TRon

Technically he's still the owner, but in reality he's not. Tuchel would certainly find it a lot easier to speak up against Russia now that Abramovich has been sanctioned and effectively thrown out of Chelsea football club. Howe is not really in the same position is he?

It is weird like. I can understand on Sunday there was going to be a backlash because of the executions in SA, but it still felt like that was more to take the focus off Chelsea. Tuchel has had a very sympathetic press, and deservedly so, but I don't think it's fair to deride Howe for not speaking up more against our owners. For a start they are still his employers whereas Tuchel's boss has been kicked out. That does make it a lot easier for him to be more expressive. At the end of the day, NUFC ownership is not involved with the invasion of another country. If anything, we as a nation, seem to have really close ties to Saudi Arabia.

The truth is he's found his level. He would never have been fine here, you can't train three days a week and expect it to work at PL level.

I still subscribe to the Times only through habit, but I barely read any of the main stories. I flick through the sports section and the culture part, the rest is a waste of time. I couldn't read the Guardian either.

He's brilliant isn't he?

How come their shitty stadium still has a capacity less than ours after 20 years of success then? Because they are a fucking small time club mate, they always were.

Around top 2 or 3 before that although at that time it was only two teams qualifying for CL iirc. we were a bigger team than them for a lot longer prior to Abramovich.

That's how it works. The figures made 50 shades of Grey author a millionaire, is that any less ridiculous?

Luke Edwards resurrected from the ashes....

Pretty sure we'd been around CL positions at the same time.

But that's professional sport, I guess the argument would be, once money comes into it, why should it be any different to any other profession?

They're not that out of touch, they know that once they are disassociated with Abramovich, the govt and the PL will probably bend over backwards to get them back onboard.

Yeah we really missed his power and pace in the middle on Sunday. Would love to see how he would get on in the same midfield as Bruno and little Joe.

Sort of agree with this, but I don't agree he's slower than Shelvey. He covers ground much quicker IMO, will make a proper judgement call when I see him with a bit more legs around him. Jo and Joe were a big miss against Chelsea, we had a completely revamped midfield, that too against one of the elite teams in Europe. I thought Bruno ended up trying to do too much and needs more going on in front of him to get the best out of him.

We've had some fantastic results without him like, that's been a real bonus. But we are definitely better with him in the team.

They bought us for a reason. Staveley or Mehrdad went on record on saying that being a one club city was a huge attraction for the Saudis, and Chelsea are very far from that.

Yeah we know what it feels like to go from being one of the top clubs in England to basically fighting to be mid-table. I also felt some resentment to clubs like Chelsea and Man City basically blowing everyone else out of the water with their wealth, but tbh, you still had it pretty good compared to us. Spurs have consistently been around the CL positions, you have had great managers, and great football to watch. I think I'd be more on the same page as your dad tbh, as long as we were still competitive, the club would be a big part of my life. The problem for us of course, was we were bought by someone who thought we were a cash cow. I agree that there's something wrong with the game where the biggest pockets decide who will be the biggest club, personally I think NUFC (and Spurs as well) would be more than capable of punching their weight if owner's wealth wasn't a factor. But we had to live with this system for the last 20 years, I'm certainly not going to sniff at it now it's our turn to pitch in with the big boys. I agree with @ManDoon, sport is not a moral compass once you get to the professional level. When the stakes are so high, money is going to affect it. Football is probably not much worse than other sports other than because it is so popular, it attracts more money. Honestly, if it was me in your position I think I would just live with it. Spurs are hardly bit part players, they have one of the best managers in the world, some great players, and they are still fighting for CL places. Cheer up mate!

I can't get my head around that like. He's prepared to go up against PIF? Do they view sport as non-competitive or something?

I'd say it's unconcsious bias, but some of the decisions we see are so palpably wrong you just can't accept it. It's one thing for a ref to claim he was unsighted, but what excuse has the VAR analyst got? How do you watch a tv replay, see a clear tug on the shirt and say nothing doing?

His pressing is more evident when you are at the ground, no complaints at all on that score, but you still need to be a good footballer to be in a decent side. He's not.

It was Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink btw, dunno why I had a brain freeze.

I find it very hard to say there's blatant corruption involved, it sounds really kooky tbh, but it's hard to imagine that it can be sheer incompetence. Every time?

So what was it that made you walk away from football? I know you have probably explained previously, but maybe I missed it.

That fucking meme still knocking around triggs will be having a wank over it later.

Yes you could argue the Havertz elbow decision was subjective, definitely room for debate on that one, although it was telling that former Chelsea boy Tony Yeboah thought it was a sending off. What I don't get is how shirt pulling can be legitimised.