Geordie Ahmed

Just watched it, no idea why it had to be presented on separate screens, why not just show it all together and then highlight Ashley is a scumbag.

I'd settle for them showing the net spend, that would be an improvement on what they usually do

Apparently Pete Graves is going to give the full picture

Exactly. Plus the fact we are seeing some decent amount of unity has to be encouraging. Whatever we decide to do it's always going to be more effective when we do it as a collective rather than lots of smaller groups.

Forming this opinion from a few comments during the preseason tour doesn't make sense to me, tbh. We have not seen them play a competitive match or even a preseason match with anything resembling a first team squad. The last time we saw them play they were second and are likely to make at least one more big signing before the season starts. They are still second-favourites for the title in my opinion. Mourinho's histrionics do not seem any different to me, he has largely been a petulant and negative personality since he started at Madrid. I agree with this, think they'll finish top 4 easily. To seriously challenge for the title Mourinho will need to loosen the shackles, can't park the bus as there are too many good teams at the top. Also Pogba is full of confidence and Mourinho might have learnt a thing or two from Deschamps as to how to get the best out of him.

Would be a very decent window should we get all of those and Maia. People can be as negative as they want about net spend etc. but on the face of it we'd be much stronger, squad-wise and personnel-wise, than the beginning of last season. When was the last time we addressed this many problem positions before the season started? Being stronger than the start of last season shouldn't be the benchmark. The reason people are negative is because we should be aiming much, much higher. Also we are being outspent (I know spending doesn't guarantee success BUT it gives you a better chance than not spending) by teams around us, look at the 2 teams that got promoted with us, if I'm not mistaken Brighton have spent £100mill since last summer, Huddersfield have spent about £60mill, whilst we've actually made money. That's the reason people are negative and rightly so.

From Mark Douglas in the chronicle This is beyond laughable, such a piss take. Conveniently even though Sissoko was mentioned above there was no mention of the installment we'll be due for him and Wijnaldum. We're the only club that operates in such a shitehouse manner.

Ashley apologist so makes sense, fully expect him to be wheeled out for press interviews praising Ashley.

Agreed, if we get Rondon then that would be if, no chance we'd get another striker.

Aye. Wellbeck would fuck our boxes very well, but we just won’t stretch that far. Was a missed opportunity when he went to Arsenal, and now we’ll miss out again. He'd do what now?

The money is there to spend £30mill+ on a striker that is likely to get your 12-15 goals at least BUT we know spending that kind of money is out of the question. Rondon's movement and strength is good, we can benefit from that, the concern as it was last season is scoring enough goals.

Not watching, how has Aboubakar played? Not sure how realistic BUT much prefer him to Rondon

Totally out of context like. I'm happy with his agenda, but to say he doesn't have one is naive. I saw nothing from Staveley's bid to suggest otherwise. The fact it impacted on our transfer window (like i said it would in early December) left a bitter feeling. We got lucky with our much maligned loans, but the damage the bid nearly done to us was almost catastrophic. I don't know if i'd want that near the club in all honesty, even if it meant getting rid of Ashley. Just another party who doesn't fully grasp football. Again how naive you must be if you believe it actually impacted our transfer window. The press release from Ashley/Bishop etc said the last contact was made just before the window had opened and they stated they will no longer be discussing it with Staveley so they had a full month to do any transfers, so what stopped them? (Probably the same thing that has stopped them from multiple other windows)

You're absolutely right, I just worded it badly, I meant he doesn't give a shit about the club progressing. He's happy for it to coast along.

There is that as well. The guy just doesn't give a shit, someone described us as a zombie club and that's really apt. Requires no investment from Ashley and it just coasts along.

It's staggering when the options are to believe either Ashley or Staveley (plus Caulkin) that people will still side with Ashley.

For me it's simple, either believe Staveley (don't truly know a great deal about her) or Mike Ashley (self confessed liar and we've seen numerous examples of this), I know which I'm going with.

I'm sure he'd take some joy out of selling us to a shitter owner, however it's all about what he can gain from it, so best offer wins. Unfortunately there hasn't been any serious offers to consider. Or there has been serious offers BUT he isn't really interested in selling?

Based on Dennis Wise scouting the lad knows how to ping a ball.

They've shown in the past when the will is there then deals can be done (a rarity no doubt), it's not an issue of incompetence, the issue is they have no intention of making significant transfers. Charnley is very limited, where a decent chairman/director can help in terms of commercialisation I'm not sure he can BUT that suits Ashley, the club is run on a shoestring and Sports Direct get their free advertising.

They say they're in talks with releasing it on other platforms BUT no confirmation yet. Also they've said they are limiting it to 1 screen use at a time, which depending on the price might not be worth it. Rules out being able to share a subscription with someone.

The article is typical of Ashley and his media chums, trying to lay the blame for this lack of spending on Rafa, which is absolute nonsense. Only one man to blame and that is Ashley. Conveniently none of these media people are asking the question as to why it matters whether Rafa signs, surely investing £100mill into the team is of benefit to the club regardless of who the manager is, unless of course it's all lies (which it will be). As for why Rafa doesn't sign and then sue Ashley, why on earth should he have to go down that path? That will cost him time and money that he shouldn't have to spend. I apportion absolutely 0% of blame to Rafa when it comes to our pathetic transfer activity and it's a shame if people don't see it that way.

What shite would that be?

Sadly Ashley has the skin of a Rhino - he'll not give a shit People keep saying this BUT we've seen that he does react when things get taken up a notch. Also a lot of fans (obviously has to be a significant amount) staying away will definitely have an impact, the difficulty is convincing people that staying away is in the best interest of the club long term. Finally whether it has an ultimate impact on Ashley is somewhat immaterial imo, this is about self respect. This isn't the club we love, somewhat aptly described it as a zombie club. The analogy I like to give people is that you wouldn't pay someone to punch your kids so why pay Ashley to damage your club?

Rafa nails it when talking about investment being linked to his contract extension. Normal football clubs invest for the purpose of improving and getting better, that investment should be done regardless of who the manager is or how long he is planning on staying. It just sums Ashley up and the stupid games he likes to play. I think Ashley's heart giving up is probably the best we can hope for otherwise we'll be stuck in this rut for many years to come.