Gottlob

Seems likely to me that all of the players weren't desperate to see the back of him, that a big chill didn't descend over the whole training complex every time he was present over the past month, that far from being a sociopath he'd struck up a good relationship with plenty of the squad who probably enjoyed playing alongside him, and that far from there being no way back a decision to freeze him out and keep him on the sidelines would have been more detrimental by making the other players question their own prospects especially when it comes time for contract negotiations or when they themselves are ready to seek a move. Of course it's much easier to be understanding or magnanimous when you share the same career and are also earning tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds each week.

He studied the humanities as a bairn before taking a master's in negotiation at Harvard Law School. He knows how to fill the big seat in the big chair around the big boys' table but for all that what he cares about most is people. He's got his eyes on markets in the United States and the Far East and I have no doubt that he'll have commercial partnerships coming out the wazoo.

Sammy Ameobi and Paul Dummett are currently without a club.

If we were serious about a Champions League challenge then perhaps anticipating the Isak money we should have kept Longstaff while adding James Tavernier, Adam Armstrong and one from Tim Krul, Freddie Woodman or Bobby Clarkey.

As always TCD is labouring a point which didn't really need to be made in the first place, but at least it's coherent, whereas I can't agree with Coco's assertion that getting around PSR rules is like pimping out your adulterous wife.

I don't know about a grand speech or a ten-part PowerPoint presentation, but I think elevating a couple of players to the Newcastle United Leadership Committee would really give everyone around the club a real boost.

I thought the same: that the market for a proven striker would be prohibitive, to the extent that I'd pretty much resigned myself to us signing DCL on the basis that it would allow us to go big on some combination of a central defender, midfielder and right winger. I still don't understand our PSR situation or how that has figured into our summer. As I posted in another thread I think we've had a decent window in difficult circumstances but one concern is that we don't have the players - the creative midfielders, the clinical wide players or someone good at crashing the box - who might thrive playing alongside our new strike options. It is exciting and there are reasons to be optimistic but we've also had such good numbers from our wide forwards playing alongside Isak that it's not going to be easy to bring them more into play and improve our overall output.

I don't get the sense that there was any animosity between him and the club until we bid for Ekitike and the fallout seemed to put his move to Liverpool at risk. I think he probably felt that the club had reneged on an agreement to facilitate his exit. Now he probably feels like he's been cast as the bad guy under a faulty pretext and has had a couple of weeks of the fans wishing him ill. I don't like how he's acted and I hope that he and Liverpool prove utter failures over the next few seasons. But to me his and Wissa's situations are broadly the same: players groping for a major chance to better their careers and their bank balances. They've both been unusually obstinate but the situations aren't unprecedented and their tactics seem to have worked.

We've given ourselves real squad depth while finding a nice balance to replace Isak. I believe the squad we have can be competitive on four fronts so in trying circumstances we've just about got there in the end. On the other hand Elanga, Thiaw, Ramsey and Wissa for £185 million does feel like a blunt use of the funds, showing little nous or imagination in the scouting department. Woltemade adds a frisson of excitement and we've signed players with plenty of upside, but I still have reservations about our resilience on the counter and our creativity and productivity in the final third. At times we've seemed slow to act, too credulous and even a bit desperate while a smarter approach might have seen us sign Ekitike, land Wissa for £10 million less or even avoid this whole fiasco entirely had we secured Isak with an improved contract offer last year. We're not functioning properly at the backroom or executive levels and it has at times been a chastening summer but we have persevered and given ourselves a fighting chance. I'd say 6/10 which is perhaps a touch harsh but reckons with the fact that we're already three games into the season and seem to have jumbled through the summer. The sale of Isak obviously leaves a bit of a bad taste. I'm pleased we managed to secure Wissa but another midfielder, that touted £30 million sale of Osula or both on the final day would have added a point or two to the grade.

We can add "It's quite alright" or "That's not alright" depending on how he's playing.

They probably offered us £30 million yesterday before we agreed to sell Isak and they realised they were dealing with a bunch of marks! Those chickens already coming home to roost!

