Colos Short and Curlies

We'd be up against Arsenal and Liverpool for Rice you would imagine. Advantage over Arsenal is that he is pretty much nailed on as a starter here with a little more competition there so they may not value him quite as high as we do Advantage over Liverpool is that they are going to tie themselves in knots with Bellingham so we can nip in quickly

Will that be Hexham's finest Fraser Forster playing in the Champions League knock out stages?

Looks real bad in isolation but there is a lot of missing context e.g. are these cash advances on sponsorship deals (rather than taking a loan on future income from the bank) e.g. how were these payments disclosed when all said and done - nothing wrong with taking in shareholder equity, up to the PL how they interpret their treatment e.g. do the intermediary sponsors actually do anything or are they just shell companies used to distribute cash? This was early on in the City project so I would assume getting cash through the door today was more important than over a 3-5 year sponsorship period, on the premise that Champions League funding would soon kick in to fill the cash gap, probably not quite the smoking gun that it immediately looks to be

But if you take the issue of Manchini's (alleged) contract position there is nothing legally wrong with what was in place, it is a question on whether it contravened the rules put in place by a sporting body. Same with sponsorship values, legally they are likely to be sound but whether they fit the PLs requirements is a different kettle of fish. If Chelsea are using a 7 year contract to spread fees and it is found to be a 5 year contract with the option of 2 (based on hitting criteria) then we'll see another legal wrangling on whether the initial contract is 5 or 7. All good fun from the sidelines

Nah, we've got Liverpool at home next, that's the easiest game in the premier league at the moment. Plus wouldn't surprise me if Klopp walks should they lose to Everton

Undecided if this is a terrible joke or the best joke ever told on this forum. Could be both of course

UEFA did do something though, they saw a legal loophole being exploited and closed it from the next transfer window

He quits, cites it being a massive distraction, moves to PSG (or similar) and he is merely a forgotten footnote in why City didn't win the league this season and is totally distanced from any ruling when it happens.

Reckon we’ll go £200m-£250m in the summer but that will be partly funded through Maxi and Dubs leaving along with a bit of padding from the likes of our dear captain, Manquillo and one or 2 more. wouldn’t be a total shock if Wilson went back to Bournemouth or similar for £20-£25m with a younger player brought in. I’d add that to the £250m if that happened.

not under Howe. He’ll be impressing on them the importance of form and momentum going into the final, you can’t switch off for 3 games, even just 10-15% then switch it back on for the final. I reckon we will start like a train today, the plan will be 2-3 nil by half time then kill the game dead. bournemouth will be similar liverpool will be a send off like no other as we break the premier league record for winning margin and goals scored by a single player in a game

So much you added 20 years to the date

3 subs, the way it should still be

Yes you can. It then becomes a Civil/Contract point where the burden is much lower than for a criminal court. The tape in itself can easily be used to created a case of serious misconduct bringing the club into disrepute. It could get messy with lawyers but you'd have a good case of winning any tribunal if it got to that

I'm sure Howe always had belief that he'd make it to the top but good ol Jase must think he's on the lottery being up here now

More likely to be W,D,W. We're fucking smashing Liverpool on the send off game

Lascelles for the send off, lets be honest he is off in the summer. Miggy because he deserves it for stepping up this season in a big way output wise. Wilson as it just kind of feels right for the number 9 to get it Murphy for the wind up

Hiding behind the wording that says retrospective action for violent conduct in the process of challenging for the ball can only be made where the incident was not seen. Assuming VAR looked at it and said nothing doing then it was seen by the officials.

So why didn't Salisu see red for nearly taking Miggy's head off? I don't think it (Salisu) was anything other than a foul, just pointing out that if you go on potential impact without intent then this was probably more dangerous in potential impact than Bruno's. For me Bruno's was a red for a mistimed challenge above the ankle but its a crime worthy of a one match ban, not 3

Wife's Gran's 90th party on the 26th, sitting down at 2pm. We're taking 2 cars so I can get away early

It wouldn't surprise me if Howe's instructions at half time were to just kill the game dead but a combination of the occasion and Southampton showing a little more led to some nerves and scrappy play. But despite that there was only the Armstrong chance that they threatened with really. I reckon it would seem comfortable viewing if you watched it as a neutral

salisu’s mortal kombat fatality attempt on Miggy (yes completely accidental but if intent isn’t a factor then that was high)

Neither and both. I'd be going for high energy, high pressing from both rather than having a DM. We're going Lee/Clark style here

Yeah, Bruno has himself to blame for the red, he was half a second late and an inch high but Tierney would have had to hold some responsibility if the foul had resulted in a bad injury through losing control. The freekick for handball against Bruno was a foul and that set him off, then after the 2 fouls in 2 minutes he should have brought out a yellow or brought Bruno and Trips over for a long chat to calm the red mist

Maxi in, Big Joe and Longstaff a proper midfield 2 - lots of legs in there, with Willock playing more advanced behind Wilson Big 3 games for Maxi, if he's not starting against Liverpool then you'd suspect that is it for him here. I reckon he's going to thrive coming back in really as the main man again but this time with a dangerous Miggy on the right to limit to double/triple up. Need to start well, can't have another 'after the Lord Mayer's show' again. 3-0 Wilson, Maxi, Willock

Would love some over zealous auditor going in and impairing all of the players not in the 25, all transfer fees written off in one year and a massive loss.