magorific

Oh do jog on - and once you get there, keep going.

Brother is a pro basketball player. Some good genes there..

Because footballers are generally thick as mince and the club lawyers would run rings around them. An agent will get you the best deal and knows the ins and outs of things like image rights. they are basically there to make sure players don't get screwed and to get them the best deal possible. Like them or not. So agents make sure their client doesn't get screwed by the club, by taking twenty percent of his contract and a one off fee every time he moves clubs. Seems perfectly reasonable. The standard is around 10%, but i mean they have to get paid or the aren't going to do the job. They don't just turn up one day with a player and go, hey sign for this club, thanks for the 10% The standard isn't 10%. FIFA recommends 3% and most agents take about 5%.

Well said Dave, although it simply beggars belief that anyone can point the finger anywhere beyond our fat, lying, alcoholic (everything he does screams this fact), trainer sock-selling mess of an owner.

Seconded. At last, a natural #10. So won't happen..

There is zero contact between "head office" and the sports desk at Thomson House. Fact.

On the evidence of pre-season, he's lost the only attribute he had which was solid defensively. It's gonna cost us goals if we don't fix that LB spot. He was only ever solid against the type of head-down winger who'll run directly at him. Always vulnerable against players who are clever enough to know how to time runs in behind him in teams good enough to exploit those runs. In other words, he has zero football intelligence and will always be a liability at the top level.

The piece has come straight from Rafa - no way Martin Hardy would risk the relationship he has with him (Rafa) by speculating himself. But the one good thing is I see it as proof that Rafa desperately wants to stay - it's another warning shot to Ashley, same as after January. But how many more can he send out before giving up?

we won't be like, not with rafa in charge...now if he leaves that's another matter btw i don't think the problem in splashing the cash is ours, if everyone else would just f*** off and let us lowball clubs we'd be fine Rafa is not a miracle worker, as it stands quality wise we have the 3rd worst squad in the league. If the likes of dummet,lascelles,colback,mbemba,mitrovic get anywhere near the first 11 on a regular basis we are f***ed Colback, Mbemba, Mitrovic, yes. Lascelles, maybe but Dummett is fine. We won't lose games because of Paul Dummett. I disagree. He brings nothing to the attack and is one of the poorest first-choice LBs out there in the Premier League. Lucky he's a left back and not a left winger. He's primary duty is to defend and at that he is very decent. Rafa will have us defending first, that's why he's getting a new contract. "very decent". 😂 I'll bookmark that, when his ball-watching, combined with the far cleverer movement of Premier League opponents, returns to haunt us this season.

Papers love making s*** up. Has Rafa directly adressed the media or fans? Graham Carr leaving shows he is now turning our transfer strategy around. In June players rarely sign. Even Conte the league champions manager is allegedly frustrated at lack of progress, is he really though? Or more crap from press. I get why people s*** themselves largely because Ashley is uneducated in football decisions and also many peoples lives are social media and they choose to talk about the latest news good or bad. Pessimism has forever surrounded nufc fans and will continue to,so whats new! I expect the real work to start next week, cant be arsed buying into media hype until Rafa speaks out himself. FFS man, wake up. Rafa briefed the press immediately after the QPR game at the end of the January window re his frustrations. He has done the same again. Head out of sand (or your arse) time...

Sorry, but Rafa was behind these media reports (Northcroft at the Sunday Times is one of the journalists closest to him since Liverpool days), Just as he was behind the similar reports in early Feb. Doesn't mean he's going anywhere though..

Almost certainly Rafa himself briefed the press about his frustration with the January window.

Spastically speaking, you mean (you, not him)? I've been as much on Mitro's case as anyone, but it was plain to see he linked up play really intelligently today, was only denied a cracking goal by an even better save and put Gayle's goal on a plate for him.

We could guess but I he has sources in the club. He has reported with insight in past and so is likely to be on this occasion too. I don't like him or some of the content of the article - but it is likely at least partially accurate. How many people at the club will be currently aware of what our transfer budget is going to be next season though? Not many I would guess, so it wouldn't be difficult to detect who the source is and therefore the source, unless a complete dildo, probably wouldn't tell the press. This piece certainly won't have come from a source within SJP. It may have come from someone around Ashley (although I also doubt that). But people are missing the real picture here, and that is that Martin Hardy wrote a piece a few weeks ago (Sunday Times, I think) saying Rafa was now planning to stay long term. Hardy was the only guy reporting this. A few weeks later, it turns out he's obviously been speaking to Rafa regularly for his next book. It's not difficult to join the dots and draw the happy conclusion that Rafa has received assurances that he'll be given what he needs.

No. No. No.

