a budget beyond anything they've had before (bolstered by flogging some of our overpaid wasters and parachute payments) and a transfer window might lead towards a more positive approach.

Flores has spent most of the second half sitting in his dug-out. TV pictures have just shown him shaking his head repeatedly

heh heh! the nightmare is real alright

lol wrong thread

The joy of articles like this is only fleeting, I know, but I think it's important to savour it while it lasts

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/plymouth-argyle-exeter-city-lowe-3349365

(If you're disinclined to click on that link to a boring link to an ad-splattered hellsite, it's an article in which Plymouth's new manager recognises that the snot army are especially sad about their team's mediocre start to the season because ECFC have had a very good start to the season, goes on about it a bit and then says its irrelevant and how he doesn't want to talk about it.)

(I am not being entirely fair.)

finally bringing on Koroma to torture their slow old centre backs

3 points for Wimbledon and a goal for the wonderful Assal, plus a late Bolton equaliser against the scum, a good day

Buzzing for the first proper match at new plough lane next weekend

you never mentioned that your 21 year old left-back is no less the grandson of Alec Guinness

Leeds have spent so much time doing penny-pinching haggling over the price of O'Brien that apparently Burnley and Palace are coming in with better offers now. When you know a player is good always refuse derisory first offers and wait for the bidding war to start. Although allegedly he doesn't want to go to Burnley for some reason.

oh man I'm so buzzing O'Brien might be going to Palace rather than Leeds. Apparently Bielsa is fucking fuming that they offered a derisory first bid, because he's been watching him a long time and has an agreement with the club that his targets must be sorted in a timely fashion with no fucking about, like before the season starts.

So we couldn't muster a full bench on Saturday and our supposed first choice striker had an absolute mare, including missing a penalty, so he's decided a contract he signed 2 weeks ago isn't going to work for him after all because of family commitments and he's left.

I wish some of our players would do the same

Your keeper's effort on Saturday was in a different class for their first goal.

Schofield is only starting because his amazing replacement (a freebie who got released by MK dons) has got the Rona. Some say he's the worst Town keeper they've ever seen. I say he's about the 2nd or 3rd worst.

the lino missing the ball crossing the line before the wonder-blunder minutes after we had a perfectly good goal ruled out was how I saw it at the time on the stream. Haven't looked at any replays because it doesn't make any difference on how shit Scofield is and how much we deserved to lose.

Yeah to be fair his standing foot looks nearly a yard over the line so how it never got spotted was dreadful. The hoof back to him was appalling though as they said on the EFL show about the second goal 'now we see why he was trying so hard to prevent the corner'.