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He would have been interested enough to hear us out and receive an offer. Parish has since held talks with him, and has likely made him some promises and perhaps offered him an increase in salary to match. No big deal. There were a number of people that were approached and interviewed. Speak to the next best fit. Worked well last time.

Yeah, great point actually The man is an absolute charlatan, making that claim, while continuing to collect his salary

We absolutely have to take this as far as need be. Even if it runs and runs. A precedent has to be set. This is an unbelievable piss take of epic proportions.

I believe it is the typical formality, yes, but seems very far fetched claiming that means he was sacked.

Ah, interesting. Didn't realise this

Cannot believe the level of arrogance and stupidity on there. Their time is coming though. All the signs are pointing to it, with this Ratcliffe guy in charge.

Ashworth is trying to claim that Darren Eales didn't have him write out his resignation letter before leaving, and so the gardening leave is not valid! Claiming that it means he was then essentially sacked, and so should be able to join Man Utd right away. This could be the reasoning behind why they have lowballed us with the compensation. It's what they are banking on during arbitration.

If they want to move closer to where they're from, sure.

Freedman is a Scotsman too isn't he? Wonder if that plays into things as well.

Did they actually think with this information they would just then need to offer us what we did Brighton and they'd get him?!!!

Wow ... Poch seemed to have got his head around what those players were best at, and had started cooking up something with them. And so this is just fantastic news Boehly and Ratcliffe man. What a pair

Probably leaked it to let Man Utd know that we know. And we've got them all ends up if it goes to arbitration. And so they can save us both some time and deposit the £20 million pronto.

What a start to the Ratcliff tenure. My God I imagine this all got uncovered as we started digging deeper into things in preparation for the arbitration case they raised? This is too good man. Just too good

Ah I see. Be interesting to see what he makes of himself at Newcastle then. Worse clubs to poach kids that weren't quite deemed good enough from.

Oh yeah, I'm sure! I wouldn't offer a contract to someone that had concerns about getting enough opportunities either.

Think the insinuation was that Man City weren't looking to have him leave. It was his decision.

When he signed I'm sure there was an interview where he said he wanted greater assurances of a pathway to the first team, and that was a big part of why he decided to move to Newcastle.

People aren't watching any of these players man. Just going off of previous reputations.

Yeah, @brummie, mentions this a few posts up.

Yeah, exactly. Regarding Barkley, remind me, did you guys ever play him in central midfield proper like Luton have this season, where he's been initiating their play from deep? It's been quite the transformation for him playing in that part of the pitch. Reminds me of when Benfica did similar with Taarabt a few years ago, which was just as surprisingly effective.

That's because you've likely not watched Luton play this season or paid any attention to how Barkley was being used, and so it was probably the right move for you to exit the conversation.

Fair play to Villa for the Barkley pickup. Great move.

Brighton much like ourselves suffered this season because they were stretched by Europe and had a bunch of injuries. Brighton don't rely on individual windows to replace players sold. They are continuously buying talented players and stocking the team at all levels all the time, and they just continue to bring them through. My bet is they will be right there around 6th to 8th again next season, and pushing for Europe. And there will be another round of unknown players that are performing for them that everyone is impressed by.

I already posted the breakdown explaining his change of role at Luton this season. You didn't read it. Also, they've been on TV a good number of times this season, never mind the two times we played them, have you not caught any of these games?

Joelinton, Bruno and Tolani I see as the starters. If Bruno goes down, and Tonali goes into the centre, the likelihood is that Longstaff slots in on the right. Just going by what we've typically seen, and with Willocks injury issues. Would love Willock to stay fit and push ahead of Longstaff, along with Anderson and Miley, but let's see.