DI Keith Fowler

I think even if Sky retain the rights there'll be a refresh. IMG aren't going to be happy with the current production and will want assurances it will change or IMG themselves get the subcontract for production like they have for the C4 games.

To get 0% you need to be on an oil platform that straddles the City of Wakefield.

Only issue with that is they're saying they have to negotiate the paid TV deal before the FTA deal as the paid provider will need to sign off on it. You never know though, whoever we get might be happy with 1 game a week FTA (even an increase from 10 to 15 would be positive). It's also a question of C4's appetite for that many games. Highlights package I'm a little ambivalent over, do people watch these with regularity? I've not sought out the SLS for about 15 years I just go on youtube and watch the highlights of whatever game. Even an improved version I might not go out of my way for.

It's a false equivalence though. They're not handing out gradings based on what is fair they're handing them out based on what makes business sense. This isn't if I work hard I should get a good score in my exam, this is McDonalds choosing whether to put their next outlet in a big place with no fast food outlets or a smaller place with lots of competition. They're making the decisions based on returns not on who deserves what.

I think what is being confused here is that people think the gradings are based on some notion of justice or fairness. These are hard nosed business decisions based on getting the clubs in that they think will grow the game. Fairness doesn't even come into the equation, it's like saying "why shouldn't I get into Oxford just because I have bad grades I can't control that I'm not clever". Absolutely correct you can't control it but it doesn't mean it won't be counted against you. It's not who deserves what necessarily it's, "who do we think will provide us with the return we want", they've identified London and France as growth markets and it's no surprise they'll get a bit of a boost in the gradings because of this.

Of course, the players in the higher division are of higher quality. However that doesn't equate to the lower division having "poor games" as Ian put it. You can have equally compelling games between teams that don't have the quality of an SL side, in fact it happens fairly regularly. A lot of people prefer watching the England women's football team to the men's team, they find them better to watch and the games more interesting. Objectively though the men's are operating at a higher level of skill. It's not a given that worse players = worse games because the teams are relatively competitive.

You'd have play offs to determine the winner of the competition???? Like they do in SL. Also, in your last point this literally already happens that's why 90% of the time the promoted team goes straight back down. In this system they'd get similar points for performance as the top Championship side and therefore wouldn't be automatically relegated if they finish bottom if they maintained the other off the field standards they got promoted on.

It's er, certainly interesting timing.

Unless I've missed it nothing here says player development, academies etc?

They could have spun this much better if they played it off as some kind of Battle of the Bands competition over the seasons home games. Each fortnight two bands do a set and fans vote, through to the next round and so on. It's equally as free as the current idea but it doesn't feel half as cheap to frame it that way.

Mwahahaha.

Why are they sponsored by a cartoon representation of stolen Bitcoin?

There's quite a few people around who's opinions are primarily formed by a fear of what will happen to their club.

In the letter of the law but not the effect. Again, I must stress I agree with the cap. But you can't say that it's not something that introduces an arbitrary element, the cap being where it is helps some teams more than others. If it was double it would benefit richer clubs if it was half it would benefit poorer clubs. Saying it's the same rules is missing out on so much of the reality of it.

Not really, some clubs can spend 100% of their income some can spend less than 100%. Just because it's an equal numerical figure (excluding marquee etc.) doesn't mean it's the same rules. Some teams are hamstrung, and I broadly agree with doing so.

I don't think coming to the party in the year of our lord 2021 helped.

I think it's worth keeping in mind that we have systems in place that prevent clubs from being treated equally. I.e. salary cap. You're preventing clubs from spending to their full capacity to in effect protect the poorer clubs. A club that could massively outspend another club might get relegated at their expense because of the cap this isn't a totally alien concept. We're already going around what you might describe as natural justice to fit an end we have in mind that is deemed more important.

I think there was probably a defence here that could have minimised jail time. "This is massively out of character, I'm a woman with mobility issues and I felt threatened by the speed the cyclist was moving but regardless I shouldn't have acted in the way I did, I wish I could go back undo it and I will live with that forever. That I went to shops shows that I was in a state of shock at what had happened". Seemingly she didn't go down this route and instead denied wrongdoing and waited until the day of the sentencing to express remorse.

I think her not stopping after the accident had happened and going to the shops, followed by giving false statements and expressing no remorse didn't help.

I'm not saying it isn't true, I just think it's incredibly funny that it's actually on their list of priorities.

I always love to be reminded that the Murdoch's empire is concerned with two things, first influence and power over the global elite, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings and Emperors... and also Rugby League in the wider Brisbane area.

Adding poisoning to the list.

We definitely should have done this but the horse has bolted in that regard with the gradings coming in.

Cheers guys, so far I've got assault and arson as ways of dealing with them.

Next doors, not content with having blazing rows all day which I can hear through the thin walls, have decided to introduce a small dog that barks all day into the mix to go along with the budgie that whistles all day. I say good on them, a lot of people might seek more quiet in their noisy lives but not them.