The Palace Fan

To announce it at half time was bizarre. Hardly going to give the fans a lift for the second half.

Hes retired from international football now. Only 31. It feels like he should be much older.

On a side note welcome back @Julio Geordio

Messi announced as club captain ahead of Pique.

One playoff finish in God knows how many decades and regularly selling their best players. To an outsider, you're still a surprise candidate.

Come on now, don't take the piss mate, we all know exactly who he's talking about here. @Mel81x @JOSHBRFC @Harry @ScoRoss and myself.

You are my surprise pick this season @Danny Just like you were two seasons ago

Unfortunately he had a lot of issues, some of which seemed self inflicted. --- I can't believe I'm saying this but Slammiversary was one of the best shows Impact have put out there in roughly ten years. Apart from maybe Eddie Edwards (who has bizarrely transitioned himself in to a very good hardcore wrestler) none of these guys would benefit from moving to WWE so hopefully they can keep this group together for another year or two.

Cole is a regular signing of mine on FM. This is because his brother Jay always turns out to be very good, and he's more receptive to sign if his brother is already with me. Whilst Jay becomes an established Premier League player, Cole usually ends up playing his trade at somebody like Wycombe. That said, the last unknown Chelsea youngster that joined Brentford looks like he could be something special. So here's hopeing.

The Holmesdale Fanatics have told Crystal Palace that they will no longer be present as an organised group because the club have refused to move long term season ticket holders to accommodate where they want to sit. What must these Ultra groups in Europe think.

Well thats another not so Extreme Rules concluded for another year. A lot of matches felt like we were going through the motions. Nobody really expected anything other than Almas, Carmella, Dolph, Bliss and AJ to win. Pretty disappointed to see New Day not on the main card, Baron Corbin lose momentum already and Matt Hardy drop the tag team titles. Two things I was particularly happy about. The first was Randy Orton turning heel again. As a face he has great momentum when he was doing his bit with Bray Wyatt but about a year ago he went flat. He never seems flat when he's a heel. He always looks main event material. I'm glad it's happened and a feud with Jeff Hardy should be a good one. The second was Lashley beating Roman. Lashley is legit somebody who looks capable of mixing with Brock, Roman and Strowman. I think the fans realise that which is why they've resented his quick climb up the card. Having him lose in a formality loss so soon since his Raw debut would have been reminiscent of that pretty lame Cena period at the end of the naughties. Also, how many huge bumps is Owens going to take? That's the second PPV in a row where Vince has booked him as if he's Shane. --- Away for WWE, massive mistake from ROH not give the title to Cody just before All In because of all the exposure. I hope Pentagon and Aries drop the LU and Impact titles soon as having them as midcarders in competitive promotions makes the titles look weak.

'Boro would be good for him. Him and Traore either side would tear teams apart.

Harry Wilson doesn't want to go out on loan again, did he impress as much as the stats suggest @The Artful Dodger?

Everybody at Chelsea's training ground must have felt so awkward today. From Antonio, to the players, to the day to day staff. Some form of announcement from somebody behind the scenes, whether it's Roman or somebody like Buck, who either publicly backs Antonio or states that Sarri is the man they want is surely the logical way to go about things.

Possibly not worth a thread on bus own because he's not a major name but Reece James is heading back to Wigan on loan for another season.

Roque Mesa has signed on a perminant basis. I'm at a loss with how much he flopped at Swansea. He seemed like the ideal player they needed at the time.

NXT:UK confirmed. NXT:UK seems to have been on the cards since ITV showed an interest in bringing back WOS. Which I actually would have preferred. Having a wrestling show on itv, even for just 8 weeks a year, could have really rejuvinated how wrestling is perceived in this country just based on the popularity of their NYE one off show. They've literally signed everybody that appeared on that initial show already other than Grado. I know WWE have done a lot to help other promotions over recent years, but to me this is the first step before we get NXT Japan, NXT Mexico and companies like IPW and PCW will be hindered as a result. I imagine NXT UK will be a wwe network exclusive too, effectively killing any terrestrial network taking a gamble on a wrestling promotion in the near future. In regard to NXT whilst there's a lot right with the product (the way Shayna Bazler is being handled for example) the fact Velveteen Dream lost at Takeover again is going to start to grate on people. Ricochet is great and probably will be a future NXT champion, but a loss this early in to his NXT career wouldnt have hurt him. The W for Velveteen however could have put him in the title picture. Then you have the World Championship being around the waist of a good performer in Alexander Black. A fine talent but Johnny Gargano is putting on five star matches and his feud with Ciampa has main evented the last two takeovers (Hopefully that will be all wrapped up in the summer). Then you have Undisputed Era who have been excellent since their arrival. Personally, I hope they put the belt around Adam Cole, and he drops it to Ricochet at the Wrestle Mania takeover The roster is beginning to look a little bloated all of a sudden too. It speaks volumes that EC3, Pete Dunne and Adam Cole are being left off the takeover card. Guys like James Storm, Eli Drake and Jay Lethal are best holding off committing to NXT to next year. Away from WWE Impact Wrestling has been ok, largely as they've benefited through Lucha Underground guys like Pentagon, Cage, Drago and Fenix. Su Yung has been a great addition to take charge of the Knockouts Division too. I do think the belt needs to be taken off Austin Aries for a bit. Having him compete for the second biggest title of ROH whilst being Impacts Champion makes the company look real second rate. Hopefully Eli Drake signs a long contract and gets another title run. Also i need to get round to watching Lucha Underground which has started again. It's going to be interesting to see how they adapt to not having Rey Mysterio, Ricochet and Dario Cueto. I imagine Sexy Star will not be involved either after she tried to legitimately break Rosemarys arm. With Pentagon, Fenix, Mil Muertes, Cage, Mantanza, The Mack and Johnny Mundo still around there's enough names to carry another series.

