The Rolling Footbal Thread: Season 2026/27

[DuncinToffee]

New season, new thread

All things football ⚽

And an Our Father. For good measure.

I do not like football today. Looks like Graham Alexander is going to Preston. 😭

What a shame. He could've been in the Championship with Bradford come the end of the season.

Well as a Wednesday fan i really want the book thrown at City. (do people really call them "the citizens"?)

Is anyone watching the under 21s match?

Apparently it's on the England app but when I go on the app I can't find it

I can watch via instagram

Oh thanks I'll try that.

I know. He's a Preston legend though and I'm assuming they've made him promises and offered him money he can't refuse. Time will tell, but I think Preston will want results quickly and if he doesn't get them, he'll be under pressure, which is a shame as he's leaving a relatively stable position at Bradford. But I guess he's not getting any younger and he has to take the opportunity when it comes - it's effectively his dream job.

I had a Smokie pie!!! AND we won 2-1.

Also met a lovely gent called Reg as we were walking away who is up here on holiday from Stoke, he’s a Port Vale fan normally but today was his first trip to Gayfield. He didn’t see the Smokie pies so we told him where to buy one tomorrow before he heads off up north to Inverness.

We also had a black cat run across the pitch in the first half. Lucky for us at least!

Is anyone watching the England match? I was convinced it was going to be a rout after 5 minutes! Fingers crossed.

Re Man City - I think it'll be a huge points deduction, and probably an asterisk on all the titles and cups they won during that period. I really don't see how they can sort it out in any other way (whatever we might think about it).

Oh, Harry Kane has missed a penalty.

Manchester City might well be relegated. Tight match between England and Spain. Good football though.

Yes, we played well.

I think I can forgive Tuchel for the semi final if they continue playing like they did tonight.

Bellingham and Gordon were excellent.

Oh I hope so! That would be a fair punishment and serve them right for cheating! However I very much doubt it somehow.

although the trophy giving etc etc can't be re-done, i think that stripping them of titles and awarding them to the next ones down would send a good sign. Pour encourager les autres, and all that.

Does anyone know why the Wednesday / Stevenage match was called off yesterday?

Man City's guilty verdict has been a big topic of conversation here-adult DS home for the weekend and we have been looking at the fallout.

I think the punishment has to be big enough to be a deterrent-I don't think a fine alone will have any impact as they have endless money.

Having said that a big scary fine will put others off
I think the owners should be forced to sell as they are def not "fit and proper"
They need a substantial transfer ban
Huge points dock. I heard one journalist saying 100 points a season for 2 seasons so they can't pop right back up.
And on reflection I don't think they can/will strip the titles and give them to second place (even though that would mean we would get 2 more) because the knock on effect of their impact is huge-teams have been relegated/not had european football etc etc because of the points City have taken from them so we can't go back and fix all of that -what we can do is put a giant asterisk beside every single one of their trophies to indicate that they were won by cheating.

I hope that City fan is crying real tears into his water bottle now

I agree that it need to be substantial punishment. I also agree that the tiles shouldn’t be passed on to other clubs. It would feel tainted to me. They should be made null and void and struck off their honours list.

I also agree that we need to tighten and consistently apply the concept of a "fit and proper person" rules for owners. (god we could have done with that at Wednesday in the later Chanseri years)

Also that they must be made to sell - and in the meantime a team of administrators should run the club.

I agree 100 points deduction a season for 3 seasons might be appropriate, and a transfer ban for the duration.

I really want the PL (and the EFL) to pay much much mmore attention to these kinds of shenanegins.

What does it mean for the UEFA league?

nothing this season i guess.

It should have a knock on effect in the UEFA's Champions League.

It has to be addressed, especially if titles and points are deducted.

I hope Man City have titles stripped from them. As a Huddersfield fan, we were the first team to win it 3 times in a row and if Man City have done it 4 times cheating (as well as their other titles) then it should absolutely be stripped.

I know it was 100+ years ago with Huddersfield and it even has a different name now but it is part of our history and we did it without cheating.

It was postponed due to international call ups!

Good old Herbert Chapman.
You’ve won it more times than Spurs!

Manchester City found guilty on all Premier League charges over rule breaches

‘Sham’ contracts helped inflate revenues by £900m
Commission finds club guilty over nine-season period

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/sep/29/manchester-city-found-guilty-all-premier-league-charges-rule-breaches

I know that feeling, waiting for the new season to finally start. This is the time of year when I start looking at squad changes and trying to guess who’s going to get off to a flying start and who might flop. I always end up in a rabbit hole checking preseason friendlies, looking for anything that’ll give my team an edge. Sometimes I’ll try to suss out players that could surprise everyone, although more often than not I don’t get it right.

If you’re like me and enjoy thinking about what might happen before the matches kick off, there are a few places with football tips that help give some insight on early predictions and form. I check those to get a wider perspective before making my own picks for the opening matches.