afar

I hope we are asking for a lot more than 20 million,, we may settle for that but we should be saying we want more. Like I said before we will struggle to get a replacement for 20 million in this market that's even close to his strike rate. It seems more and more likely that we are in a sell before you buy situation, so quite frankly I see our striking situation to be just as bad this season as it was last.

That's an awful fixture list, Rafa hasn't won either of the first two games of the season in his previous two seasons with us. We've got to play better than last year's first game against Spuds, that one was really depressing because Spuds weren't that great on the day and had Shelvey not been sent off we could have picked up something from it. But we were a little too respectful of them on the day I think. Cardiff away, next up is the game you really don't want either, newly promoted side first home game, sounds a little too similar to Huddersfield away 2nd game of last season. Then of course it just keeps on coming, Arsenal and Chelsea will both be out for revenge on us, we never get anything from Man City. Then a trip to Manure , another least favourite destination on game day 8. We could very well be bottom early on. Honestly this rigged fixture list compilation that the PL does is wrong and should be looked at.

Got new seats though, so it's all good

Lopetgui hadn't lost one match in charge of Spain yet. You mean like Gareth Bloody Southgate !

Totally agree, he's done nothing, hell I don't even think he's 3 times the player Joselu is, which is what his price tag suggests.

That's so fucking stupid, I understand the poletics involved but sacking this close kills any realistic challenge for Spain unfortunately. FFS when England get knocked out, I get to say I'm half Spanish so have another chance to actually follow the games with interest. They just fucked that up

This is great news, fantastic for Canada, first time in ever they'll qualify Hopefully get to see some games if they play in Calgary, would need a new stadium here though, so more likely that if they come to Alberta it'll be Edmonton which is 500 miles away from me.

The other issue they have really not factored in is, they obviously need a bunch of new players. The ones they have don't want to soil themselves with that division. But who is going to want to join them ? If it were only a matter of adding a few players to a core then fine, get some loans in take a few of the brightest stars from the lower reaches, Scotland (where you can bet the majority of their incommings will come from) and non league. But you are talking about a whole new team, that's not easy. The manager has no experience of taking a bunch of players who think they are too good for the division they are playing in and making them give him 100% effort, this has been made next to impossible by an owner who has clearly stated they are not wanted. It's only June so they have plenty of time, but they've got to get a move on, first to get rid of the players that are eating at their finances and then replace the heads with others wiling to play in that league for a club that has historically failed over and over.

Think that was the original plan to cut costs but in the cold light of day letting 100s of pissed up mackems loose with power tools would have caused a health and safety headache and they are getting skilled tradesmen in to do it instead. I would imagine there is some sort of safety concern too here, surely legally they'll have to be certified or something.

The fact is though, buying a striker is expensive business, even if we got 20 million for him, I don't see a simple task in replacing him with a player as capable in front of goal for that amount. Rondon, ffs, that takes up the bulk of the fee and replaces him with a player with a far worse goals/minute whose older and frankly not proven anything in this country. In this market it really doesn't make a lot of sense to sell him for less than 30 million, because you simply can't replace him with someone who can score at the same or better rate and has time on his side to develop like Mitro has. How much would Chelsea want for Abraham for example, bidding probably starts at 25 million, they sold a very average Ake for 20 million last year. So with agent fees and signing bonuses and shit like that, that Ashley insists on including, you are barely breaking even and your replacement has a worse goals/mins ratio in the PL than the player you are letting go. Personally think Rafa needs to rethink here, see if he can work him into his system, or tweak it a little unless someone comes along with a ridiculous 30 million plus bid, then snatch their hands off.

Best thing for the player, and us if Rafa is here long term, that he moves on. Porto will probably sell him for a huge profit within a few years, as always appears to be the case when good young players move to that league. Probably a mistake to let him go though if Rafa is gone next year at the end of his contract.

Say each seat with installation costs 100 pounds, 31,500 of them, will cost 3 million !! No that can't be right because that's a third of his wealth ! On new soon to be pink seats. Must be closer to 10 quid a seat I guess. But for a div 3 team, upwards of 300k is a significant chunk of change, most clubs don't spend that on their entire transfer budget in that league...priorities !

