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Not sure if it was forced by howTino was playing but Martinelli seemed to just want to go for a corner so could get their set piece on while Saka wanted to drive in the box.

Dunno if he was just pumped to get a chance longer than a few mins but was impressed was a nuscance, big strong and powerful would be great against tired legs I feel we are gonna need him seen as Wilson is currently struggling to pretend to be a footballer.

If we aren't careful BDB, Wilson, tripper, kraft, lacelles, schar all go for nothing and cost the club 40+m to bring in and that's not alot of money now but they don't return a fee to reinvest in players either.

I think the issue is player sales and letting them go for nothing. The chart in the manu thread showed they spent 1.67b and sold less than 400m likes of paul pogba going for nowt. Not saying BDB has been a good buy for the money it's the issue of we need players to go for fees as we don't have the revenue streams in a psr world to allow people to walk for nothing. A wider point is then continuing to offer 12 month extensions help in the short term avoid squad costs and to retain players who know us and to an extent work but don't year on year improve the overall quality of the squad. I do agree they need a level of respect for what they have done and if there were no financial rules you just keep them round until they are no longer useful but that doesn't help the club advance either.

Think longstaff is on 40/45k so unless offered a big pay bump it's not alot these days plus English plus home grown plus local lad plus knows our system plus cost us nothing to buy and will make 100% profit if ever sold. All amazing things if you look purely on business rationale however skill and ability Howe likes him too much for my liking for him to just be a use 5 mins squad player when in a pinch. He's looking like he will get regular minutes and I don't think he's good enough. Issue with burn is different he's shown more than capable at CB and is in the leadership group and is local however it's more his age and lack of any sort of return on the 12/15m we spent on him. Ideally the youth players we have started to be our squad players and we stop offering contract extensions particularly yearly ones to kick the can/issue down the road on replacing them Lessons need to be learned on the pre take over massive Murphy contract and the extension to miggy following a purple spell.

To be fair it reads like we have already like with BDB triggered our end of a 1 year extension but next sentence he says talks ongoing about a new "long term deal" offering him another 3 years say may help get a better fee but we know no one is queuing up to sign him for any fee.

Extend so he doesn't walk for nothing yes but giving him a long term deal fuck no unless it's with the view to sell.

I mean unless they were youth players these proven premier league players had to start off somewhere alot of them come from abroad and excel here and then are snapped up. Think when you have loads of PSR headway you can get the "lesser teams" to take the gamble on them working and then pay the premium to reduce your risk on them being a success. Unfortunately we aren't there yet coupled with the fact we still aren't at the stage where we just need 1 new player a year for the first 11. Already on our shopping list is a goalkeeper, RCB, RB understudy to Tino if Trips goes, RW possibly x2, something different in midfield, a forward Wilson replacement. That's before you try and upgrade the squad in general or replace players who are out of contract or those who may wish to leave. Feels like a massive rebuild looming regardless if this season was going well.

On the back of this hoping that some of the kids we brought in on the back of the last few years start to make an impact either on pushing into the first team squad or provide headway money wise. We definitely need to be better sellers our issue in the short medium term is selling players who have little to no value. That's certainly a factor that's gotten us stuck our players would cost too much to replace due to the lack of money they are worth. Buying cheaper or more of a gamble player is the only way under current rules I can see we can beat it rather than offering contract extensions to kick the issue down the road a little.

Just don't seem to have found his best place. He covers so much ground but he's played better for his national side than for us already this season. Can he really play with Bruno in the side? Or is it a formation issue again?

He shot wide and then the commentary said he hadn't scored since last year I think 🤔 other than that it's like neither our RW are good enough or something.....

Can't be mad he's been available nearly all the time barely had a rest in 2 full seasons even missed 2 summer breaks really. Almost feels like this was inevitable just hope it's nothing serious and he's back soon.

The amount on last year or 2 years of their deal should be enough of a revamp albeit may need a "purple" to fund the replacements. It's so pivotal we look to revamp intelligently we really need to consider not just like for like I want more variety coming in to mix it up a player who can play DM a player who is comfortable as a 10 etc just to switch it up going from a back 4 to a back 5 is just not working as the only plan B.

No offence but please don't offer him another extension happy with his service to the team but get him fit and see him gone.

Hopefully if it's more collaborative going forward (don't want to start the debate again how much at fault was howe this summer transfer wise). We need a varied and broad approach don't dismiss loans even without an option. Don't dismiss players 28 if they aren't crazy wages and hit all the boxes. Move outside of just Europe and look at other leagues or championship to find gems. Appreciate it's not simple or straight forward as alot of clubs are doing and looking in the same way. I love everyone we have signed but as others have pointed out did we maximise the money we had before psr caught up to us?

