SteV

Tbf, if Gazza had stayed in and around Newcastle, he’d probably have been dead before he was 30.

Doesn’t look like that was the case when Roma won it and finished sixth two years ago?

It’s not that often I read a word that I have absolutely no idea as to its meaning, but “phantasmagorical” is definitely one.

Study must have been done by a Mag marra.

So are the one-year deal players free to move to a new club in the same way the men are?

Wharton went off with a knock yesterday, although doesn’t sound overly bad. Would be a bonus if he was out though.

What kind of contracts are the lasses on? Is it just year-to-year, or do some of them get multi-year deals? And if it’s only year-to-year, is there anything to stop us hoying a bit of wedge at Sunderland’s best players before next season and just taking them?

Reasonable chance we relegate Sheff Utd next weekend. Then not out of the question we do it to Burnley the week after.

Exactly. The last system was ‘better’ because you could cheat it. And in saying that, it’s not a slight on anyone that did (I did it myself). But clearly, it didn’t work as it was supposed to.

This is the kind of record keeping we can all get behind 👏

Maybe. I don’t really know what the numbers would look like in this regard? As I say, it probably doesn’t really work having people in the group that want to go to most games, it’s probably more for those that want less than 10. Unless someone can come up with a way it does work for those that want to go all the time?

I’ve mentioned this before but I will again as I genuinely think it’s something that would be feasible for next season should the membership and ballot process remain broadly the same. There’s clearly a significant number of people on here with memberships. If someone was to put the time and effort in to organise some kind of group to ‘pool’ the memberships, I think it would surely give people a better chance of attending the games they want to. I guess it probably wouldn’t really work having people in who want to go the majority of matches, it would more be for people who looking to go to <10 a season. If you got 30 people in the group, you should be averaging a return of about 10 tickets per game (if the clubs ballot stats are to be believed), which would hopefully accommodate the amount of people that wanted to go to any particular game (give or take). Obviously you’d have to come up with a way of determining who gets tickets for a game where the number in the group wanting to go exceeds the number of tickets won (a secondary ballot? 😬😂). Probably also have to come up with something around what areas get applied for etc, but I’m sure someone on here is clever enough to devise something sensible.

As you say, nutrition and sports science have moved on massively. So that allows (elite level) players to produce greater physical output. But that means everything is being played at such a high intensity level, once you drop off that a fraction (through fatigue) it becomes more noticeable than it has ever been. It’s not that Isak isn’t putting in the effort of his predecessors, or vice versa, it’s that fatigue stands out more, and has a more detrimental effect.

Yes, but like everything, things have moved on. The physical output required during a match from a modern elite level player (especially in an Eddie Howe team) is far, far greater than what was required in previous generations.

Not sure who these guys work for, but this is a bit of a different look at things: https://youtu.be/c1npOciquxA?si=DF0XG_BzR0RYFEHe