A STATEMENT FROM SIMON SADLER........

Simonized

Simonized

Well-known member
Firstly, I’d like to congratulate Neil and his team for their exciting victory over Wigan Athletic on Saturday. We worked hard, were well organized and entertained as we deservedly grabbed the three points. We’ve seen a Neil Critchley team grow and gel before and I am confident that we are again on the right track. I am excited to see how this season pans out.

I write today though because over recent weeks and months my commitment to our Club has, from some parts, been brought into question. As a reminder, I stepped in to buy Blackpool Football Club in 2019 because I wanted to secure its survival for future generations of fans. I insisted as a part of the sale process that I would only buy the full 96.2% of the Club and not the 76.2% that was originally available. I did this to ensure that the Club was free of its previous owners and so that we, as a fanbase, could unite under single ownership. To achieve this and to ensure that I, rather than any of the other three less credible bidders acquired the Club, I paid a full price for what in reality was a very distressed asset that had suffered years of chronic under-investment. Then, as now, my motives were not financial.

Since then, I have ploughed a further GBP18m of my family’s money into the Club. In this financial year alone, I expect to provide an additional GBP5m, this before any contribution to any large infrastructure projects. It’s this level of commitment that keeps Blackpool Football Club operational. It’s this investment that has given us a likely top six playing budget, and enables us to pay, for Kyle Joseph, the highest known transfer fee this year in League One. It’s this money that has helped us to bring in established pro’s like Oliver Norburn, Matthew Pennington, Richard O’Donnell and Jordan Rhodes, whilst also sign younger players such as Kyle, Tashan Oakley-Boothe, Albie Morgan and Kylian Kouassi - players who will hopefully develop into our stars of the future. It’s this that has allowed us to loan highly rated youngsters like Jensen Weir and Karamoko Dembele. I doubt that there is another owner or ownership group in League One that will make as large a financial contribution this season as the GBP5m that I will likely inject.

“But where’s the Critchley/Bowler/Yates money gone?” is the recent refrain. It’s certainly not been spent on wedding venues or woolly mammoths! These incoming transfer fee payments are staggered over time but the monies so far received have contributed to the spend on the playing squad. Player trading and reinvesting a majority of the income from player sales back into the playing squad is a vital part of our strategy and combined with my personal investment helps us to pay meaningful transfer fees, source high quality loan players and most importantly support a significantly higher wage bill than when we were last in this division. This has resulted in a transfer window and an assembled squad that the football professionals within the Club are more than happy with. I can also further assure you all that with David Downes in-situ we will use future windows as an opportunity to further improve the squad as we did every window when Neil was last with us.

When I first bought the Club I said that I ultimately wanted it to operate in a manner in which it was able to sustain itself. The owner-funded model of our community football clubs is a dangerous one. Using Saturday’s opponents Wigan as an example, they have had severe financial difficulties recently under two sets of overseas owners until finding what I hope for them will be long-term stability under their new local owner who I’m sure understands the value and importance of the Club to the town. Other local clubs such as Bury have not been so lucky as they had no benefactor step in to save them when they encountered financial difficulties. There is clearly a trade-off between sustainability and ambition and as custodian my aim is for the Club to survive and thrive over time. The amount of cash that I continue to inject into our Club clearly demonstrates though that I am funding us at the ambitious rather than the sustainable end of the spectrum. It is a shame that all of this is not better understood across the entirety of our fanbase.

I recognise that being the custodian of Blackpool Football Club is not just a financial responsibility. A lot of the big decisions roll up to me and I know that I will be judged on their outcomes. Unfortunately, outcomes cannot be guaranteed but I can say that all decisions are taken with the best interests of the football club at heart, although it is inevitable that mistakes will sometimes be made. I relish and embrace this responsibility that comes with being the owner of the Club and expect to be so for many years to come. In saying that, I only want what is best for the town and the Club. If there is anyone out there who has the means to fund the Club and believes that they are a more suitable custodian of Blackpool Football Club than I, then they should make themselves known and I will hear them out.

