TRon

I think it would be a disaster personally, probably kill any chance of us getting back into Europe as I don't think we will be able to buy a decent replacement with 11 days to go.

If we're talking ideal scenarios then I'd rather sell them Ritchie for £18m.

Exactly this. But we'd have to reinvest this window otherwise it's counterproductive.

Yes, Trips is a fantastic player, but he's 33 and seems to want the move. It's not ideal but we might as well make some money out of it which we probably won't be able to in a year's time.

This shouldn't need saying again but the money and wages we recoup wil probably mean we can make one really solid signing if not two. This is the only way we can generate enough funds to improve the side. When Krafth's contract is up it will be the summer when more funds are available and we can strengthen again.

At RB? We've got Krafth as well as Livramento.

We've already signed a back up.

Still not convinced Bayern will cough up enough of a fee to make it worthwhile.

6pts to make up on West Ham seems a lot more doable than 8 given we're not going to have a fit squad for a few games yet.

Our season stays alive.

I celebrated that like a Newcastle goal.

I'd happily move Wilson on as well even though I think he's still capable of banging in goals. He's just not available for enough games so again, if we can get a reasonable fee then move him on. The only rider to that is it's not going to be easy buying a replacement.

I'm actually hoping the sale of Trippier goes through if we can get close enough to what we paid for him. He's still a cracking footballer but at 33 the only way is down and we need the money so we can buy the next generation. This policy of keeping players as future coaches is sentimental twaddle and it's not going to help us get to the next level.

Not only the biggest leader, but also still a fantastic footballer. Make no mistake we are going to be a worse side for him leaving, but I can understand why we have to do it if we get a decent fee. It seems he wants to be away so we just have to make sure we the money makes it sting less.

Depends if there's any sort of reasonable recompense for us in it. People who are throwing around figures of £20m are going to be sorely disappointed. Not even Chelsea would pay that for a 33 year old.

Whaaa?? You mean we aren't getting £20m for him???

He's this era's Michael Chopra.

I didn't even listen to his podcasts, just picked up on his writing when he was with the Times which is absolute drivel these days. They lock you in on a 3 month cancellation period from what I remember. I should have shot them out a long time ago but old habits die hard.

Agree, we did really well in the CL games except for the two games against Dortmund. It felt like they had our number tactically, they pretty much outplayed us both legs. We were good against PSG and Milan until we ran out of gas.

I agree, the only proviso is that the bigger cities were capable of generating more money because of the size of their fanbase and were well known abroad. Hall and Shepherd never put their hands in their own pockets on behalf of Newcastle, they just understood that with the right investment, the club had the potential to challenge for honours with the big clubs of the time. That doesn't happen if you're Luton. Even Blackburn wasn't sustainable no matter how much money Walker sunk into the club.

Also putting friendships aside to stay objective. He was good mates with Steve Harper and I think that affected what he wrote at times.

He's a genuine bloke but not really a good journalist.

It's the same as the Callum Wilson situation, for the fee we get it might not be worth selling. Wilson's still going to get goals but teams will stay clear because of his injury record. As for Trippier, I'd be fuming if we went out and spent £20m on a 33 yr old full back regardless of how good he is.

He's 33 man. You'd be lucky to get half that.

Can't say I've ever paid that much attention to him but he seems the type who would press very effectively, tackle viciously, get booked a lot and then not be so great on the ball. Does that sound about right?