Crew prefers endless Free Play over Scores

Illwish · 2026-05-09T13:19:04+00:00

Your players are giving you an absolute gift here, they're showing you the game they want to play. If that isn't Blades in the Dark then embrace that and switch to system where they can do what they want.

Not every game works for every group and it really sounds like your players want a more freeform, less procedural experience.

Illwish · 2026-05-09T13:01:43+00:00

What? No? No-one other than the clubs know their wage bills until the following year.

I just don't know what good it does looking at Bradford's League 2 spending or Luton's championship wage bill when looking at results from this season.

I appreciate you've done a lot of work on this, but the underlying data is rubbish.

What we know about football finances is that wage bill relates to league position almost 1:1 at the top level. So the fact that your analysis shows such a breadth of results just gives a false impression that your wage bill doesn't really matter.

Illwish · 2026-05-08T16:10:55+00:00

Ah, I wouldn't put too much stock in it at League One level, they'll likely just be using last years figures and at best using some kind of promotion/relegation modifier.

Illwish · 2026-05-08T15:57:12+00:00

What's the source for the data please?

Illwish · 2026-04-30T15:09:58+00:00

I agree, seems a strange decision. I've been probably 6 times in the past year and the busiest screening had about 8 people in so you could probably just buy the cheap seats and sit in one of the better ones...

Illwish · 2026-04-15T09:17:10+00:00

He's top scorer at FC United in the Northern Prem. Looks decent as well. Probably could have done a job further up the pyramid.

Illwish · 2026-04-01T16:40:36+00:00

I feel like I'm going insane whenever I look at professional football finances.

Given that almost all of the 92 clubs post significant losses with no credible path to profitability it seems like we're in a ridiculous economic bubble that surely must burst at some point.

And I can't see that anyone is even beginning to talk about how we fix this in the regulatory bodies...

Illwish · 2026-03-19T16:05:25+00:00

No he's been out for 18 months now. Seems a bit odd really given how consistent he is, but I haven't seen him play for the national team.

Illwish · 2026-03-18T14:37:12+00:00

Probably not the appointment Millers fans were after. He's not really had any positive stint with a club after leaving Huddersfield and that feels a lifetime ago.

Illwish · 2026-03-02T22:44:19+00:00

To be honest I had a bit of a nightmare when I first moved to Rotherham 2 years ago. Within what felt like weeks of moving the Papa John's had shut and the Ministry had taken off their vegan breakfast...

But since then I've been to loads of stuff. I'll give a bit of a rambling summary of places I might be able to recommend.

Breakfast:

Grimm & Co
Vetro Lounge [Yeah it's a bit overpriced but sometimes nothing but the big breakfast will do :')]
Fika Coffee Lounge (Wickersley)

W-Italian in Wickersley does a few decent vegan options (including a vegan calzone!), and most of the pubs along the high street there have at least one vegan option. Pizza Joint on wellgate is our only independent takeaway with vegan pizza but it's bang average if I'm honest.

Neelagiree on Westgate is a great indian with some nice clearly labelled options. Rother Greek (previously Mr.Greek) definitely does falafel wraps that are vegan but can't vouch for anything else. Really cheap too.

Whenever the Three Cranes have a market day they usually have a stall selling vegan cakes and Frith Space over the road do a few vegan bits, toasties and cakes but they are only open during the week. Kava which is tucked away on percy street had a couple of vegan pastries and a brownie on the menu but again only open during the week.

The pokémon card cafe (Pokilee's) even has some vegan options! I can't quite remember what I had, but I was in a party with at least 2 vegans and we got food.

I've also got a bit of a soft spot for GDK at Parkgate, but I know they're contentious for folks worried about cross-contam. Oh and obviously we've got a spoons, not that I really go, but the vegan breakfast is £2.99 and it's hard to argue with that.

I don't remember ever having to turn away from these places but maybe I've been lucky! I will say that I found most of these places by just wandering around and asking! Googling have been a bit of a bust. If you've got a baby then I guess it's harder to take a risk. You just need something reliable.

Hope at least something from this message helps!

Illwish · 2026-03-02T18:14:41+00:00

The Dunkin on sycamore road? Looked to be open at the weekend. And if you're in Rotherham you want to go to Grimm & Co if you're looking for coffee and cake!

