timeEd32

Apparently credentialed journalists have to pay $20 for a press meal, which is a sandwich and bag of chips (crisps). I don't know if the WC is the same but this seems second rate as is everything about the tournament.

On Dec. 2 we were 5th (3 points off 2nd) having beaten Chelsea and Man United the previous week, plus being robbed in Paris. By the end of the month we were 9th, out of the League Cup, and out of the Champions League. This past season Liverpool were second on Oct. 28, a point behind City. By Christmas they were 12 points ahead of City and 6 ahead of Arsenal having also beaten Leverkusen, Real Madrid, and Girona in the CL and advancing to the LC semifinal. It was Nov/Dec when City completely fell apart last season. I think it's a key stretch when you've already been through a couple months of multiple games a week and all that comes with it.

After the November international break is the following month: City (h) Champions League Everton (a) Spurs (h) Burnley (h) Champions League Sunderland (a) League Cup (possibly) Chelsea (h) Lots of home games thankfully, but that's when the wheels came off last time.

The worst thing about this tournament — and there are many things wrong with it — are all the neighbors and acquaintances being completely shocked that I’m not taking my kids. Like not going to see Haaland or Mbappe in this tournament is akin to child abuse. I’m gonna pass on lining Infantino’s and Chelsea’s pockets, thanks.

We may never sign a player again.

100%. PIF bailed them out because this was going to flop without significant incentives.

With abominations like this I'm sure they'll be able to buy more. “Don’t make a choice between your love of Chelsea and your passion for the NFL…put both on display with this official Nike Jersey”

After the Minteh/Anderson mess last summer it became pretty clear that there wasn't much money to spend. This summer is not at all the same. There's zero question we'll be buying players. Also not sure why people have one foot off the ledge when all the press have done so far is name players we've been previously linked with.

You mean you're not excited for City v. Wydad AC and Bayern v. Auckland City?

FIFA is going to ruin club football if no one stops them: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jun/11/fifa-48-team-club-world-cup-europe

I beg people to stop talking about transfers without considering wages and annual cost.

American flag football, almost certainly.

He's right at the top for me, though partially a victim of circumstance. I still had misguided hope at the time he was manager. The day he left felt like things could turn and then somewhere during Carver/McClaren it became clear to me how pointless it all was. I barely enjoyed Rafa and didn't really care at all during Bruce -- there was only one real villain at that point. I hate that there are good memories attached to Pardew -- Tiote and the 4-4, Ba/Cisse/Ben Arfa, and my first time at SJP.

In terms of maximizing our budget selling Pope to Leeds or somewhere makes a lot of sense. That puts a lot on Trafford though and carries risk. Will be interesting to see what we do.

I doubt we’ll sign him but the idea he’s not a good guy because he likes a drink / some fun is silly. He may have taken the fun too far and ruined his career post-treble, but that doesn’t make him a “dickhead.”

But if the internet is to be believed Elanga is on pretty low wages. If we pay £50m for him I'd imagine he ends up in that £100-120k/wk range we like. Mbeumo apparently wanted north of £200k. You're talking about an £8-10m difference per year between the fee and wages, which is a whole other player.

Also true for everyone else. And no one else has Eddie Howe.

Sad about this, but also questioning that feeling after reading a bunch of Spurs fans talking about how dumb their club is.

Just looking at ours is evidence enough that the whole concept is a sham. A sponsorship is more valuable if a club plays more high profile games that are on TV, so fair enough that a club in the Champions League would garner more money. We weren't in Europe this past season so at the outset the value was theoretically lower. Except we then went and won a damn trophy. SELA is now emblazoned on pictures and videos that will stand the test of time (the same can be applied to Crystal Palace). We played extra games against Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool. All of that is worth far more than anyone could have put a number on in the summer. And this is without even considering the advertiser side of things where a certain sponsorship could be worth it to a particular company for any number of reasons. I hope we can take the next deal to £40m+.

I’d be quite surprised if Eddie went from not wanting to loan Miley out to outright selling him unless our opinion of him has changed.

I cannot imagine the state of this thread had we missed out on Champions League or hadn’t won a trophy. We have some money to spend. We have some players we could sell, which adds flexibility. We’re in the CL and under no pressure to sell our best players. We’ve been nearly flawless in signing talented players. I’ve never been more relaxed.

Messing around with made up trophies doesn't feel as bad now that we've won a real one.

This is one of the clearest examples of PSR hamstringing us in terms of building a squad. He became financially impossible after we chose Isak instead and then went for Gordon and then it was too late. Obviously glad we got Isak over him, but he'd be an incredibly useful player for us.

I haven't done the math in awhile to be honest. Without diving into the details there are definitely a lot more variables to contend with for 24/25 and heading into 25/26 that make this fuzzier than things were last summer.

Emery is fast becoming my favorite PL villain. Just watched the Man United highlights again to see his tantrums.