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“Same as last year, lads?” It’s genuinely quite hard to believe we haven’t identified other/better players than the ones we’ve been chasing for multiple transfer windows. Are Elanga, Pedro, Trafford etc the best we can find? And if they are, why are we fucking around over minimal amounts of money? We will obviously have other options but given our activity they’re clearly not considered better than the usual names.

Interesting, I just ordered the Third Shirt (pretty spiffy) and there were no duties added in. This not made in China?

I reckon £200k-£300k a week in wages is a bigger pull than us winning the carabao cup last season.

Probably said this before but getting the cup, CL and an elite manager were meant to be major pulls for players this window. Doesn't seem like anyone gives a fuck about any of them, which is fine as it's out of our hands. Maybe we're naive to the mindset of a modern footballer. But we probably need to swallow our pride and drop down to the next group of players quality wise, where we'll compete against Brighton, Forest and Villa.

Howe is in charge of transfers now though is he not ? We really don’t know who’s to blame for not signing anyone, if he’s narrowed in on PL players which we can’t afford then surely he’s to blame ? On the other hand if it’s because we have no structure in place without a DOF, or it’s because PIF’s processes are causing the problem then yeah Howe must be getting pissed off. Trouble at the min is we have no idea who is to blame for the inaction.

Agreed - which is why I’d look to find a DoF with a similar football style / philosophy and appoint him on that basis

What does move fast mean ? Surely all we can do is put a bid in and see what happens.

Yeah i understand the role. Problem is that we hired a manager first and hes class.

Ha ha. I’m not sure if he was, I give him stick cos of the way he went on when they scored late on in the Europa league game.

Tbf the point of a good DoF is to get an entire footballing philosophy ingrained at the club, so that all the clubs teams from youth teams to first team play in the same way, and the club signs players in line with that philosophy - and not the whims of individual managers. Plenty of the most successful clubs do this - it reduces the risks of managerial appointments, as they become more like coaches. If Howe were to leave and be replaced by a manager with a different style, then loads of the players Howe loved might just become surplus very quickly, and it costs a fortune while we sell and buy a new team. We’ve seen it before of course - going from KK to Dalglish to Gullit to Robson - that’s the danger. To me, you’d want a DoF willing to adopt Howe’s style throughout the club, so that any successor will be in the ‘Howe mould’.

I think the element that makes it concerning for me was Howe saying he wanted us to move fast. This has not been fast. The concern is compounded by the fact that Howe integrates players into the squad slower than almost any other manager so the longer it takes for us to sign players, the longer it will be before we see them / see them up to full speed

He should be looking how Eddie revived Isaks career to make him one of the most sought after strikers in the world

I lived in Korea and many people there see the Japanese Imperial Flag flag as akin to a Nazi flag. Not without justification and it is banned by FIFA. Allowing a melded NUFC version of it to make the cut on a promotional video weeks before we go on tour to Korea is a pretty embarrassing oversight to be honest.

I wouldn't say it's a major concern yet, but your overall point is right. Obviously you can't run a successful football club going multiple summer windows without a signing I'm assuming that's not the plan.

he never said that. He said it was available and he took it.

Think they’ve just gone with top targets first, but agree it’s starting to look incredibly naive to think on a limited budget you can prize players from other PL clubs.

Not going to get in a flap yet but if we don’t end up with several major additions to the squad by the end of the window then it’ll be a complete and utter disgrace and will make me question what the fuck is going on behind the scenes. Howe is holding this all together, if he goes it all crumbles very quickly. We needed to act faster than this and it’s already a major concern that we haven’t got anyone in yet as it just pushes progress for the season back further and further

We've clearly come into this window really well prepared, having spent the past 18 months of inactivity doing the ground work. Top notch stuff so far

What would folk recommend replica or pro version for this one, think pro looked better for home shirt, but can’t see any noticeable difference in design on this one ? Thought 3rd replica was better last year due to collar issue, but anyone seen both versions of this in person yet?

I think we're stringing these clubs along and it's great to see. We've got no intention of selling whatsoever, and he isn't looking to move.

Utter woke nonsense

CEO more important for me, as that’s the revenue driver which will have more of an impact on our progress than whatever a DoF does.

Not quick enough to be a traditional in out threat in the wing I don’t think, be a different type… I think his intelligence and technique mean his lack of stature isn’t a concern the way it might be with others.

Tbf, I expected this appointment to wait until we had a new CEO place. Guess it can’t wait forever though.