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Reply | The Loftus Road Ceiling: Why We Are Trapped in Infinite Mediocrity
at 14:39 17 Jun 2026
Re your overseas (Greek?) suggestion, that could certainly make a contribution. At Brentford, Benham bought a middling Danish team, FC Mittjelland and a relatively short time later, they were Champions for the first time and playing in Europe etc.
But the benefit was not really in signing/loaning players - very few actually moved between the two. Rather it meant the people at BFC were exposed to a new culture and new methods, which could be applied/modified for use at home. (One apparent example was in Danish players being far more receptive to new training ideas than at English clubs, where players preferred to stick with what they knew, whether it still worked or not.)
While the other advantage was exposure to the transfer market both in Denmark and more widely in Scandinavia, from where Bees successfully recruited for a good few years. But I use the past tense, since not only did Benham sell up after a few years, but other English clubs began to exploit the Scandi market in turn, leaving it more crowded.
However, they didn't stand still, first exploiting other, less obvious markets (eg Ukraine), while also upping their efforts post-Brexit in Scot/Wales/NI, plus English lower leagues. And a little while back they announced that they were now establishing recruitment links in South America - a "Bus Stop in (Belo) Horizonte"!
Then consider that they've been progressively upgrading the Training Ground, while opening an Academy which recently became the fastest ever to achieve Category A status from scratch.
All of which only concerns getting players in - you then need to develop them after they've arrived if you're to get the best from them before selling them for a profit.
Which brings us back to what I said in my initial post. That is, you need the Vision to see where you might/should be going; the Direction to set you on the right road towards that goal; the Management to control the process; and the Recruitment to give them all the players needed.
Which being so much easier said than done, is why the majority of clubs fail to achieve anything like what they ought to. |
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Reply | The Loftus Road Ceiling: Why We Are Trapped in Infinite Mediocrity
at 20:15 16 Jun 2026
Very interesting debate.
But it should all be conducted within the context of a remark by Matthew Benham after (I think) Brentford got promoted out of League One. Namely that is is simply impossible for a club to be consistently competitive in the Championship and break even, never mind make a profit.
This is because the players of a standard needed to be competitive command higher wages than clubs can sustain (unless they have parachute payments, that is). Which explains why it's costing your owners £20m a year just to keep you mid-table. They cannot spend more (Profit & Sustainability Rules), and if they spent less, you'd risk getting relegated.
What's the answer? A lot of posters are suggesting an enlarged LR, or a new ground. But even if you got to 30k and regularly sold out the extra 12k at a generous £50 a pop, over 25 games a season that would only raise an extra £15m a season, which still wouldn't get you to break even, never mind produce the revenue for better i.e. more expensive players to go from mid-table to play-off level. (Yes, I know there might be extra commercial/hospitality revenues, but costs would go up, too.) And all that is before you consider the need to repay the £100m+ it would take to expand or build.
There is only one solution, promotion to the PL. Which in turn needs better, more expensive players. And since your owners aren't allowed to spend more than they already do, and increased stadium revenues won't do the trick, either, means it has to be player trading.
Which means consistently clever recruitment and development whereby you buy players for £2m and sell for £5m, then buy at £5m and sell for £10m, then buy for £10m and sell for £20m, so that you can eventually be able to buy and keep enough £10m-£20m players at the club for long enough to get promoted.
Of course some clubs have engaged in a dash for promotion by spending money on players which they don't actually have, and/or shouldn't be allowed to spend, but even if it gets you promotion, it will usually come back to bite you, esp if you come back down early. And as often as not, you won't get promotion anyhow.