Big Cass released without being given the standard future endeavours speech. Must have really pissed someone off.

Jordi Alba: "I'm very happy at Barca. If it depended on me, I would stay at Barcelona my whole life." --- Are there any other players like him coming through? @SirBalon @El Profesor @Kowabunga @Paulo Dybala etc. When he eventually goes - He's somebody that fits in to the category for me of 'I never noticed how good he was until he stopped playing.

I agree about Braun and Roode. The MITB briefcase could have gone to The Miz, with Braun beating Lesner fairly. As for Roode he really needs a heel turn. That's what made him great in NXT and TNA. I really hope Asuka doesn't end up like Nakamura has done. Her saving grace is that she's the first royal rumble winner, so for historic purposes they'll want her to have a good run in the company.

One of my friends went to a ROH War of the Worlds show with NJPW guys at Crystal Palace and he said that it was the best wrestling show he'd ever been too. The have a real great knack of progressing people. Marty Scrull looks like he's main event material, Hangman Page is getting better every year, The Kingdom have had a really good year. Then you have guys like The Young Bucks, Jay White, Kushida etc who benefit with both ROH and NJPW. Cody Rhodes seems to be having another great year too. Speaking of Cody, I'm gutted that All In can't be televised where he is inevitably going to win the NWA title off Nick Aldis as the titles prestige continues to be restored. Nick Aldis has pretty much said he's been black balled by WWE as somebody there has spreaded the message he is difficult to work with. Which is a real shame as he seems like the ideal candidate to be the face of the UK Championship at present.

To me, Money In The Bank felt like a good show with a logical ending. It strengthens the belief that Brawn will be the guy, which makes sense as hes looked like the force to be reckoned with for over a year now. Brocks long title reign has no credability what so ever due to how many times hes had to defend it. Here's hopeing he cashes in soon. The other choices in the Money In The Bank match were interesting and give us a good insight in to WWE's thinking on Smackdown. The Miz looks like he's going to be main eventing again soon, Rusev is being taken seriously again, and The New Day are still admired at a time when the tag team division isn't. With Raw I was surprised they went for Bobby Roode over Seth Rollins. Ladder matches are made for Seth, and Bobby Roode was already in a feud with Elias. Also, let's not forget that they're using Bobby Roode as a face. A role that us clearly not his best. In regards to the women - they had to do something to keep Rhonda looking strong without winning the title so the ending made sense, but I would have rather seen Natalya win given the work she's been doing since the brand switch. It would have been a fitting mark of respect. Alexxa Bliss winning the title so soon after feuding with Nia Jaxx surprised me too. A heel turn for Sasha Banks, who seems to have nothing to do at the moment , could have got major pops. Then on Smackdown I really haven't got a problem with Ellsworth returning and making Carmella look like a Champion that needs help (because in a division with Charlotte, Asuka and Lynch she really does). The story with Ellsworth and Carmella felt like it was cut short when he was released, so this is an opportunity to make that right. Asuka will win the title eventually. Hopefully before WrestleMania. The sad thing for me is that it looks like Nakamura will never be Champion. He's had plenty of opportunities as a face and a heel in the last year. They've got heels in Miz and Joe who arguably deserve opportunities now. Then there's Bryan, Orton and Jeff Hardy as faces. So I think he's reached his summit already. Away from MITB i like this new look Corbin. A feud where he squashes Jason Jordan before a match with Angle looks good on the horizon for his character. Hopefully they'll persist in gradually booking Lashley and McIntyre as they're doing it now as there you have two guys who could realistically mix with Reigns and Brawn Strowman. The biggest disappointment for me is the lack of interest in the tag team divisions given some of the teams they now have. Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt should really be given a lot more exposure to make the Broken gimmick work. Speaking of Reigns, I understand the logic in having him face the one guy who was more hated than him... but in Chicago?! That was asking for trouble. The chants of VELVETEEN cracked me up though.

Brilliant show, but its worth noting that if WWE had attempted 'Clockwork Jericho' they would have got ruined for it.

Haven't the government agreed to match every pound donated? Where's that magic money tree come from?