Eleven Million Pounds of Ross McCormack: The Football League and Beyond, 2014-15

http://news.images.itv.com/image/file/141987/article_f79a018046c35aad_1357216167_9j-4aaqsk.jpeg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOG3eus4ZSo

Ross McCormack was in court for fly tipping last year and now he is a much more successful entertainer.

hey it's on now motherfuckers

nervy tbh

we've made some impressive signings and oppet had best be shitting his pants

we're also favourites for relegation with some bookies. gonna say it now: top half

there's my bullishness for the season out of the way. now for terrible truth

bring it the fuck on pal. I was feeling good about the season until wigan tapped up forshaw and we panic bought tommy smith and nick proschwitz. the other signings have looked good in the pre season snippets i've seen. our defence is worrying.

big George Elokobi's got a gig at Oldham, yay!

Super excited to see our new Akinfenwa/Tubbs frontline against Shrewsbury tomorrow. I have no doubt we will lose, but it's meant to be a nice day, I'm going to a BBQ after the game, and I'll be able to pick up our rather lovely new away shirt. Next weekend brings the fabled Battle of the Beasts, Bayo vs McNulty, which I feel slightly more confident about...

Glad to see Akinfenwa has bulked up a bit, he used to look a bit of a lightweight in his Swansea days.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N3eoGwhAGHA/UPWUQnRewJI/AAAAAAAAB_k/B5zyj2NZN8o/s1600/adebayo_akinfenwa_zoo_magazine_lee_goldup_01.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N3eoGwhAGHA/UPWUQnRewJI/AAAAAAAAB_k/B5zyj2NZN8o/s1600/adebayo_akinfenwa_zoo_magazine_lee_goldup_01.jpg

why am I watching this shit btw

new season's resolution: stop watching football just because it's on

I am going to try and attend more than 10 games this season, being a vicarious radio listening fan sucks even more than watching drab random games on sky. I enjoyed the Rhodes/Cairney goal but for all the big moneyness of these two teams, they both look quite mediocre.

i saw nothing in that match to afear me. looking forward to a comfortable mid-table finish with minimal drama.

tomorrow's game is being livestreamed on the internets btw

ilf viewing club: convene

just checked the fixtures to see when we're at yours but it's a Tuesday night, not gonna happen :(

watched brentford v ogc nice in preseason, bees looked p dece before i and everyone else in the stand succumbed to dazed boozy sunstroke but idk about making the playoffs or anything quite just yet

gray took a smart goal, lil fat pritchard from spurs ran the show (nice were absolutely dreadful tbf)

can't go wrong with tommy smith though, a cool clever player

bah

not many short away trips this season for us southern sorts

the cult of warbs should propel brentford nicely tbh. he seems like a reckonable force

our squad looks a little thin, hard to tell how much of that is the Jackett way of doing things and how much is FFP worries with half a dozen failed Prem players still draining their Prem wages. dunno if Max Clayton is a risk or not. wd be quite happy with a steady top of the middle season if the right kind of progress happens, if we push beyond that then it'll be new territory for the manager and most of the squad, have no idea whether most of them are that capable tbh

after rmde at forest for the newcastle deals i'm fairly jel they signed assombalonga with the proceeds, like him a lot, rhodesian potential i daresay... if psycho can achieve vague competence at all they've got a pretty nice squad now, although they signed 5 cbs suggesting 3atb and then followed up with two proper wingers in burke and antonio so probably no plans there whatsoever in reality

fulham and cardiff look like they've signed a load of tat, norwich ought to be p solid though? grabban top scorer maybe? (i confidently predict they will lose to wolves tho no fear)

there's derby, wigan, watford, no one really standing out though. ipswich seem attractively mysterious imo (= anonymously midtable but yneverknow)

the most reassuring thing about warbs is that it's very unlikely he'll be fucking off to another club in the near future. proper dynasty material.

i'd fancy wolves to push for playoffs maybe, on the basis that a bit of stability is a good thing. should be a pretty open season.

weird elision of reading. one of the more impressive teams at the valley last season, reckon they'll be thereabouts

Wigan look a reasonable bet if they can build on last season maybe. pretty nervous about Sunday, seen us take too many beatings on TV over the last few. all being well i shd be at the Mol for Cardiff in a couple of weeks

wigan play nice forward-thinking stuff but seem to me to be a striker away from forcing really taking hold of things. especially in this league sometimes u just gotta stop fiddling with the lock and kick in the door waving the 4-4(2)

emyr huws on loan from city is a really nice player but only replaces jordi gomez so

i guess reading do have an okay squad now u mention it but meh... sad to see jamie mackie in fake hoops

I really hope Forest fail because of the Pearce factor, easily the vilest manager in the whole league and lol at him paying nearly £6mill for Assombalonga.

