Ketsbaia

Be frustrating if the only major disagreements were facilities and the 28+ policy. The former may as well wait another year, whilst there are many good strikers out there, not just Rondon. Compromise can easily be made.

After how long does the silence become a problem, though?

Time to text Midhat tbh

I'd never even considered Rafa leaving until yesterday but, sadly, that's how it's looking. Unbelievable tbh. I'm not sure Ashley has any idea what the consequences of this will be. I think Rafa will stay without a club, meaning the door is still slightly open. That hope will kill us. Once the takeover is finally complete, there'll be basically no time for any transfers or stability before the season - what a mess.

The sad truth is that, even at our lowest low, we'll still get 50k at games. Fans will claim to hate Ashley but, at the same time, want a fortnightly piss-up with mates to get away from the missus. They want to bond with their dads. They'll wear this latest agony as a badge of honour because us North East guys are tough bastards who don't complain.... something like that. Addictions are tough to stop :(

It's a proper addiction to keep returning to this thread, KNOWING it'll be about biscuits and not the breaking news we're all waiting for

That was 50 pages ago. Now it has devolved into something far worse - page after page of purposely hideous craic desgined to waste our time and lose our sanity. Chocolate Hobnobs ftw.

It'd be £50m plus sales though, which is fine. Sell a couple of Gayle, Shelvey and Hayden and we're up to at least £80m.

Obviously this place went for the most negative scenario

Jose Gimenez. I love stuff like this

Odin's words correspond with a few other 'things' so I'm happy to put faith in those words and potentially look foolish after

The takeover is happening but the process requires a silence which is driving people to extreme levels of craziness.

They're raising loads from Lucas, Griezmann and Rodri, it'll be very interesting to see if they re-build a similar side or try some evolution.

Caulkin is normally the one to trust but, putting a few bits and pieces together, I feel he might be slightly behind on this one.

Not worried about China, really. He's already turned down Roma and still feel he's quietly confident of the takeover.

Cheers for what you did, Lee.

Translation starts "you squeezed my bird" - are we sure this isn't a scene from Eastenders?

Post-takeover, I'd say he's realistic. Just the right amount of ambition - about the level we can be aiming for right now.

Feel pleased for him, considering the grief he got for doing well.

Tim Healy to play Jimmy Five Bellies

This rumour is silly for a few reasons but the £25m fee would be a joke - especially when Wan Bissaka has only been playing for a year and he's valued at £60m. For a right-back!

Watching West Ham add Fornals to their squad is very annoying. Another quality player there.

I cant agree with this, Chelsea have an amazing squad and have already signed Hazards replacement in Christian Pulisic, Zouma will replace the outgoing Cahill, If Lampard goes there and they dont finish top 4 with a good run in the Champions league and the cups its a massive failure Not sure, like. Pulisic is average, Hazard isn't being replaced and their strikers (at best) will be Giroud, Higuain, Abraham and Batschuayi. Lampard will have to put faith in youngsters like Mount and Hudson-Odoi, which takes time. Leicester and Wolves must be excited at these developments because there's a real chance of making the top 6.

Seen Thuram linked with Dortmund and Gladbach. Yeah he'd be a good investment, right up Ashley's street.

I’m nervous about losing Rafa. I’m still confident the takeover will happen but I’m not confident at all on the timescale. Just because Rafas contract runs out doesn’t mean he can’t sign a new one week later. It’s the whole silence everywhere thing that gives me optimism. Rafa knows how to play the media. If the club were intentionally letting his contract run out he’d have let that be known. He’s waiting because he knows more than we do. That's the thing, I also believe Rafa is optimistic about the takeover and is waiting for it to complete. That makes sense. But the likes of Caulkin keep mentioning other bidders and that gets me worried about this being anywhere near completion. So much stuff is out there at the moment - opinions, supposed ITKs, statements, conspiracy theories, body language analysis, WhatsApp chats with BZG lawyers - that each of us can choose to focus on 2/3 good points and be optimistic, or a different 2/3 bad points and be pessimistic. I've no idea which side to give credibility to. It's driving me crazy.