oldtype

Should hire Pardew imo. It's what they deserve.

Seems to me that Rafa and Ashley are in general agreement that the squad is strong enough to go up and there's no point in overpaying for players who won't be useful in the Premier League next year.

Taylor had stretches where he was fine, but ultimately was never worth the wages given his terrible fitness record. No need to succumb to hyperbole.

Reminds me of this puff piece from NUFC TV ages ago where they were asking players what they wanted for Christmas and Harper said "first-team football" or something. It's not a big deal.

Spendthrift trusts exist. For obvious reasons they're usually not voluntary.

I suspect the scale of the tournament may have become prohibitive for a lot of countries *cough* Qatar *cough*

Yes, but it solves the problem of those slots coming at the expense of deserving European teams though. You get to have your cake and eat it too now.

It's perfectly fair. Europe tend to send 13 genuine football teams, bar 2002 when Ireland qualified. The same can not be said of Asia. I've said this before, but if the purpose of the World Cup was about just having the 32 best teams, then you wouldn't invite anyone from Asia at all. It's not. Japan & S. Korea would probably scrape in. As currently constituted I have my doubts, but that's not the point. You have larger quotas in the non-Europe federations precisely because it allows you to bring in somebody like Uzbekistan or China or New Zealand to the big stage from time to time. You get people in that country invested in football, the game grows, and eventually they get to the point where they deserve to be in on their own merits.

It's perfectly fair. Europe tend to send 13 genuine football teams, bar 2002 when Ireland qualified. The same can not be said of Asia. I've said this before, but if the purpose of the World Cup was about just having the 32 best teams, then you wouldn't invite anyone from Asia at all. It's not.

Initially thought this was going to involve Wild Card bullshit and thought it was a terrible idea, but having seen the actual format I'm more amenable. This actually shortens the group stages, so that seems like a good thing. Realistically qualifiers have been too unforgiving with a lot of deserving teams in Europe missing out due to arbitrary tiebreakers, so this makes sense.

If we don't win here, I'm going to start taking bets on who will be the first one to break out the tried and true "I can't see us winning again this season."

Aye, it's not as if there's an actual, literal "transfer kitty" that sits in a padlocked safe inside Rafa's office. Money in the club is money in the club. It's really the club's own fault (from prior handlings) because they've drawn so much attention to the balance sheet that now people are programmed to obsess over this. True.

Aye, it's not as if there's an actual, literal "transfer kitty" that sits in a padlocked safe inside Rafa's office. Money in the club is money in the club.

I sat there for at least fifteen seconds thinking "Tobin? Who's that."

Decent read but this part is patently absurd: You are innocent unless proven guilty. It is irrelevant that Evans was unable to prove he didn't do it; the law does not require him to do so to be deemed innocent. You don't get to be like "eh, yeah he was acquitted but he's probably guilty anyway." His exoneration should be taken at face value. (That doesn't justify the bullshit some people are piling on his accuser, of course.)

Which every keeper from Premier League to Sunday League does. It's generally the stuff you don't notice that makes a goalkeeper worth having in your side. Darlow has time on his side but he's a long way short of what I want starting for us next season. If it's the stuff you don't notice that matters, how do you ever notice if a goalkeeper is good or not?

People weren't expecting Rafa to rotate? Where were you during the entirety of the 2000s?

Having been on this forum for 11 seasons now, it's eerie how match threads seem to be a collection of the exact same quotes every single year.

I mean, guys, even Colback has to be pretty good in the Championship. Right?

I recognize like one dude from that entire Fulham teamsheet.

To each his own but honestly I didn't find that particularly offensive. Wijnaldum probably got a huge signing on fee/pay raise for joining Liverpool. I just read it as "congratulations on the huge paycheck" rather than "congratulations on getting the fuck out of this shithole of a club." Moves are very lucrative for players.

Meh, in ten years the only thing people will remember about his Chelsea goal will be that it was when I got caught on camera in the away end.

Wanted to name our dog Shola as well. Girlfriend wasn't having it

20m is peanuts now anyway. That's basically the going rate for a replacement level premier league starter - - which is exactly what he is.

This. Well said. It's a shame because we all remember how much he used to be loved. To be fair, the club firing his best friend for having cancer probably played a part in his disillusionment.