Chris_R

Hopefully we just refuse to go to arbitration. Don't think they can enforce it? Correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is both parties need to agree to it, or it needs to be in the contract.

I'd hope that even if he got a 2 year contract, he'd still end up on 199 appearances. (Nothing against the bloke, he's been decent and a good servant. I just hope we're moving forwards and that probably doesn't include him)

Not sure anyone would notice.

Steven Taylor?

We need to keep well away. Let them stew in the mess they've created for themselves, don't help them out by taking their overpriced castoffs from them to free up their wage bill. Let them rot. Same with Chelsea. These are clubs that want to hold us back, that want to put a foot on our neck and keep us down, and will help the PL by voting for ever-newer rules just to stop us increasing our revenue. Now they're looking for people to buy their players because they're also in a mess? GTF. Would only take their players after their contracts have expired. I don't doublt there's some decent players there who might be realistic (Gallacher?) but there's thousands of other options all over the world who will cost less, be just as good and won't help direct rivals in times of trouble.

Didn't someone try something like that a few years back and just got directed to the "official" figures? From memory I think they asked the police. Maybe they didn't word it cleverly enough to paint them into a corner. It was the same last season. And the one before. They've been doing it forever. They'll do it next year too, there'll be no drop-off. At least not to a realistic level.

Can he articulate why he thinks we'll be happy to just take a £12m profit on him?

Oh fucking hell man, just don't say that kind of thing. FFS

Looking at it like that, yes. But they look really good and have been unlucky in a lot of matches. Personally I think their league position is a bit false, but we'll see. I hope you're right because it's funny seeing them below us.

I think Chelsea could win all their remaining fixtures, I actually think they're favourite for 6th. Man U's games are tricky, they could drop a lot. We should get at least 6 points from our home games, but as we all know if we're playing away we could lose against Whitley Bay girls U12's. Be happy with 7th, be over the moon if we can somehow snatch 6th.

OK so let's suppose he goes to a CL club for a 20% rise next season. What happens when we that club then drops out the CL? Does he move again? Only ever-presents in the CL seem to be Man City, everyone else is in and out like the Hokey Kokey. Is every Man U and Chelsea player agitating for a move? What about Spurs if they don't get CL? That said I'm not against just giving him a payrise, hard to say he hasn't earned it. ....Provided it comes with a contract extension And no release clause! (Got to be something in it for us, too)

Clearly you don't talk to people aged 20-30 then. I work with plenty, and they all know exactly what a forum is. Many use them. Especially gamers (who will more likely be male), there's loads of forums for every game under the sun and our players are likely keen gamers, they're the ideal demographic. Add in that this forum is specifically about them and their jobs, and it's impossible to imagine that none of them are aware of it. And it only takes one of them to be aware of it and then ALL of them will know about it within no time. And they've had what, 2 decades for even one of them to find it. It's incredibly naive for anyone to think we can shitpost on here completely consequence-free and that the people we're slating will never be aware of what's written.

I'd be shocked if half the squad didn't read the forum. Some on here when that's suggested act like this is some kind of hidden darkweb site that is almost inaccessible rather than being an incredibly popular fan site that's been going for donkeys years. Couple that with players being young, tech-savvy and with lots of free time, of course they're going to be reading it. Be astonished to find otherwise.

We're awful against any team that presses. We just can't cope.

Gardening

Hoping for the same formation and tactics as against spurs. Sit deep, cede possession, then break like lightning.

And businesses could probably sue if they wished. But for the likes of us, we're not worth suing over. My modest salary isn't worth a legal battle.

£2m - get fucked. Hope we just laughed at them and hung up.

Just for fun I've just checked ours, and there's nobody who has lived under Newcastle being outside the PL more than in it. Even if you were born in 1892, you'd still not be able to say that. It's not even close for any birth year. Closest I can find is people born in the mid-30s or late 70s, but even then for those people it's not even close to parity.

Not *quite* true. Anyone born from 1994 to 2010 could say they've lived through Sunderland being in the top flight more than outside it. Outside of that range though, you're right and you have to go back to people born in or before 1950. (Yes I'm bored, but Excel meant it really only took about 5 minutes) From 1891 to 1958 they were ever-present in the top flight. They have history - Just not in the memories of anyone who also can't remember Hitler's bombing raids.

Unless I've missed something or am confusing him with someone else, Smith Rowe is basically broken isn't he? Missed years of football and he's still young. He'll doubtless still show flashes of talent for a year or 2 when he's fit but then he'll start to rapidly decline. Anyone who takes him on a big fee and wages is an idiot.

This. We can do nothing about a player with a release clause, we just have to hope it's A) not triggered or if it is, B) he turns down the approaching club because he's happy here. Beyond that, bugger all we can do. Not worth wasting much energy on.

That makes no sense. Just because Fabinho was overpriced doesn't mean ASM was underpriced. Fact remains, I doubt we sold him to Saudi for less than we could get elsewhere.

If ASM was "massively underpriced", why did nobody else in any other league in the world come in and offer more?

Think I just remembered the €4.5m coefficient but and completely blanked the rest.