i raised an eyebrow at the price but i like him, he's a game lad. what kind of idiot wd put Pearce in charge of a football club god only knows

pearce is a deeply stupid man & forest will probably implode with joyous results. their fans kinda know it too

http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/images/harrow-dulwich-hamlet-33.jpg

peterborough replaced king britt with this lil fella fwiw (5'3")

is he the dulwich hamlet maestro

(we have a player called jack munns on the fringe of the first-team squad who's about 5'3" but much stockier than the above)

yeah he was at Dulwich last season :D

http://erhunoztumer.com/Home_Page.php

no finer example of short man syndrome than having your own website while plying ur trade in nonleague

We knicked Dulwich Hamlet's last goalscoring sensation Daniel Carr and he has failed to break into the team so far, probably hates living in the north.

i still don't really get what happened to hudds 2nd half of last season, honestly didnt see many if any sides give us a better game at loftus rd

That was a hell of a game, unfortunately performances dropped off after that. Our chairman is quite a ruthless operator and got rid of Robin's coaching staff this summer and despite an FFP type transfer window and losing our 13/14 POY Clayton to Middlesbrough, well not official yet but it has happened. Robins will probably be sacked if we have a bad run of results.

Clayton was on the verge of joining Middlesbrough, Butterfield coming the other way had agreed terms with us. Clayton has scuppered the whole deal by skipping his medical and deciding he wants to go to Brighton at the last minute. Middlesbrough left with egg on their faces because they have made the mistake of conducting their business publicly. Not sure where that leaves Butterfield because the rumour mill says that this part of the deal has been already been signed and sealed.

That's a very attacking Brentford lineup but not sure how well it can keep the ball in midfield. LET'S DO THIS.

oof, shd have scored there. gudmundsson clearly quite a footballer

Shame we turned button into a world class keeper ;)

pritchard is to you what gudmundsson is to us, except he's playing centrally and running it. v good player. we've decided to hack him it seems

Pritchard looks the business. Not convinced we should play dallas and judge together.

oh fuck off, our new keeper's a catch and flop

keepers with reactionary distribution piss me right off

He don't look great.

What is this drinks break shit.

hmm

Taking odubajo off seems stupid even if tebar will improve central mid.

our left-back wiggins has had an absolute nightmare so far, want him subbed asap

andre bikey: not a winger

oh fuck off manuel neuer

fuck me

oh fuck off OUR keeper too, slowing it down every fucking time. hate him already

Pulis told Albion’s website on Tuesday: “I had a chat with him and explained what we do as a football club and the way we are and I think he’s fine with everything.

“He’s got to turn towards the flag like everybody else has and he recognises that.

“So hopefully we’ve nipped it in the bud and we can get on with our things and he can get on with his things.”

"Broadfoot was born into a Protestant family in Ayrshire and is known to be a staunch supporters of certain cultural traditions relating to his religion."

this is the most perfect, wryly humorous euphemism for "Broadfoot is a dirty orange bastard".

Le Fondre undergoing a medical at the Wolves allegedly

realistically he's cover for Dicko and Afobe but i've always had a soft spot for the lad and will be pretty chuffed if he's in gold and black next season

also we need new threads i guess, even if we are in the dying throes of ILF

dying throes of ALF morelike

gtfo

:D

A goal every odd game at Bolton wasn't bad work for a faded journeyman, he can still do a job - although he was a tosser for turning us down for Bolton. I read somewhere that Bolton fans were trying to crowdfund the permanent signing of him and had raised £645, obv they are as clued up as Gartside on the economics of football.

confirmed! so much better than a faded journeyman imo, but i'll allow for your bitterness xe :p

I have always rated him tbh. I still have photos somewhere of a day out at Spotland where he tore us a new arsehole in a pre-season 3-0 defeat. He reneged on a verbal agreement in the Jan window to join Lennon, so yay bitterness! As a squad signing that is very good because apart from his Cardiff nightmare he always scores and will put pressure on Dicko and Afobe.

yeah, he shd be suited to the way we play along the deck too. alongside our 17 year-old wonderkid Bright Enobakhare we've got a shit-hot-looking attack now, no kiss of death.

if we could get a loan of this young Liverpool winger that's been mentioned, Sheyi Ojo, then i reckon the promotion challenge is feasible. really need to replace Kevin Mac in the end i think, whether he agrees a new contract or not, but Coady looks to have plenty in him.

this is going to be the most absurdly strong second division in world football history

thought about calling new thread "Best Feeder League in the World" but, y'know, tongue in cheek

there are about 15 teams who have assembled promotion squads

none of them are leeds

According to the bookies Charlton, Town and Rotherham are going down this season. Ffs even franchise are fancied to do better. Obv Bristol City fans on the glue and meth is the only reason they have been backed into 20/1.

