TRon

I think he would have happily come here if one of the cartel clubs hadn't come in for him. We just aren't allowed to compete with them under the current PL rules.

Still seems mad that he was their manager not so long ago.

The Dortmund coach really impressed me in our group games, but it's kind of nice seeing one of the old guard legendary managers in Ancelotti showing he's still got it. Never looks like he's not got things in control.

It's the Beth way, why stab someone in the gut when you can twist the knife a bit as well?

They did it by passing it through the lines though, not like they just lumped it forward to the corner flag.

Played some lovely football as well.

Brave effort by Dortmund, in the end individual class won out against a brilliant team ethos.

Which Newcastle fan wasn't dreaming of him scoring a double to win the final after trailing 0-1?

Can't see past a Dortmund win personally. They comprehensively outplayed us in both legs, and now we can see why.

How many lashes does he deserve? 27?

Which strikers are out there who would be available on a loan with an obligation to buy? I think we would like to sell Wilson and use the money to buy DCL, if that doesn't happen, we'll probably just keep Wilson then spend on a striker next season.

He's done nowt wrong tbf, it was just us getting carried away assuming the deal was done and dusted when it was very far from that. If we hadn't spunked a new thread prematurely, no one would have batted an eyelid.

Who cares? He's not going to be playing for us so why should we give a fuck.

There'll be less competition for Kelly tbf, maybe because of those injuries, and also he's not as big a unit as Tosin. I think we'll get this one done. At the same time I won't be that arsed if we don't.

This is why I never like to spend too much time drooling over players who haven't been confirmed. Some posters have written pages outlining his qualities and how great a signing he'll be for us, and now it turns out all those wonderful attributes he'll bring to the table will go to Chelsea. While I appreciate the insights, it's not worth building up all the expectation only to get slapped in the face at the end. All on the back of new thread maestro Jumpin' Gun Jack.

He's in the queue outside the medical room waiting for Mbuemo's medical to be concluded.

Never even realised there was one. Didn't we have a generic thread called Other teams or something?

He's actually one of our more skilful players though, he can beat a man, score goals, carry the ball at pace and ping a killer pass now and then. How are you going to buy a player with those assets for the sort of fee you would get for selling him bearing in mind his value will have dropped after a season out with injury?

This is the crux of it. Goals are the end product, but you don't get to that stage if you can't keep the ball, and that has to be one of the biggest attributes required of a midfielder.

He's got to prove himself all over again in some ways. Sometimes he looked outstanding, others he was pretty ordinary. I think the key to seeing the best of him is getting the balance of the team right across the midfield. He never really clicked with Bruno in the short time they played together, but once they understand each other's positions there should be no reason they can't form a good partnership.

Just feels like even if he wasn't naturally that skilled, he should still have been able to make more of whatever assets he had. It's not like he was immobile, he could just have run around a bit more and got stuck in if nothing else. Instead he would just disappear for 90 mins.

The "Ritchie's staying 10 more years" song genuinely had me doubled up laughing when it first rang out. Say what you like about his shortcomings, but he got Newcastle.

Useless cunt.

I can understand if people think he's an asset who could be sold, you could argue he's not the finished article and we can use the money to buy just that. But we paid £20m+ for him, are we going to make a profit after a season out injured? Would surely make sense to hope he comes back all guns blazing after a summer's recuperation and hope his value shoots back up again, even if we do want to upgrade at some point.

Most of the fees that get thrown around are stupid.