He signed stuff for my lad at Wigan. Couldn't have been nicer Stayed behind after beating Burton at home couple weeks ago to get pictures taken with young fans. People overreacting and looking for any excuse to criricise after he's had a bad game. Standard. Or maybe people have just met him on different days? The fact he comes across as an arrogant arsehole (in my opinion) has no bearings on the fact that he's been poor for us this season and has been at fault of quite a few dropped points. Considering you post absolute s*** about Isaac Hayden (who has been remarkably better in his position than Darlow has in his), it's remarkable you chose to write the second line of your post. Darlow hasn't been "poor for us this season". He's had the odd bad game - as has Hayden. He's saved us points in other games. Depressing stuff akin to whoever had the bright idea to call Lascelles "crap" in his thread title. The odd bad game? He's been poor, as he has been since he's donned the gloves for us. He's looked like he has the ability to drop a clanger from his first appearance for us, it cant be down to nerves/age/lack of experience, it's because he's just not that good. He's cost us points this season, just as he cost us points last season and we've endured watching him kick the ball out of play, put us under unnecessary pressure by kicking the ball straight to an opponent or drop a ball all season (and last). His hesitancy to come off his line and collect the ball puts the defence under pressure, several times this season we've seen defenders try and shepherd the ball back to him only to see him motionless on his line. His positioning at times is questionable, as evidenced due to the points dropped against Bristol City (h), where Dummett tried a simple header to him and he was in no mans land and QPR (h), where Clark's header looped over him, again because he was in no mans land. You can count more poor games he has had than good and that tells you all you need to know. Considering we are 2nd in the league and our goalkeeper is under much less pressure than nearly every other keeper in the league, the above is too much. And the QPR equaliser was a basic case of Clark defending too deep in injury-time. The cross was whipped in too fast and flat for Darlow to have time to have cleared Clark out of the way.

He signed stuff for my lad at Wigan. Couldn't have been nicer Stayed behind after beating Burton at home couple weeks ago to get pictures taken with young fans. People overreacting and looking for any excuse to criricise after he's had a bad game. Standard. Or maybe people have just met him on different days? The fact he comes across as an arrogant arsehole (in my opinion) has no bearings on the fact that he's been poor for us this season and has been at fault of quite a few dropped points. Considering you post absolute s*** about Isaac Hayden (who has been remarkably better in his position than Darlow has in his), it's remarkable you chose to write the second line of your post. Darlow hasn't been "poor for us this season". He's had the odd bad game - as has Hayden. He's saved us points in other games. Depressing stuff akin to whoever had the bright idea to call Lascelles "crap" in his thread title. The odd bad game? He's been poor, as he has been since he's donned the gloves for us. He's looked like he has the ability to drop a clanger from his first appearance for us, it cant be down to nerves/age/lack of experience, it's because he's just not that good. He's cost us points this season, just as he cost us points last season and we've endured watching him kick the ball out of play, put us under unnecessary pressure by kicking the ball straight to an opponent or drop a ball all season (and last). His hesitancy to come off his line and collect the ball puts the defence under pressure, several times this season we've seen defenders try and shepherd the ball back to him only to see him motionless on his line. His positioning at times is questionable, as evidenced due to the points dropped against Bristol City (h), where Dummett tried a simple header to him and he was in no mans land and QPR (h), where Clark's header looped over him, again because he was in no mans land. You can count more poor games he has had than good and that tells you all you need to know. Considering we are 2nd in the league and our goalkeeper is under much less pressure than nearly every other keeper in the league, the above is too much. More poor games than good? Come on then. Go through the season game by game. Utter drivel. Yes, he's made mistakes. Players do. But he's made plenty of saves that Elliott wouldn't have got close to making, and claimed plenty of crosses that the aforementioned stay-at-home lardarse would have happily left his centre-halves to deal with.

He signed stuff for my lad at Wigan. Couldn't have been nicer Stayed behind after beating Burton at home couple weeks ago to get pictures taken with young fans. People overreacting and looking for any excuse to criricise after he's had a bad game. Standard. Or maybe people have just met him on different days? The fact he comes across as an arrogant arsehole (in my opinion) has no bearings on the fact that he's been poor for us this season and has been at fault of quite a few dropped points. Considering you post absolute s*** about Isaac Hayden (who has been remarkably better in his position than Darlow has in his), it's remarkable you chose to write the second line of your post. Darlow hasn't been "poor for us this season". He's had the odd bad game - as has Hayden. He's saved us points in other games. Depressing stuff akin to whoever had the bright idea to call Lascelles "crap" in his thread title.

He's conceded 30 goals in 14 games for AZ edit: for reference their other GK conceded 38 goals in 32 games before Krul signed How many of those 30 were his fault? For reference the Dutch League is typically the highest scoring league in Europe. Krul is finished at the top level.

The fact is, had one of Clark and Gayle stayed fit all season, we'd already be up - and as champions. Those two are irreplaceable in the context of this season.

agree Disagree. Believe me, it was highly significant that Martin Hardy was the journalist who reported a week or two ago that Rafa will now stay.

It's called pressure. And we played Leeds off the park on Friday..

I understand people who hesitate to write off Lascelles completely, and have sympathy in that he's captaining a side expected to go up at a time when he's still learning his trade. BUT, you have to have very serious concerns about a defender who doesn't appear to have any instinct for the absolute basics of defending (ie keep tabs on your man first, then the ball), even when the situation is screaming our for them. Hanley simply has to come in on Monday - and stay in until Clark is back. Give Ritchie the armband.

Your contributions to this place are f***ing aids. WTF I think he'd just like you to post in something resembling English.

A well-articulated opinion, but it reeks of the messiah complex which so many outsiders accuse us of. I know the guy who put together Fulham's scouting report on us and he said after the game how their staff were in disbelief that they hadn't had to deviate from their Plan A because Rafa simply refused to deviate from his. I am absolutely over the moon we have him, I desperately hope the club do right by him and I believe in his ability to take us further than any manager since Bobby. But he is stubborn. I can happily live with that, but he is.