donkey

I can live with the joke content... but y'know, something actually funny would be good at some point :ls:

Without anything to do with my football allegiance (although I'm sure it won't be viewed that way), isn't it simply a case of money being made in UK, but payment not being declared and subsequently handled via a series of international bank accounts and tax subsequently not being paid? That's just my take on the prosecution's case. I may be wrong so feel free to correct me though as I'm not fully versed on the case.

Of course we'll not be signing him, but blimey, you lot aren't half getting your knickers in a twist about a rumour alone.

Massive respect to you all. Showing that despite the fact that we have such a deep ingrained rivalry, we can pull together when one of our own experiences a personal tragedy.

Sharp came through the academy (I think), but we, ermmm , made a loss on him. Let's not pull at that thread. Jags came through the centre of excellence, as did Monty. We're probably still operating at a slight loss overall on the academy all things told. That said, I know the PR has said that it breaks even due to facilities being hired out. Not sure quite how true that is though. As I mentioned earlier, it takes some time for start bearing proper fruit as players have to go through the full system. The Kyles (and Matt Lowton) are the first year one grads to come through I think. But we've just let quite a few go. Including players such as Jordan Chappell and Kingsley James who have been involved for us this season strangely enough. For whatever reason, the Academy will either prove itself a liability or an essential this coming season.

Good luck with that, and while I don't doubt your confidence, it's not about the management wanting to keep the player, it's about whether the player wants to stick around. We would have liked to have hanged on to Jacob Mellis, but alas when Chelsea came knocking, he was off. Even the very top clubs in the world lose young players for a comparative pittance when there's an attractive offer on the table. Oh, and a successful academy takes roughly 6 or 7 years before it starts to bear fruit. So you need to get investing ASAP.

We are a selling club. But then, just about about every club is.

We did the same with just academy players in our reserves last season, but they were invariably getting hammered each game, This season we seem to be going for a mixture of the two so while there are a few first teamers tonight in there, there are lots of youngsters and an Argie trialist from Estudiantes in there aswell. To the guy who asked above re. Stands. There'll be no segregation and you'll all be in the South Stand as far as I know.

I've been keeping schtum on this since I heard about it last week as it'll only end up in me getting slagged to hell due to the sensitive situation it is. In terms of when the bill is from however, I heard a few weeks ago that a certain law firm in Sheffield had been approached by the club for advice on a winding up order in May. Might have been resolved there and then, and this may be a different threat, but I'd suggest the problems have been ongoing for some time behind the scenes and HMRC have finally lost patience.

37 now isn't he?

You need to start catching up with Huddersfield. They've signed Gary Naysmith on a free today after he turned our offer down!* *please feel free to take the wee wee. I'm entirely desensitized to it already this close-season.

I imagine he'd be asking for a lot of assistance getting old ladies rocking too.

Success in football seems to be mainly cyclical for similar clubs such as ourselves. This aint something that I'd be usually willing to admit, and aside from winding up pi... Wednesdayite mates, I think it's possible to be rational about things and admit that while we have the ascendancy at the moment, things will no doubt change in the next decade or two. We're both hampered by massive debts and your drop into the third tier will do lots of damage, but you'll no doubt be back on the same level as us in a couple of seasons. Massive investment isn't needed to get out of this league (as evidenced by our promotion a few seasons ago), but a cohesive squad can do well it's lieu. So, who knows where each club may be by 2020. Investment or not. Anyway, I feel a little sick now, so excuse me the following: Enjoy the Johnstone's Paint Trophy next season

You never used to be, but in the last couple of seasons (since Mr Sheard really) you've become the gift that keeps on giving. Owlstalk is genuinely entertaining, both because there are some good posters on here, but also because such important issues get played out for all to see. Obviously, I enjoy some of it as schadenfreude; however, no matter the club it would still provide immense entertainment. How so many legitimate nutters (and I don't include LS in that) got anywhere near your club is stunning. To have had both Geoff Sheard and Joe Kosich involved on here and in real life has given me hours of fun. We were there a couple of decades ago with Sam/Samantha/Charles Hashimi/Kane, it's clearly your turn at the moment.