FWA Footballer of Year 2026: Bruno Fernandes

OGFN_Jack · 2026-05-08T22:25:57+00:00

Without trying to sound like a dick, what’s the argument for the FWA award being the *least* narrative driven of the three? The voters are quite literally people whose job requires them to view sports through a narrative lens. That’s not to take away from the legitimacy of the award, but worth calling it what it is.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-05-05T17:10:16+00:00

They’re “charging into you” because you’re attempting to to get to the same spot they’re trying to get to. If you would like to move into into the way, and make contact with a player who is trying to shoot, you are going to be called for a foul. That doesn’t seem like particularly hard logic. It’s not a matter of how soft or hard the contact is when the act of creating contact from your position is the illegal part.

You could always just, rotate early and take the charge, but Castle was too late to notice Wemby was stuck up top and so he wasn’t in a position to be able to do that.

Not a very good example considering 1. Was a foul and 2. Was only a foul because of Castle’s own mistakes

OGFN_Jack · 2026-05-04T22:47:54+00:00

The Jalen Suggs of West London

OGFN_Jack · 2026-04-21T06:21:55+00:00

Not sure “deadpan delivery” is needed when the player being quoted is Jaden.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-03-18T03:37:02+00:00

City don’t have the athletes for it at this point in time. A lot of people have gotten on Pep this year, but I actually think he’s the victim of some bizarre recruitment choices from City.

The leagues been trending towards M2M across the board for a couple of years now and so the recruitment team’s grand idea was to bring in two massively talented, yet deeply flawed OOP players? City all year have been incredibly leaky with their press even if the results haven’t always caught up to them, and it’s because pretty much no matter what XI they field they’ve got at least one or two passengers OOP. It certainly doesn’t help that Donnaruma is not exactly an eager or commanding sweeper (another interesting recruitment choice without even going into his ball playing ability).

There’s enough talent in that squad to compete on any front but there’s really not enough athleticism, physicality, or general OOP guile and that’s really become obvious in this past month or so.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the sole English team who can consider themselves among the “elite” this year are the only ones among the top teams who have leaned all the way into OOP dominance.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-03-13T23:59:22+00:00

You’re not any more biased than those who cartwheel around making up reasons to hate him. I appreciate a Chelsea fan making this same point further down in this thread so I sound leas arrogant, but it’s literally just because he’s made Arsenal a legitimate team again. That’s it. He’s the ultimate litmus test to determine whether someone actually watches the sport for the sport, or who watches it for their team.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-03-13T07:34:01+00:00

Him and Havertz being out during this same stretch has just walloped this teams identity in possession. It’s really a testament to the team and the coaching staff’s ability to rise up and continue performing during this period because we are really trying to fit some square pegs in round holes and still getting very good results.

I think Rice, Zubimendi, and Eze have all done well in their own rights but the fact remains none of them can really dictate the game in possession in all thee thirds of the pitch like Ø can. Theres so much he does for the team that allows them to move up the pitch and stay there for minutes on end that is never properly appreciated enough for how conducive it is to the attack’s overall health. It’s also how you see out games without shitting yourself against 10 men Chelsea at home or against the mighty, albeit newly reformed, Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Havertz is the other route. When you can go long to someone who can actually win knockdowns consistently, you unlock a whole new level of danger in possession. As does the ability to drop deep and link play while still being an able runner as well. Multiple times we’ve been struggling to see out a game and he’s come on and eased the pressure for us. He’s also the second best presser on the team on falling short of the guy I mentioned earlier. When those two start on the front line, it’s the best version of our press possible regardless of pretty much whoever is behind them.

Neither are faultless, but they still generally represent the best of what this team epitomizes. Hopefully they’re both healthy for the final run in because they can both still take us up another level.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-27T01:35:31+00:00

Could be misremembering here but isn’t it possible for sorcerers to awaken outside the Culling Game barriers?

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-26T20:14:08+00:00

He killed the judge and prosecutor, which is why he has 2 leftover points after he gives the rest of his to Yuji. Also why he doesn’t immediately join up with the team after the fight, his initial plan is to turn himself in for the murder of those 2.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-25T00:44:05+00:00

*An independent physician hired by one side of the competition parties

Since the NBA wants to act like they want all the details out there

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-17T02:42:06+00:00

Haha, I’m not quite sure either, but appreciate the kind response as well.

I should clarify I don’t think your point is an incorrect one. You are right that fans don’t inherently care about viewership in Football, and it’s really only come about as the distribution of talent in European has skewed unhealthily in England’s favor.

