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The Footie Thread

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There’s no strong evidence to suggest that Nottingham Forest deliberately unsettled Trevor Francis before signing him. His move from Birmingham City to Forest in 1979—famously becoming Britain’s first £1 million player—was driven more by his own ambition and Forest’s rising status under Brian Clough than by any underhanded tactics.

At the time, Francis was already one of England’s top forwards and had expressed a desire to play at a higher level. Forest were European Cup contenders, and Clough’s persuasive charisma played a big role in convincing him. The record-breaking nature of the transfer also indicates it was a straightforward, albeit groundbreaking, deal.

While clubs sometimes do try to unsettle players, there’s nothing in the historical record to indicate Forest did so in this case.
There is also nothing in the historical record to indicate they didn’t.

That’s my point all clubs do it!
Might come as a shock to you but that includes Forest .
 
There is also nothing in the historical record to indicate they didn’t.

That’s my point all clubs do it!
Might come as a shock to you but that includes Forest .

Well, this may come as a shock to you—but when I said “Never!” about Forest doing it, it was clearly a joke. Apologies if that didn’t come across.

But you lost me with the Trevor Francis stuff. Honestly, if you wanted to make a point about Forest transfers, there are probably better examples to pick from. The “there’s no evidence they didn’t” argument is a textbook argumentum ad ignorantiam—a logical fallacy.

But whatever. Yes, this kind of thing happens in football. Yes, all clubs do it to some extent. No, Forest didn’t do it with Trevor Francis.
 
Well, this may come as a shock to you—but when I said “Never!” about Forest doing it, it was clearly a joke. Apologies if that didn’t come across.

But you lost me with the Trevor Francis stuff. Honestly, if you wanted to make a point about Forest transfers, there are probably better examples to pick from. The “there’s no evidence they didn’t” argument is a textbook argumentum ad ignorantiam—a logical fallacy.

But whatever. Yes, this kind of thing happens in football. Yes, all clubs do it to some extent. No, Forest didn’t do it with Trevor Francis.
I think some/a lot of the rumours are not started by the clubs but by the players own agents and 'people'. If they can make the player seem to be in demand it strengthens their hand in any contract negotiations and improves the agents cut of any deal.
 
I think some/a lot of the rumours are not started by the clubs but by the players own agents and 'people'. If they can make the player seem to be in demand it strengthens their hand in any contract negotiations and improves the agents cut of any deal.

100%.

And Fabrizio Romano seems to wield a crazy amount of power in this stuff too!
 
Yeah im not sure when he became the oracle - early door he got the odd transfer announcement right but now seems to just post stuff constantly

Did a bit of reading about him a while back. Seems he's built up a huge number of reliable and trusted sources over a few years. Agents, intermediaries, scouts, club contacts etc, coupled with a good online presence and brand.

The guy was even tweeting about the fact that Forest weren't giving much game time to Andrey Santos when he was on loan from Chelsea a couple of years back! I have my suspicions that he didn't just do that off his own bat....
 
Not true actually. There was an all-English final in the League Cup just a couple of months ago.
Can anything in football claim to be all-English nowadays when 90% of the team is not English?

And this is not meant to be anti foreigner or pro Reform, etc but I do believe that the powers that be should limit the amount of none English/British players to give youth a chance and improve the National team.
 
Can anything in football claim to be all-English nowadays when 90% of the team is not English?

And this is not meant to be anti foreigner or pro Reform, etc but I do believe that the powers that be should limit the amount of none English/British players to give youth a chance and improve the National team.
Don't they already? Isn't that what the home grown rule is for? Of course, it has just backfired since the likes of City and Chelsea buy up young English players to meet the quota and let them stagnate on the bench, but still.
 
Can anything in football claim to be all-English nowadays when 90% of the team is not English?

And this is not meant to be anti foreigner or pro Reform, etc but I do believe that the powers that be should limit the amount of none English/British players to give youth a chance and improve the National team.
They have in terms of the squad, just not in terms of the match day 11

As per above - Hello Scott Carson :ROFLMAO:
 
Can anything in football claim to be all-English nowadays when 90% of the team is not English?

And this is not meant to be anti foreigner or pro Reform, etc but I do believe that the powers that be should limit the amount of none English/British players to give youth a chance and improve the National team.

You need more young English pros to take the plunge and resist playing for city / Chelsea early doors.. take more risks by playing for lower placed PL teams to earn their places for England. Also take risks abroad. It's worked wonders for Bellingham
 
There’s no strong evidence to suggest that Nottingham Forest deliberately unsettled Trevor Francis before signing him. His move from Birmingham City to Forest in 1979—famously becoming Britain’s first £1 million player—was driven more by his own ambition and Forest’s rising status under Brian Clough than by any underhanded tactics.

At the time, Francis was already one of England’s top forwards and had expressed a desire to play at a higher level. Forest were European Cup contenders, and Clough’s persuasive charisma played a big role in convincing him. The record-breaking nature of the transfer also indicates it was a straightforward, albeit groundbreaking, deal.

While clubs sometimes do try to unsettle players, there’s nothing in the historical record to indicate Forest did so in this case.

Indeed, for some time it was no secret that TF had become disillusioned at Birmingham and wanted a move.

Initially Coventry City were thought to be favourites due to his connection with Jimmy Hill and the fact that he would not need to move house as he was then living nearer to Cov than Brum.

However, that changed once Forest showed their interest due to being a European Cup side.

The rest is history!
 
Can anything in football claim to be all-English nowadays when 90% of the team is not English?

And this is not meant to be anti foreigner or pro Reform, etc but I do believe that the powers that be should limit the amount of none English/British players to give youth a chance and improve the National team.

It’s tough to put in limits like that

What it also does is overinflate the price of English players

It also needs to be “worldwide”

It used to be only 3 “non English” could be in the match day team
 
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