Finally, I hope that we can all agree that it’s time for us to put the disappointments of last season firmly behind us and to look forward. I hope that for the rest of the season we can all get behind the team and you can roar us to success as you did on Saturday. When on song, no fans top Blackpool fans and nowhere beats a packed Bloomfield Road.

On behalf of the Club, I thank you for your ongoing support.

UTMP

Simon
 
Said it before and will say it again, whether it's him or people who report to him, they need to spend less time reading avftt, it's not representative of the fanbase at large and these weird annual statements I find completely bizarre. Just get on with it and stop stressing about what drunk people say about you on a Saturday night on a message board. Between the over the top defensiveness and references to other clubs who have spent and got themselves into danger this was Oystonesque communication.
 
Simonized said:

www.blackpoolfc.co.uk

A Statement From The Owner

Blackpool FC Homepage
www.blackpoolfc.co.uk www.blackpoolfc.co.uk

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That was a great read for me.

Good to hear some blunt communications on what's going on inside the the club. And I think it's a lot less telly-offy than the last one he released when Appleton was ** dire!

Also good to hear that the fee for Joseph was fairly substantial for the division we are in.
 
foggy said:
Said it before and will say it again, whether it's him or people who report to him, they need to spend less time reading avftt, it's not representative of the fanbase at large and these weird annual statements I find completely bizarre. Just get on with it and stop stressing about what drunk people say about you on a Saturday night on a message board. Between the over the top defensiveness and references to other clubs who have spent and got themselves I to danger this was Oystonesque communication.
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Agree with this. I thought the vocal support on Saturday might have calmed things and shown him the moaners are a minority. Clearly I was wrong.

Think it’s vital he spends less time on here.
 
And Simon that’s all fans want - a bit of transparency and a few explanations as to what is happening.
Thursday was a good example of the club failing to understand the passion and commitment the fans have by not just releasing a simple statement at 11pm (or preferably earlier!) saying our business had been concluded and getting that comment from Critch that he was happy with the business we’d done and had the full support of the owner. Sadly, in any walk of life, you have to nip these stupid rumours in the bud before they circulate as fact.
I have always backed Sadler and some fans have very short memories (I loved the wooly mammoth comment).
What I’d also say is we have some very disruptive fans on here and social media - plus our two podcasts have hardly covered themselves in glory and the Muckers need to realise they are a minority group and actually as a family club they have to tow the line even when it spoils their fun. Opinion is fine but sometimes people have to take responsibility for the negativity they are causing.
Sometimes social media and here are not reflective of what I experience on a Matchday and Simon needs to maybe take a step back from the web and realise it’s a vacuum for negativity.
 
It comes across as defensive, but there's nothing in that that isn't true. I keep reading we've spent nothing in this transfer window. We spent nothing on the last day, but we did some decent business early, something we constantly criticised the last lot for not doing.

He's criticised for saying nothing, then jumped on for saying a few home truths.

It's time to stop the unwarranted criticism of everything that some seem to revel in and support the team. Four points off the top. Let's move on.
 
Seaside Aggro said:
Paying five million quid a year to get rattled by avftt.
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To get rattled by fkn idiots that love to make comments such as he’s no different to Oyston. Such a flippant comment would hurt any normal person and those that say he shouldn’t pay any attention I do genuinely think it’s a good thing as shows how passionate he is about the club and how he wants to drive it forward
 
Passive aggressive drivel. Owners will be judged on the decisions they make, which so far have us in the same position as when he took over, not defensive statements citing woolly mammoths. Stop reading message boards and start putting in place a proper recruitment strategy.
 
Wizaard said:
It comes across as defensive, but there's nothing in that that isn't true. I keep reading we've spent nothing in this transfer window. We spent nothing on the last day, but we did some decent business early, something we constantly criticised the last lot for not doing.

He's criticised for saying nothing, then jumped on for saying a few home truths.