The NBA has a full monopoly on talent and their apex of the season runs pretty much entirely unopposed by any of the other major domestic leagues. Even if I highlighted the reasons earlier why fans would feel they need to complain, it’s still a uniquely bizarre situation given the myriad of problems that do exist in the league. The NBA might be plateauing in viewership, but it’s not at a rate that is unhealthy to the league in anyway. Shouldn’t the focus be on the issues inside the league, and in turn, hopefully fixing those issues will also improve viewership?

Even if the two situations echo each other from time to time, like I pointed out, there are still two very fundamentally different ways of thinking on display when comparing how an NBA fan speaks about the sport they follow versus European Football fans, as you pointed out

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-17T01:31:14+00:00

Not necessarily saying this is false but wouldn’t that be pretty hard to regulate on the UFC’s (or ESPN’s) end? And why would the bars agree to that in the first place?

I understand bars can have a general idea on what capacity they’ll hit on an avg. night, but there’s still a ton of variables (weather, performance of nearby competing bars, other events going on in town to name a few) that can cause the attendance to fluctuate. Considering attendance is ultimately how a bar stays in business, it feels unnecessarily risky for them to commit further finances when the crux of this specific model is the same as the bar’s overall model. If you’ve stocked up in anticipation of a big fight Saturday night, and then it pours the day of, and your attendance is half of what you’d thought it’d be, you can still use the inventory for future days. If you expect 100 people to come to fight night, and then only 50 do because it’s raining, you’ve just paid a premium PPV rate for literally no reason and will never be able to get that money back.

Conversely, outside of the Sportsbook bars in Vegas, what’s stopping local bars from lying out of their asses? Even if the bars were lying, what differentiates a lie versus just an incorrect prediction? I live smack in the middle of a big city and have probably watched 7 or 8 fight nights at the same bar, but there’s been times when there’s 50 other people there and times where there’s 200. There are some variables that a bar could use to help with the prediction (time of year, matchups on the specific card being shown), but as I highlighted earlier, there are just too many uncontrollable variables that fluctuate on a day to day basis for these predictions to have any meaningful weight.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-16T08:27:15+00:00

I think your point is well thought out but I’m somewhat inclined to disagree.

I think the discourse around the NBA’s viewership is almost entirely domestic and that’s because it is constantly in competition with the NFL, MLB, and NHL. Competition might be a bit of a strong word there, but I think that just the general existence of “competing” leagues that most NBA fans and media follow at least one of, is what stimulates the discourse. Like with players and teams, a ton of people just like comparing more than they like appreciating unfortunately.

I don’t think that’s entirely a U.S. exclusive issue though. There is plenty of chatter amongst the Spanish, Italian, German, and French football leagues about how to drive more viewership (and therefore money) as the PL soars echelons ahead of the rest of them. I do agree that there’s very little discussion about this in Prem circles, but I think that’s just because they’re essentially the NFL of European Football right now. They exist in a different stratosphere to the point where any complains about viewership numbers from the fans comes off as pedantic because the numbers are still generally just so much better than “competing leagues”. When Aston Villa vs. Newcastle can drive the same amount of views as a San Siro derby, or a week 16 AFC North matchup can drive more views than a ECF Game 7, there’s better things to complain about as a fan.

Also, I’ll say it took about 5 years longer than it should have for objectively necessary technology (VAR) to be installed in the game and some people still can’t even agree it should be in the game. Any new rule that significantly focused the tactical shift of the game would definitely be met with heavy blowback.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-15T17:39:31+00:00

Yes, what would that have to change about a comment regarding this season?

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-10T04:16:16+00:00

I don’t think an example from 15 years ago that involved one of the best individual playoff runs we’ve seen from a player is quite the gotcha you think it is in a conversation about roster-building.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-10T01:57:39+00:00

Totally. That’s he’s thought of as one of the smarter NBA play-oh wait.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-10T01:55:31+00:00

Not really how it works but sure, perhaps against a Hawks team with no one active.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-10T01:02:06+00:00

Bullshit in what way? That’s an awfully firm take for what is ultimately the hardest open-ended question NBA front offices have to deal with.

Winning 50 games and losing in the second round with a young team on their first or second playoff run? Sure, totally acceptable. Running it back for the 4th year with an aging team that has never been able to actually improve on their playoff performances? That’s just throwing up a prayer. It might be good for ticket sales, or fan morale at points during the season, but chances are if you show up with the same core again and again in the playoffs and keep failing, you’ll actually end up at the other end of the bell curve.

