Ollie Watkins

[nickspencer]

He's just such a level headed lad, seems to take such calm pragmatic approach to his career. Must be because he went to my school!

Hi, I was going to put in a link to the article - I wrote it - but I see you already have, so thank you.
I met Ollie on Monday and it was pretty obvious even then he wouldn't play today - slight hamstring strain - but he is a very articulate lad. He's definitely staying for the rest of this season and he had some good stories about moving really hurriedly to London, only telling his Mum the night before! Unfortunately no room for any more Exeter-related material as only had 900 words!

All the best to the Bees, too. Really friendly club and the new stadium looks amazing.

Nick

 

[Red Bill]

The aura of the FA Cup is a thing of the past. It started with playing the semi-finals at Wembley, thus diminishing the status of the final. Then EUFA / PL took over, with its 4 qualifiers for the Champions League.
The prize money for the FA Cup is peanuts, winning it doesn't lead to anything.
The FA/PL have done their best to ruin it.
Guardiola will get his way and sooner or later it will be no replays and penalties to decide, depriving small clubs of the chance to get that big match away if they could draw at home.
To be quite honest, who the hell is Guardiola to put his oar in and use the FA Cup as an excuse for Man City's failures, thus contributing to the slow death of the FA Cup?

Ah it breaks my heart Mike. As a kid the FA cup was the most important event in the sporting calender. It was the most prestigious domestic competition in the football world and possibly the sporting world. I would get up so early on cup final day and be glued to the telly all day. Then football became all about money, the only thing that seemed to meter was getting into the reformatted European cup. Four teams out of 92. Nowadays I hear even our fans denigrating the competition and any other of the other knock out competitions. It seems to me there's no real pride in football either from fans or players, it's all about the leagues and nothing else, I personally find it so sad. I expect however that many people reding this will have absolutely no concept of what i'm on about!
Rant over!

 

[IndoMike]

Ah it breaks my heart Mike. As a kid the FA cup was the most important event in the sporting calender. It was the most prestigious domestic competition in the football world and possibly the sporting world. I would get up so early on cup final day and be glued to the telly all day. Then football became all about money, the only thing that seemed to meter was getting into the reformatted European cup. Four teams out of 92. Nowadays I hear even our fans denigrating the competition and any other of the other knock out competitions. It seems to me there's no real pride in football either from fans or players, it's all about the leagues and nothing else, I personally find it so sad. I expect however that many people reding this will have absolutely no concept of what i'm on about!
Rant over!

You're not ranting, Bill, you're just expressing the emotion that many of us feel about the gradual demise of the FA Cup.
It"s a shame that a competition that has more than 125 years of history and was admired and appreciated throughout the world has been degraded in such a way, whilst the instigators of this walk away with golden handshakes worth millions
I too remember thise Cup Final matchday TV specials which would start in the morning and continue until kick-off
I was lucky enough to get given tickets for the Coventry - Spurs Cup Final and the atmosphere was unbelievable.
Now even the excitement of a David beating Goliath is only news for 5 minutes because we know Goliath only played the reserve team.
Don't see how things can change for the better. In fact it'll only get worse.
The only idea I can think of is to amalgamate the League cup with the FA Cup, increase the prize money, and have a rule whereby PL teams have to play a minimum of (say) 8 who started their previous PL match. It might stop Guardiola et al moaning about having to play so many matches. But I guess the EFL wouldn't like that

 

[edwin_price]

It's a big shame that the FA Cup has lost prestige in the way it has... Not sure about all the conspiratorial commentary on it though. Its lost prestige because people have relegated it in importance. If it's a less important competition, teams start resting players for it.

Don't really see a goody baddy narrative, where a load of heartless people have destroyed it. It's just evolved that way that fans and clubs consider other competitions more important. While that's a shame, it's also the case that if we drew man City in the cup, I'd be less excited about the match than I am about Swindon next week.

 

[edwin_price]

Now even the excitement of a David beating Goliath is only news for 5 minutes because we know Goliath only played the reserve team.

Not only that, but the David's are playing weakened sides as well now. Getting rid of the league Cup would be a good move, but not sure it'll make a lot of difference... Its a reserve team competition anyway, effectively.

The big excitement about the Cup is whether we can get a big windfall they will help us in the league.

 

[jimbo-gould]

Ollie linked with Chelsea and Brentford trying for Toney. Unsure I believe there is anything in the Chelsea link.

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard 'keeping tabs' on in-form Brentford forward Ollie Watkins

Chelsea have reportedly turned their attentions to the Championship, and to Brentford striker Ollie Watkins as a long-term transfer target.

www.si.com

 

[DB9]

Ollie linked with Chelsea and Brentford trying for Toney. Unsure I believe there is anything in the Chelsea link.

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard 'keeping tabs' on in-form Brentford forward Ollie Watkins

Chelsea have reportedly turned their attentions to the Championship, and to Brentford striker Ollie Watkins as a long-term transfer target.

www.si.com

If there was any truth in this he'll be bench warming in Germany before you know it!

 

[jimbo-gould]

If there was any truth in this he'll be bench warming in Germany before you know it!

They decide who plays for them based on how much they cost, rather than ability.

 

[STURTZ]

The Watkins, Ampadu swap deal is getting closer, be a nice way for both clubs to avoid paying us anything.

 

[Dubai Grecian]

Lets hope Villa, West Ham maybe even Everton decide to take a £20m + punt to keep them in the premiership