And before you think this is some Brentford know-all coming on here to gloat etc (genuinely don't mean to), the examples of Brentford, Brighton and (to an extent) Bournemouth show that it can be done, with the right vision, direction, management and (esp) recruitment. |
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Reply | Loftus Road - as it used to be
at 00:16 9 Feb 2026
Nice pic, caused me to google the Brentford equivalent (dates from 1935):
https://images.historicengland
Griffin Park looked a lot more developed in 1935 than Loftus Road (1928). Presumably this reflects that QPR were Division 3 Sth. in those days, whereas Bees were promoted to the (old) First Division for season 1935/36. |
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Reply | Middle Aged Blokes Club
at 23:18 18 Nov 2025
To quote Homer Simpson as he pulled up outside a hotel:
"Look Marge... valets! For once maybe someone will call me 'Sir' without adding 'you're making a scene'." |
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Reply | Worst Comedian
at 02:00 31 Oct 2025
Meanwhile thinking of heckles, Bernard Manning, he of truly terrible material but fine delivery and timing etc, used to tell one against himself.
He was known for giving his audience stick, using a collection of one-liners honed down the years, including in his own club, where he ruled the roost.
Anyhow, he was up on stage and a few minutes into his act, when a punter in the front row got up and started walking out.
"Where the hell are you going?" Manning demanded.
"I'm just off for a p1ss before the comedian comes on", came the reply.
As he admitted himself, Manning had no come back.
(Btw, this no endorsement of Manning, a repulsive individual) |
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Reply | Worst Comedian
at 01:45 31 Oct 2025
Ah, the Glasgow Empire, home of possibly the greatest heckle ever - as Eric Morecambe (I think) once said: "If they like you, they let you live".
Anyhow, to set the scene for the GHE, Mike & Bernie Winters were appearing. For youngsters out there, they were a sort of "British Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis", with Mike the smooth Dean M and Bernie the goofy Jerry L.
Now Mike couldn't sing, but he could play the clarinet, so their act started with him alone on stage, playing his instrument smoothly.
To absolute silence. From the start. On and on it went, with Mike getting more and more uncomfortable, as big Bernie waited off stage for his cue.
Finally it came and at the side of the stage, Bernie popped his head round the curtain, with his trademark toothy grin etc, but before he could say a word, a voice called out from the audience:
"Fcuk me, there's two of the kunts"
EDIT: Actually there is a school of thought that it was simply: "Fcuk me, there's two of them", which note of despair may actually be funnier than mere abuse? [Post edited 31 Oct 2025 1:52]
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Reply | From a Liverpool Message Board…..
at 01:27 31 Oct 2025
Be fair, the guy who posted that coached his local U-11 Girls team to a very respectable 4th place finish in the Huyton & District Sunday Morning League last season, so he knows his stuff.
And if he doesn't manage top three this season, he won't have to be sacked, he'll do the honourable thing and walk. |
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Reply | Worst places you have visited for an AWAY day fixture !!
at 01:15 31 Oct 2025
Actually re Spurs, Tottenham Hale (next stop on on Victoria Line) is a few minutes closer walk than Seven Sisters, though still a bit of a trek.
While Northumberland Park (to/from Liverpool St) is a 15 minute walk from WHL. |
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Reply | Funniest book you’ve read.
at 18:22 29 Oct 2025
BBC Radio 4 has done quite a few series of "Meet David Sedaris", frequently repeated on BBC4 Extra (so may be available on BBC Sounds?), where he muses - and amuses - on life.
Very funny (imo), so I went to see him live in London. Sorry to say he was actually quite poor, standing behind a lectern and reading from notes, his delivery was stilted.
Still worth catching on radio, mind. |
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Reply | Worst Comedian
at 18:07 29 Oct 2025
Sarah Milliken.
She's basically got two jokes, "Cake" and "Fanny".
Still waiting for her to get up to three, should she ever stumble upon "Doughnut - a cake that's like a fanny" |
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Reply | Worst places you have visited for an AWAY day fixture !!
at 17:01 29 Oct 2025
Danny Kelly once noted that the most depressing walk in English football was from Seven Sisters Tube to Spurs - and he's a Spurs fan!
While another said in relation to their new stadium, "It's like a huge great spaceship has landed in the middle of a warzone!"