It's time to stop the unwarranted criticism of everything that some seem to revel in and support the team. Four points off the top. Let's move on.
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I'm not jumping on him or really holding this against him, he just really doesn't need to do this. I have no idea why people think a PR statement is "transparency". We publish financial accounts every year. The Oystons were actually quite transparent. We knew they spent 3.5m on transfer fees in the Premier League season and we knew Owen paid himself 11m. We also knew 30 odd million or so also went to his other companies in unsecured, interest free loans and those companies were named in black and white, and their own accounts were publicly available. Likewise we can see in the accounts the 20m or so Sadler has put directly into BFC. That's all I need, at least when it comes to assessing financial support. Not a 500 word statement.
 
foggy said:
Said it before and will say it again, whether it's him or people who report to him, they need to spend less time reading avftt, it's not representative of the fanbase at large and these weird annual statements I find completely bizarre. Just get on with it and stop stressing about what drunk people say about you on a Saturday night on a message board. Between the over the top defensiveness and references to other clubs who have spent and got themselves into danger this was Oystonesque communication.
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It isn't just AVFTT. There is plenty of this talk and vitriol across social media (twitter mainly), again it is a noisy minority (that does seem to be growing).

If you say things enough people start to believe it and there are plenty on twitter who bang the same drum again and again and it creates a culture of slagging the club off. There seems to be a portion of the fanbase who seem to enjoy it more when they have something to whinge about, I can understand Sadler's urge to set the record straight but perhaps he should rise above it in a way - portions of that statement do feel a bit petulant.
 
I guess he puts the money in and has every right to set the record straight. I was a little irked by our deadline day and still have concerns over our squad depth to challenge for automatic promotion. I also have concerns over the entertainment of recent games, Wigan was a major step forward but is still only 1 game. It's a good job King Kenny scored the late winner or I suspect this statement would have been collecting dust until the next win. He is right though, what's done is done and we now need to focus on backing the club, there is zero value in anything else. All I would say to Simon is probably best to avoid here and social media and/or develop thicker skin. It doesn't matter which club it is, a run of defeats/poor performances will always have fans questioning the manager/players/owner/CEO/tea person*.
 
TangerinePeel said:
It isn't just AVFTT. There is plenty of this talk and vitriol across social media (twitter mainly), again it is a noisy minority (that does seem to be growing).

If you say things enough people start to believe it and there are plenty on twitter who bang the same drum again and again and it creates a culture of slagging the club off. There seems to be a portion of the fanbase who seem to enjoy it more when they have something to whinge about, I can understand Sadler's urge to set the record straight but perhaps he should rise above it in a way - portions of that statement do feel a bit petulant.
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Agreed, and there are certain people and groups who lets face it love the drama and love the idea of themselves being the centre of attention, and all this will do is make them more adverserial as now it's them Vs Sadler and they know they can kick up a fuss and be heard now
 
foggy said:
I'm not jumping on him or really holding this against him, he just really doesn't need to do this. I have no idea why people think a PR statement is "transparency". We publish financial accounts every year. The Oystons were actually quite transparent. We knew they spent 3.5m on transfer fees in the Premier League season and we knew Owen paid himself 11m. We also knew 30 odd million or so also went to his other companies in unsecured, interest free loans and those companies were named in black and white, and their own accounts were publicly available. Likewise we can see in the accounts the 20m or so Sadler has put directly into BFC. That's all I need, at least when it comes to assessing financial support. Not a 500 word statement.
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I didn't think you were, but I think he's slated when there's a comms black hole too. The end of the transfer window is probably the right time to put something out. I wouldn't expect anything else until maybe another at the end of January then an end of season missive.
 
Needed saying in my opinion - There are some fans that think all monies that come in from transfers, ticket sales, booze and pies etc etc is all profit .. They don't seem to think or realise the club has overheads and is a 365 day a year business..

Still, there will be some who think he should be ploughing more in and/or it's all smoke and mirrors what he's saying and he's in it for his own gain ... I don't envy him one little bit because quite frankly some of our "fans" are basically stupid...

We need to be thankful we've got him in my opinion ..
 
TangerinePeel said:
It isn't just AVFTT. There is plenty of this talk and vitriol across social media (twitter mainly), again it is a noisy minority (that does seem to be growing).
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Oh .. go and look at the abuse that the social media team got in Saturday on Insta and Twitter when they posted its Matchday. AVFTT is actually pretty well balanced in comparison to the comments they received on Saturday.
 
