wishywashy

So the Tory expectation management all day yesterday was to keep saying that they've likely performed better than expected in the London and West Midlands mayoral elections (despite not a single vote having been counted) and that they should be judged on what those results are rather than the council losses.

Just to not only win neither, but perform worse than in 2021 on both contests. Genius.

And we haven't even gotten to the fun part about how Sunak's "autumn relaunch" had zero effect in changing Tory fortunes in general but almost certainly cost them this West Midlands contest. Whoops.

It's official, 1,508 votes in it. Christ.

Sky claiming Labour have won.

26 minutes ago, Genie said:

West Midlands result on a knife edge apparently 

BBC are saying there might be under 2k votes in it

https://fawslfulltime.co.uk/2024/05/04/it-was-emotional-aston-villa-boss-ward-discusses-exit-announcement-after-win-at-brighton/

Quote

When speaking to WSL Full-Time after the match, Ward said that the players and staff were only told of her decision to step down yesterday before going on to explain how her commitment to the job has taken it’s toll over a lengthy period.

“I told the players and staff yesterday,” Ward said. “It has been a conversation that has been ongoing for a couple of months with the Board. It has been harder because they have tried everything to get me to stay. They’ve been absolutely brilliant, they’ve offered me support with the little one, they’ve offered me everything that you can possibly think of to stay. Sometimes, you have to recognise when you need a break and you need to breathe. As I have eluded to in the past, I leave my house at 5.30am and it’s a 200-mile trip in and back every day. It’s one that after four years, has taken it’s toll. I’m exhausted. I want a break, I want to spend time with my little girl, reflect and recharge and I think I’ll come back better for it.”

Ward is someone who prides herself on strong personal relationships in the game both internally and externally. She went on to say that breaking the news was emotional for herself and her dressing room.

She said “I’ve signed them all; it was emotional with the staff and the players. There were tears, that’s the reality; I’ve got good relationships with everyone. It was tough for me to tell them, I built myself up to tell them and then blubbered a little bit. They know that I care about them, they know they have a manager who has tried to bring out the best in them and I’ve given them a platform to be people rather than players. It’s something that I pride myself on and I’ll continue to have good relationships with them.

Aston Villa’s players responded positively to Ward’s news on the pitch, delivering a good performance against Brighton & Hove Albion. Alisha Lehmann’s second half goal was enough to earn The Villans a thoroughly-deserved three points. Ward said that she has challenged her players to make more memories in her final two games in charge.

She said “I said to the girls yesterday that we have two big weeks and we can either roll over or we can use this to dig deep and really enjoy ourselves together. We’ve created a lot of memories together, so let’s create a couple more in the last couple of weeks. They were excellent and credit to them with the way that they applied themselves today.”

Ward’s final match in charge of Aston Villa is against Manchester City at Villa Park on Saturday 18 May 2024.

The simplest solution here is to both qualify for the Champions League and win the Conference League.

We'll likely have Pau, Tielemans and Martinez back by the 2nd leg: if we already have CL in the bag then we can go all out knowing we have nothing to play for in the remaining 2 Prem games.

3 minutes ago, Strog said:

I can just about get WM where I live. Deluded blose fans saying they are in good hands, will go straight back up etc. They are a mess and I think next season will be harder than they think. 

For what it's worth, all of their new owner's footballing decisions have been excellent so far. It's not like they sacked a manager who had them in the playoffs for a guy who ended up winning 2 in 15...

They're people they should put every bit of faith in to lead their club back up to the Championship..

Securing UCL the same weekend Small Heath finally get flushed down the drain into League 1 mediocrity will be quite a pleasant experience

THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION IN THE TITLE OF THIS THREAD IS "NEVER"!!!

BLUES ARE GOING DOWN DOWN DOWN

Blackburn settled.

Come on, Plymouth!

1 hour ago, useless said:

Good to see Lucy Parker back in the squad today

 

She's come on in the 55th minute

At least the Anonymous Briefings™ in the West Midlands seem to be a bit more measured than those in London: they're saying it's too close to call.

7 minutes ago, bickster said:

BBC up to their usual tricks, all day it’s been It’s looking close in London, Tory sources say it’s going to be close blah blah blah.

London results come in

”Well the Tories were briefing against that optimist all night” but you waited until now to tell us, almost 20 hours later, Representatives for North East Somerset

Khan is going to walk this London election and given that he was already on high figures and now has a 6% swing in his favour

All that talk and it looks like he's got an even more comfortable lead than last time!

Quite the embarrassment for many today. A lot of them were clearly following the pied piper that was the first 'anonymous source' saying Labour were in trouble. Another win for the pollsters, though...

BLACKBURNNN

Eyes on Blackburn and Plymouth.

HT. Halfway there.

PLYMOUTH!

102 councils out of 107 have declared and the Lib Dems have won more than the Tories. It would be hilarious if they finish 3rd

Quote

Aston Villa manager Carla Ward is set to take a break from football, after deciding to leave the Women’s Super League club at the end of the season.

It is understood the departure is her own decision, and Ward, 40, is understood to now want to take a significant period of time away from work to recharge her batteries and spend time with her family.

The former Sheffield United and Birmingham City manager has been with Villa for three seasons and guided them to ninth place in 2021-22 and fifth place in 2022-23 - the club’s highest ever league position in the women’s game.

This term, Villa sit a respectable seventh, with two WSL games remaining. The first of those is Saturday’s trip to eighth-placed Brighton and Ward’s final match in charge will be at home to title-chasing Manchester City on Saturday 18th May.

“To step down from my post here at Aston Villa has been the hardest decision of my managerial career, but I know it is the right one for my family and I,” Ward said. “Managing a great club like Aston Villa has been a full-throttle job and I have always given the role 100 per cent dedication. However, I now believe it is the right time for me to prioritise the other important things - such as my daughter and the rest of my family life.

“I am immensely grateful to Monchi [Villa’s president of football operations] and Damian Vidagany [director of football] who tried so hard to encourage me to stay in the role, but I know it is the right time to step down after our last game of the season.”

Monchi said: “Carla came to us a few weeks ago and spoke of her plan to step down. We have had extensive dialogue with her to see if there was anything we could do to persuade her to stay, but she is adamant that she wants to take a break from the game. On behalf of everybody at Aston Villa, I want to place on record our grateful thanks to Carla [and] wish her well for the future.”

Telegraph Sport understands Villa do not immediately have a replacement lined up and an extensive recruitment process will now begin to find Ward’s successor. The role is likely to be attractive to high-level candidates from around the world, because of the English women’s top-flight league’s popularity and profile being continually on the rise.

It’s understood that the club’s head of women’s football Lee Billiard will draw up a shortlist of potential candidates for Monchi and the club’s director of football operations Damian Vidagany to decide upon.

Vidagany added in a club statement: “Carla is one of the best managers in women’s football and we are sad to see her go. I would like to wish her all the best for the future.”

38 minutes ago, wishywashy said:

Crazy how this is the conclusion that is being drawn, when it's plainly obvious that people clearly vote very differently in local elections versus general elections. Had this nonsense in last year's local elections, too.

I'm certain this is just the media either being completely ignorant of what the PNS entails, or spreading misinformation for interactions/something else, but it would be hilarious if even a single Tory at No 10 genuinely understood it like this.

Crazy how this is the conclusion that is being drawn, when it's plainly obvious that people clearly vote very differently in local elections versus general elections. Had this nonsense in last year's local elections, too.

Another Labour Source™ with a bizarre comment and some very odd undertones...