Wandy

Its becoming increasingly obvious that we are dreadful at handling transfers and get played at every opportunity. If he's off it will be for about £135m to dipperpool.

If he's away he's going to the dippers and nowhere else. It's as clear as day.

If Isak really isnt going to be sold this summer then Howe is 100% playing a game too by leaving him out. Seems to me he wants this played out in public to get the club to give him that new contract. He knows full well that he is fanning the flames by leaving him back home.

Yeah, and that was ridiculous. Should never allowed him to have that.

Would smack of incredible incompetence on our negotiating team if true. No player should ever have that much power.

That had better not be true.

So does this adversely affect the proposed stadium move? https://www.change.org/p/save-leazes-park-from-saudi-super-stadium/u/33731006

Would he even pass a medical if we sold him?

So you are just going to ignore the fact that they are busy buying a whole new team? Nobody knows how they will get on this coming season, it's all up in the air.

Exactly, which means if don't take the stadium plunge and/or they sell up I think we are probably stuck with SJP in it's current form for a very long time. They are making some financial & organisational mistakes and learning along the way, all of which is fine. But once they get to grips with that, the real problem to be tackled may be one that they can't be bothered with.

If I absolutely knew that the stadium thing was going to happen....even if it was 10 years away...then I'd be content too. But I'm just not convinced anymore. These are still very good custodians of the club but in order to make the next jump we need more of a committment than that which is just to keep the club finishing in a european spot every season.

Right now I'd say they are running us in the way we hoped that Ashley would have done, ie genuine ambition mixed with prudence. The trouble is that the landscape is different now, so if we want to break through the newly created PSR glass ceiling that we have hit....which didnt exist when Ashley was here.... then its going to take the kind of ballsy ambition that John Hall and Keegan had. In the current environment that equates to being absolutely committed to a new stadium and bending every rule possible, and this is where my doubts lie. They might be thinking that its possible to bounce around from 4th to 8th every year with only modest investment....whilst still being one of the highest profile clubs in the country...and that being good enough. I'm really concerned that they aren't invested enough to overcome all of the issues with stadium redevelopment/relocation now.

Which is why they are now an unknown quantity. Might work out for them, might not. Hopefully it won't, and they've spunked £100m on pure dross.

They are going to have more or less a new team by the start of the season so that’s largely irrelevant.

They've gone from certainties for relegation to now being an unknown quantity. They could be a surprise package and avoid the relegation battle or the players bought could be totally inadequate and therefore send them straight back down. At this point nobody knows how their season will go, so only time will tell. I hope all of the wet lettuces out there who were willing them to come back are now cringing, considering how much mouth those fuckers currently have.

If he's smart he realises it's a no-brainer for him. He can double his money for 12 months and leave next summer if he wants to. We aren't letting him leave this season regardless, so what's not to like? The alternative is to sit in the huff for 12 months on the same wage as he is currently on.

We should give him a contract that gives him £250k p/week for the next 12 months & also a release clause of £150m for next summer only. If he isn't sold next summer then his wage increases to £300k p/week for the remainder of his contract & the release clause drops off.

Agree. Announcements mean nothing. Spades in the ground is when I start believing it.

So what do you think will happen with the stadium situation?

Agree. They've basically done the job that Ashley should have done, but little more.

It's all very well saying you'd be fine with the Saudis selling up, but this is our one and only chance to get a new stadium or a significant SJP overhaul. Any new owners wont be spaffing £1bn+ of their own money on stadium work. Which will mean the club will be second tier at best for a long, long time.

Reading on that Not606 forum that there are rumours going round the club that we will be up for sale soon. Wouldn't be surprised tbh, there's something going on up there and I'm unsure how this all ends.

We wont have a replacement lined up. He cant be allowed to leave, no matter what.

Yep. I still remember well Pardew's "no sale on Carroll" comments. We all know what happened next.

Completely sleeping at the wheel right now, it seems. Anyone else truly confident the stadium redevelopment happens, given how slow they are at everything? I know I'm not. And never mind fighting to keep our star striker, they might have a problem keeping the manager happy soon. I remember back in the day when NUFC tried to poach Alex Ferguson away from Man Utd and almost succeeded. Wouldnt be surprised if Man U themselves came sniffing around Howe if Amorim has a disaster start next season. Bedwetting maybe since its only mid July. But Howe cannot be happy with the way this summer is going.