ThunderPower_14

This has been a great game to the half, 2nd best game of the tournament so far.

Ah, there you go, I didn't know that. I just assumed it would be because it was such a clearcut scoring chance if he didn't get the touch on the ball.

Weird game. I thought we played really well but the class difference was obvious. The France penalty decision was rough to see overturned on VAR. Defender got the ball then it had spilled to Ryan. Front leg got caught and he went down, but the tackle was made and the scoring opportunity was over. Also, if it's a foul in that position, how is it not a red? I feel like if they did VAR on every single corner they'd be able to pick out 5 fouls. Our penalty was bizarre. What the hell was Umtiti doing with that arm? Third goal was lucky, deflected and just scraped over the line. Brutal, but I guess France created a heap more chances and eventually you'll be rewarded. We just need Peru and Denmark to draw and France to trounce them both!

Income should be based on debt, not on profit and loss. The only issue with that is wages, you could have lots of players on long contracts expensive contracts (see Aston Villa, 2009-2018), and if an owner walks away they can't be paid. As such i'd have a rule that an owner must have money set aside in a trust of sorts to cover all the outstanding player contracts, or enough to buy players out of their contracts so they can play elsewhere.

Surely the club is effectively worthless if it's insolvent and has unservicable debts? How can Xia demand any money for a club in our reported financial position?

So basically we either have a buyer come in and take the club off of Xia's hands for effectively nothing, putting every dollar that might have been used to buy the club towards the debt, or we fold? Can the club do some tin rattling just to survive? I'm sure there are enough Villa fans worldwide who would chip in a small amount to clear the debt and save the club so it could be taken forward by another owner.

Our first vaguely enjoyable season in almost a decade and it ends with a 1-0 playoff final defeat and then possibly the entire club being dissolved. We just don't deserve this as fans at all. It's just been false dawns followed by soul crushing reality year in year out since O'Neill left.

What happens with Grealish is one of many decisions that will have to be made regarding how to structure our side for next year given our financial constraints, but it's the biggest deal we'll have and will make the biggest impact on our finances. Basically, are we better with Grealish and a poorer supporting cast or a more balanced side? It'll depend on a variety of factors. My main point was that if Grealish goes, he goes and my life as a Villa fan goes on. Maybe one day we'll get him back.

I love Grealish but he's just one player who probably has the talent to be playing Premier League football next season. If he goes i'll be sad but it'll be worth it if it puts us in a better position to be promoted.

I'd be shocked if we dropped down far enough to be a genuine relegation chance. Most likely we're still competing for playoff spots. A couple of key signings and we could be right in the mix.

Spot on. FPP is going to absolutely gut our side and isn't protecting us from anything. I could abide a transfer moratorium, but forcing us to actively sell our best players when we can easily afford to keep them? It's an absolutely criminal system designed to keep the biggest clubs rich and to viciously smack down anyone who tries to better themselves.

The only positive so far is that we're only 1 down and we have been absolutely horrendous. It feels so much like the FA Cup final. Just gutted at the moment that we haven't shown up

?

I don't think he'd genuinely want to skip them. As @mjmooney said, it's a mark of respect to go to Stamford Bridge and play admirably. He could score a 94th minute winner for us there and they'd still be chanting his name.

It's worse than useless, it's an active cancer on the game.

I can't imagine that black and gold Luke logo will look any good on a kit. It'll hopefully be just an outline or similar in white. As for the design, there's just no way of knowing unless someone has seen a football kit designed by Luke before now.

After dropping his kids of at school! How awful.

I've unloaded half of my betting account on an emotional hedge bet on Boro to beat us. It's refreshing to think I could win the bet and we could still progress, but i'd rather have my money disappear very early on.

I guess we'll see how Disney go with it for Star Wars. Do they end the Skywalker saga there and stick predominantly to one-off movies? They may try to emulate the success of the MCU a bit with a series of interconnected movies set in the Star Wars universe. It's definitely a successful formula if done well, and i'd argue that Star Wars has enough lore and potential behind it to match the Avengers, even if the overall Marvel universe is a lot bigger once they get the X-Men involved.

You don't achieve greatness by being a big fish in a small pond. As fun as this season has been, I had just as much fun watching Martin O'Neill's sides flirt with the top 4 of the Premier League. Premier League or bust.

I'm being massively triggered here but i'll focus on the comparison I'd suggest we'll see a Star Wars movie at least every year for the next decade, and Disney will market them hard. It'll be interesting to see where both series stand in another decade or so. The Avengers are the poor cousin of the X-Men and the only reason they've gotten so big in the movies is because Marvel didn't have the rights to the X-Men earlier. It'll be interesting to see what Marvel do with the X-Men assuming they eventually get their hands on them. There is only so much they can do with the Avengers moving forward, so an MCU total reboot for the X-Men would be really awesome.

What a debacle. Amateur hour in a grand final. How could they not just have looked at any one of 300 monitors showing the Fox Sports coverage around the stadium showing a clear offside. Imagine being a Newcastle fan. You'd be ropeable beyond belief.

I'm a little bit in love with these! I have a birthday coming up as well. My missus and I just had our anniversary and unknowingly both bought each other sneakers She got me these Nike Pegasus 92s which are in the colours of my Australian football team and I got her these Under Armour trainers

Even when he had well and truly outstayed his welcome, it was heartwarming like nothing else seeing him score that goal against Small Heath last season. 5 goals in 10 games against the Blues. His career really mirrors the fortunes of the club the entire time he's been here. At one point young, exciting and going places, then progressively got worse and less interested to the point of embarrassment.

Can you imagine the relentless hounding of NurembergVillan in this thread if he got the job