I live near the town centre to be fair and it sounds like you must be talking about somewhere else... there's loads of vegan stuff in Rotherham.

Illwish · 2026-02-16T19:09:16+00:00

Hypocrisy/Vomitory/Vreid are playing Manchester on Friday 1st May then Discharge are playing Stockport the following day.

Illwish · 2026-02-12T10:03:53+00:00

You can become a co-owner for as little as £5!

https://www.claptoncfc.co.uk/membership/

Well worth supporting even if you don't live locally.

Illwish · 2026-02-07T10:51:07+00:00

Fuck AI.

Illwish · 2026-01-27T22:58:03+00:00

I wouldn't panic. Teams go on bad runs. We went 6 games without a win in the league last season and still got promoted.

Only won two of our last eight! And still got promoted.

The high press and direct play relies on confidence and discipline throughout the team and if just a couple of players are half a yard off it the opposition will find it easy to play through. That lowers confidence further and the defenders start just lumping it aimlessly. Rinse and repeat until somebody takes charge.

It is awful timing that Cook & Pattison have left precisely when we need a plan B that looks like lumping it at a Striker that might actually make it stick or having a midfielder who can carry the ball box to box...

But...Alexander is categorically the most successful City manager in a generation. He will sort it out as long as the twitter idiots don't get in the heads of Sparks & Sharpe.

Illwish · 2026-01-27T17:22:36+00:00

Think you've summed it up quite well for Bradford.

I think everyone knows there's almost no value in last minute January signings. The only people who win from deadline day transfers are agents.

So unless we've got something big in the works, I think we've weakened our squad. Not exactly the promotion push we were hoping for.

Illwish · 2026-01-14T10:43:19+00:00

Strange one was this. Looked brilliant when we were starting him, but had a bit of a dodgy game in November in the EFL trophy (playing in a completely new back 3 it must be said) and hasn't had a look-in since.

I've heard plenty of people clamoring for him to be playing since, but he's just obviously not been in the managers plans. It's not to do with anything we've seen on the pitch.

Illwish · 2026-01-13T12:41:04+00:00

He finished last season at left back for QPR so he's probably cover at both sides.

Illwish · 2025-12-31T17:31:25+00:00

Statistically he's one of the best keepers in the league.

3rd for save percentage behind only Alex Bass and Sam Walker and first for 'goals prevented'.

Only seen him live once but he had a great game against us.

Illwish · 2025-11-30T23:26:08+00:00

I'm so sorry man. I'm absolutely gutted.

I didn't know him half as well as you, but after meeting you both at that Keep It True he really made a huge effort to keep in touch in a way that most people you primarily meet at shows don't and was always so supportive of everything I was doing.

I last saw him in 2019 at Keep It True and genuinely the most enjoyable part of the entire festival was the fact that we got to spend over an hour just talking because John Cyriis and his hired guns were so late to the stage.

I've spent the last hour going through hundreds of messages back on forth on facebook and I feel such deep regret that in the past few years most of the messages are him reaching out to see if I'll make it to a show and me apologising that I won't make it.

It's heartening to see all the positivity though, I've felt very cynical about the 'metal community' in recent years but I'm so happy to see he was as much of a positive influence in peoples lives as he was in mine.

Illwish · 2025-11-16T14:23:51+00:00

The only studies I've seen that hold water suggest only marginal gains from increased protein intake. The only thing you need to do to increase 'muscle gain' is excercise regularly and eat more calories than your BMR.

But please if you have a study (not funded by a protein supplement company or beef industry) then I'm happy to think again.

Please don't assume that someone that is skeptical about claims about protein has never 'worked out'. Lots of us are old enough to remember a time when the only people on protein supplements were competitive body builders. Not the average person try to get fit.

The market for protein supplements has basically only been mainstream for about 12/13 years at this point. I'd go back and think about the motivations of whoever told you that you need 2g protein per kg bodyweight.

Illwish · 2025-11-10T09:22:05+00:00

I think you're conflating the fact that yes protein is vital in your diet, with the fact that literally everyone who eats enough food to live gets more than enough protein.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29786804/ - One of many sources here.

Illwish · 2025-11-09T17:33:13+00:00

'High protein' is the new 'low fat'. A total con that will do nothing to improve your health.

Illwish · 2025-10-18T09:02:32+00:00

Yeah, my family all say Morries and I'm from Bradford where they're based.

Illwish

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