Coleman has had worse career advice than Paulie Shore. Should never have gone to Sunderland after the heights of Wales, and now China. Makes no sense. He's a terrible manager, so good riddance to him. Wish he'd stayed at Sunderland, would have completed the job next season, I feel.

Probably not a lot as I imagine the event organisers are behind the catering and of course ticketing so perhaps he gets a nominal fee for usage of the stadium? Speaking of SJP as it’s a leasehold, do the council get money from concerts? The City itself will have had a canny little boost, hotels, pubs, restaurants and retail. The big winner is obviously Ed Sheehan and his agent/promotors and the supporting acts getting exposure etc. LOL they'll be getting a lot more than a nominal fee dude.

LOL, look at the crowd, looks like a Sunderland game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EV-4T8sW0I

Honestly think we will end up regretting selling him even for 20 million

And the players expecting a wage.

What a .....

I remember. I also remember sitting in the old wooden west stand that was there prior to that, one such time watching the might of Frank Pingel back head the ball into the net for a draw with the best team in the land and Europe at the time, Liverpool. If you want to get an idea of how the first version of the milburn looked before L7, look at Watford's main stand, whoever designed ours made it an exact copy of theirs, it looks tiny compared to what is there now. And yes I still believe we should have moved to castle leazes back in the day, fuck the protesters. We wouldn't have the issues we have now with the lack of expansion possibilities.

Watched the highlights of the U21 games, to see how our boys looked. Armstrong really is looking sharp, he took his goal very well and had a number of other efforts that but for great saves from the keeper would have be fine goals. He's also adding a lot in the link up play with a few assits. I think he may be a good alternate to Perez, if we don't invest in that position next year. Anyway, point of this post was to say how much Abraham stands out, he's like a man amongst boys there, he's massive and has been a real presence, understand why Rafa wanted him last year. Think we should throw in a big bid for him, see if they bite, don't mind inserting a buy back clause (as long as it's 50 million plus or something), if it will get the deal done. Think Chelsea could be open to it, since he really didn't shine at Swansea, under Rafa he could bloom.

Seriously that is excellent business for them, he's not worth half that, despite what they paid for him. Makes Colback look like a footballer. excellent business? oh yeah pay 13.6m for a player sell him for 6.6 18 months later that 6.6 won't even cover what they owe on him glad you're not my financial adviser Am I really going to argue with the forum's resident Mensa ? Oh ffs why not. Dude you have to forget what they paid for any of their players, the one and only priority for them now is to shift them and to shift them for as much as they can get. N'Dong, is complete and utter trash, honestly I wouldn't even pay 7 figures for him. He's not going to help them climb out of that division and they can't afford to pay him. 6.5 million that's a luducrous offer based on what we've seen of the lad. As far as they are concerned that's one off the wage bill and 6.5 million towards paying off their transfer deficit. They will get a decent fee for Khazari too, sounds like he had a good season back in France, I'm not sure what's going on with Borini but I thought AC Milan had a obligation to buy, Kone and Dijiboji (sp) are going to be hard to shift, Rodwell and Cattermole are going nowhere and they have a bunch of others like Oveido, McGeedy and Love who will be on wages way too high for that division. They are still deep shit and as the guy's above said, although 19k is impressive for a L1 side it's not really going to help their finances a huge amount, because the revenue generated is so low. First step though for them is to get that wage bill down, if that means giving players away for huge losses, then so be it, it's better than paying them.

Why isn't KK a knight ? Should have gotten it before Dalglish imo, twice European footballer of the year, England Captain and Manager and of course the work he did with us. Tbh what Kenny has done for charity and other causes has been immense; thoroughly deserves this KK doesn't ? Not begrudging Dalglish either it's long overdue but KK should have gotten one by now, Sir Trevor Fucking Brooking ffs

Why isn't KK a knight ? Should have gotten it before Dalglish imo, twice European footballer of the year, England Captain and Manager and of course the work he did with us.

Wow Spuds making all the right moves with their own staff this close season so far. Credit to them for not letting the likes of Madrid push them around and take their best assets.

Prime example to kids to stay in school