steve_69

27 year old Drinkwater for £35m compared to 21 year old Merino for £6.5m is a perfect case in point. Proven vs unproven, low-risk vs high risk. Won't work nearly as often as it doesn't. Fair enough but there's a difference of £28.5m!!! I trust Rafa's judgement enough that i'd be happy if he signed more unproven players for lower fees - he's that diligent that you can be sure the vast majority would be spot on. The odd marque signing would be nice alongside, mind.

That's Cabaye's thing though, he did it every time for us. Put in an awful challenge then pretends he's really sorry. Depressing to see the ref fall for it really. Aye, cabaye got away with a few like that when we played for us. Can't stand the bloke, soon as he refused to play that was a cardinal sin which you can't go back on. Dubious that mind Neesy. That was very much the club line. Why didn't he open his mouth on social media or in the press if it wasn't true? No idea, why did Given wait nearly ten years to say anything? Why didn't Carroll say anything in public? Or Hughton? Enrique's the only one who spoken on social media about the way the club goes on, the others either took forever to come out, or information came from ITKs. I think a lot of players and managers choose to keep their powder dry these days because everything gets endlessly shared, dissected and trotted out again time after time. Managers pay a lot more attention to players' attitudes, personality traits and past misdemeanours and I imagine speaking out against senior club staff isn't looked upon very favourably. Likewise club owners will probably look at instances of a manager speaking out against BODs when deciding who to hire. Given's career is basically over so there's no risk to him speaking out now

27 year old Drinkwater for £35m compared to 21 year old Merino for £6.5m is a perfect case in point.

The rhetoric around us definitely seems to be changing/improving. It's taken a good while like, but more of the media seem to be defending us against the laughable, lazy allegations that we demand the fucking world on a stick. You're always going to get massive twats like Simon Jordan running their mouths off, and it's obviously beneath him to do some actual research so he chooses to spout any old shit instead. He's a grade A, know-nothing rent-a-cunt. I can't imagine there are a lot of people in the football industry that actually take him seriously. Unfortunately we live in a clickbait world so people like him are good for ratings.

It's probably just a handful of dodgy Excel spreadsheets and a few scribbled-on hotel napkins knowing our lot.

We arguably have more quality in midfield than they do and our defence is just as strong. I'd say they have better attacking options but even then, they're hardly the type of strikers we should be shitting ourselves about. I'd like to see Mitro given a start in this one and we could do with Perez showing up for once.

Carver praises Colback publicly and plays him every game, Rafa drops him to the reserves and leaves him out of the squad photo.

Their attacking threat isn't great tbh. Their strength is how resolute they are defensively, similar to us. I'm expecting a turgid, easily-forgettable game decided by a single goal. 0-1 Clarke or Lascelles header from a set piece

Although the owner situation is still the same old shit, it's amazing to think how far we've come since Carver was our manager. The contrast between that gurning moron and Rafa is ridiculous.

Rafa and Keegan have completely different footballing philosophies so I couldn't see it working at all. Keegan in an ambassadorial role would be a nice touch though. I'd love to see him as Head of the academy but again, I think his and Rafa's footballing differences would cause problems.

If other interested parties need an installment plan I wouldn't want them and I hope they wouldn't be tempted anyway. IMO groups/businesses who could buy the club outright wouldn't have needed prompted. From Ashley's point of view though, £380m in instalments is better than £250m in one payment. If they choose to pay in instalments it doesn't necessarily mean they're skint, maybe they'd want a structured payment plan so they can continue to accrue interest on the millions in the bank. I'm no financial expert but i'm sure there are other benefits to paying in instalments as well.

Could be that Ashley has already received an offer for the club but he considers it derisory, so he's put out the statement to unearth other interested parties or encourage the existing offerer to up their bid.

Nailed it with that bit for me. I'm sure Staveley would have come out herself to deny it if there was no truth in it

What exactly are the knobheads who took the name Gallowgate Flags name going to do with it? It seems incredibly childish unless they're planning to start a People's Front of Judea-style rival faction

It could turn out to be one of the best value transfers ever (if he continues to play and develop like he has been).

Best news we've had since Rafa became manager. Obviously Ashley will be thinking about the potential profit but at least we now get to enjoy this fantastic player for a while longer.

Shelvey and Hayden in CM with Merino as #10 would be nice to see. His decision making is so good, his ball retention in tight spaces is great, his passing is spot on and he obviously has an eye for a goal. Got to be worth a try

What a fucking mess! Not content with condemning us to 2 relegations, undermining any manager who looks like giving us a modicum of success and ritually fucking up the footballing side of things, Ashley and his band of parasites have now potentially lumbered us with a massive fine, points deduction and rendered us unsellable for the foreseeable future. You couldn't make this shit up!

If its to the extent they claim, takeover is the least of the issues, we'll be kicked out of the football league. Could this whole thing be the reason Ashley all of a sudden wants a "quick sale" Possibly but the charges would still follow him and his team, whether they're here or not. The club might get a points deduction or something worse because of their actions but i'm pretty sure they'll face consequence personally. As others have pointed out though, the likelihood of someone wanting to take us over while this is hanging over us are not good. Just another thing to add to the long list of ways in which Ashley and his team of cunts have fucked us.

Bless you

You could probably give him £50m and we'd be pushing for European places. Get a real #10 and #9 and we are in business IMO. Obviously still depth issues in certain area but imagine having a league average attack. We'll have Isco and Aubemayang by next season, man. on the bench

You could probably give him £50m and we'd be pushing for European places.

Ok, fair enough. The figures were slightly off but you get the point - signing high profile players for big fees isn't money wasted, on the pitch or off it. PSG's deal for Neymar has made them almost certs for the domestic title, able to compete with the best teams in the Champions League and has increased their global appeal. They'll have lucrative sponsors banging down their door. Everything about the club has been elevated since Neymar joined. Yes it's a lot of money but from a marketing/business point of view it makes financial sense.

Theoretically 28 billion. But. Thinks of her as your financial adviser or pension guy if you have one. Her job is to make your money grow. Her investors won't give a flying f*** about NUFC and probably haven't even heard of us. The one certainty is that if she invests money from the fund she manages into a football club, she is duty bound to take more money out of it than she put in. Would you want your pension fund manager sanctioning 60 million of funds to buy Kyle Walker or 35 million to buy Jordan Pickford ? Unlikely. Apparently Man Utd recouped the £100m spent on Paul Pogba within one week through global merchandise sales. God knows what they've made since then. If we're bought by a wealthy group and they raise our profile globally, sanctioning transfers like the example you've given is exactly the way they're going to make money from the club.

Especially when it comes out that a deal was in the offing until Ashley moved the goalposts, insisting on free advertising, shirt sponsorship and stadium naming rights for the rest of eternity.