80

Better run run run away to bed.

People comparing him to Dubravka is fair enough but sightly missing the point - realistically, this is about one of them making a huge upgrade on Darlow. We're one bad collision away from him screwing our season up as it stands.

No, Bellamy had a bad time at Coventry. I knew he was good from Norwich, but many were not impressed when we signed him.

From this video, I learned Chris Wood doesn't understand the concept of 'unsung'.

'If' this is true, yeah, I have no problem at all with the club walking away. Personally, I'd rather delay our improvements as a club by a year than be screwed with. It'll set horrible precedents otherwise. Plenty more fish in the sea, there'll be clubs we learn we like dealing with (Brighton?) and clubs we learn to avoid.

Thinking more of the 'mainstream' media really, rather than more locally-oriented ones like Hope. The Oliver Holts and others that should have gone to the ground around the same time as Jimmy Hill.

No one in the media or boardrooms gave a fuck when the heart of this club was being ripped out. I hope some are totally immiserated by our success

Very good to hear.

You really should stick around here.

Very thoughtful posts, thanks. Some of the posts people are making on here, about how Botman must not really want to be here, or will arrive feeling bad about missing out on Milan though... I can only think people were psychologically crippled by the Ashley era.

But, you know, it is quite gammony to not be full steam ahead on signing him. So there's that.

Very strange how quickly having concerns about a prospective signing's fitness has become politicised. Carl Cort, Albert Luque, Michael Owen etc. Surely it's reasonable for people to not want their fingers to be burnt? It's a reality that some players are more injury prone than others, and that one injury can change a player's career trajectory. Hopefully not in this kid's case, but we'll have to see. If we sign him and he does turn out to be a crock, I'm sure some will find a way to blame Howe and the owners for poor scouting and recklessness.

So... that's twice in about 4 months, right? Hmm...

It was one of the craziest parts of all.

Delighted by this One of the real OGs of the revolution here.

Doing his damndest in that video to highlight that he's had absolutely no involvement or close awareness of the club until very recently

I think people are reading FAR too much into the press speculation on this, getting ideas it's clear he's hoping for Milan etc. Same goes for Ekitike to a lesser extent. What happens happens, but don't let yourself be affected by Italian papers who think it will reflect badly if a grand old team of theirs gets outdone by a bottom half English team. We know he and we were keen in January. After that, it's largely chit chat and clickbait. Seems like we're not leaking like we did before Charnley went, and therefore the press are having to focus their attention on our targets from the last transfer window. We might well end up with a surprise or two this summer.

Would be neat if we could slot Bristol Rovers in there.

If that happens, then lovely, but from the noises coming out I'm not expecting us to sign someone good enough to push Wilson into 2nd choice. It sounds like the strategy is to have 3 forwards in the squad and greater attacking versatility in the middle of the pitch.

Given the contract he'll be on, I can't imagine him going anywhere this Summer... Unless we subsidise the deal so much we virtually pay another club to take him.

That is a pretty horrific commentary on New Zealand football, you can't get away from it.

Yes, I'm talking about perception management.. It's unrelated to whether he has players scouted, which he obviously does extensively. I'm talking about proactively avoiding the formation of cliques and disruption of chemistry. It's not to say Bruno or anyone we have would do that, but it's something a savvy manager will take into account. It's the sort of thing we've suffered from in the past e.g. 'Proper Football Players' (Shearer, Given etc.) vs. Bling Boyz (Dyer, Bramble etc.). There's a lot of ego out there. Things look rosy at the moment, and we all want it to look rosy, but I'm sure Howe will be thinking about possible eventualities.

I'll take your word on that, but yes I've heard it said, which is cool. But yeah, I'm not saying we wouldn't go for him, just that I could see it being a factor in the decision and how the decision was executed. The difference between justice being done and being seen to be done, so to speak. Also, ok sure, imagine we sign Pacqueta, would he then also follow advice on the left back and who knows where else? I think each subsequent one becomes less likely than the previous one to avoid dodgy personal dynamics.

Yes, you'd assume so. That said, part of me wonders whether Howe would want to openly rely on Bruno's opinion too much (or any opinionated player, for that matter). Certainly, if it was me, I'd be wary of signing a star player's best friend (Pacqueta, I'm thinking of) if it was being widely spoken about, as it'd make me question whether the personal and professional lines would risk getting blurred. I could see Howe wanting to make sure everyone was clear on who was in control.