Lotus

That’s a bit presumptuous isn’t it? No competitive games have been played yet his season. As far last season, he looked worse than the season before. There’s reasons for it I’m sure but you can’t tell me he looked better last season than his break through the year before. It would be nonsensical. I truly hope Miley becomes a top, top player for us but I’m not gonna presume he his just coz EH is his coach.

Used to hate ManU too but it’s because they won and had some overly petulant and competitive c**ts like Keane and Fergie. They were a real team for a while though. I’ve come to really respect their stadium attending fan base. They’ve been no where near competing for the league for an age and you rarely hear major discontentment. The lack of booing and groaning at every misplaced pass has made me appreciate the attending fans. They seem to appreciate the effort over the results. As much as it galls me to say it….

If a Saudi club bids around £180M it helps our position re: price to anyone else. We won’t get that but we can insist on significantly more than Pool are offering.

Let us know when you’ve read his tax returns and compared them the to the contract we offered. You seem to have direct access to all the relevant paperwork, nothings a secret from you. I look forward to your uploads so we can see for ourselves.

You know he didn’t got to Man Lose for less wages. I mean, you know he didn’t. It’s not a problem. Wages are the reason 99.99% of players choose a club. Or rather, their agents choose them.

Man Lose offered him more money. Simple as.

As soon as it was clear we were looking at Ekitike I thought it had to be as Isak’s replacement.

Without any viable replacement he’ll surely have to stay. If we sell him and get no one significant (who is left….?) i wouldn’t be surprised if that would be enough for EH to walk.

If he goes there it’s not because of the reputation of the club or the manager and he hasn’t been impressed by ‘the project’. It’s because of the wages. Which is fine btw, it’s the reason most footballers choose one club over another.

What’s the reason to get personal? If you don’t agree with someone’s take, no problem. But why get personal like that?

Personally, I’m hoping we get a new Chairman. Someone distinguished in or to PiF but whose main/only job is facilitating NUFC’s rise to the treetops. Not someone who has sooooooo many responsibilities that we must, inevitably be fairly far down the priority list. We need someone dynamic, cunning, resourceful, incredibly competitive and with the kind of kudos that he can get projects signed off just because he thinks they’re good enough and doesn’t the consensus of whoever else. The CEO can have the industry experience but the Chairman must be on it and driving the ambition at all times. We won’t get many good opportunities to skip a few years of ‘slow growth’ and become a regular CL club. We had that opportunity from May. It’s almost certain gone for 2026/7.

Let's see if we do next season.

If we don’t get him, no problem. Use the money for Scalvini and from Atalanta (or players just as good). Trafford hopefully incoming. Find a back up 9/10 type, maybe a project player and crack on.

Nothing outrageous from Liverpool, surely? They, like lots of us are probably wondering how we can afford that for Ekitike and so ask if Isak is available. We say no. They want to move Nunez on and looking at the available forwards with a similar style, Ekitike and Sesko seem obvious players to look at. Or, we’re looking at Ekitike knowing full well that Liverpool are gonna seriously try for Isak this window so we need a replacement lined up. It would be wild if we had both but would worry the rest of the squad build could suffer. As, I’m sure are EH and crew. Weighing it all up and trying to be as best prepared for all outcomes as possible.

I long for the day when we’ve so much talent at youth level our guys sod off and get picked up by other CL clubs tbh. Right now we can say we’ve lost out to Hartlepool.

These things happen. Players leave or are let go because there’s a bit too much competition. Their progress isn’t linear. They might have looked a little ordinary compared to some other players but they move on, get some game time and flourish. I’d rather see players do that than be caught in the Chelsea on-loan-forever model. That really seems to destroy a lot of decent/good players careers.

Loads in London. Been quiet about football for ages. Nowadays they mostly just extol the virtues of Putin and the IDF.

If we had other players who could get in and around him that would provide a genuine goal threat then I think his decent hold up play could get us up the pitch with lay offs/knock downs. And as I said, he can head the ball.

I think he can hold the ball up better than Isak and he’s arguably more of an aerial threat, and we cross the ball a lot. Those are the positives…I can see him being useful if he can stay fit and really applies himself.

Like, genuinely…

Chelsea will be all over that.

Surely we could put another academy product, who’d never get a game anyway, in the squad and offload Longstaff. Selling Sean and Willock would free up the finances for Ederson. He’d comfortably cover 6 and 8. Also think he’d be an improvement on JL when it’s not his type of game. Tbh, I could see EDERSON BRUNO TONALI as a fantastic set up. Tonali has the physicality for JL’s role with higher technical ability. JL and Miley off the bench. Horses for courses.

No idea if PIF barter for everything beyond the norm but I can tell you with some surety what they do. You’re trying to get something done, it requires some independent action from both you and PIF. They clearly spell out what they expect you to achieve and what they’re going to do. They stress the success is very time dependent. They badger you incessantly constantly asking for updates and encouraging you to hurry even more than you’re hurrying. Insist you give 200%! You complete your side of it within the time scale first agreed upon only to find out they’ve done absolutely sweet F.A. and aren’t about to either. Project fails. They move on, hire the next ‘best in class’ and repeat the same procedure as above. The only time something is actually achieved is when they’ve bankrolled it but stayed out of the decisions. IME

In my sweat drenched thoughts last night night, I wondered if we're low balling for some of these players to flush out the competition. Once they bite and sign the players we ‘look’ like we’re after, they hopefully have less inclination to bid against us for the players we actually mean to sign.