Unbelievable

Anyway, I'm glad we seem to be getting him. He is definitely of the required quality. Now for a striker, a winger, a full back and at least one centre back of the same calibre, or we will have a strong midfield but will still have trouble putting the ball in the net and keeping it out of ours.

Sounds more like a replacement for Tiote than Sissoko. In fact he sounds like he would pair very well with Sissoko. I don't think he's strong enough as a DM in the PL.

Isn't he rated to be the better than Depay as well? Not even close So how good is he? Well, to my mind Memphis Depay, who is 4 years younger, is already a better player and has the potential to become Van Persie/Robben level. Wijnaldum on the other hand is what I would classify as a fairly solid squad player at international level for Holland. For me, he probably wouldn't have been a starter in Brazil, and I think he was often the weak link when he played. Probably a similar level to Cabaye and Sissoko for me. Sissoko with more technical ability/a brain? Yes, if you want, and a little bit less strength and pace on the break.

Isn't he rated to be the better than Depay as well? Not even close So how good is he? Well, to my mind Memphis Depay, who is 4 years younger, is already a better player and has the potential to become Van Persie/Robben level. Wijnaldum on the other hand is what I would classify as a fairly solid squad player at international level for Holland. For me, he probably wouldn't have been a starter in Brazil, and I think he was often the weak link when he played. Probably a similar level to Cabaye and Sissoko for me. Is he more of a box to box player rather than an attacking mid? That's the impression I got from his YouTube videos. He started out as an attacking midfield player often played out wide in Feyenoord's and PSV's 433 systems. In the last few years at PSV and in the national team he has been moved backward to play as a central midfield player. As such his style could be classified as box-to-box I suppose, although I do think he is more capable going forward than protecting the defense.

Isn't he rated to be the better than Depay as well? Not even close So how good is he? Well, to my mind Memphis Depay, who is 4 years younger, is already a better player and has the potential to become Van Persie/Robben level. Wijnaldum on the other hand is what I would classify as a fairly solid squad player at international level for Holland. For me, he probably wouldn't have been a starter in Brazil, and I think he was often the weak link when he played. Probably a similar level to Cabaye and Sissoko for me.

Strange. That actually says we are approaching an agreement with PSV and they have given him permission to undergo medical and discuss personal terms, not that we have already reached an agreement with PSV. Why is that strange? It's clear that we are so close to agree a deal that they have given him permission to talk to us. It's strange because it means that negotiations about the fee will be very akward.

Isn't he rated to be the better than Depay as well? Not even close

Strange. That actually says we are approaching an agreement with PSV and they have given him permission to undergo medical and discuss personal terms, not that we have already reached an agreement with PSV.

That article says it's "as good as done" yet they also claim we finished 11th in the PL, so I wouldn't say accuracy is really their thing.

Problem is, strikers have been bough for tens of millions from clubs abroad with impeccable goalscoring reputations and have completely failed in the PL. To some extent Austin's a proven commodity. Yes he is but he can be signed for £15m less in a year. Not by clubs like Palace, Leicester or us. If he runs down his contract and does well next season he will move to a bigger club to sit on their bench. If somehow he faile to impress next season no PL club will want him anyway. Tor the likes of us to get him we will have to pay the going rate or gamble on somebody else.

Is it not 10.5m "rising to" 13m based on.. stuff? Cabella at 12m is close at least Only Shearer and Owen have been signed by us for over 13m though. No way was Cabella 12m. Probably closer to 8m

Even that fee is not unreasonable even though it is higher than we have ever paid for a player since Ashley took over.

This is the only thing that is relevant. Yep

I've had a bit of a nightmare day trying to get stuff sorted for a change of job so only just getting my tea now. I'll try and put together my own account of events over the next couple of days for you. Don't want to slaver something quick and miss things out. One thing though, it was a different format to the previous forum so I found it harder to be able to get in all the questions I wanted. Not great. As you can see from the mistakes made reply, it probably didn't make much difference had I asked them anyway. Sweep and move on seemed to be the theme. That is very much the sense I get from reading the minutes. Surely the fan representatives didn't let "them" get off the hook so lightly?

I swear, I could grow to hate Steve McClaren more than I ever did Pardew. Just for the love of God stop talking until we actually see some evidence of a change in direction.

We finished how many points above the relegation places last season? The question was how many players do we need to sign to have parity with last season. Not how many do we need to sign to not be as s*** as last season I thought your point was they shouldn't be counted because they barely played last season. Pretty sure I have seen you argue this before anyway. If not apologies. If so, I think your argument is severely flawed because them being discarded by Pardew evidently made us a far worse side. Facts remains we have seen 7 players leave, including arguably our two best wingers, our best left back, our best centre back and two versatile squad members in Jonas and Raylor. If we had not sold Yanga-Mbiwa and Santon for peanuts and let Ben Arfa and to a lesser extent Sammy leave for free we perhaps wouldn't need at least five or six purples just to stand still and could have concentrated on "just" getting a new number nine and a starting centre back in alongside a few additions for the development team. The season starts in 4 weeks time and you'd have to be incredibly naive imo to believe that we will go into this season with a stronger squad than the one we had this time last season.

We finished how many points above the relegation places last season?

Just realised, was the fan forum members' letter demanding Ashley be present and the entire bring the forum forward not even touched upon?

The club are taking the p*ss out of the fans forum members but they only have themselves to blame for that as they allow the club to get away with it by manipulating what comes out. The club is run by a bunch of lying b******s but that's nothing new, people should have a problem with being openly lied to. They've doctored a question to make it look completely different to the one that was asked. Agreed. People on that forum have to seriously consider if it's worth them spending their free time on getting lied to and being used as a guise for open communication when it's quite clearly the polar opposite.

Happy Face

All these claims about wanting to improve would be a whole lot more believable if they showed a willingness to identify and correct mistakes from the (recent) past like. The eagerness to gloss over serious issues that have plagued us for years and have resulted in us battling relegation more often than not tells me everything I need to know about what changes to expect. The very fact that they have appointed Steve fucking McClaren and are using him to peddle their s*** is another massive indicator. They have bought themselves some more time, but the s*** will no doubt hit the fan again, sooner or later.

Fucking gutted if this happens man

That's the worst part for me. Fans pay hundreds of pounds every season for this s*** and they feel they can get away with no accountability whatsoever. c***s the lot of them.