Does William Bloody Swygart usually do this thing by now?

it's open to anybody, i just can't come up with a satisfactory title at the moment

15 teams who have assembled promotion squads and none of them are leeds

sounds good to me, nobody complained about Champocentrism last year

this thread will never be elected if we don't etc etc....

Oh shit Bobby Z is back with the Albion

Brightons major problem last season was not having a goal scorer after ulloa went - think they've now signed five different strikers this transfer window

Row Z just became more a dangerous place to sit at the Amex :P

https://vine.co/v/eHHOKn29aDe

Ojo signed for the season too. shit's getting interesting

ugh konchesky. ffs

http://www.qpr.co.uk/cms_images/gallery/bpi-qpr-paul-konchesky-006364-2593867_478x359.jpg

realness queen succession locked in

johann berg gudmundsson licking his chops and buying extra-strength shinpads as I type

Leroy Fer has failed a medical at Sunderland and will return to QPR, according to Sky sources.

oh fuck off sunderland!

it's cool he's really overrated

our new CM signings are kinda fearsome

very, very keen for saturday, shame i'll be playing cricket. although perhaps it'll be another charlie austin one-man show as a parting gift to his faithful

i like leroy but in his own amiable way he's kinda more invidious than adel ever was. has the talent and frame to be whatever he wants to be, chooses to float around wishing for #10, never ever tracking back and cunting the occasional piledriver. we're all fond of a free spirit but help out m8

otoh i do remember someone on a mb comparing him to mikele leigertwood early on and that sort of slanderous tar doesnt come off easy

generally i have nowt but unentertaining equanimity to offer right now sorry. no idea who's staying, who's playing, what the plan is on or off the pitch

charlie is woefully out of shape tho, i shouldnt worry

so is tony watt

doesn't mean either of them can't do something drastic on a sixpence tho

also, sky's championship tv listings have leeds 5 times by the end of november (or was it december) and us precisely 0

fuckingdisgrace.gif

no biggie, but if this opening fixture doesn't scream out 'televise!' then i'm not sure any of our fixtures do

It is fucking ridiculous, there must be some Lilyshite scum who has a say in the tv fixtures at Sky. I can't say I'm bothered our home game against them is on, there is too much unpleasantness around this game for my delicate sensibilities these days and there is a risk of getting locked in the ground for half an hour afterwards.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/jordan-rhodes-to-middlesbrough-blackburn-rovers-reject-14m-offer-for-scotland-striker-10440233.html
Blackburn resist a £14 mill offer for Rhodes, we have a 20% of anything in excess of the 8 we sold for sell-on clause. We still have pretty much the same defence that shipped 75 goals last season and need a CB so please sell.

I always thought he would be in the big-time by now, not plotting another sideways move in the Champ.

that whole scenario is so pathetic in the true sense

He might yet become one of the most highly paid and clinical finishers never to play in the top flight. I have given up caring and just want them to sell before his stock goes like the weimar mark. But you are right it is pathetic.

in your position i'd wanna maximize the return, but a 14 million deal between two clubs who look no more likely to have promotion chances after it's done, and Rhodes's never knowing whether he'd cut it in the top flight...

We've made our most important signing in advance of the league kick-off tomorrow:

http://www.herefordfc.co.uk/2015/08/06/bulls-add-pedigree-with-ronaldo-signing/

1300 season tickets sold and another 2200 home fans with tickets for the match. 2000 tickets for Tuesday's game against Stourport, whose normal gate is around 100.

The league have set up a crisis working group to help sides that have no idea how to deal with these kind of numbers. The FA have been no help, saying a penalty has to be enacted for it to means something (which is fair enough) and that the teams just just revel in the big payday.

Your new signing would probably skin Hudson for pace. Good luck to the Bulls this season, it wasn't that long ago we were both in L1 and Lionel Ainsworth had a blinder against us and then unfortunately we signed him:(

Rumours that QPR have enquired about Smithies, would be sad to see him leave - our goals against would be a lot worse without him and he has been so solid + consistent for years now.

we're just punting hopeful 1m bids for someone half decent to play backup to green. no one's going to bite

brighton forest has been reassuringly average. antonio on the break is dougie's plans a thru z. gulls more enterprising but wishy-washy, can't remember if rohan ince sits or plays box to box but he should probably replace one of kayal and stephens

bruno greer dunk bong is a funny backline though

i am just going to suggest "konstantin kirschbaumer's bogus journey" as the new thread title and hope someone raises me by 3pm

fuck that's so soon

Parachute money fails to deploy - the Football League and beyond 2015-16

nice one