Good to know you are OK Bob. It's always when a regular goes missing for more than a week without seeking permission in advance. SOunds like you are enjoying life though !

Bob in Spain wrote:

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JonH comes home wrote:

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Anyone seen Bob around recently?

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More seriously though, thanks for keeping an eye out.  Just ridiculously busy right now.

I had a manic week in Brazil, had a delayed flight on return leading to a missed connection which kept me stuck in Lisbon. Got back last Thurs and on Friday we had our first touring cricket team arrive for the weekend. They left on Sunday night and by early Monday morning, I was heading to Costa del Sol on a work related trip.

Might not be around too much for the next couple of weeks either. Another cricket squad arriving on Sat for 5 days and then organising an 8 team tournament the following weekend. So I haven't been able to follow any tennis at all recently.

But all is fine.

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 That sounds a crazy schedule! We were in Palma this last weekend for a long weekend break, but thats the extent of my recent travels - got a work trip to Jamaica in early May though, Kingston. Should be interesting - been to Montego Bay (with work - only work trip my wife came on!) last year and somehow weve got another ,

separate, client in Jamaica. 

 

But thats enough to make me tired! 

I know weve currently played one less than Leicester but Ive screenshotted the table this evening :)

Having been out for the last 2 years due to a very serious knee injury, Stuart Dallas has announced his retirement shortly before his 33rd birthday later this month.

bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68777510

So the Championship enters its final week and despite Leeds' apparently recent mighty efforts to muck it all up they might yet get automatic promotion, though Ipswich would currently be favourites to join Leicester.

We have :
1. Leicester PL 44, 94 PTS, +47 GD
2. Leeds PL 45, 90 PTS, +39 GD
3. Ipswich PL 44, 90 PTS, +32 GD

So it comes down to Leeds almost certainly 'just' needing to get at least as many points from their one remaining match ( H vs Southampton on Saturday ) as Ipswich get from their 2 remaining matches ( A vs Coventry on Tuesday and H vs Huddersfield on Saturday ) with their 7 goals superior GD.

The I would think good thing for Leeds is that Southampton have finally fallen out of automatic promotion contention so will their eyes maybe be much more on the coming play-offs? The bad thing is clearly 2 matches vs 1 match.

Not a Leeds supporters as such but I definitely think the Premier League would be the better for having Leeds back there next season. Go, guys!

I'm not sure what happened to Leeds against us (QPR) but we comprehensively outplayed them and weren't flattered by the 4-0 scoreline.

Certainly their management/players hadn't done their homework against us and basically yielded us the midfield, which was crazy as we're a ball-playing team albeit not at the same level as Leicester and Ipswich.

I don't think teams deserve to go up because of history/size etc though. It has to be on merit. As they already have the advantage of parachute payments and a largely Premiership team, they really should be out-gunning teams like Ipswich who only got promoted last year from League One. Whoever gets in the top three after an incredibly competitive tournament this year thoroughly deserves it. And if it's Ipswich, I'll be celebrating with them because they'll have achieved something absolutely phenomenal. They may only stay up one season or they may even do a Fulham, Brentford, Brighton or Bournemouth and cling on. It's good for all football in my opinion if we have smaller teams living the dream. Nothing is more boring than Man City winning the Prem every season with their billion pound team and FFP infringements.

JonH comes home wrote:

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Nix wrote:

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I'm not sure what happened to Leeds against us (QPR) but we comprehensively outplayed them and weren't flattered by the 4-0 scoreline.

Certainly their management/players hadn't done their homework against us and basically yielded us the midfield, which was crazy as we're a ball-playing team albeit not at the same level as Leicester and Ipswich.

I don't think teams deserve to go up because of history/size etc though. It has to be on merit. As they already have the advantage of parachute payments and a largely Premiership team, they really should be out-gunning teams like Ipswich who only got promoted last year from League One. Whoever gets in the top three after an incredibly competitive tournament this year thoroughly deserves it. And if it's Ipswich, I'll be celebrating with them because they'll have achieved something absolutely phenomenal. They may only stay up one season or they may even do a Fulham, Brentford, Brighton or Bournemouth and cling on. It's good for all football in my opinion if we have smaller teams living the dream. Nothing is more boring than Man City winning the Prem every season with their billion pound team and FFP infringements.

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 A colleague of mine, his brother is the Ipswich head of recruitment. Joined Man Utd as an intern, having played only football manager online. did a good job and ipswich recruited him and promoted him. Dont think hes ever played footie but he knows data and stats 

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 That's fascinating Jon. Our new CEO came from an analytics background and it's shown to be a better way of assessing players in many instances than scouting alone. Brentford based their scouting on stats and it ended up taking them from League 1 to the Prem because they unearthed some hidden talents that they then sold to buy new young players which enabled them to eventually win the Championship. 

 

Your colleague's brother has done an absolutely terrific job. I bet he'll be scouted himself at some stage, like Chelsea swiped Brighton's entire recruitment and scouting team.