80

It was an amazing little study in psychology. Think it coincided with him/us getting sussed as well, but still. He played with fury until that apology, then he became soggy again.

That's my understanding. Though if we've done a deal which goes on the books in the new financial period, without having gone to arbitration, my interpretation would be that the deal's gone in our favour, though.

From what his previous clubs' supporters say about him - which sounds horrific - I'm pretty much just taking it as the Anderson fee being £5-8m less to be honest. Which still makes it respectable, by the way. Yeah I don't really disagree with that. I think there's a lot of room for interpretation over what's gone on. I definitely consider the activities in the last few days to be impressive - by hook or by crook they got the job done without devastating us. Just hope we haven't done a deal with the devil somewhere in the process which will bite us further down the line. Time shall tell!

Yeah, but I'm talking more about the idea of it being a fiddled figure. Superficially, £35m sounds impressive, but if we deliberately overpay £20m on him and the goalie, then it's not so good. Right now we might just be looking at the half time score in an ongoing game.

Struggling to feel excited about the fee given, as others have said, it feels likely that money will be making it's way back to Forest in a few weeks. Pleased we've resolved our hoop jumping problem, though.

How so? Not that I'm disagreeing, just wondered what your issue with it would be. Personally, my problem would be that it's conniving to try and shift blame onto Bruno for him leaving if they wanted it at least as much. Although even then I suppose they might have thought they had to look as reluctant as possible to extract the most value, which I'd sympathise with. To be really conspiratorial, I wonder if our grand plan was sabotaged by Ashworth and Ratcliffe putting the word out about our situation and getting other clubs to call our financial bluff.

Must explain him being in and out of the team, all the flare ups. Sad really.

Always thought he was cool but this over sharing is getting out of control. Probably best we make a clean break for both our sakes.

Spectacular skill to find a kid we've been able to flip for so much money so quickly just when we needed it. Spectacular luck too - it's not normal for them to come off like this. The club should be seriously reflecting on that.

How fucked are we supposed to be?

Thank you for being the doomsayer I was trying not to be

It's one of those times I'm really missing him myself

Put it this way, I wouldn't rule it out. PR-wise it would have been a clean way of solving any problems while coming out as the good guys. There was a definite change in the music being played around Jan-Feb. Prior, there were regular briefings acknowledging a big sale may be required to continue our momentum. After then, the talk was all about Bruno's feelings and how we didn't need to sell. All well and good, but seemingly we actually did need a big sale, which undermines the idea the club was reluctant.

If this does happen, I can't wait to see all the wise people pointing out it wouldn't have happened if Gordon hadn't wanted the move, and he's a greedy cunt. Even though some of those same people will be upset with Miggy for not bailing us out by going to Saudi. The club, of course, is blameless either way.

Yeah, that's the last I've heard, which sounds positive to me. I'm not sure the search started that way though - I think the board weren't too certain of what they wanted the structure to be at first. I don't blame them for that either, I think it's a good thing - that they're actually thinking about it. The structure of a modern football club isn't cut and dried nowadays; I think sometimes outsiders imagine the responsibilities of various job titles as being more cookie cutter than they actually are. There should be plenty of room to flex around the talents of individuals.

I think the separation is overrated to be honest. But also I get the impression the club doesn't see a ton of clashing/hierarchy in responsibilities, beyond what is already there i.e. mutual agreement on significant signings. Rather than a situation where the DOF has the whiphand and the coach gets what he's given (or fights to overpower the structure).

From what I know of our situation - financial, fitness etc. - I'd gamble on it. Not having Europe reduces the headache.

Yeah, he's been my sneaky outside bet. And I'm optimistic about what he could do for us with more authority, he's clearly got many things going for him.

Not surprised to hear that. I would've expected it to be done and dusted by now if we truly fancied him. I've got no problem with searching on if they're not convinced by him, by the way. Better no hire than a bad hire. I'm not persuaded that 'just anyone' would've made the last 8 weeks go better.

Misunderstood you sorry I'm not an expert but they didn't look like a quick fake to me, I have to say...

Shekshy.

They weren't saying that? Oh they definitely were.

Probably won't see grass again until August as a consequence.

Know what you mean, but luckily I think he feels valued enough here, and will feel validated enough by people in the media crying out for him to start, that he'll come back intending to be better than ever next season. Not sure there's a better manager to handle that process than Eddie.