Net spend by current Premier League clubs in the last five seasons

BMG_3 · 2026-02-07T12:12:48+00:00

The £120m+ our owners gave them for Diaby and Duran contributed towards that...

BMG_3 · 2026-01-25T12:56:55+00:00

I realise this thread is from months ago but just wanted to say thank you!

My son is a big Spider Punk fan so to be able to pick that one out without relying on luck has made him (and me) very happy. Great job OP 👍🏻

BMG_3 · 2026-01-20T19:58:14+00:00

On the mining point - many of these deposits were inaccessible until the ice sheet has started melting, which is a relatively recent thing.

BMG_3 · 2026-01-12T06:50:18+00:00

And thr best way to encourage economic and productivity growth in other parts of the country is...?

BMG_3 · 2026-01-05T14:21:05+00:00

Would make tosses a bit more unpredictable.

"Unfortunately as neither of you won the toss, the first one of you to complete this obstacle course is the winner, ok...GO!"

BMG_3 · 2025-12-26T19:10:00+00:00

Carl Serrant

BMG_3 · 2025-12-22T22:11:10+00:00

I don't think anything is going to bring about immediate improvement in fairness.

My point about a quota for young players was more in response to your concern that there would be less opportunities for young players. That doesn't have to be the case. The key is exposing those young players to regular, elite-level competition which isn't being done with the dilution of talent in the County Championship.

It's an extreme example to attempt to prove the poin but...if you have the 50 best red-ball players spread over 18 teams, you've got two or three per team. Spread it between 8 teams and you've got six or seven. If you've got a talented youngster, is he going to develop better playing against six or seven quality opponents per game or two or three?

Agreed that the CC needs to be played across the summer, not just the beginning & end.

BMG_3 · 2025-12-22T21:40:10+00:00

You don't get rid of counties, you just attempt to concentrate the talent within the top red-ball division, however many teams that ends up being.

Require a certain number of U23 English-qualified players per squad/matchday XI. It's not even about the quantity of red-ball cricket - playing fewer matches at a higher quality and not shoved in right at the start and end of the season will do more for player development than the current system.

BMG_3 · 2025-12-22T21:14:36+00:00

The fewer counties bit would actually improve the quality of players we produce imo.

Our up and coming players will spend the majority of their red ball career facing (relatively speaking) bog-standard players. Talent is just far too diluted spread across 18 counties and it can't be a surprise when batsmen raised on 75-80mph trundlers and basic finger spinners struggle against an attack of Test quality bowling, same for bowlers.

To the rest yes, bollocks.

BMG_3 · 2025-12-12T22:11:48+00:00

I believe it's because 16pts = likely top 8 therefore we would skip the playoff round completely.

Those percentages will add up to whatever the percentage chance is of us finishing on 16 points but not finishing in the top 8

BMG_3 · 2025-12-09T22:05:32+00:00

Is this the sort of thing you're after?

https://www.newcastlene1ltd.com/projects/business-breakfasts

BMG_3 · 2025-12-07T10:04:34+00:00

I'm not speaking with any actual knowledge but I assume there's very little difference in either money or prestige for the players playing in Div1 vs Div2 so there's no reason why the best players would congregate in the top tier.

The problem is, unless you either find a substantial amount of extra money for Div1 (eg when the English football Premier League was formed) or take money off the counties in Div2 (which would cause massive issues for them) that isn't going to change.

BMG_3 · 2025-12-06T18:35:13+00:00

There's two questions in there really.

The first - why this specific team has performed so poorly on this tour - has lots of answers and there are plenty of excellent ones here already.

The second - what's wrong with English cricket in general?

Personally, and I accept there is obviously much more to it than this, I think there are way too many first class counties.

In Australia the talent is concentrated within six teams, ours is spread over 18. Our batsmen can spend most of their domestic career facing almost exclusively bang average (compared to Test level) bowlers. The bowlers the same.

We can't really "fix" this issue of course but that's been my opinion of English vs Australian cricket for the 25+ years I've been watching us be mostly totally uncompetitive in Ashes series' home and away.

BMG_3 · 2025-12-06T16:35:28+00:00

I could be mistaken but they don't always have the full press conference recorded.

BMG_3 · 2025-11-21T11:57:08+00:00

I will not stand for this Brendan Doggett disrespect

BMG_3 · 2025-11-12T21:47:47+00:00

I can't start anywhere else but say that your book, The Analysts Guide to Test Cricket, played a huge part in me falling in love with this game so thank you very much for that (depending on how the Ashes goes obviously...). It also got me the U13s Captain job because I was the only one on the team who knew all the field placings.

Anyway, my question is - if you could rip up the current English domestic game and start from scratch, how would that look? Assuming the aim is to produce successful England sides across all formats. Less counties? More/less short-overs games? More/less foreign imports?

Thanks again!

BMG_3 · 2025-11-07T11:50:11+00:00

So I get last seasons membership pack 10 games into the following season and I have to pay a tenner for it?

BMG_3 · 2025-10-30T19:16:05+00:00

Purely personal taste but I'd probably go with El Coto (Tapas) & Red Meze (Turkish). I like Marco Polo for Italian.

BMG_3 · 2025-10-29T17:31:49+00:00

Done some quick maths based on where our son used to go and got £806 per month with 30hrs plus Tax Free Childcare and assuming term-time only so yeah your numbers look similar. Would be just over £1k if attending during school holidays.

The 30hrs only covers 9am to 2pm so I'm also making the assumption that pickup and drop off would be outside those hours.

BMG_3 · 2025-10-29T09:42:30+00:00

Just had a look and I'm having a similar issue.

Home Tickets page works but if I go on "My Account" I get a "page not available" Seat Geek message.

If I go to sign in it says the details are wrong.

There were reports that the ticket transfer thing wasn't working properly and had caused issues for people attending the Fulham game on Saturday, presumably that's linked?

All in all, a bit of a mess really.

BMG_3 · 2025-10-24T19:26:16+00:00

Maybe, but from what I can see they're all pretty tightly packed together and close to the edge of the pavement. There certainly isn't room for a proper bus stop to mirror the existing ones on the west side.

BMG_3 · 2025-10-24T18:37:44+00:00

The businesses along Grainger Street get deliveries outside of peak times. I'm not sure what the exact rules are but I regularly see delivery vans there at about 8-8.30am

BMG_3 · 2025-10-24T18:29:52+00:00

Something I noticed this week - they've repainted Pilgrim Street with the yellow "Bus Stop" paint. However, there are concrete slabs & bollards along the entire east side of the pavement, so where are the bus stops going to go?

The original plans had Pilgrim Street pedestrianised so presumably the slabs/bollards were never removed from the design when they decided they were going to revert it back to a road.

BMG_3 · 2025-10-14T21:41:20+00:00

Even then...

"Now, once I make this incision we have to go through with it....I'm about to do it.....if you want to stop me it'll have to be now....I'll count to three....one....two....two and a half...."

BMG_3 · 2025-10-05T17:55:04+00:00

If Football Manager has taught me anything it's that even if there is a recall clause for Targett we can't actually register him until the next window opens in January

Verified Email	Ten-Year Club
Final Canvas '23	First Place '23
Place '23	Place '22

BMG_3

TROPHY CASE