He's every right to say it and has been transparent. It's a shame he takes the minority of bell end's comments to heart though as there are always some disgusting individuals who comment at games and on here. We had some saying Sadler out, saying he was the same as the Oystons, that he was asset stripping, him and Critchley were useless etc etc.
As fans we opt to pay our money or not and therefore are entitles to opinions on players and style of play - Sadler isn't playing with monopoly money, the amounts of money to sustain a club at League One/ Championship level is staggering.

Hopefully after Saturday, the team, fans, manager and owner can kick on together so we have a great season.
 
Chishandfips said:
Thursday was a good example of the club failing to understand the passion and commitment the fans have by not just releasing a simple statement at 11pm (or preferably earlier!) saying our business had been concluded and getting that comment from Critch that he was happy with the business we’d done and had the full support of the owner. Sadly, in any walk of life, you have to nip these stupid rumours in the bud before they circulate as fact.
I have always backed Sadler and some fans have very short memories (I loved the wooly mammoth comment).
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Amen Sister! Ironically a lack of communication in a world where communication is key has been part of the problem as it allows those who can't help but have a dig get a voice.
 
foggy said:
Said it before and will say it again, whether it's him or people who report to him, they need to spend less time reading avftt, it's not representative of the fanbase at large and these weird annual statements I find completely bizarre. Just get on with it and stop stressing about what drunk people say about you on a Saturday night on a message board. Between the over the top defensiveness and references to other clubs who have spent and got themselves into danger this was Oystonesque communication.
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Yep. This with bells on. Don't pander to the online rent-a-gobs who couldn't run a school disco. You don't have to justify anything the club does and you certainly don't need to defend yourself because some fans feel we're more special or different than anyone else.
 
I don’t think it’s just AVFTT as from what I can gather, there’s a lot of negative stuff across the ‘Social Media’ spectrum.

It’s not good and I’ve said as much on here…. The negativity is like a cancer and it only takes a few loud and persistent individuals to bring everyone down. (Many of them don’t even attend games - some may well be knob end fans stirring the pot)

It’s not just aimed at SS either, other members of the Team are targeted, players, the manager etc..

I welcome communication from Simon and it’s important (especially at certain key moments) that he offers up some reassurance and gives us insight into progress to the plan. That said, I agree that he should perhaps pay less attention to a lot of the nonsense. (When people know they are getting to you, they will persist).

He’s right in much of what he says though and we definitely need to put last season behind us … Hopefully Saturday’s result draws a line under that and we can start to move on👍
 
Well there was a clamour for communication from the owner and there we have it.
Might as well added, wind your necks in, which after some of the absolute shite posted on here recently, he would have every right to.

We all have opinions, we all think we could do things better, maybe sometimes we're right, maybe sometimes wrong. But we couldn't do better because none of us have the sort of money needed to run things, well, I certainly don't.

Good to see some straight talking coming out of the club. Now, about the Yates money......😉
 
I think Simon understands that the overwhelming majority of Blackpool fans are 100% behind him!!

We all know that "all decisions" by Simon "are taken with the best interests of the football club at heart" and that is all that matters because ultimately and eventually we will be successful with an owner like him!!

It is a shame that the loud minority make him feel that he has to make these statements, AVFTT is definitely only representative of a small fraction of our fanbase but there is only really a tiny minority of loud AVFTT posters who's agendas are to be negative all the time. Despite this I love the AVFTT madhouse! 😁

In Simon we trust!! 👍
 
So who owns the other 3.8% of the club?

Anyway nice of you Simon to say what you have it’s certainly cleared a few facts up and put fans minds at rest. 👍

It’s also clear now you do read this board. 🤣
 
Honestly, that has to be one of the WORST pieces of communication I've seen from the club since he's taken over.

Why is it a statement? Why isn't it called an update?

What is he stating? Shut the fuck up talking about how I spend money?

Why does he have a wanky tone throughout? We won at the weekend, huge opportunity to bring some good PR about.

Why is it a statement not a video?

