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The use him and sell him for 20/30m to a league abroad now looking like a minor miracle rather than any concrete plan. Mad to think how much stock can fall in a player in 12 months but giving them nearly double our reported opening offer essentially bidding against ourselves can do that to deals.

Agreed you could read into anything too much/not enough at this point. Howe saying its a big summer could be him simply agreeing/admitting it's not been good enough for small tweaks or could be him knowing he's going understanding recruitment and a new coach will bring its own complications and challenges. Personally right now uncertainty could be a negative as it makes things appear unstable but the collapse(appreciate some may not describe the latter part of the season as a collapse) of the season means nothing should be off the table.

playing so may mins or scoring so many goals or starting so many games may be the "easy to achieve" add-ons they keep saying to get it to 55m maybe we know hes done and are keeping him away to avoid it costing us 5m+ more.

I wonder just how easy those triggers are to get the fee up to the 55m hopefully not yet triggered so it's "only" the 50m spunked up the wall.

Hope it's 25% of anything over purchase price which we aint ever getting.

Nipple would be a nightmare to buy footwear with another toe

Side salad

4-4 fucking 2 thanks to Gordons "injury" you recon?

I agree not been enough done on the developing side unless some of these signed for under 21 level last few years come good. However not a big sample though thanks to not being able to sign anyone for 3 or 4 windows and the signing we made was a punt on osula young/raw/ potential.

I agree of course I do but if hes fit and even when he's not 100% he wants to play we love that aspect of his personality and as demonstrated by the stat we rarely win without him we really lean on him for it. As he gets older I appreciate that is not sustainable hopefully one of these young lads linked for midfield can become the understudy we badly need if Miley isnt going to be.

I agree the Bruno canumdrum is an issue we have no obvious solution to he's that pivotal as a player to us it scares me to think he's no in footballing speaking terms a spring chicken anymore. However part of his being/character is the want to play every moment and game for us which we love I assume he feels the same for the national side. Ironically this injury is probably his biggest break since he signed.

I totally get that and yes we will be here long after anyone one assembled side or player or manager and we want to show our own supporting pride backing the lads to the best of our abilities. The feeling of this season being a slog may not just be an anomaly to the players but the fans too. Unfortunately I was one of the guilty ones that started to feel our own intangible hype demolishing teams by multiple goals, steam rolling teams, taking on and giving a game to any side its all sort of disappeared or appeared in phases of games not any sustained period. The club have said that success won't be linear and there will be ups and downs just feels like the "fall" to the current down is faster or at least as quick as the rise from relegation certainty to champions league qualification. Hopefully while the season hasn't been good enough it's the blip/outlier in what has been a resounding success from the min they went with Howe and we had that 1st Jan window. Basically I have been spoilt and entitlement/expectation has creeped in I will admit that.

Amen to that united front 100% behind the lads until the season end and if at that stage they have fallen short/ don't want to be here/ deemed not good enough for next season they go at that stage. However you can't keep asking the crowd to be the 12th man and not show anything on the pitch there has been alot of plodding "meh" performances if they want a bear pit they need to be showing more it is a 2 way sort of thing. Easier said than done but if your not playing for the club anymore for whatever reason then for professional pride? Any monetary bonuses going to you for match day metrics or league finishes? Being in the shop window for the move you may want or feel you deserve? Cement your place in any WC squad if your country is going ?(sorry Sandro) I get we arent the only club to get to the point where they are on the beach with nothing to play for or that a long gruelling season hasn't finally caught up with all the pushing. I wanted us to have the last 7 games as a cliche "play every one like a cup final" so far we haven't had that.

Guess work here We were desperate after the 5th failed attempt sessko being the last where we seemed to now be willing to shop in the 65/75m bracket. He was a relatively young and possibly adaptable to the player we could develop him to be. Then we signed wissa with 30 seconds to spare and then he got injured so we went from a slow burn to having to lean on him from the get go. The longer this went on and the lack of coaching between games the more he looks a fish out of water in the side. Basically we arent getting our money back out of anyone else likely he works given more time at the club or he goes back to Germany for a loss. He seems like such a nice bloke I want it to work the club unless he has a fantastic world cup I suspect also need it to work too.