Only reason I would say we go against that approach is the fact it's the winter window and not the summer depending what the signing is being brought in for immediate starting 11 or not. Also depends on our situation league wise if we need a good second half of the season to save our season or consolidate a certain league place then going abroad may be too much of a gamble. Now frustratingly I would say we can't go on paying premiums for players and every player carries risk why not be the club to benefit on the gamble rather than the team paying the 2 or 3 x the original purchase price for a more finished article/gem. Is it worth going out and spending 20ish million on someone from the continent who may flop or 40/50m on a prem player who knows the league. In this fake analogy you could in theory sign 2 players for the price of that prem player.

While all your points are valid the complexity of public feeling towards the stadium, the lack of options without compromise and the logistics when we don't own any other land do all stretch this out. Being chosen for a euros venue would also limit any movement where we are. Was also reported even if we stayed we would need to negotiate the lease length for the land with the council. While I want the information and in the end waiting may end up ramping up expectations only to feel disappointed in the end with what is proposed. I personally am happy they get their ducks in a row first than announce what they want or intend to do only to find out its not possible planning/logistically/cost or approval wise etc. So far the worse thing the club has done is say things like it's close and imminent. Taking a massive leap here it may well have been but good or bad new information may have come into play to change their plans and go down a new avenue first, thought impossible. I guess it's not that long to wait now if it is indeed early next year.

Issue is not the offering of the contract it's the reported making him the clubs highest earner on the back of one seasons good numbers. I don't have an issue with it personally as it protects our investment and hopefully helps attract other good players having more internationals in the team.

Was worried the bump was a 4 year contract extension for a sec 🤣

I loved Amanda but as a minor shareholder she had a bit of an issue in terms of maybe saying things that you shouldn't or heat of the moment. You could see how much she cared and was excited as most to see this succeed. I think right now we have a new management structure yes the other owners are here still but we have changed sporting director and due to Darren's health a new chief executive is coming. Added to the change in rules brought in place while we have been taken over I feel our approach has and will change due to the new people coming on board. I think the club has now made it clear to be a European side consistently is the aim what appears to have changed is how we do this and the speed in which it will happen. It's frustrating when you hear that we need to drive up commercial revenue but have yet to bring in a training ground or training kit sponsor. It's frustrating when you hear at first we want to challenge for everything and be the best but under the current climate don't appear to have a clear plan to do this other than be in Europe year on year. I never expected as PSR was real before the take over we could spend 100s of millions every window. We been spoilt getting champions league and being competitive against every side in the league this was bound to be difficult to maintain. The challenge now is how many years are we away from getting back into the champions league. I did worry slightly by the Gordon interview when he said champions league and trophy is the aim as he and a few others in the side feel like champions league players. Not sure we can match that ambition is it's a requirement for them sticking around. Still would i rather aim high and be confident and fall short or be like the old days of the club not wanting Europe or cup runs as it hurts league form. I guess the answer is I want the former with more performances from the group to match that bold ambition.

I think what i read it's more about people having the same narrative just on different subjects so it all seems doom and gloom. Project is in the bin after board changes, project in the bin we haven't signed anyone project in the bin no new sponsors, project in the bin stadium plans no longer imminent, project in the bin psr issues, project in the bin team not performing, project in the bin still got miggy/murphy/longstaff in and around first 11 etc etc. At the same time the people who say its not Ashley and we have come so far seems very rose tinted specs that you wash over any big issues as this all takes time and it's a blip. Certainly I admit we lose and my thoughts go negative but I suffer from clinical depression and my glass is always half full with a hole in it. I hope we all agree ultimately we want the team to succeed and do well even if how we get there is different.

I get the worry the miggy purple patch extension was a mistake which contributed to the non existent new RW. However you need to pick players to build a side around. We aren't able to bat offers away for our players from everyone securing assets is key. As the club grows and new signings will get higher wages you have to continue to keep pace for the better players. If he is rumoured to be our new top earner or at least on par with what say Isak is getting offered for his new deal I can understand the worry with every contract and signing it comes with an element of risk. If he goes onto have a great season this contract basically stops him being unsettled if we doesn't produce it this year a long contract length protects the asset from a "cheeky offer".

He was asked directly at the city game as press heard it was close he confirmed it was. Depending on how negative you feeling has this been held off as a formality or on purpose to act as a club/fan morale boost.

Why does he need one his value is plummeting with every poor performance 😉

Agree with the sentiment and plugging for positivity as its not been "THAT" bad. The main criticism i see is we had a finite amount of money and a squad that needed money sprinkled on it everywhere even if that meant not being able to get marquee players everywhere and after a fair few windows we have positions that have yet to he addressed. Weaknesses in some of the play is also still here from last season despite return of players. The comment from Howe in the summer that very few players could improve us just seems laughable really. As we all know as most teams Improve year on year staying still is the same as going backwards.