STM

Aye he had this little grin, it was suspicious. Reckon he's a sly auld dog wor Eddie.

From the outside Parker has come across as a right selfish cunt. He's basically decided that Bournemouths failure, can't be his failure. He can't be seen as a manager that got relegated again and thrown his players under the bus. While he is right that this squad isn't good enough, he should have resigned in the summer when he knew he wasn't getting loads of dosh. It's interesting that he gets loads of support within the media and I must say I was duped into thinking he might be a good coach but then I remembered what he was like at Newcastle, the second it got tough he jumped ship. Perhaps this will be a master stroke from Parker, because his next job might actually be a PL job, he'd probably get an Everton job or whatever but you know the saying a cunt never changes his spots... or something like that. Bournemouth should look at what Leeds did. Find someone with energy from elsewhere, who could potentially bring them back up next season, should they go down.

Still feel like we will snare one loan before the deadline. It would be on deadline day though, when things start moving quickly.

Wonder if @Toonjam88might get wind about whether Isak gets his WP through. ?

I think Howe is lying. Reckon he's pulling the wool over Liverpools eyes.

Thought Howe got the tone about this perfect in his presser.

Given injuries: Pope Trippier Schar Botman Burn Longstaff Joelinton Willock Miggy Fraser Isak Looks most likely but wouldn't be surprised to see 5 at the back and Targett come in.

He is/was a Belgian international DM, with 30 odd caps. Have you seen some of the players he was competing with in that position? I'd bet my left bollock that he's more technically sound than Longstaff, Willock and even Joelinton. For 10m as someone who gives us another string to our bow, he'd be a no brainer.

Clive would be proud of his son.

It's not indicative of anything really, Man City signed Scott Carson a couple of years ago. Big clubs often sign older keepers from smaller clubs who are willing to sit on the bench.

Would it be fair to say we are taking a small gamble? Ultimately, Pope will likely play 30+ games for us in the PL this season and even in the scenario where he gets injured, we only have until mid November when the world cup starts, then we have January to help us out. Is it great, no. Is it a big deal, probably not. On the positive, we've effectively spent 4m on a superb keeper, which is also a younger upgrade.

I think we are still slowly trying to move older players on, especially ones who are not in the starting 11. Yes we would have kept him but long term it will be the right decision.

Palace game is more of a blow but I will just rest my hopes on Isak and hope I love him as much as Bruno. Fingers crossed we get another player in too.

Enter Eddie Howe.

Great shout but is that how home grown works?

If West Ham are getting Paqueta, I wonder if they would consider letting Soucek go. There was rumours earlier in the window that he was available for a reasonable price.

Certainly sounds Moyesy but Villa are short on CBs. Would make sense if Dawson went the other way.

The amount of time he's limped off and I've sworn he's done his groin or hammy. He's fine man.

I'd wait until the deal is done before judging what the actually deal is. I have a feeling that either the fee will be more than 5m or it will be an obligation.

I understand people's frustrations but again, the pros and cons will have been weighed up. Hey, there's half a chance another keeper might come in. Plenty of scope for another loan.

ASM is regularly in cotton wool, I wouldn't worry.

I suspected in January there was something up between Howe/Dubravka/Newcastle because we were being linked with goalkeepers straight away, which was odd and then we went in for Pope/Henderson very quickly. Perhaps it wasn't personal, maybe Dubravka wanted a new contract and club said no, perhaps he had gotten wind of Man United early and they unsettled him, perhaps Howe doesn't trust his injury record. Whatever it is, the wheels have been in motion since January. Yes, going from Dubravka to Darlow is a slight loss in quality but we are talking a number 2 goalkeeper here, its something we can think about in January. I'm sure our scouts can find a talented young keeper we can develop.

To me he seemed more "do I have to do this", like he wanted it over, which I've got no issue with.

He's got that steely "I'm an arrogant cunt", vibe. Like he knows he's good. Strikers need a bit of that, Wilson has it, Shearer had it.

I'll be honest, Brighton was hard to judge, City they were all over us, so again hard to judge. I was at the Bilbao game and he hadn't made an impression on me but against Wolves he was unreal. Finally I got to see what all the fuss is about. It's got nothing to do with his defensive ability, which is very good, it's his passing and intelligence that mark him out as great player.