I agree with most of this and it's definitely been a bad hand been given or compounding issues which ultimately stem from 3 or 4 windows of financial restriction/older players no longer at the required level and academy prospects still yet to be at the managers standard to get meaningful minutes. The issue with any issue if you dig for it a portion of most issues or problems can go the managers way if your head let it. Big spends on players meant we didn't spread the money we did have to bolster the squad to cope with 3 games a week. A massive dollop of hindsight has indicated the signings have done nothing to elevate the 1st 11 from it's peak and now appears to have taken us backwards these are Eddie signed off/approved players how far down the list they were/ was he told its player X or no one we have no idea but it still makes this his squad he's assembled. The old pros getting a year older and not factoring their ability to go again and again and not expecting a quality drop off that comes with age. Allowing targett to go with no replacement who had been shite I know when Lewis hall was coming back from injury end of last season and BDB had been shite at LB doesnt appear to have been a wise decision. Not sure Eddie can take 100% for this but he was at least in part of the decision to accept it. The above isnt me finding the smoking gun to make Howe responsible its just a couple of examples of Howe being part of issues which have affected our season. To be fair to the manager I love that when pressed on this he's publicly said we make no excuses and doesn't complain about the squad or resources etc. The biggest issue which you have alluded to yourself is when he says stuff like he doesn't know what the issue is and these things work themselves out.

Clearly had more respect for the ball than himself or he would have walked. He will cry happy tears when he gets his compo.

The twatter rumour regards Prince Amoako Junior sounds better always felt we needed some royalty in the side 🤣

it can be if you want I am meant to be at work

He must be a little agreeable to change set penis hire, Jones integrated into coaching setup when he joined the data analyst person and dedicated fitness person. I am sure i read when he was asked he did the usual Eddie of agreeing in principal but said sorry to paraphrase we challenge eachother it's not 1 voice. Still i do feel the approach/playbook has become stale and fresh voice may well be an alternative than sacking the setup and starting from scratch.

If wissa went unless Gordon goes and his replacement can play up top too it would likely means osula stays though. Can't see 15m being real loaning him for 3 seasons would surely get you more over the remaining 3 years of his contract.

I have said already I don't do math but assume there is a budget before player sales regardless much lower league prize money lack of europe next season may be mitigated somewhat by newly announced and pending sponsorship announcements. If we can get 130/200m from player sales (expect 2 of tonali/gordon/tino to go) plus willock and 1 of osula/wissa/big nick. Issue will still be how we spread the pot out over 6/7/8 signings.

If we were further in our journey with backing of more revenue we can afford to let those teams take the risk then pay the premiums to take them off those clubs when they are proven. We arent there yet as many have said a combo of blowing our load last summer on flops and the ever growing list of players we need before we look to replace those who are sold mean the money isn't there to do it any other way. Just have to hope some of the money spent on the under 21s already purchased can come good enough to bolster the squad or at least start attracting good fees.

It's not one approach over another for me its blended is what is needed if a big purple left and one wasn't ready to step up already at the club i would expect them to drop good money on their replacement. At the same time we do however need to shop in the young and hungry bracket to find the next gem/ spread the Financial risk on them failing/have a pool of assets that do well already at the club to slot in to aging and leaving players or have a pool of players your open use as player trading. Balance needs to be found dont do full chelsea and have 45 players on the books you have no plans for except to stop someone else getting them but a more sustainable less all or nothing approach. I hated the comments from howe about very small group of players who could improve us that while is risk averse possibly doesn't work when you look at how badly it can go i.e. Last summer.

I understand your point but to be fair Howe after the summer should realise he cant do it all and has enough on his plate juggling first team coaching/match prep/ squad management/youth integration (try not to laugh). I think most would accept Howe telling the board/sporting director what he wants qualities wise and what attributes and in what positions they need to be in someone else does the heavy lifting and he gets a vote in the final say or the final yes or no. That missing element of someone else prepping a list and identifying the targets (I think I have said previously we dont know if the summer was a new list following mitchell going an existing list or a put together list with not as much thought or prep following multiple rejections). If Howe can accept and work with that then we should be stronger for it, as others have mentioned him integrating younger players his fixed want/need/desire for 4-3-3 no number 10 no true DM if that persists do we get the upturn in fortunes next season we want.

Born worrier my friend I am affraid it's not a case of if my glass is half full or half empty it's got a hole in it 🙂 just what clinical depression does to you unfortunately. Anyway yes its a risk but also an opportunity we have some sellable assets to allow us to fast track a rebuild if done correctly. If Gordon goes based on how disappointing barnes has been I want a first team replacement not a young understudy to barnes.