Memphis

Journalists need to be very precise with their claims, specifically - is a £100m "war chest" representative of the total value of the deals, or what we're actually going to spend *this* summer? £100m could easily be amortized over a five year deal at £20m/yr (not including wages), so if we spend £100m this summer, that could end up being £500m worth of paper value. It wouldn't bc of wages, etc but you get the idea. That's an extreme example but that's why the specifics matter.

The club is much more PR-savvy these days. I'll bet we see something in a day or two from Howe or Eales with a (public) explanation.

This is all too organized to have been a shock to anyone within the club. It was clearly set up to be announced today so as to avoid in-season distractions. Nothing wrong with the announcement itself. As to the decision, here are some theories: 1. Eddie Howe sniped another DoF. He didn't feel that he could work with Mitchell and was annoyed at having his transfer power reduced. He won the PIF power struggle and this is the result. 2. We have found a new CEO and since Darren Eales was instrumental in bringing Mitchell in - and they have worked together - change was needed and demanded by whoever is arriving. 3. Mitchell tried to snipe Eddie. He undermined him, with the backing of Eales, only to find that Howe massively overachieved in spite of them dragging their feet and not signing anyone. PIF saw through the scheme and backed Eddie. I think it's some combination of all three, but mostly 2. This is a pretty smooth exit, though it is abrupt, and everyone seems to be on board with how it's gone. That speaks to a pretty orchestrated process. I don't think this will impact this window all that much, but obviously it depends on the timing of the replacement. I would expect there to be a much more streamlined process and I would expect Eddie to get more power in this process, which I think he has earned. All in all, not all that bothered yet.

I think a lot of people are underrating the importance of culture building and consistency. I could understand the idea of Howe keeping Wilson around as he's done with other players in order to maintain the standards and help the younger or newer players get acclimated to the expectations. Team culture is built over time and the standards that are set have to be maintained. If you don't have the benefit of having some of your best players having been in your team culture for years and years, you have to have help building it. Howe is in the process of doing that and keeping Wilson around - as long as he's not keeping better, younger players from playing - could be really beneficial to team building. It makes sense if it's for those reasons.

Hm, good point. Maybe his clone then.

I think that was his twin Ben Svotman out there today

Let the summer begin!!

Ultimately this was a zero-sum thing. Either we made the Champions League and continued our ascent, or we didn't. And we did. So I'm going to end up not giving a fuck about how it happened.

We didn't deserve it today. But we did deserve it over the course of the season. I'm fucking annoyed about that shit performance. Awful. Nerves got to us. 3-4-3 doesn't suit us. Nothing really suited us. I'm still on edge. But it doesn't matter. We got there in the end.

WE WON EVEN THOUGH WE DIDN'T

You can see how the decades of toil and frustration have scarred so many of us. We have a scenario that we would have all jumped at months ago, a scenario that didn't seem possible a few years ago, and there are so many who are scared shitless of a loss. We control our destiny. Simple. We need to beat a team we should be beating at home. We do that, we are in the Champions League with a third-placed finish after winning a domestic cup. Incredible stuff. We just need to grab it.

You would think after winning a cup and all the success we have had that people would relax a bit and accept when we have a lackluster half without all Howe all of a sudden being shit and the team bottling it and all that. We have it in our hands. Beat Everton at home, we are in the Champions League. If we can't do that, we don't deserve it. We would have snapped someone's hand off to be in this position 5 months ago, let alone 5 years ago.

I can't help but think about Alisson and Ederson and how their distribution is vital to the intent of those sides. Take Villa even, remember their 2nd goal against us when Martinez played it over our press right into Tielemans, who had acres of space to start the move that ended up with a goal. We end up so often having only one way to play because Pope cannot reliably distribute the ball. He is a fantastic shotstopper but there is a lot more to goalkeeping within the tactical framework we want to use. I think a better ball playing keeper would improve our consistency and ability to dictate play against lesser sides.

Kind of, but even then you have Dan Burn, who played a very competent LB for ages. Krafth too. And we will need versatility in the system they can play, too. I think it's different but even by CB standards, I still think we want versatile players.

If we have learned anything from the last few seasons, it's that Howe prizes versatility more than most. I would imagine that every player we target (apart from Trafford obv) would be able to play multiple positions at a high level. Any rumour involving anyone who doesn't can be immediately dismissed.