STM

What's worst, its not the clubs that struggle with the patience, its the fans.

What's worse is that part of me would absolutely love Mourinho, for romantic reasons. That's a Freddy Shepherd move... or even a wild Mike Ashley move. Its not a smart strategical move.

Just looked and it wasn't until Artetas 4th season at Arsenal that they even got into the CL, they finished 8th, 8th and then 5th. Look at them now. Klopp finished 8th in his first season too. People were baying for blood with the former, but I'm sure the "top managers don't make these mistakes" crew won't acknowledge this. Also something absolutely fundamental to the above. Liverpool and Arsenal had/have way more in terms of funding and player draw... as well as an array of talent at their clubs to begin with... and two of the best youth sides in the world. I also doubt they had anywhere near the injury crisis we have had. The season we are having is absolutely par for the course.

There's a certain irony that we got spanked off Arsenal yesterday, by a manager who had two midtable finishes before finding some rhythm after weeding out the players he didn't want and building something over time. The only difference is that Arteta put an FA Cup on the board early doors but Howe has at least got us in the CL and a cup final. Why don't people learn? Don't be reactionary. Be calm. Be patient. We will back and we will be better.

We could just stick with Eddie Howe, a fantastic manager going through a rough patch.... which virtually everyone with a brain new was coming.

We should dig up Brian Clough.

Midfield just allowing Arsenal possession.

Don't forget he's a brexit loving, foreign football hating wanker, who's secretly trying to destroy the club from the inside. His enormous 4th place finish last year was a fiendish plan to sucker us in.

You wot

Karius confirmed.

Dubravka has made several errors recently. When your own team mates are hammering you, something is wrong.

Lick them Man United tears.

I watched Eddie's press conference and IMO he kind of implied that Halls transfer was a mistake.

To an extent, I do agree with @The College Dropouton this and have backed his view on not needing 3 strikers. Given where we are now and the fact that Wilson MUST be replaced. I'd be happy with either scenario suggested. Either we sign another quality signing, which has the benefit of giving Isak some rest and allowing us to be more flexible with Isak or we sign someone younger who's willing to play second fiddle/learn. If we were to sign, let's say Solanke, I don't see many down sides. Either he and Isak play plenty of games and dovetail (like Isak and Wilson were supposed to) or one of them plays the majority of the games and has an outstanding season. I take the wider point about whether 50m would be a wise use of funds but I suppose that discussion can only happen with knowledge of budgets etc. One thing is for certain, I have full confidence that we will have signed a quality replacement for Wilson come the end of the summer.

As long as he's in his garden until the summer and we still get a hefty fee.

The biggest mistake everyone seems to be making is that DA or any sporting director is a scout or that they are the sole contributor to transfers. Signing senior players is a small fraction of what DA does. He was building and overseeing the whole footballing operations at our club and that's what Man United want him for. I suspect a change in Sporting Director will have minimal impact on the sort of transfer business we intend to do..... unless we've decided we intend to use this opportunity to tweak our model... which is more than possible.

Watched that yesterday and it blows my mind how Souness never once looks at his own decisions during that time. He blames the fans, the media, the players.... never him. Also boils my piss that they took until the last minute to mention our injuries, which have been the overwhelming elephant in the room all season. Don't discuss our season without discussion injuries, just don't.

This would be my question also.

Totally agree. We might end up getting someone who isn't the centre of attention and benefit from it. I'm quietly excited about this being a positive change.

Has there been any links as to who we might be interested in replacing him?

As much as they are the enemy, I really struggle in taking pleasure in any traditional clubs having bad owners. After what we went through with Ashley, I really can't wish it upon anyone... apart from the likes of Liverpool/Man United. Really fucks me off the way hapless owners get basic decisions so wrong. Sunderland fans didn't want Micheal Beale, so why on earth would they hire him? Mental.

Also worth remembering, for those of a more conspiracy minded nature, if Dan Ashworth was caught sharing any confidential information, his career would be over. The whole point of having a good sporting director is to trust them... would be like marrying a lass who cheated on their ex with you... you know she'll do it again. He won't take that risk. He might be a judas cunt but he's not THAT guy.

I'm so proud of our club. Played a fucking blinder here. We either make a mint out of the situation or one of our rivals is forced to wait for their man. Man United can't afford to wait, certainly not past May. They will cough up. We will probably get north of 10m and in the meantime we can restructure our summer plans so Danny Boy can't fuck them up. Provided we get a good replacement... we've won.

You know you have competent people running the club when you could potentially get 20m for your sporting director. People were right, having Dan Ashworth would help our transfer department. We will probably get a new signing off the back of this. Get 20m or he has to spend 2 years gardening, sounds like a good deal to me.

Martin Samuel is a fat slob who writes articles with the same accuracy and precision that I throw darts at a dart board. If he gets a take right, it's actually because he was due one.