ChrisMcQuillan

Man Utd home draw.

Schar you fucking beauty 

Isak off…

Not sure this ever happened last season.

1.5/10

Birmingham signing Jay Stansfield from Fulham for £15m while they’re in League One. WTF?

Who’s up for a protest march?

Just now, Geordie_once_removed said:

Not to piss on your chips too much but it's really not beyond the realms of possibility that we're still subsidising his wages a bit until his contract is up. 

Mutual termination of contract so that seems unlikely. I’m no expert though. 

14 minutes ago, Nucasol said:

Time stamp showing he’s on a KLM flight from Newcastle at that time means it can only be the one to the Dam.

8 minutes ago, Fezzle said:

Klm only flying to Amsterdam from Newcastle not a big enough giveaway?

That and the tweet saying he's on a flight to Amsterdam made me lead to thinking that perhaps there was a reason for the MI5 detective work.

9 minutes ago, Memphis said:

SURPRISE!!! We're comfortable with Krafth starting at CB!

Paul Mitchell trying to work out what to say when Mark Douglas rings back to query what on earth "surprises meant".

40 minutes ago, Menace said:

 

I don't know if I should laugh or genuinely be concerned

 

He needs binning off for that red phone case alone.

 

 

 

I don't understand the significance of the time?

Just now, Vinny Green Balls said:

Are you Trump? Jesus.

Yeah, I mean I'm pretty hysterical, but steady on @wallsendlad1952.

5 minutes ago, OoOGazOoO said:

Having digested this latest development (or non-development), I think it's hugely disappointing.

 

We showed under Howe in his first season, what potential we had as a team and what could be done.

 

We then had a lower finish last year despite injuries, etc... and I think that allowed us, despite a lower finish, of just what exactly we could possibly achieve.

 

The summer window was a chance to strengthen, add that extra quality that would take us back to a 4th/5th place. I'd argue it was tweaks required rather than wholesale changes.

 

If we have dropped the ball on this summer's window, it's more than just 'a window' for me. January is notoriously bad for getting deals done and getting value for money on the whole. So in reality, a 'poor' window, is actually us potentially sticking with what we have until next summer, despite pretty much everyone acknowledging that we may fall short again if we fail to add the tweaks and extra quality, to take us that x% higher.

 

If things stay as they are, we have basically allowed our progress to essentially stagnate, which I think is pretty poor and not good enough considering where we could be.

 

Others will disagree with me, and I may look back on this post at the end of the season and be proven wrong, but this is how it feels currently.

 

 

 

I think you're exactly right.

I struggle to accept that Marc Guehi is the only player in the entire world that would improve us that Howe would accept (and we can afford, given we have £70m to spend).

Back in the England squad.

Yeah, officially called up.

If we get lucky with injuries/suspensions, we won't miss Anderson. Tonali coming back is the big factor here, but I'm trying to deal with this from a transfer perspective and not a squad strength perspective. But he's a good player and sometimes offered us a different dimension when needing to change a game.

I'd compare Osula and Minteh, since we had neither of them last season. I think I'd prefer to have kept Minteh than have Osula, but time will tell.

Ritchie and Dummett are what they are, and possibly with no Champions League/Europe, neither would have been required to appear this season.

So we have Kelly who's an upgrade on Dummett, and Osula who's an upgrade on not having Wilson available half the season, but unsure whether he's an upgrade on what Minteh might have offered us this season.

There's different ways of looking at it, admittedly, but as it stands it's not looking like a strengthening in the transfer window. Still time to change that.

Just now, NUFC91 said:

Time will tell but genuinely feel like we have fallen behind the clubs around us in this window making the return to Europe harder. West ham Spurs Villa Chelsea all look to have more squad depth. Can argue Brighton habe bridged the gap as well.

Versus last season (so Hall doesn't count), we've lost Anderson, Ritchie, Dummett and Minteh.

We've brought in Kelly and Osula. I'm assuming Vlachodimos won't play for us, and treating Ruddy the same as Karius.

I'd argue that even if other clubs hadn't changed their squads at all, we've weakened slightly so far. 

2 minutes ago, junkhead said:

I had very high hopes for this summer. Spent all summer fantasising which top class RW we're going to sign. The realisation that we're blowing the whole budget on imo very limited Guehi really shocked me.

 

After several nervous breakdowns (which left a trace in the forum) yesterday I found a Xanax blister and I watched Eddie's FLAWLESS press conference, as usual trying to read between the lines. He's calm about the situation, so I'm calm now too. Btw for a shy guy, what a monster this guy is in front of a microphone, effortlessly swerves every question, never says a word out of place.. this alone makes him perfect for England manager..

 

Aaanyway, regarding our summer, he said something along the lines that 'from the outside it might look easier but only people in the club have the full picture, the parameters and restrictions". Those words made me think of money and I think I FIGURED OUT why we're so passive this transfer window, why overpriced Guehi is our primary choice and the reason for our whole existence!! 

And by "figured out", I mean I read again @timeEd32's stellar detective work, the paragraphs on UEFA's 70% costs control rules.
 

It seems that without selling, we literally can't afford paying the contracts of two new high-quality players. Even if the transfer fees are £25mil each for example. But we can afford ONE expensive high quality player, as long as he doesn't command a huge contract. That explains why we're not so fussed about the inflated fee. 

 

So if we add all the requirements:

- affordable / on the market
- position CB - Rightly or wrongly Eddie thinks that's top priority. Despite my obsession with left-footed RWs I have to agree with him, it's too risky going into a season with our current CBs (but we can manage)

- young, motivated to play for us, room to improve

- athletic, not prone to injuries, calm with the ball at his feet

- low-risk - experienced in the PL, no known betting history

 

Well, the result of that is Guehi. 

 

So after spending hours on here criticising his aerial ability and shit, crying about Milenkovic for £12mil .. I'm now prepared to accept Guehi, even though he hasn't even signed yet.. Even if he struggles initially, Eddie and the guys will teach him, we're looking long-term. It's not like we have the money for more CBs, so Guehi WILL be a success, even if Eddie has to fight him. 

 

So all panic extinguished for now over here, except maybe the unknowns about our strategic vision, which I discussed earlier in this thread.

Imo, there's every indication that PIF regards this as a long-term investment - 10, 15, 20, 25 years. So hopefully we continue with the same pace (annual revenue growth of 40%), continue with the correct strategic/business decisions, like most of Amanda's were. If that's in place, it's all about the football qualities and preparation and imo we're in very safe hands there with Eddie Howe.

Any of that Xanax going spare?

To hell with all this. 

9 minutes ago, Disco said:

Merino to Arsenal confirmado 

Now I'm pissed off.

We've had a shocking window.

Kepa to Bournemouth.  

4 hours ago, joeyt said:

 

His dad must be a canny age if he's still around

95-ish according to Wikipedia.

Whatever's gone on between him and his wife that caused his return from the England camp last year has definitely been leading up to this. I don't suspect he's happy to be leaving, but perhaps he feels he needs to for his mental health.

If he's going though, as it stands, we've weakened in this window without significant reinforcements.

Getting to squeaky bum time.

Other clubs are starting to speed up.