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@The College Dropout We need another one of your rants.

Wonder if it was someone sending a balloon up to see what the reaction was.

Supposedly we do actually. But I'm under the impression they're way too young to play i.e. aged 16 or less. Hopefully we're looking at having first teamers who will actively engage with such kids and support their development though.

Yes... But that hasn't really let us down so far so I haven't really got any complaints about it. I think he has a black book in his mind of people he's known who he thinks offer more than whatever their current value is

I don't think you are looking too far into it. I'm not sure disinterested is the right word though. He looked sick with nerves when he went up for that penalty against Chelsea in the League Cup, rather than not really caring whether it went in or not. I get a sense of distress off him.

Misinterpreted the grunts, makes sense

...Unless there's something he's not enjoying here? As I've said before, I haven't really got a dog in this fight. Something seems to be wrong, I don't know why, I hope that if there is it gets better soon. If it does and he stays and ultimately becomes a coach then great, if we sell him to Saudi then that's cool too. Just hope there isn't any outstanding bad feeling for whatever strange reason.

By the way, from his interview, apparently Kelly had been talking to Callum Wilson about coming here. I'm glad he didn't listen to anything he said, seeing as ITKs have told us Wilson has hated Eddie Howe and everything he stands for for at least a couple of months, now.

Yeesh.

I didn't listen very closely but I thought the interviewer handled it far better than normal

Same. I wasn't surprised they got to the final after seeing them against us. Sounds like they've had internal power struggles?

Haha, where? He can just collect his salary in the oubliette in that case.

The article goes into his son being there but observes it's unusual for an academy kid's father to have a one to one with their sporting director, whose remit is focused on the first team. While there he also had a conversation with Gary O'Neill who was later linked with Man U. "Not that there's any suggestion of wrongdoing". Presumably it was a meeting in works time to discuss personal matters...

That's the bit that makes this funny. They're letting the disharmony simmer. I think the move itself is ok enough in and of itself. I didn't think De Zerbi or Tuchel were going to come in and transform their fortunes.

I think both things are true. We'd be all over it if it was Sports Direct, but if Apple sponsored Tottenham, I don't think we'd be getting articles on Tottenham's relationship with child labour in African mineral mines. Read most of the article. Looks pretty standard for our globalised, migration-reliant economy. Grim, in other words. Haven't come out of it feeling Noon (and their supply network) or Saudi Arabia are in any way exceptional.

Not sure how people get drawn into this every single time.

Next twist - the extended contract they offer him is predicated on a big reduction in his severance package.

Hopefully so From what gets said, we should be doing our best to hang onto him.

I'd be intrigued to know who (or what system) was responsible for finding him. It gets mentioned as a typical Ashworth signing, but I'm crossing my fingers he was as dumb to it as we were

Was speaking more from the made of glass perspective. Hopefully it all shakes out fine, and as I say, I think it's worth the shot. But there's a not inconsiderable chance we'll all be rolling our eyes about him still having a year to go here in 2028.

Let me nail my colours to the mast as being pro this signing. But it is pretty funny being happy about this signing while griefing about Hayden still being on our books in a neighbouring thread. There's certainly risk attached, but all in it looks like a calculated gamble.

Makes us having Isak sewn up even more golden

He says he's a fan of settled back lines though. I'm not sure he'd want to be mucking about too much if we're just on a Saturday-Saturday schedule - if we have a strong start I could see him just wanting to stick with what he's got to let things gel, and I wouldn't blame him. With Kelly's injury record, it might not be an eternity until Hall gets his turn, mind...

We'll see... Although, ironically, a traditional first XI will be more effective than it was last season due to the lack of Europe.

So we've established that the top performers in the Dutch league can be either excellent players or shit players outside of Holland. Pig in a poke country, then. Just have to make sure we don't overspend on this one, and he'll be worth a gamble in that case. Oh wait, we already have him.