Do we have a PR expert or a media team? Because frankly the way that has come across is absolutely awful.

I'm not against him or against Neil, the last 4 results were horrendous viewing. And we ARE short up front and short of quality. Of which we all expected 2-3 players to come in.
 
I look at this way , he saved us from the scum , we were all pleased regardless if some don’t like him 🤷 lol
we went up in his first full season via playoffs , we stayed up in the first season in championship, even thou our form dipped near the end , but we stayed up
then it went wrong and that’s where a football person was needed not a business man , yes ok Simon wouldn’t of know critchley was leaving
can’t blame him can we , but getting in the wrong coach and a poor summer window last season cost pool big time , major mistakes were made
but that's because the person he hired wasn’t good enough football person to make the right choices , look at January as well , bringing mick in
dobbie was the man till end of season.every pool fan knew this , yes it was a risk , but so was mick , dobbie would of cost less as well lol
and I actually think we would of stayed up , my opinion

mistakes can happen , we all make mistakes in life and buisness , it’s how you retivive them is important going forward

most if not all being honest , are just worried if there is enough quality in this current squad to try and take us up , and am I presuming you want us back up as quick as possible Simon, so final transfer window day I think most if not all was hoping a couple of quality players might of come in via fees or loans Financial it makes more sense for pool to be in the championship, surly 🤷

our other issue if we are all worried about is , critchley, can he take us back , his form recently isn’t good is it , let’s be honest here
lot of fans still not for given him and lots like dobbie , unfortunately that’s life 🤷

the proof in the pudding will be this season come may , if we struggled then critchley wasn’t the man and again that’s a mistake made by the club if we go down then will not be good for you Simon , but , if we go up , well you have shut a lot of us up and that’s how to prove the doubters wrong UTMP 🧡
 
foggy said:
Said it before and will say it again, whether it's him or people who report to him, they need to spend less time reading avftt, it's not representative of the fanbase at large and these weird annual statements I find completely bizarre. Just get on with it and stop stressing about what drunk people say about you on a Saturday night on a message board. Between the over the top defensiveness and references to other clubs who have spent and got themselves into danger this was Oystonesque communication.
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Jeez, he can't do right for doing wrong in some people's eyes.
 
TangerineDan said:
I think Simon understands that the overwhelming majority of Blackpool fans are 100% behind him!!

We all know that "all decisions" by Simon "are taken with the best interests of the football club at heart" and that is all that matters because ultimately and eventually we will be successful with an owner like him!!

It is a shame that the loud minority make him feel that he has to make these statements, AVFTT is definitely only representative of a small fraction of our fanbase but there is only really a tiny minority of loud AVFTT posters who's agendas are to be negative all the time. Despite this I love the AVFTT madhouse! 😁

In Simon we trust!! 👍
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TD don’t think it’s the AVFTT community that has caused this statement - The powerful but sometimes dangerous social media of “X”, insta etc have been in meltdown for weeks and this spreads to 1,000s and 1,0000s of people.

Anyway as for the statement , it’s fair enough SS obviously has a right to communicate to answer the outbursts.

How much did Kyle Joseph cost though??
 
SpionKop said:
TD don’t think it’s the AVFTT community that has caused this statement - The powerful but sometimes dangerous social media of “X”, insta etc have been in meltdown for weeks and this spreads to 1,000s and 1,0000s of people.

Anyway as for the statement , it’s fair enough SS obviously has a right to communicate to answer the outbursts.

How much did Kyle Joseph cost though??
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Erm, according to Simon, it's well known it's the highest figure spent on a player in League One this summer.

So, frankly shut up. You should know what it is.
 
Simonized said:
Firstly, I’d like to congratulate Neil and his team for their exciting victory over Wigan Athletic on Saturday. We worked hard, were well organized and entertained as we deservedly grabbed the three points. We’ve seen a Neil Critchley team grow and gel before and I am confident that we are again on the right track. I am excited to see how this season pans out.

