timeEd32

Since we’re not in Europe playing the likes of Villa and Liverpool while they are preoccupied with the CL would be preferable. But I also kind of want our first game to be Liverpool with a new manager at SJP.

I think people are going to expect Champions League, which I both understand and also think is a ridiculous expectation. Annoyingly we’re really going to want the English clubs to do well in Europe.

We’ll be happy about this result in a decade when we’re attempting the first double double.

Yeah, I put the translated from Spanish quote in his thread I think. Basically said it was one of his non-negotiables. I agree it seems odd that it would matter that much and who knows on source/translation, but footballers have made decisions based on far stranger things.

If reports are to be believed it's also dependent (from the player's side) on City winning tomorrow.

This is far more interesting than talking about DCL.

I agree from a squad standpoint, but it seems questionable financially unless we have more headroom than believed.

Selling Pope and bringing in a young, promising keeper as backup (or an old, cheap one) would make more sense from a resource standpoint compared to having Pope and Giorgi.

This happens all of the time.

From Hope's latest article: We understand some of the references for Spors - the global sporting director of the 777 Group - have suggested he may not be the best fit for Newcastle, and it is far from a given they will now revert to the 41-year-old.

Pope is more like 2.01m, not that it matters if this guy is coming in.

A better way to think about it is these three players will be adding (best guess) ~£24m in annual costs (amortisation + wages). We'll need to (more than) offset that by reducing wages/amortisation elsewhere / increasing revenue.

I'm not sure that there's anything breaking here, though I missed this last week... (badly translated from Spanish)

I'm excited about this and also feel bad / conflicted as it relates to Pope. Big fan of his and I'm also admittedly a little confused about what we're planning to do here.

In mid-November he got into that argument with the fan at Bournemouth and then I think it was the following international break he left the England squad for a "personal matter." Within a couple weeks of that his form went into a tailspin with moments at both Everton and Chelsea seeming more mental than physical. No idea what went on, but lots of signs pointing to some distraction in his life.

This saga has brought it back for me and for that I am grateful.

I like Adebayo a lot. Awoniyi another that I'm surprised isn't talked about more. Both had injury problems this season, so slightly small samples below but... Only players with more G / 90 than Adebayo: Haaland, Isak, Jota, Palmer, Olise, Wood, Richarlison, Trossard, Salah Only players with more G+A / 90 this season than Awoniyi: Palmer, Olise, Haaland, De Bruyne, Jota, Salah, Isak, Richarlison, Wilson, Watkins, Foden, Nunez, Bailey, Son, Mateta

I think most are only opposed to Bowen based on what we assume the price would be, plus the fact he'll turn 28 this season. He'd be perfect if money were no object.

Somewhere between 5'10" and 6'3". His height seems to be one of the great mysteries of the modern world.

Howe on Kelly: "When I sit here and talk about players that maybe no one else has seen and I say how good they can be or how good they're going to be, if no one's seen it, it's very difficult for people to believe. What I'm saying is what I believe, but with Lloyd, I truly believe he's got everything he needs to be a top, top player. His career is out in front of him. If he can stay free from injury, then he can achieve so many great things." Woodgate: "Lloyd can look like a Rolls-Royce at times. It is all a matter of consistency how far he goes in the game." Iraola: "I've told you a lot of times during the season, for me Lloyd is one of our best players ... I think he has been very, very good for us this season.The problem with him probably is that he hasn't been healthy this season as much as we would like. But the games he has played, I think he has been very good." "He has been playing as a centre-back very well and has been playing at left-back very well. He is a very, very good defender." ----------------------------------- There are similarly glowing quotes from Scott Parker, Gary O'Neill, and Bristol City people. Equally high praise on his character, as evidenced by him becoming captain at age 22. Not surprised we're interested, especially with Eddie having history with him. His long running ankle injury happened in training and stretched across the World Cup break. This season was a mess of muscle injuries that may or may not have been related. There's clearly some risk, but the potential reward seems very high given his talent and the improvements we've seen from so many players.

I hadn't really thought about the potential revenue coming from the Club World Cup and that being part of the interest in introducing anchoring.

Dying for more details on him trying and failing to delete the email.

I'm just realizing they also accomplished this for the first time this season. Or am I missing another time they finished head of Man United?

Ah, good call

I can't imagine arbitration would grant us less than we paid Brighton (+ likely some additional), so that feels like the worst case scenario. The best case scenario is they pay us eight digits while simultaneously getting sued by City.