Mattoon

The one where they try and give us half their team and we still laugh them out of town

Yeah, no, we can't lose him too, no way we can replace him, he's our best player after Isak and integral to our midfield.

As @AyeDubbleYoo says, we may not have heard any progress but that doesnt necessarily mean we haven't made any, but I also agree that we need to be quicker with these things and maybe they've been stunted with Eales' condition. I stick by my opinion that the middle management is where the disconnect is and once that's sorted, progress will accelerate but I guess only time will tell. It's been a rough couple of months and it's easy to lose sight of how far we've come already and be dispirited by our current malaise, however I do believe lessons have been learnt the hard way. This summer has been painful and was completely avoidable, boardroom chaos has exacerbated that and I don't think it'll happen again. I get that it's hard to form any kind of positivity from this but the low will only make the high so much better when we come back stronger

Yeah again I agree, we've not made any headway in training facilities and obviously new stadium plans. But again I put that down to boots on the ground leadership, its clear pif want to own us from a distance like with any of their other vessels but that's not possible without functioning leadership which we've painfully discovered.

I agree, the cartel continue to grow off the pitch so we need to accelerate our growth to make any sort of headway or we'll always be two steps behind. I believe that lack of financial structure is due to bad management which is why its imperative that we make the right appointments. The support from pif is there if we have the right direction supplied by actual football people with the right connections and understanding of the business.

It's a blip because we are a rudderless ship, we've got no upper management stricture and clubs have taken advantage of our lack of leadership. We need to make the right appointments this time and connect team to club to ownership. We have to continue to grow at our own speed, all I expect from our ownership is for them to put competent people in charge and allow them the tools to craft us on and off the pitch to mount a challenge to the status quo.

They all got what they wanted this summer, the cartel, super sly 6 and the PL, they unsettled our game changer and stifled our growth, they've driven us back and neutered us in the transfer window possibly unsettling other star players too. It's been totally dispiriting, depressing and disorganised. But, it's just a blip, they can slow us down, they can damage our growth and steal a march but they can't stop us, we are inevitable. Now is the time to rally round, seige mentality, us vs them. Strengthen how we can, don't overspend on crap, get what we need to see us through until January, get the management structure in place, use this experience as a learning curve and go hard again when we've highlighted stronger players to take us forward. They've all blown their load to bring in our top targets and we still have the cash ready to go. I hope the Saudis take this personally, the rejections, the sly underhanded, strong arm tactics and learn from it. Let's get some big wins while we can, keep our prized asset for a little longer and get back on track for the beginning of a tough season.

Ironic that's when it all started to go to pot, we'd do worse than beg her to come back at this point

Agree with you to a point, he has served us brilliantly over the last 3 years and probably has outgrown us as we've failed to keep up with him due to being hamstrung by PSR rules, I'm sure the club would have loved to have improved the team around him over the last 2 years and met his ambition but we've not been allowed, so I don't condemn him for wanting to improve his surroundings and earn what he deserves and win what he deserves with his ability. What sticks in my throat though is the way he's gone about it, we took a punt on him and he has been coached into this world class player by the very manager he's taken a massive dump on from an almighty height, fans have a right to be angry at that whilst also appreciating the cup win and the goals that got us back into the CL.

I could accept any on that list as the Wilson replacement, but for Isak we need something much better or with a higher ceiling, I still have my heart set on Samu

If he goes then I hope he gets robbed every week by the scousers the absolute triangle.

We can easily get players in to raise the floor from Longstaff, Kelly and Wilson, I think those will be done quite quick, it's the Isak replacement that's the sticking point.

Remember when the first we knew about transfers was when a fee was agreed and personal terms accepted? Was just looking at the Isak threads first page, what I wouldn't do to have another one like that this week. We need something to get the ball rolling, something big, something left field, something like Samu or Ramos signing, no rumours, no will he, won't he, fighting it out with someone else for the signature, just "deal done!".

Career suicide going to the footballers graveyard that is Old Trafford, he would be wise to think harder.

Thank you for your time here Dubz, good luck!

Slightly patronising, point still stands, Liverpool have been playing games, not least of those with the derisory bid.

Full trust in Eddie means not stating "get rid" we wait to see how he plays this one out, still as clear as mud what's going to happen.

If Liverpool think they can match our valuation, or even close enough they think we will accept, in what world does anyone believe they'll do the gentlemanly thing and wait for us to get a replacement. They will 100% try and force through a move at our expense, what have they done above board so far? If they have the cash they'll tell Isak to hand in a transfer request and cover his loyalty bonus from us with a signing on bonus from them.

This is it for me and it only serves Man Utd more if they can convince us he's chosen them

That's not what I'm saying at all, if it's a done deal then why do we still have reps there, why not just leave the bid on the table and say come back to us if you change your mind? Why is it only reported that Man Utd feel they've won and not Sesko or his reps briefing the press?

Feels like there's legs in this still, still nothing from the Sesko, Leipzig, or our camp, just Man Utd "feel" mass reported and we still have reps there?

Chelsea would still swipe him from under our noses.

We were so close to doing something, we've come into the summer on the back of our best season in decades, finally breaking that trophy duck and qualifying for the Champions League again and it really felt like the summer we'd be able to finally spend and kick on further and possibly even start to think about challenging at the top with the right recruitment. Enter Isak and the miserable 6 to squash any and all of the feel good factor and completely demolish our summer. The low only hurts so much because we've crashed down from being so high up. The whole situation is making me angry, but it's impossible to place that anger in any one place as its a perfect storm of ire from several different directions.

I wouldn't say a new contract is any kind of reward but an incentive for him to commit to another season fully, rather than half-heartedly and begrudgingly ambling round the pitch for a season waiting for his next move.

I have firm belief Howe can get the best out of any player, we've seen it time and time again, but even he can't teach this bum to score, this has to be a non-starter.