Anyhow, I reckon Spurs fans may not be familiar with the lower leagues, so in the spirit of the worst places generally - i.e. not just the stadiumitself - I give you Swindon. For the walk from Swindon Train/Bus Stations to the County Ground makes Tottenham N17 look like Beverley Hills! And that's before you consider the local inhabitants...
(Incidentally, googling indicates that the name "Swindon" likely derives from the Old English words "swīn" (swine/pig) and "dūn" (hill), meaning "pig hill", but I can't imagine any self-respecting pig would ever live there had they a choice) |
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Reply | Funniest book you’ve read.
at 20:15 27 Oct 2025
Agree with a lot of the nominations, esp Milligan and Catch22.
Would also add PJ O'Rourke's travel books (hope they haven't dated since I read them 30-odd years ago)
Another read is McCarthy's Bar, by the late Pete McCarthy, where he visits bars named, well, McCarthy's. Not sound too interesting? Trust me, it's priceless, he really was a beautiful writer, actually quite "English" in his humour, but with an ear for Irish comedy.
He did a follow-up, "The Road to McCarthy", likely due to it being part of his publishing deal, which although ok, could never stand up to the original.
But I quote it because near the end, it has an account of a random encounter he had in a bar in Fethard, Co.Tipperary, which is indubitably the funniest thing ever written in the English language. I still take my well-thumbed copy off the bookshelf from time-to-time, it opens at the required page, and I laugh myself silly. Every. Single. Time.
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Reply | Dickens' Home for Women in Shepherd's Bush
at 22:08 16 Oct 2025
Dickens was an odd character whose personal conduct didn't always live up to the standards he championed in public life.
He certainly treated his wife abominably, trying to get her committed to a mental home when she should have been able to manage independently, all so he could spend more time with his mistress of many years.
As it happens, the secret of his mistress nearly became public when they, and his mistress's mother, were all involved in a terrible train crash as they returned from a holiday in France, however I believe they managed to keep a lid on it:
https://voyagerofhistory.wordp |
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Reply | Sheffield Wednesday
at 21:40 16 Oct 2025
The PL and EFL should bring in a rule stating that as well as the consideration, any prospective club buyer should have to deposit a sum equal to one year's wages (players and non-playing staff) with the League, in a separate escrow account.
Assuming the new owner pays the wage bill on time, he/she should receive the interest on the account, but after any default, the league should be able to access the account to pay wages. And at the end of 12 months of non-payment, with the account emptied, the owner forfeits control of the club and has to put it up for sale to the highest bidder, whose bid must be accepted.
Meanwhile, owners of well-run clubs who don't default, should see the deposit returned to them if/when they sell up. [Post edited 16 Oct 2025 21:42]
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Reply | A few of my favourite things – Report
at 13:36 29 Sep 2025
I was at the last ever game at Griffin Park in 2020, when Bees walloped Sheff Wed 5-0 (Wednesday were lucky to get nil).
Yet not only was Bannan the only SW player who performed that day, you could almost have made a case for his being MOTM, so good was he in a team of otherwise utter dross.
Phenomenal. |
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Reply | How about a few “not a lot of people know thats”
at 23:09 28 Sep 2025
In 1956, the people of Malta voted, by 77% 'Yes' versus 23% 'No", to integrate fully with the UK i.e. just like England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The Home Office would take over responsibility for governing the island from the Foreign Office, and the MOD would be directly responsible for Defence etc., while the island would elect three MP's directly to Westminster.
It all fell apart, however, when the Maltese realised how difficult would be the financial implications for the island. While the UK was keener to divest itself from Empire than bolster it.
They finally attained Independence just eight years later (1964), which suggests that the average Maltese doesn't take kindly to rejection. |
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Reply | How about a few “not a lot of people know thats”
at 16:51 17 Sep 2025
Fanta originated in Germany as a Coca-Cola alternative in 1941 due to the American trade embargo of Nazi Germany which affected the availability of ingredients [for Coca-Cola Deutschland]. Fanta soon dominated the German market with three million cases sold in 1943. The current formulation of Fanta, with orange flavor, was developed in Italy in 1955. |
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