HarvSFC

Ligue 2 is good fun. On the last day of the season, Bordeaux, who were playing to win promotion and Rodez, who were playing to stay up had their match abandoned after a fan ran on the pitch and pushed a Rodez player after they went 1-0 up. Don't think a decision has been made yet, so the table still stands with Rodez relegated and Bordeaux missing promotion with one game played less than the rest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022–23_Ligue_2

After the last 24 hours, “West Ham are massive everywhere we go” takes some beating.

To add a bit of context to the already discussed Mac Allister, prior to October his contract was expiring this summer, so was going to leave on a free. He then signed an extension with Brighton last October, ensuring they got money for him, but that he had an affordable get out clause should another club come calling. Also, he wasn't the same reputable Mac Allister he was now back in October, so £35m probably suited all parties with Brighton not thinking they would get much more. He has since won the World Cup and his value has only increased, but he had the get out clause. I suspect Caicedo has the same deal given his new contract following his wants to leave in January.

On the other hand, the Gabbiadini song was magnificent.

West Ham fans making a good case for why drinking in the stands in this country is banned.

On the topic of Sunderland, do we get to bring up that we beat them 8-0 once at every opportunity now?

As said, Burnley started their pre-season yesterday, so Tella is not ready for the start of their pre-season, he has missed it - He's staying!

Burnley back in pre-season already. Interesting strategy, see how it plays out when the season starts.

End of this week, apparently!

He'll come good next season, I reckon. Be a good backup for Sulemana and Tella with both hopefully staying. The Selles tombola only selected him for three match squads after getting minutes in all of the matches under Jones.

And to think we gave them Nathan Dyer for £400k and he’s considered a legend there and a Premier League winner.

Its Andrew Surman all over again.

Considering Leno, Henderson and Neto were all available last summer, going to the promoted clubs it is pretty astonishing that we ended up with Portsmouth's player of the season. Even moneyball Brentford have today replaced David Raya, yes a signing in May! With a 29 year old Netherlands international from the Bundesliga. Not an amateur from League One. We got it terribly wrong last summer and were already burnt by Angus Gunn. Hopefully we rectify it this summer, as I haven't seen much from Bazunu to believe he's ready to handle the pressure of the title race the board have said they're going for.

Bit crap if you get two chances at a penalty in a shoot out. Sevilla would've probably went on to win anyway, but feels a bit too controlled by VAR/the officials.

Semmens would have said: "When you look at the infrastructure and facilities then you can see this club is fortunate to be in the Championship. Our goal is to become a pathway club for other clubs to feed off. We're doing it the right way. However, my family and I are most disturbed by knowing I have to spend 8 more matches away from them next season, even during the week, so please spare me a thought" Would have been nice to have gotten a line on the new manager, or are they all just accepting that we know its Russell Martin?

Mara has natural attributes and could be a good player if he wasn't so lazy and bone idle. Lazy and bone idle was our scouting ethos last summer with Aribo and Maitland-Niles also coming in for a manager who wanted a press. I suppose with Mara, having famous parents hasn't helped his cause as he has probably had everything handed to him on a plate all his life. I was hoping Mara could be our 2023 Schneiderlin, where a drop in level could do him the world of good, also has the connection of being young, French and spending good money that would have been better suited going elsewhere at the time. I would be disappointed if he was allowed to leave on loan, as the Championship could be the making of him.

Contrasting with the way Shields left, who was told to stay away from the club following Chelsea's approach and then leaving us with a January window led by Ankersen. Although, Chelsea's January wasn't much better, either. Shields has had a good two windows in senior football with us last summer and Chelsea in January. Hopefully anyone Aberdeen can't afford gets sent our way.

Played in the league with Dennis Wise too, who is now 56. He's good for the football 'who am I' game, is Walcott.

Steffen and Muric did well in the Championship after City sold them last summer. Surely we didn't sign a worse goalkeeper than Middlesbrough and Burnley got from the same club.

Smallbone's a number 10, the same as Alcaraz and Stuart Armstrong. We're going to need at least 3 new central midfielders for next season, unfortunately. Just need to hope the scouting department's improved. Hamer from Coventry, who's a Premier League player would be a coup to start.

Hamer and Gyokeres are the two standouts in the Coventry team who I doubt will be there next season, probably go to the Premier League themselves, so rules us out. Luton more of a team, rather than star individuals and the mad narcissist that is Nathan Jones will absolutely claim he has got a team promoted this season.

To be fair, they've also had/have Weghorst and Ighalo in recent years and both would struggle to get into our current team.

JWP would have/will be perfect for the new possession ethos we're moving forwards with. It'll be a shame if he does go to a West Ham who I've seen linked tonight as he'd never have gone there if we hadn't have been relegated. I reckon only the traditional top six clubs and Newcastle now could have tempted him if we stayed up. Now it's a bit more unpredictable.

Had a look at Swansea's coaching staff to see who might follow Martin, as haven't seen any rumours on the new coaches coming. Positively, it looks like a lot of/all but one of Martin's coaches at Swansea also worked with him at MK Dons. So, if we're to bring the team over, which we need to do rather than the half hearted attempts of revitalising the coaching team that we've attempted over the years, then he has a longstanding relationship with these coaches: https://www.swanseacity.com/first-team-staff-0 It's almost as if every other club allows a manager to pick their coaches, rather than forcing Craig Fleming, Kelvin Davis, Carl Martin, etc.... upon them. Another positive is that it's the fat bald one from the above link who probably won't be following Martin.

They spent £35m on Fabio Silva, £38m on Matheus Nunes, £27.5m on Goncalo Guedes and £37m on Nelson Semedo. Only Nunes isn't a Jorge Mendes client. While he's brought a few unbelievable players to Wolves (Patricio, Moutinho and Neves), he's also saddled them with a lot of shit to boost his own wealth.