The Prophet

I often think Mike Ashley has done a lot of damage to our fanbase, but it seems that pundits, journalists and fans of other clubs don't realise that we're not his club anymore either. If it's not Bruno to City, it's Tino to City, Hall to Liverpool, Tonali to Barca, Gordon to Liverpool, Isak to anyone or Howe to England. We're no longer in the business of needing to or wanting to sell our best players or allowing our staff to leave, so you either offer us a ludicrous sum of money that we can't possibly refuse, or fuck off. That's not to say that we won't lose players on our journey, all clubs do. But we're no longer in the business of happily selling to clubs that we now see as our rivals.

I see the latest rumour is that he wants to stay, but his agent is concerned about his future options with so many "big clubs" needing to tie down a striker this summer.

Palace and Brighton games now on TV.

Aye, but it's much easier to phase it. Especially if they're thinking of binning Nunez too.

Would be shocked if VvD and Salah weren't retained. It'll be an enormous rebuild if not.

It'll be a good test of how far we've come in terms of managing European football next year.

Interesting piece on Bruno.

Same applies as before.

Shite source, but a rumour is a rumour.

He's also shown again that he's excellent at being able to reverse negative momentum too. At the start of the season we looked out of sorts and players were said to be disgruntled about the PSR fire sale. There were question marks over his relationship with the club executives and for the first time it looked like "the project" might be stalling. Fast forward six months we've won a trophy and despite some inconsistency, we're still right in the thick of it for a Champions League spot.

It's Yasir's perogative if he wants to get involved in the celebrations, but it is quite unusual for an owner to do so and even at the time seemed quite sportswashy, for want of a better word. I was as overjoyed as anyone to lift the cup and didn't ruin my experience as a fan, but what he was doing did seem quite blatant.

As I say it's all subjective and down to the individual about how they feel about it and the PIF ownership in general. As Stifler points out it takes absolutely nothing away from the players and staff who worked incredibly hard for the cup and the fans who've waited a lifetime for us to lift one.

It isn't having a go at the football fans, that's why I felt it was a refreshingly balanced read. Sportswashing and state ownership are important topics in football.

Fair enough. It is rather unusual and seemed rather deliberate though. I felt quite uncomfortable with it, granted I'll need to get used to the hot soapy sportswash, particularly if we become more successful. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here by the way, no one should tell you how to feel. But I think the author did a good job of raising his subjective discomfort, along with my own, whilst still giving us our flowers.

You mean "the fella that got Bournemouth relegated"?

No sarcasm, I think he's done a very good job of discussing the elephant in the room, without taking anything away from the players, staff or fans. It's a balance many such as Miguel Delaney fail to manage.

After this week's joy and happiness for the players and staff, I just had a read of this. Very fair and well balanced piece.

Has he grown up a bit? Was meant to be a bit of a whopper when he was at Everton.

It's like picking your favourite shade of shite. Bruce is more unlikeable as a bloke, but Pardew did far more damage to the club.

I still remember a post-match interview during COVID, with a dishevelled looking Fab describing everything as "shit"

He's such a cunt.