80

That's not quite right, the 22/23 buys (etc.) still count towards our PSR spend in the same size chunks as when we first bought the players. E.g. Isak = £60m divided by 6 years = £10m this year, same as it was in 22/23. It'll be £10m next year and the year after too, if he's still here. The only thing that really changes that is new contracts, which re-divide outstanding amount of money by the number of years on the new contract (so our payments have gone down on Gordon because renewed his deal, but Isak and Botman will remain the same at this time).

I actually think one of the reasons to give him a wage rise is to send a message to other players - ours and others - that this has never been about us being cheap and trying to screw a top class player on an old contract. Combat the narrative that we've ever been unreasonable there. I'm not sure what your point is.

Villa players, management and fans. It's interesting how quiet we've been in comparison.

It'll be interesting to see what we get this year from Joelinton if we've finally got a genuine option for resting him up with before he gets too battered and bruised.

On the contract conversation, the best idea I've heard is giving him massive bonuses to ensure he's interested e.g. £125k basic plus £150k per goal and £100k per assist. If he wants to make two goal contributions per game, have at it - we'll finish high enough to cover any expenses.

No chance. But on the upside he's one player who really might 'only want Newcastle'.

But seriously, the careers of Joelinton, Schar and Murphy show how a player's reputation and career can turn to ashes in the hands of the wrong manager.

We can square the circle by saying 'Yay, but they forsook the kindly enquirings and beneficence of the good Eddie'.

*His gang warfare-associated representatives claim this. We're not required to believe it.

Wasn't aware of those comments, but add me to the crowd who think he's a tosspot in every area of life in which I've encountered him.

Nice way of putting it. Not sure why some people have been unhappy with the idea of signing floor raisers. We have a very good best XI who can go toe to toe with anyone, and - as we've found this summer - is extremely hard to improve. But building out our squad so that we can hope to avoid catastrophic fatigue and injuries in November, and have genuine game changers on the bench, is also vital to our prospects.

Remember, financial controls are there to keep clubs safe and leagues competitive!

Yes lads I'm aware - I'm highlighting it for those on the forum who still say the place is nothing other than a hellscape.

I think my favourite part is the anguished belief they all look like Titus

We'd actually arranged the medical for him to do in Germany during the England camp. It was as good as done. He's admitted it blew his head up for a while, which I can't blame him for at all, but yeah, the contrast with Isak is massive and shows he deserves credit overall.

I realise about it being 2024, but still. Re: the women, a lot of people on here would assume having a women's team is still a source of shame for the Saudis.

What they've chosen to highlight there - and not highlight - is very interesting.

One day it'll come out this agent has webcam footage of him like that lad on Black Mirror.

It doesn't really add up to me - personally I've had Liverpool down as the ones likely to seriously move for him since early last season due to their financial and PSR strength, so I'd have expected him and his people to be able to see the same thing. To me it's a shocking lack of knowledge of his own heart, and an inability to control himself, if essentially one conversation late in the window (summer windows effectively start 12 months earlier) gets him to break apart his career strategy, personal relationships etc. and gamble everything on burning his boats. It's Nile Ranger-level thinking. He could've made this whole thing a lot easier on himself if he'd made moves earlier. Again, this is all predicated on the above being true.

Honestly, naivety just sounds like a polite term for stupidity in this context. Naivety suggests making beginner's mistakes. He's angling to join his 6th club by the age of 25.

Living in the professional football bubble since puberty and he didn't know there were richer clubs with a greater likelihood of winning major trophies soon who wanted to sign him - until one taught him all these facts in July? Until that moment he was just an innocent kid who wanted his friends to sign for the Toon? That would be very very thick. Implausibly so, you might say.

That would imply he's as thick as pigshit though, as he otherwise should've known/believed those things prior to being approached and supposedly having his world turned upside down in July. Never saw him as an impulsive cretin, he's generally looked to be forward thinking and ambitious. Still odd to me.

I'm talking about him heartily encouraging an international teammate to join the club he (presumably) knew he was going to go scorched earth on only a fortnight later in a desperate bid to escape and leave it in a fucked condition. You'd expect low key behaviour, pregnant silences and such, rather than that. Edited the original quote to make it clearer.

Taking it on face value, this is a genuinely weird way of going on.

Joelinton too, a one man army on the day. No need for anyone to tie themselves up in knots about this.