Don't think Shankland is realistic but wouldn't mind us making a move for Fashion Sakala or Kevin van Veen.

£28.5 million is okay as long as Osula agrees to forego his loyalty bonus.

Strange to have sold one of the world's best strikers and spent a quarter of a billion in transfer fees yet our best work has arguably come in shifting some of our fringe players. There's not much time but I can see us making one more signing. Right now young Armstrong at Southampton would seem to make a lot of sense.

I like Osula but I'm staggered he's so highly rated. He has some fine attributes but he's very raw and doesn't look like a natural striker. It's a great move for him and an excellent fee for us.

He's not a baller or a bagsman but he is a trawler and a tradesman even though we as a club don't seem to have cast a particularly wide net. That is to say that he makes the right movements and puts himself in the position to score goals while also being able to thrive in a number of positions. Of course righteous indignation over Isak's behaviour might have carried us to a few wins this season and we've lost the moral standing to bear that out. But hopefully his goal contributions will more than make up the difference.

Howe is as temperate as they come and I'm sure fairly understanding but he places a high value on leadership and team harmony and has shown in the past that there's a line you don't cross. Ryan Fraser is one example and there have also been rumours of a falling out with Longstaff. If Howe was adamant that he had to be sold then fair enough. My sense though is that from the start of the transfer window we've been trying to facilitate Isak's eventual departure and the club as a whole deserves plenty of blame for the situation we've end up in, scrambling over the last few hours of the transfer window having sold a world-class striker for a compromised fee.

Suarez was training alone and missed the start of the season anyway because he had a ten-match ban for biting someone and Kane returned late for the pre-season, trained alone and missed the first couple of games due an alleged injury before being reintegrated into the squad. Isak has been unusually obstinate or bloody-minded but it's a difference of degree rather than an unprecedented situation.

We need another striker and there isn't an outstanding option left available. I'd prefer someone nippier than Larsen to complement or provide an alternative to Woltemade. In terms of profile I think Wissa's probably the best bet but he's about to turn 29, overpriced and perversely behaved in precisely the same manner as Isak. Difficult to argue for team harmony or that Isak made his future with us untenable while embracing Wissa, though I think deep down most of us accept that these players are being bloody minded in a bid to eke the most out of their careers financially, and such character concerns don't necessarily translate to their behaviour in the dressing room or their performances out on the pitch.

I know that others have broached this, but why have we buckled? It feels like there has been an air of inevitably about this ever since he announced his desire to explore a move. Is it because we did promise him something, or because we do have PSR concerns at least now having spent money on Thiaw, Ramsey and Woltemade? Did we think we might eke another season out of him only for the relationship to irrevocably sour?

I don't agree with the notion that this sets a bad precedent. The crux of the issue is that you're going to struggle to keep the best players in the world if you're not able to pay them the biggest salaries. Without being able to compete financially you hope to get everything else right. That involves everything from team harmony to the cultivation of a backroom or executive staff which is able to handle contract negotiations and scout smartly so that you're not too beholden to circumstance when these sort of situations crop up. It probably also means cultivating better relationships with agents and other clubs. My concern isn't that we've folded, it's that we haven't handled this process well from the outset, we've lost one of the best strikers in the world, and as of right now we're struggling to properly replace him. Woltemade is exciting but a bit of a punt with regards to his profile and the fact that he has only one good season of top-flight football behind him. We need a more conventional threat both for balance and depth. A failure to get that right will be far more costly than any lingering shame or reputational damage.

I have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow, but I'll be more surprised if he doesn't go and I kind of feel like that's been our expectation or the end point of our endeavours all summer. Obviously we need two strikers.

In spite of my outward appearance, I shall try to run a neat inn.

While I agree with all the cries of corruption, I also find it strange that today's game seems to discriminate against people with arms. The best defender today would surely be someone with exquisite balance and two amputations.

I'm convinced that if I was a football manager I'd be smashing up the VAR screen on a weekly basis or at least until they had me sectioned.