I write today though because over recent weeks and months my commitment to our Club has, from some parts, been brought into question. As a reminder, I stepped in to buy Blackpool Football Club in 2019 because I wanted to secure its survival for future generations of fans. I insisted as a part of the sale process that I would only buy the full 96.2% of the Club and not the 76.2% that was originally available. I did this to ensure that the Club was free of its previous owners and so that we, as a fanbase, could unite under single ownership. To achieve this and to ensure that I, rather than any of the other three less credible bidders acquired the Club, I paid a full price for what in reality was a very distressed asset that had suffered years of chronic under-investment. Then, as now, my motives were not financial.

Since then, I have ploughed a further GBP18m of my family’s money into the Club. In this financial year alone, I expect to provide an additional GBP5m, this before any contribution to any large infrastructure projects. It’s this level of commitment that keeps Blackpool Football Club operational. It’s this investment that has given us a likely top six playing budget, and enables us to pay, for Kyle Joseph, the highest known transfer fee this year in League One. It’s this money that has helped us to bring in established pro’s like Oliver Norburn, Matthew Pennington, Richard O’Donnell and Jordan Rhodes, whilst also sign younger players such as Kyle, Tashan Oakley-Boothe, Albie Morgan and Kylian Kouassi - players who will hopefully develop into our stars of the future. It’s this that has allowed us to loan highly rated youngsters like Jensen Weir and Karamoko Dembele. I doubt that there is another owner or ownership group in League One that will make as large a financial contribution this season as the GBP5m that I will likely inject.

“But where’s the Critchley/Bowler/Yates money gone?” is the recent refrain. It’s certainly not been spent on wedding venues or woolly mammoths! These incoming transfer fee payments are staggered over time but the monies so far received have contributed to the spend on the playing squad. Player trading and reinvesting a majority of the income from player sales back into the playing squad is a vital part of our strategy and combined with my personal investment helps us to pay meaningful transfer fees, source high quality loan players and most importantly support a significantly higher wage bill than when we were last in this division. This has resulted in a transfer window and an assembled squad that the football professionals within the Club are more than happy with. I can also further assure you all that with David Downes in-situ we will use future windows as an opportunity to further improve the squad as we did every window when Neil was last with us.

When I first bought the Club I said that I ultimately wanted it to operate in a manner in which it was able to sustain itself. The owner-funded model of our community football clubs is a dangerous one. Using Saturday’s opponents Wigan as an example, they have had severe financial difficulties recently under two sets of overseas owners until finding what I hope for them will be long-term stability under their new local owner who I’m sure understands the value and importance of the Club to the town. Other local clubs such as Bury have not been so lucky as they had no benefactor step in to save them when they encountered financial difficulties. There is clearly a trade-off between sustainability and ambition and as custodian my aim is for the Club to survive and thrive over time. The amount of cash that I continue to inject into our Club clearly demonstrates though that I am funding us at the ambitious rather than the sustainable end of the spectrum. It is a shame that all of this is not better understood across the entirety of our fanbase.

I recognise that being the custodian of Blackpool Football Club is not just a financial responsibility. A lot of the big decisions roll up to me and I know that I will be judged on their outcomes. Unfortunately, outcomes cannot be guaranteed but I can say that all decisions are taken with the best interests of the football club at heart, although it is inevitable that mistakes will sometimes be made. I relish and embrace this responsibility that comes with being the owner of the Club and expect to be so for many years to come. In saying that, I only want what is best for the town and the Club. If there is anyone out there who has the means to fund the Club and believes that they are a more suitable custodian of Blackpool Football Club than I, then they should make themselves known and I will hear them out.

Finally, I hope that we can all agree that it’s time for us to put the disappointments of last season firmly behind us and to look forward. I hope that for the rest of the season we can all get behind the team and you can roar us to success as you did on Saturday. When on song, no fans top Blackpool fans and nowhere beats a packed Bloomfield Road.

On behalf of the Club, I thank you for your ongoing support.

UTMP

Simon
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Gets my vote (but always has). Judging by some of the responses, it’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t. A lot of the negativity flows from unreal expectations and unfair hysteria about some players. It’s a microcosm of most social media, most of which is garbage.

Keep up the good work and UTMP.

Looking forward to a good season.
 
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