junkhead

without looking surely that would be the case for most major nations with a strong national league (germany, spain, italy etc.)? Yep, it's a silly argument really. It's not that silly as players like Rose and Welbeck have barely featured for their big clubs and afaik Delph has only played at LB for Man City this season. Welbeck has played 40 games this season and was pretty much starting every game until Aubameyang came. He has featured in 40 games, mainly as a sub for 10-15 minutes on the wing or behind the striker. He has started 4 games in 2018.

without looking surely that would be the case for most major nations with a strong national league (germany, spain, italy etc.)? Yep, it's a silly argument really. It's not that silly as players like Rose and Welbeck have barely featured for their big clubs and afaik Delph has only played at LB for Man City this season.

3 RBs and 3 CDs? Delph, Rose, Lallana and Welbeck have played like 10 full games in their proper positions this season. Seems like the primary criteria once again is who is employed by the bigger clubs, not who is on form or even who is match fit.

Unless I'm blatantly forgetting somebody, Slimani's loan is the first time we sign a player under Ashley who was already earning more than 40k a week. Even with the huge increase in wages, players who are on more than say 100k/w can be dismissed outright. And even if we get taken over, players like Gareth Bale are a pipe dream. His next contract will probably cost more than the whole Newcastle United.

So The Sun, of all papers, comes up with a nothing article with no quotes (that has been denied by their club and journalists close to Quinn) and suddenly RTG becomes ITK Central. "This confirms the info I got from my broker mate from the City" / "This ties in with the message I received from my mate up high at the club" / "My sources tell me there's a lot going on behind the scenes atm".. Bless them, they're like little kids craving attention. At the moment, most of them are trying to convince themselves that there is a takeover, despite the denials. Their only argument to support this is - "There's no smoke without fire". And how is QUINNY still considered a LEGEND there? It's not because of his footballing qualities. Most of our forwards from the PL era have better goals-to-games ratio. I'm not talking Shearer, Beardsley, Cole or Ferdinand. Players like Ayoze, Oba Martins.. even fucking Mitro have scored more regularly than Quinn. Did they they somehow miss that it was Sir Niall who started the policy of living beyond their means, that got them where they are now? From memory, in his 5-6 seasons as chairman, they spent around 300 million on players, recouping probably 1/3 of that. Nobody in their right mind will buy them now. A League 1 club with at least 70 million secured debt. Not even administration could sort that out.

Slightly disturbing mention of Dyer on Bulgarian TV the other day. There's this twat - Evgeni Minchev - a local 'celebrity' here, famous for being outspokenly gay and acting like a complete prick in general. Anyway, he was doing a tour of his home for the cameras, showing off personal photographs and stuff. Among the photos of Royals and celebrities nobody has heard of, there was a picture of him and Dyer, which Minchev described as: "This is Kieron Dyer - one of the most famous English footballers and an amazing lover". Now this Minchev fella talks non-stop bullshit, so it's probably not true but it was surreal seeing good ol' Kieron's face, next to Evgeni fucking Minchev in between the photographs of the Queen and random Russian oligarchs.

Even if he's a talented keeper, he'll need time to adapt to the league, to the way we defend etc.. Can't see him being first choice.

fucks sake

Mitrovic is still our best striker imo. I think it's clear now that Rafa has sidelined him because of his personality, not his footballing qualities. As a fellow Balkan thug, I suspect he might be too radge, he might set an unprofessional example or he might intimidate others somehow.. Whatever it is, we'll probably never know and he'll be gone in a week, so that everybody can move on.

Genuinely creased at this!

I'm sure there's more to that Jorgensen fella than what's on youtube but he doesn't look anything special from those highlights. We need a CF with strength AND pace if he is to lead the line by himself. Most importantly, we need a player who is tough mentally. Joselu, for example has alright attributes but bad games and missing chances obviously affects his confidence so much that he becomes useless.

Very exciting player but still very raw. I am slightly surprised that Rafa rates him because he can be very erratic with his decision making and seems to have stagnated a bit at Chelsea. I doubt we're signing him to play left back in our rigid system. He's best at cutting inside from the right in an advanced role - like he played for Fluminense. Hopefully, he's motivated and adapts quickly. We're desperate for more flair and unpredictability in our attacking play.

As we were then

I think this can be dismissed as just Ashley's idea of negotiations.. he's probably mortal in a pub somewhere texting the SSN amoebas, who as ever, are keen to peddle Ashley/Bishop's inadequate bullshit, without asking any real questions. Great journalism! Hopefully PCP's (or whoever the main investors are) interest is genuine and they're prepared to go higher, though.

Walters has had several operations on the same knee in the last couple of seasons. He won't do much at 34, especially if he's their only senior striker.

Merry Christmas fellas! Merry Christmas Rafa!

Leaner, meaner and proving the doubters wrong - Mike Ashely

No way Off to RTG it is then!

What a fucking prick this guy is.

Brainless. Should be fined his entire wage for the duration of the ban.

Great signing!

"Well I'm just gonna leave it at that.."

Gibson is probably still on a youth contract, he's free to move anywhere for a tribunal fee. 6 million sounds like a reasonable amount in that case.

He is clearly more limited offensively than all of those, apart from Ward maybe.. although he's had his moments too in the past. Defensively Dummett might be better than half of the listed players but defensive contribution is harder to measure..

I was expecting Anita to fancy a new challenge. Switch to a less physical league in order to play as a CM.. but to remain in the Championship? With Leeds?? After all those disappointments he witnessed at NUFC, he decides to move to the epitome of under-performing and badly-run clubs. This indicates that Anita might have accepted lesser terms here but seemingly Rafa has decided against it, despite playing him in nearly every game during his tenure. If Rafa doesn't rate his "key players" that much, imagine how he feels about those he never plays