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https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportlatest/20157783.former-barrow-defender-platt-signs-bradford-city/

Really pleased with this signing. Bradford fans say he was their best defender. They are sorry to see him go. Matty is a great capture for us. Good in the air too.

On paper a very good signing and much needed solidity in the defence.

Ticks some of the boxes that we’ve been missing. His passing stats look a little worrying but as long as the players alongside him are fairly decent, then it should be fine. Played in the middle of a three for Barrow and not the quickest apparently. Need two more to go with him now, expect one to be established and another as maybe up and coming.

he looks a good signing, coming from blackburn will mean he had something about him that a team like us could get out of him. i do wonder what bradford city fans will be thinking, but i dont pay attention so much to this because i know players can be different in other squads. i am pleased with the signing, its a good first addition to the squad.

Blimey it’s nearly the end of May and another bank holiday weekend is upon us, are we going to have some decent weather I must check @Robbie’s weather watch thread. Whats everyone up to this weekend, doing anything exciting? Let us know on this thread. I’ve been gardening this morning and knackered myself so a restful afternoon is in store. Tomorrow I’m not doing my usual park run as I have “runners knee” which is disappointing because I was due to do my 100th but I’ll do it when I’m fit again. So instead we are going to see our son and family who are camping, so hopefully a walk to the pub and a bbq will be the order of the day. What’s everyone else got planned?

Reliable defender. Signed to be our main man in the back three.

@Fozzy agree, he may be a little slower, however if he can dominate our penalty area when crosses from corners, free clicks and from open play come in that will be a big plus for Notts. And he averages a 7.1 for the season and 7 for the season before so it looks like Matty is a reliable defender who can be counted on match after match.

Had a lay in this morning. Now that's not a usual thing for me since retirement. Also trying to avoid the election news, but that's very hard on social media, but one can only try. Looking at the back garden, the grass is growing very fast these days. It needs a cut but clouds are threatening. Need to do my daily walk too Will go shopping Saturday morning, that will be included in my daily walk. Sunday will be a rest day as usual. My legs need some rest. Monday will be just another day like any other. When one is retired it just seems that way. One thing is for sure, there's always work to do around the house so I'm never short of work to do, and that not including social media.

#waffle854 4/5 streak: 43 #wafflesilverteam wafflegame.net

Parachute payments were introduced by the Premier League in the 2006/07 season as a method of limiting the financial damage a relegated team may endure when dropping down to the Championship. Parachute payments also exist for teams that have been relegated from the Championship, League 1 & League 2 as well. Unfortunately, parachute payments gives relegated clubs an unfair financial advantage over all those other clubs in those respective leagues where those relegated Clubs find themselves. The evidence is there for all to see where we are now in the age of the yo yo club that gets relegated, then gets promoted again. Parachute payments have clearly made the football league less competitive when it comes to clubs trying to gain promotion. This state of affairs just cannot go on and needs to be addressed by the FA & EFL. My suggestion would be to abolish parachute payments for relegated clubs, & distribute that money, that would have been used for parachute payments, to all the other league clubs. I would also put a cap on transfers and wages in all four leagues, as a fixed lump sum in each league, not an amount based on percentage of turnover, which unfairly benefits the rich Clubs. A good article on parachute payments follows. Premier League parachute payments gap 'a major concern' says EFL https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65323385.amp

i think quality will always be something that is the best thing for a ambitious club, football experience in general is a good thing and whilst we may have a few who have played higher and outside of the football league its quite mixed. we sign players based on them improving and that is the best method in my eyes, some league two players might not make the grade if promotion is gained and i just think quality signings are the best policy.

the sensible thing would be to make sure premier and league clubs have clauses in the players contracts to cover to cover relegation, it might be difficult for clubs to retain players but i think it would open up the market and make teams more wiser with spending. i think parachute payments should be scrapped because it gives teams a better chance of signing players at least at the top levels. its intended to help with balancing the wages but some teams use it to sign them which is just unfair. maybe stricter rules on how the money is spent needs to be implemented if they dont scrap them completely.

@Robbie the one thing I love about retirement is getting up when I like, if I fancy sitting around in my dressing gown I do. I used to have a 20 mile drive up the motorway to Chesterfield at 7.00am when I worked so lie ins are precious.

#waffle854 2/5 streak: 4 wafflegame.net Not doing very well today.

Wordle 1,070 3/6

@Robbie What is needed is that the overseas tv rights monies have to be split down the pyramid. Currently, I believe, it's 100% to PL only. We need an EFL3 to recognise that NL is more or less full time pros now.. i.e. expand the 92

#waffle853 4/5 streak: 3 wafflegame.net mmm

Wordle 1,069 5/6 Got a feeling it's going to be one of those days.

@Piethagoram. I think most fans outside the PL deplore how powerful the PL & TV money is becoming. Television money that is not distributed fairly down the football leagues is what is wrong with football. The PL & TV companies control the narrative.and it is just not right. Every one of the 92 league clubs should have an equal vote. I'm afraid that the current direction of football & how revenue is shared is not going to suit teams like Notts and teams down the football pyramid. The Premier League and the TV Companies need their wings clipping and hopefully that will begin to happen when a football regulator is in place.

@Robbie "I would also put a cap on transfers and wages in all four leagues, as a fixed lump sum in each league, not an amount based on percentage of turnover, which unfairly benefits the rich Clubs." This fails to recognise that clubs competing in Europe, from other countries, may not be restricted like this Clubs being promoted to the PL, have to offer longer than 1 year playing contracts in order to compete. Relegation clauses in player contracts may be a deal breaker... so the existing PL clubs remain "safe" in the system

I think every team needs its share of experience and I guess if a player has racked up a lot of games in the EFL they should be good, so in theory yes. That’s not always the case though, it wasn’t long ago when we basically only signed players from the EFL and a lot of them, even the experienced players, weren’t very good. I don’t think it matters too much how many games a player has played or what level they were at before, quite simply the question should just be are they good? I know it’s too easy just to say sign good players, but that’s the truth. Jatta, Macari, Langstaff, Austin & Nemane hadn’t kicked a ball at this level before this season. They’ll be lots of players in the NL, youngsters with very little EFL game time and players from Ireland/Scotland that are more than good enough for this level, I guess the skill is finding and signing them! And we really struck a load of misses with our loan signings last season too. It should basically be a chance to sign a talented youngster that’s essentially too good for us but not ready for their own team. I’m talking; Grealish, McGregor, Bola, Yates, Grant, Patterson etc. I’m hoping we can re-address that balance this year.

I disagree @Robbieon Ben Tozer... we need a quick, versatile CB, comfortable on the ball. I don't think Ben matches that

Connections Puzzle #348 Redemption. I got the orange and green, then really struggled but perseverance paid off. After Wordle and waffle am feeling pleased with myself now.

Wordle 1,070 6/6 Bad first word choice

Connections Puzzle #348 That was just stupidly impossible.

#waffle854 1/5 I thought I was going to lose my streak. streak: 32 #wafflesilverteam wafflegame.net