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It's pretty easy to rip eachother to pieces on the details, which just makes the subject more off-putting

It all depends on the individual circumstances, but potentially, yes. A stinker is still a stinker, though.

Yes, although this falls under the nitpicker clause I added to my first post All this extra (totally accurate) stuff makes it harder for beginners to get the main idea of what's going on, that's part of why people hate the subject and switch off. The average man in the street doesn't really care if a contract extension means the annual transfer PSR drops from £10m to £5m while the wages rise from £5m to £10m, meaning the player still costs £15m a year in PSR. It's true and important for some purposes, but largely irrelevant and confusing if it's not your cup of tea.

Yeah, tons of people don't get it, which they can't really be blamed for (or pretend not to get it, in the media, which they can be blamed for...). Which wouldn't necessarily be a problem, but it adds a lot of pressure to people at every level of a club e.g. Staveley, Howe, Mitchell. All the traditional options (i.e. transfer warchests) don't work the same way anymore, but people don't know.

...And Joelinton, and Murphy, and Schar, and Krafth, and Anderson, and Sels...

That's why a number of us keep banging on about it - we're not just trying to be dickheads, it's the system In 21/22 we were paying for: Trippier, Burn and Bruno 22/23 Trippier, Burn, Bruno, Isak, Botman, Pope and Targett 23/24 Trippier, Burn, Bruno, Isak, Botman, Pope, Targett, Livramento, Gordon, Tonali and Barnes 24/25 Trippier, Burn, Bruno, Isak, Botman, Pope, Targett, Livramento, Gordon, Tonali, Barnes, Hall, Vlachodimos, Osula and Kelly (wages/signing on fee) And that's not counting any other bits I've missed out, or anything from the Ashley years like Lascelles and ASM, as @TheBrownBottle said. So every time we talk about buying someone, that list gets longer.

Basically, you're right about the three year period. Year 1 drops off when Year 4 comes along, and then Year 2 drops off when Year 5 comes along. But if you buy someone in Year 1 on a 5 year contract, in PSR you're still paying exactly the same amount for him in Year 5 as you were back at the start. E.g. a £50m transfer fee plus £5m wages per year equals a cost of £15m in Year 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 (that's the £5m wages plus a portion of the transfer fee). So even though we bought Bruno, Burn and Trippier four PSR seasons ago, in PSR we're still paying the same for them now as we were originally, and will be next season too. So the amount we're spending each season in PSR-world has gone up every season, pretty much like a snowball rolling down a hill. For nitpickers, I'm just trying to keep the explanation simple and without more complications than necessary.

It does seem like that's the thought process sometimes.

This. I think he was used pretty well while with us, he just couldn't score - he enabled others to score, though. We were in Champions' League form for the 12 months he was with us, so we shouldn't have been changing much that we did.

One of the stranger transfer stories to come up. Interesting that we don't appear to have totally dismissed the interest out of hand.

Shit news, but a month barely counts as an injury considering what we've been used to in our club historically. To try and see the positives.

To take it seriously, I'd leave that one up to Howe re: what he thinks he can do with Kelly long term. We also can't start to think of Targett as serious backup yet. It does sound like one to file under the 'good sellers' category, though.

The football authorities are busy trying to distort and destroy the concept of an open market, though.

Ultimately, the club felt stronger and safer as a project with her and Mehrdad around. Some people make it sound like we're well rid of them. PSR was a problem, but it was a problem solved and they are excellent problem solvers. It's not as though PSR was ever going to not be a big problem for us. They tried - and largely succeeded - in growing us out of the Ashley hole we were in, getting players in who give us a serious chance of earning money in the CL or selling them on for extremely substantial profits that can fund the club for years to come. Don't buy the players and you get no sales, no Europe, and no profile worthy of sponsorship. The only real alternative was to go the luxury Brighton route, but that would've made the last 3 years, and probably the next several, a very different experience. Buy a horde of Ashbys and Mintehs, forget buying Isak from Sociedad, and if we do splash out on a Bruno or Botman, have them understand very clearly that we are a temporary stepping stone towards their real future. All things considered I'm very happy we gambled.

Well that was a pack of lies, then. Was on the end of 'concerted shouting' from Trippier to calm him down and get him back in position, according to Louise Taylor.

Yep, there was one point it started sounding like an episode of Mastermind, the interviewer was rattling through his pre-set question list so fast

Enjoyable interview uploaded by the club. He has a refreshing lack of media training. Seems like a good kid, very confident but not arrogant - excellent English, too. Doesn't have a preferred position, just wants to play

We have a habit of thinking potential buyers don't know why we want to sell the ones we want to sell.

I've felt this way for a while but I think they've demonstrated they're genuinely in a new mode now. I don't see Wolves as being a gimme at all given the new management, but plenty of reason for confidence. If there's one to be nervous about, it's Bournemouth, who've been a bogey team for us. I'll see beating them as more of a statement than Man United or Tottenham, personally.

Looks like 2.5 years left on his contract? We're gonna have to make a plan on his future one way or another. Unfortunately, what we might gain in value from him being injury free next season, we'd lose on his deal approaching expiry, so there might not be much point in waiting around.

Yeah, thought that was odd.

Agreed. Ironically, he was probably our safest purchase the summer he came in. I don't believe he had a fitness record anything like what we've seen prior to coming here, and it's shattered his career here, unfortunately.

I don't. There were good reasons for trying it but we've won 8 games in a row since we ditched it... Body language-tastic but he looks like he's lost heart since he was putting everything into the start of the season, was our only reliable offensive outlet, and still didn't look like he was gonna be made a true starter for us. Would understand if that got him down, albeit you'd want him to keep digging away.

Mentality.

Any way you cut it, at the end of the day it's another start for Longstaff and another win for the Toon.