The College Dropout

I’ve said numerous times - no I don’t. But I think we have a better chance of winning silverware this season and next. As a fan, give me that league cup. But I expect the people running the club to think bigger and long term. I love Harvey Barnes too (I love every player that started that league cup final). But I don’t think we should spend £40m on players that won’t appreciate in value either.

I agree. I wasn’t upset he got the new contract. I love him. But it didn’t feel like the smart play.

As it stands it looks like Howe has shown his ceiling here. It might not be true but that’s what it looks like. If I was running another club i would have Doubts Howe can play enough football to sustain cup wins and league finishes. Over indexes on physicality. This wouldn’t be known pre Newcastle.

When it came out that Ashworth was holding up the Joelinton contract renewal and was heavily considering selling him - I thought that was the wisest move long term. Sell a non elite player at the top of his value. Now we don’t achieve what we did if we sold Joelinton. You can justify keeping him based on that. But we would be better positioned today and for the medium term. And that’s not the only time we’ve kept players too long when we could have got a decent fee. For a team like ours you need to sell your Joelinton’s, Willocks even your Wilson’s at the right time. A manager won’t want to do it, the team is weaker in the short term. But you avoid the situation now where Joelinton is a dwindling force on the pitch and in terms of value.

I’ll be honest 5-4 CL semi final is an absolute nonsense. But it was extremely fun.

Only thing is PSG looked tired at the end.

But Dembele is a better fit. Dembele plays like a 10, a winger, a striker etc. that’s perfect for this PSG side where everyone is constantly rotating. Luis Enrique said ideally he would have a squad of players that could play anywhere. Dembele encapsulates that perfectly - 2 footed, quick, strong, creative, ball carrying, finishing, link up, stretch defences etc. can play every forward position. Haaland can’t not good enough as an overall player. I think a prime Benzema suits this team. Because he too could do it all. The teams style would barely change.

It’s not like PSG won’t score goals there either though.

Haaland isn’t a good enough footballer for this PSG side. Dembele suits them perfectly

Tremendously optimistic. Negligent imo. I always thought he was a 2-year player. Try and break even on the accounting cost at that stage. Use that £11m p/a amortisation on a younger model that can appreciate in value.

It’s pretty rare for older players to have sell on clauses. The idea is that the selling club benefits from the players continually development usually. It’s sometimes used for slightly older players that are sold cut price too like maybe Hojlund. But in the modern era it’s nearly always a % of the profit. 25% of the total fee on a 29yo is insane from the buying club. You’ve already paid a premium. You would consider an account break even a success. To give away 25% of the fee is crazy. Im confident im right on this.

Top tv show. Great insight. Thanks for sharing. no offence to him but I knew he didn’t have real power when he spouted that 2030 shit. That’s the PIF line and strategy - not his. It’s the same line the old CEO had. Anyone with power would’ve said ‘that’s not happening’ and come up with something new.

So if we sold him at a loss for £40m, Brentford would get £10m? Thats negligent negotiation and I don’t believe it.

Would assume the sell-on would be of the total profit on the transfer rather than any 25%. The likelihood of us making a profit on him was always going to be low.

Thiago has 21 goals at 24 in his first season. Should we sign him for £70m? Prem proven. It was always a £25m-35m transfer like we initially thought it would be.

Thought Florentino had lost it when he hired Ancelotti again. This…. This is crazy. I credit Jose for kickstarting the golden era that focussed on hard work and graft but that was 15 years ago.

This is often available for small fees. Trippier, Burn, Welbeck, Norgaard, Xhaka, Henderson etc. Some have big wages. Even the Brighton and the Brenford's realise the value of these types of signings.

45 goals in 145 PL appearances. 2 double digit seasons. Never the main man. 1 season as a striker. 29 years old. There was massive risk fro day one. I get the logic he scored 19 open play goals last season but how much weight does that carry? We signed a striker with 6 goals the prior season in a foreign league for more money 2 seasons ago. There's a reason for that.

And they knew Wissa was an overpay that had a very small window to prove his value. It was a high-risk transfer for sure.

Yep. There isn't super delegation either. Some minority shareholders at other clubs are decision makers because majority owners have empowered them. Previously Daniel Levy, Steve Parish at Palace etc. But Hopkinson isn't the supreme shot caller at our club. Zero chance. He's even more of a Capo than an Underboss (too much Sopranos recently). It's just our Godfather doesn't care all that much about us.

Nobody has answered this. It's interesting some people think the Owners job is to simly hire people and fund transfers. Owners are the most impactful people in football. Ours being cautious, distant and slow decision makers has a huge impact on the clubs ability to hit the stated ambitions of the Owner.

I mean... you kind of have too. Signing a 29-yo Wissa for a CL campaign, he needed a 20 goals all comps (min. 12 in the league) to be seen as a decent signing. He was signed for right right now. If he scores 20 league goals for us next season all is forgiven. But the outcome is huge. Injuries or not Eden Hazard flopped hugely at Real. The otucome dictates the assessment.

"You don't know ball" is nicer, no?

Elanga is never a top 6 player. The club handled the Isak situation horrendously. Ramsey is a nothing player. Barely impacts a game. He has talent but he’s a long way to justify his £40m price tag. You don’t know ball.

Liverpool