80

I'm happy with it overall. Don't understand the reaction.

Undercurrents of anti-Semitism.

Greedy cunt too. Says bad things that he'd leave his mother club to join us.

Feels like he's been carrying injuries for 18+ months now.

Wow. Such an unfamiliar feeling

I think it's worth quite a lot. I would hope Willock knows he's not being stabbed in the back by people who should think of him as one of their own. I think feeling you can't trust the people around you would be way more distressing than it being some dickhead half a world away. Definitely would like to see more support for him shown at the next opportunity.

It's not exactly right, but think of PSR as a 12 month long game. And the idea is you have to balance the books by the end of that 12 months to win the game. The Bruno/Gordon/Minteh stuff was all part of the previous game, which finished on June 30th last year. Then a new game started fresh in July in which we wanted to buy Guehi right at the beginning, giving us nearly 12 months to balance the books again before the game finished. That's basically the idea of why we tried to spend £60m in the summer but not now. Spend it today and realistically we've got a month in June to sell sell sell and avoid losing the game, which is tight. Not that I completely believe this explanation myself, mind. I think other ideas remain possible, too. None of them seriously involve us spending £60m this month though.

I'm gutted about us today but we'd be silly to give up on our chance at this stage. No point focusing on our own failings while neglecting those of our competitors.

Head's gone. Been hoping the fact Howe has persevered with him as the primary sub is a sign of hope for his future, but it might just say more about Longstaff...

I believe they do. Plus, as we're regularly told, clubs aren't inclined to do us a favour. There's also the fact Eddie has said repeatedly he doesn't really like having loans where there's no real expectation the player still stay permanently. The loan would probably finish before the player was integrated into our first team...

Agreed. I'm not exactly shy about getting my knife and fork out for Mitchell, but we're not in a position to say anything bad about this January. Not without clearly explaining a plan, anyhow. Of course, there's the separate issue of it being very hard to ever judge if a DOF is helping or harming, but that's not exactly his fault. It's inevitable he'll get both praise and flak that's undeserved though.

And we'd possibly still have Elliot Anderson, be in a better position to sell Longstaff, and not have to (seemingly) pay £20m for a goalkeeper who can't make our subs bench. Maybe even have had less boardroom strife. It's not a mystery why it was a pity...

You have to respect the dear boy's wishes...

This is constantly ignored. We don't know what we were offered for Trippier, so the idea we rejected £15m for him is fantasy.

It's going to occupy a whacking part of the city and form an important part of its international identity. Why wouldn't you want to ensure it looks the part? If after a while it's made out of fraying, discoloured lumps of plastic we'll regret it.

Expired yellow ticker wanker.

Yellow ticker! Proper Roy Hodgson moment.

It's TBG, he's having a giggle.

I'm not sure what anyone sees in these what I'm now learning are called bubble wrap stadiums. They seem to be popular? I think they will look so dated and embarrassing in 20 years time. I think they psychologically prep people to sit down and shut up, too, atmosphere-wise. "Come on kids, we're off to the mercury blob now". This is going to be imposed on the city for possibly 50 years. It should be future proofed as much as possible in terms of possible uses and aesthetics.

Churlish, but I'm hoping for more than 70,000. A 10k difference between a new SJP and a new stadium doesn't seem that dramatic.

An average of 2,093.67 minutes per assist, I am advised

I think that's exactly it. I don't think we're in any immediate trouble this year if we hadn't sold.

Ignoring whatever is actually happening with us: as I understand it, amortisation (and wages obviously) are judged on a daily basis. So if you buy a player who would cost you £12m a year in PSR, for the first year they'll only cost you £12m if you buy them on day one of that year. Sign them half way through instead and they'll cost £6m, sign them with one month to go and they'll cost £1m. So a small amount of PSR budget can go a long way in May/June if another club is gasping for cash. Which means there's a lot to be said for keeping some powder dry for that time of the year.

Interesting if true. Somehow disappointed, but obviously I can't complain. Limits our options in terms of other outgoings mind. Was thinking last night that if Longstaff left and we have an injury crisis, an emergency option would be to push Hall into midfield. Or Targett. Always intrigued to know how that experiment as a DM at Old Trafford would've turned out if his hamstring hadn't gone after 5 minutes. It was one of Eddie's more creative ideas. Think that was the final moment of his real career here.

He's 27, so whoever signs him is pretty much committing to never seeing the fee they pay again. And the kind of clubs who'd sign him probably either lack money or expect to need PSR wiggle room in the future if they see him as a stepping stone. So that hampers things for us. Won't deny it's not the easiest one to swallow mind. But if we were another club making a January 22 style survival bid, and the club's big idea was to sign Longstaff for £20m, we'd be thinking wtf.