Couldn’t think…. The next part

MrsGrey

Matt Beard ex WHU enjoying success with Liverpool in the WSL.

Well done him.

Fortuneseeker

MrsG, I still don't know the real reason why he left our Womens team. He has managed Liverpool in the past and he will do well next season given some backing now they have been promoted back into the WSL.

alderz

Paul Konchesky has been named new manager of the WSL side as Olli Harder has resigned.

https://www.whufc.com/news/konchesky-appointed-womens-manager-harder-departs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61373993

Fortuneseeker

Gilly Flaherty has left at the end of her contract as well.

Expat_Hammer

Have just returned from the lights of the big city after seeing "The play that goes wrong".

I haven't laughed so much since Christian Gross was manager of the spuds

Pearces_Left_Foot

My daughter loves that show we also took her to see The Magic that Goes Wrong which is also very funny

alderz

It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen that show but I remember my face hurting after from laughing so much

IronHerb

I thought Brighton v Man U run it close. 😁

ASLEFshrugged

Paul Konchesky has been promoted to first-team manager of the WHU women (he has been assistant manager for a year)

Brother_Sledge

I had a very sick looking cherry tree in the garden which we planted to mark our wedding in 1986. I didn't want to just cut it up for logs so I had a go at sculpture starting with the chainsaw and moving on to hand tools. It has given me a sense of porpoise over the last few months splitting my time between golfin' and dolphin.

Slacker

Six years ago today:

Feeling very emotional today.So many memories of Upton Park.Going as a little kid with my Granddad, Dad and brother and being so packed in my little feet didn't touch the ground on the way out.Then with my mates and getting in the ground at one o'clock for a three o'clock kick off and rushing to get the best spot in "the boys stand"at the back of the North Bank.Seeing some fantastic players strutting their stuff over the years has been a privilege.Watching a pitched battle on the North Bank when Man.U. came to town in'67 needing a point to win the league and beat us 6-1 with Law,Best Charlton and the rest in their prime.Watching the Chicken Run fans start to cheer and applaud as they were the first to see the players in the tunnel,it was like the entrance of the gladiators.The ball going over the roof of the Chicken Run and little Paddy going out of the ground to get it.The peanut seller chucking a bag of nuts into the crowd and getting the money lobbed down to him.Getting beaten 8-2 at home by Blackburn on Boxing Day morning and going on to win the cup that season,beating Sunderland 8-0 with Geoff Hurst scoring six.My old man letting go of me when we scored and I fell off the crush barrier and came up spitting out old fag butts.Watching Trevor Brooking destroy one of the best teams(at the time)in Europe in a truly magical night under the lights.Being so proud when Moore,Hurst and Peters walking out to take an ovation before the first game after England winning the World Cup(we lost,naturally).The night when we had to beat Man.U in the last game of the season to stay up,the atmosphere was electric for an hour before kick off until they scored right from the kick off,the place went deathly quiet for about two minutes until a roar started to rumble around the ground and stayed 'til the end of a 4-2 win.Taking my kids to their first matches,my youngest watching us beat Coventry 5-0 and singing"5-0 to the cockney boys!"sitting on my shoulders and crying her eyes out when we lost at her next match.
So these are just some of the memories that are running 'round my head today,but only some.A big chapter of my life ends tonight.Thanks Upton Park.

OldCastleSwift

Haaland to City then. They're going to have an incredible attack next season.

And £51m? Ridiculous price, really. I think Dortmund may have dropped the ball with that release clause.

Expat_Hammer

At that price, we should have been all over that 😁

alderz

7 of the first 8 stories on BBC Football are about Haaland to City

OutcastLondoner

OldCastleSwift said:

Haaland to City then. They're going to have an incredible attack next season.

And £51m? Ridiculous price, really. I think Dortmund may have dropped the ball with that release clause.

I think it was a matter of he signs for somewhere bigger in the first place or he agrees to come to them for a couple of seasons as long as they release him. They still triple their money. Maybe they have clauses in there as well.

I really hope he flops though. Something about him irritates me.

IronHerb

I watched Trevor Morley on SKY earlier who now lives in Norway and is a Norwegian football 'expert'. He was so gushing about Haarland being the best goalscorer ever, obviously never watched Ronaldo, that I automatically started to dislike the lad without ever really watching him.

