The College Dropout

Aye they had some friction but that is normal. Maybe I’m over reacting. But this feels like the worst window ever. Just because of expectations. CL secured, trophy secured - act fast in the window. Let’s go and build a side to compete. And we are having a mare. The club has been exposed.

I agree with you on this. Apparently he is very active. Doing what? I don’t know.

He never had enough influence over PIF. Staveley ran roughshod over him.

No I think we should bring in someone with influence to Yasir. A Staveley. A Levy. Someone with equity ideally. Someone to have this as their FT job - their baby. Someone that can make decisions and move quickly.

That's part of the transfer approach. We lost some. But largely we went after players that weren't being chased by "elite clubs". We were up against AC Milan and Brighton. Free runs at Tonali, Hall, Livra, Barnes etc. We've changed the profile of targets.

I fear that too.

What was Amanda's role when she was here? Eales was here. Ashworth was here. They had influence.. but it was Amanda's baby. It's never been Eales' baby, he doesn't have the authority or influence. All kinds of people have titles at Spurs and Man U. It's Ratcliffe and Levy's baby. Neither are majority shareholders but they call the shots and have influence to make decisions. Eales was never that person. Yasir does the most talking, so I will assume it's him. He doesn't have the time and it shows.

I don't agree that PIF have checked outl. There's not proof of that. But there is proof that PIF is slow slow slow slow slow slow slow without Amanda. Amanda got shit done. I actually think we overpaid for several players but they all had potential and they've realised that potential - justifying the fees. We aren't willing to do that anymore.

Once we had the will - we signed Isak within a week. Since then it's taken over a year to sign Elanga and over a year not to sign Trafford. Things obviously changed.

Vlad is a sunk cost. Write it off. Should have had no bearing on Trafford.

No rumours just wishful thinking. I would bring her in as CEO And give her equity with staircasing based on performance. Eales like suits or PIF men - I don’t see them succeeding.

It’s the fanning about for 15 months that gets me.

Missed out on our 10th target of the summer. It’s nobody’s fault. We are doing everything right. You need to move with urgency.

Chelsea outbid Arsenal for Mudryk. Whether fee or wages. Arsenal were outbid by Chelsea. Chelsea outbid Liverpool for Lavia and Caicedo. Chelsea have the most expensive squad in the history of football and will have at worst - the 3rd highest wage bill in the PL. You are talking nonsense.

Chelsea pay more wages than us.

He joins whoever pays the most money. And CL. Chelsea have a no name manager.

It’s just wages. We used to target players wanted by AC Milan and Brighton. Now we target players wanted by Chelsea. Thats the difference. We got Elanga and we might get Wissa because we are paying a good fee and bigger fish aren’t after them.

We managed to sign great players before. Now we want better financial deals and more proven players which is why we can’t get deals done. &nbsp

It’s been 4 years mate. Within 4 years City had gone multi club ownership and a training ground.

I don’t think Yasir will budge. We give Isak some money and a release clause. We get to posture. And then we don’t strengthen the squad adequately, finish 8th, sell Isak next summer

We’ve got nobody we can trust to spend the money. Our business has been unimaginative and slow.

CEO doesn’t matter that much unless they have real power. By power i mean the power to mobilise PIF. It all comes back to PIF.

He’s a football manager. He shouldn’t dictate the transfers. No competent club has that structure. I don’t blame him for the transfer window at all. He’s doing the best he can.

It’s a major reason I’ve never been one to blame ‘the cartel’. Did PIF expect them to just rollover? This isn’t a closed competition for rich kids. It’s the most competitive competition in the world in the most competitive sport in the world. The idea that they could swan in and just throw money around like it was 2005 was never going to work. That’s what PIF are doing with their league and it’s not going to work. These next few months are crucial. At the moment, it feels like anything less than a Staveley return will mean we won’t achieve the stated goals. We need a change in how we are run.

We spent lots of money well for 2 years and got good basic commercial deals. Since then - we’ve barely signed any first team players and have changed approach from the strategy that got us to a top 5 team, the same strategy that got us Isak. Right now we don’t know how to move forward. It’s been a mess since January 2024 when we almost sold Trippier and Wilson. We dealt with PSR troubles terribly. Then sacked the people deemed responsible for that. Turns out those people were the only people that could make decisions and act swiftly so it’s all gone to shit since then. Everything we’ve achieved is based on what we done up until 2023. Our CEO has been battling cancer and resigned 10 months ago. We laugh at INEOS and they’ve made mistakes. But they put in an entire infrastructure in about 6 months. We can’t hire a CEO in 10. Without Staveley the ownership haven’t shown any urgency, competency or desire.