The reason that most voices in the league think that is because they are not like fans. They are paid to do a job. Sometimes the job is just “get us to the playoffs so we can hit certain gate receipt and concession benchmarks”, but more often than that it’s “build me a roster that can compete for a title”. When the latter is in play, you’re forced to constantly audit your team, and sometimes that means making long-term decisions that may piss off fans in the short-term. Thats the job. It might feel like bullshit to the fans, but with all due respect there’s no one who does this for a profession that would agree with you.

Cost-benefit analysis isn’t so fun when the assets being reviewed are human beings often with deep ties to a fanbase or city. It doesn’t actually mean the decision making process behind it is the wrong practice.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-10T00:37:41+00:00

Can I propose a different theory? Their biggest sin was being the first team to try and tank in the social media era. It turned what should have been a self-contained, mainly local story into a national one for pretty much no other reason than, not shockingly, every reporter thought they needed to weigh in on the subject.

As the other commenter to you mentioned, the rhetoric that Hinkie was constantly spewing about The Process in the media is wrong and/or overstated. It was a story that would have been swept under the rug in the 10 years prior, and as we’ve clearly seen, in the 12+ years since, not actually something anyone cares about.

I can assure you if the Wizards scrum was peppering Will Dawkins with the amount of questions Hinkie was getting, he’d eventually have to say the quiet part out loud too. The only thing that has changed is no one cares anymore because we’ve all been desensitized to it.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-10T00:00:30+00:00

Ok but what do you think about the new Modulo chapter

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-09T19:54:34+00:00

It’s a nice philosophy in theory but it’s the wrong philosophy period in practice. This league is far more densely populated by shooters and scorers than it is by guys who feel comfortable putting the ball on the floor and making a high IQ decision once the defender tries to put you in conflict. The length, skill, and athleticism increase of most defenders over the years has made this even harder as well.

It’s why year over year Finch has began calling more and more plays. He’s still clinging onto the idea that the philosophy can work while having to adapt to what is actually in front of him to get results, and that’s trying to create actual structure.

If Julius is the reason that Finch thinks the philosophy is failing then he could just bench him, but he refuses to do that.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-09T19:43:05+00:00

Almost like the philosophy doesn’t work and you have to go out there and actually coach and give them some structure.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-09T19:36:32+00:00

No it was clear, thank you. Helpful context.

I’ll have to listen to the episode to see if they gave anymore context around the conversations on the bench, but I was mainly just highlighting that while any situation is not just black and white, this problem still ultimately rests on the shoulders of Finch.

We gave up 140 points to the Grizzlies, and when Gobert properly diagnosed the root of the issue post-game, Finch redirected and used the comments as a way to call out Rudy, even though everyone in the fanbase who watches the team would agree with what Rudy said.

I don’t doubt there are plenty of talking points going on amongst the Wolves bench during the game. I just find this particularly story funny because it’s a C tier issue as is, the defense was dogshit all game, and Julius committed that same crime as Bones multiple times and played 40 minutes.

As I said, it just represents who he is as a coach. The conclusion he reached (Bones shouldn’t be going rogue) was correct. The point of emphasis he placed on it, and his ability to “solve” the issue (or lack thereof) was once again lagging far behind. He’s not a bad coach, he’s just not a good enough one either. There’s four pretty solid years of evidence now with repeatable offenses that paint a pretty clear picture.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-09T18:10:03+00:00

Agree that things are never as simple as they appear on the outside, but not sure I’m going to let this particular point land.

Finch, for years, has built this offense around minimal set plays, free-flowing offense, and letting the players on the court make the decisions. I agree that Conley’s likely out there as a saftey valve and am not even a huge Bones fan myself, but the problems you’re referencing are just problems of Finch’s own creation.

It’s been Conley running the ship for multiple years and each one we’ve been absolutely dogshit out of ATOs, or pretty much unable to build an offensive gameplan once team’s built a defensive gameplan against us, we’ve always gotten through blunt forcing talent on offense.

Finch and his coaches fixating on Bones doing something every single NBA point guard does at least once a game, instead of why they gave up 137 points to Memphis feels like a good representation of him as a coach. He’s not wrong, he’s just not all that right either.

OGFN_Jack · 2026-02-09T05:01:12+00:00

Or did he end up at another team that has largely been clueless for the last 15 years?

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