Rival Watch

[Mr Angry]

Also, if Villa do reasonably well (stay up, decent cup runs, threaten a Europa Conference place) then when Klopp leaves Anfield and Gerrard takes over, a Premier League job opens up with him in pole position for it...........

[Stranded]

No longer rivals - but what is going on at Derby? That should of all gone through last week - but funds not forthcoming. Just a glitch?

Between a US holiday last Monday and 2 UK holidays, not surprising there has been delays.

[Mr Angry]

No longer rivals - but what is going on at Derby? That should of all gone through last week - but funds not forthcoming. Just a glitch?

From Derby's local rag:

Tweeting about the matter on Thursday, Kirchner assured fans: "Nothing to be alarmed about. End of May was chosen because of scheduling for EFL (released in a few weeks) and everyone collectively didn’t think about the 3 combined bank holidays this week.

"Working through it and believe we have it resolved. Enjoy your weekend of celebrations."

Derby fans unconvinced...........

[YorkshireRoyal99]

No longer rivals - but what is going on at Derby? That should of all gone through last week - but funds not forthcoming. Just a glitch?

From Derby's local rag:

Tweeting about the matter on Thursday, Kirchner assured fans: "Nothing to be alarmed about. End of May was chosen because of scheduling for EFL (released in a few weeks) and everyone collectively didn’t think about the 3 combined bank holidays this week.

"Working through it and believe we have it resolved. Enjoy your weekend of celebrations."

Derby fans unconvinced...........

You can hardly blame them, they've been through this before with some near misses, so you can understand their point of view.

[From Despair To Where?]

It is plausible. They've been run by fcuking idiots for years, no reason to assume anything's changed.

[On Strings]

They were moaning yesterday about having 3 years of low budget signings, loans and free's to come, after accepting however many pennies in the pound in their Administration. Tough ****. They should be grateful they still have a football club!

[blythspartan]

Cardiff look to have big plans this season. I thought they were in danger of breaching FFP but obviously not.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Cardiff look to have big plans this season. I thought they were in danger of breaching FFP but obviously not.

To be fair, they might be and they might be throwing all their eggs in one basket over the next season or two for promotion. Parachute payments are coming to an end for them, a few outgoings for sure but they've still got a pretty big wage bill for where they are. Maybe not this season, but potentially in 12 months time we might be talking about it.

[JamieY26]

Cardiff look to have big plans this season. I thought they were in danger of breaching FFP but obviously not.

the proposition of a 6-9 point deduction the season after their push for promotion is a decent risk to take if you ask me.... If it pays off, great! If it doesn't they should still have a squad capable of soaking up the sanction without risking relegation.

[blythspartan]

Cardiff look to have big plans this season. I thought they were in danger of breaching FFP but obviously not.

To be fair, they might be and they might be throwing all their eggs in one basket over the next season or two for promotion. Parachute payments are coming to an end for them, a few outgoings for sure but they've still got a pretty big wage bill for where they are. Maybe not this season, but potentially in 12 months time we might be talking about it.

I completely forgot that they were only relegated in 2019 so are still receiving parachute payments.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Cardiff look to have big plans this season. I thought they were in danger of breaching FFP but obviously not.

the proposition of a 6-9 point deduction the season after their push for promotion is a decent risk to take if you ask me.... If it pays off, great! If it doesn't they should still have a squad capable of soaking up the sanction without risking relegation.

I think the Bristol City CEO said, or alluded to, something similar regarding their situation. To be fair, we said this when our points deduction happened, granted we did survive but we were certainly at risk of relegation throughout most of the season.

[From Despair To Where?]

Bristol City must be following our model of spending a shedload and still being utterly dire.

[Zip]

Bristol City must be following our model of spending a shedload and still being utterly dire.

.....with loads of injuries too

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Seen Bristol City pull in Kai Naismith from Luton on a free as well as they are being linked with Rino as well which would probably be good bits of business for them. I can't imagine either players' wages will be excessively high either.

Whether that will affect any potential sanctions this season, we will see.

[NathStPaul]

I see Bristol City having a decent season in 22/23. Don't think they'll be challenging for the title or anything like that but can see them being top 10.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

They remind me of us to an extent, players that should be in a team higher up the table, but potentially the clubs situation dictates where they are at the moment. It seems to happen with quite a few clubs in recent times, Birmingham another example.

[NathStPaul]

They have a pretty good manager, if he can get the right players around him he has a history of success in the Championship. Think thats where Bristol City have an advantage over us and Birmingham. Of course we have seen it all go wrong under Pearson too, he can rub people up the wrong way but I just have a feeling Bristol City might upset a few next season.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

There is plenty of dross in the bottom half of the league, they could quite easily finish in the top half depending on what other clubs do. I can see them being somewhere around where they were last season amongst most other sides, I think most from Bristol City down will be in a similar position again next season, including the 3 promoted clubs.

Potentially replace Sunderland as a promoted club with Blackpool and that could be the bottom third-ish of the table.

[NathStPaul]

I think it will be very open next season at both ends of the table, impossible to call it at this stage. Well, other than Rotherham being bottom.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Yeah true, easy to say Cardiff and Bristol City will "do well" when they've got some bits of business in early. I'm not necessarily sure how "good" Cardiff's current signings will actually turn out to be, they just seem to be catching the eye at the moment.