If he's half as good as Aguero then they have a top player.

OldCastleSwift

His goals to game ratio is stupidly good. 61 goals in 66 games at Dortmund. 17 in 16 before that at Salzburg. 15 in 17 for Norway.

Man City will be even more dangerous next season. Not sure even Liverpool will keep up with them.

OutcastLondoner

There's so much of that about him. People who have at most watched highlights of him going on about how he's some complete striker. He's clearly a good finisher but I find the hype irritating. He won't be lacking for chances to score there though.

OldCastleSwift

The hype's not his fault though. And it's based largely on his output. Granted, the Austrian Bundesliga isn't a great league, but he's done it in Germany too, which isn't a weak league.

He's like that Football Manager star boy that has almost exclusively green stats. Looks to have it all, but it'll be interesting to see how he deals with the Craig Dawson challenge.

OutcastLondoner

I also find the way he carries him annoying.

But mostly I want everyone to be wrong.

Bazshuayi

Just means Man City will be even harder to beat next season and the main reason I dont like them winning stuff is I feel there's a chance it'll be a PSG, Bayern type of thing where the same team cruises to the title. At the moment Liverpool ae the only side who are close to them and I'd rather our league had more teams capable of taking the title in any given year

OldCastleSwift

Bazshuayi said:

Just means Man City will be even harder to beat next season

That's why every team brings payers in, surely. I mean, I get that City can be accused of buying success, but they not alone in that in this country. Liverpool paid £75m for van Dijk, £65m for Allison, £50m for Keita and Diaz.

Chelsea and Man Utd also fall into that category, and Newcastle will soon join them.

It's a shame the game is no longer played on a level playing field, but City aren't the only club guilty of it.

OutcastLondoner

The thing with City is they don't buy so many marquee players like those other clubs but they buy so many £50m players and that's how they've bought their success. Chelsea are the same. I guess Man U are similar but I don't begrudge them that as much as they're a massive brand that was built up that way through football success. (of course I dislike them for other reasons)a

I think Liverpool bought all of those, or most, in separate seasons and didn't make so many other signings. Considering clubs like ours often buy £30-40m players now, I don't think those Liverpool signings are anything like what Chelsea and City have done.

Pearces_Left_Foot

Liverpool success in the transfer market is how well done they have been selling players continho for £125mio Ibe and other fringe players going for £20mio . They have spent a lot aswell but thier net spend is probably the best of the big boys.

Bazshuayi

Ibe 15M
Brewster 23M
Sakho 26M
Hoever 13M
Grujic 10M
Wilson 12M
Solanke 24M
Benteke 32M
(155M just for those lot!)

Coutinho Ridiculous amount

From a site I randomly looked at, apparently Klopp has sold 60 players for 450+M!

OldCastleSwift

Talksport reporting that we've offered Rice £200k p/w on an eight-year contract. If this is true;

a) Did they learn nothing from Winston Reid and b) why would he sign an eight year deal? Potentially prices himself out of any future deal.

alderz

Wasn't it reported that he rejected a 4 year deal at £200k pw? If so, I don't know why he'd go for an 8 year... It sounds like rubbish to me.

That said, I personally have not learned anything Winston Reid and I would be overjoyed if he signed on for 8 years

IronHerb

I like the way it said his £200k per week would be index linked over the 8 year period. 😂

ASLEFshrugged

It's Jim White, I seem to remember him making various claims in the past that turned out to be inaccurate

I don't think Rice is worried about the size of his pay packet but he wants the club to match his ambitions by bringing in players that will get us into the Champions League and winning silverware

Cos if we don't he will go to another club that will

OldCastleSwift

It sounds like rubbish, but Jim White works for Talksport, and White is close to Sullivan, so there's a potential link to the 'leak'.

And call me an old cynic, but wouldn't it be convenient for Sullivan to have Rice turn down a record contract ahead of a summer window where we're likely to receive bids for him; 'we wanted to keep him but he wouldn't commit long term and we received a ridiculous offer for him, so felt we had no choice but to accept'.

It would be great if Rice signed a new deal and stayed for the next 10 years, but he'd be daft to, IMO. He wants to win things and unless we can demonstrate that we're capable of doing that, then he needs to keep his options open.