TRon

Having the players is only part of it. Just look at what Howe did with the same players Bruce had given up on.

I think that's partly a consequence of our success last season. You can imagine other clubs fearing selling a player to us, then being told Howe has made them into much better players. Arsenal will now be wondering if maybe they are letting go of Tierney too hastily and is he actually a better all round full back than Zinchenko?

That's my gut instinct as well. Well maybe not November, but might be just the one season. Doesn't matter who the manager is, a lot of their success was built on Kane and Son. Kane probably won't be there next season, and Son looks to be in decline. How good is their squad really?

Well that is happening, and not much we can do about that, but pretty sure there will be some decent secondary targets who could be just as exciting, but we seem to be being fed the predictable tried and tested British value by the local journalists. How much genuine insight that's based on I'm not so sure.

I think you're right, it is journalists being lazy, or at best taking educated guesses. None of them will have any real intel on who our genuine targets are.

I've not liked West Ham for a while now tbh, might have started with finding out Martin Samuels was a fan, then being led by Allardyce didn't help. For me it's not about the club, often it's the type of football they play. Never been a fan of David Moyes teams, and the one positive I take out of this is that he'll still be in charge of them next season as a result of winning this.

Expansion to the new stadium would be fine as long as I thought I could get in once it was done. I just don't think we could add enough seats to make that likely unless we build a new stadium. The other option is to wait until we are shit again, then a 52k stadium will be plenty big enough.

He'd be a perfect Moyes player tbf. Could see him putting Paqeta on the bench so he could get some good Scottish grit in the middle.

Yeah it looks like Mount is going to Man U anyway. The Priveleged Six are divvying up the highest ranked midfielders between them, still looks like Arsenal have got the prime cut in Rice. Would be funny as fuck if we ended up buying Szoboszlai and Alcaraz and the pair of them ended up being a better combo than any of those.

The best solution is to ignore both Holt and the thin-skinned fans who get baited into reacting. Let's face it, when you have a large fan base, some are going to bite. Let them get on with it either way, as you say it's inevitable given the nature of the takeover. Howe has got it down to a tee, just refuses to get drawn in, and quite right too. He's got nothing to do with what's happened to football in the 21st century.

While I get the nostalgia argument of staying at St James Park, I do feel kind of peeved that I've only ever been able to buy a season ticket when we were particularly shit. As soon as there's a hint of success, the demand goes through the roof. If we had a 75k ground built at the Leazes and I was actually able to land a season ticket I would get over the nostalgia for the chance to watch a full season of the sort of team we are putting out now.

I'd take him like. Looks like a rich man's Mason Mount.

Just hope the Priveleged Six will get their buying of Mac Allisters, Rices and Mounts done fairly quickly so we can move on and land our own targets.

Arsenal look like they might be buying Rice, but you would think Man U might have shown more interest. Maybe they think they've already spent big on Casimero last season and they want to prioritise other positions.

I suppose that's the whole point of FFP though, to stop that ever happening again.

Even without CL, Liverpool will still be seen as a bigger club than us currently, and you can't really argue when you compare their trophy cabinet with ours over the last 40 years.

I think we have to roll the dice to some extent with signings. The proven players all have the long term CL clubs circling them like hyenas. We have to be a bit smart and try to recruit exciting emerging talent like Guler. Of course there's a chance they'll be duds, but equally they could go on to take the league by storm. Just look at Isak.

I mean it's come out of nowhere so would be a bit of a surprise, but I guess with the big six chasing all the same players we have to think out of the box a bit.

It was an interview he gave in The Athletic, Alan Shearer doing the interview as well. @rgk_lfc

Yep. Not to mention other middle eastern countries like Egypt, UAE are pretty crazy about football so we could pick up quite a few fans in that part of the world. Maybe not in Iran though.

CL value is worth more over the long term. It immediately raises our profile so we'll be worth more in sponsorships, more fans getting on board so more shirt sales etc. It's not just about the initial payoff. Obviously the more consistently we qualify the more it compounds, but even one season will have a massive impact.

That would be a shame, would only vindicate what Vieiera said about him when he was in France. But if it's true, then I'd happily sell him for a decent fee.

Some genuinely breathtaking moments of skill there. Still feels like a player who has untapped potential.

Would imagine a lot of the spadework has already been done.

Teams can't clock the give and go, it's the one-footedness they can defend against. Two separate things. Also Miggy's not the best striker of the ball so they know 85% of the time they only have to block the curl into the far corner with his left foot.