ponsaelius

The issue is gonna be doing major surgery to the side with a shortened transfer window, a World Cup and a load of players to shift out. But it's certainly doable if the club is proactive with Rafa.

Oot: Gamez - free Haidara - free Colback - whatever Saivet - whatever Selz - whatever Aarons - whatever Mitrovic - £20 million Gayle - £10 million Darlow - £3 million Elliot - £2 million (one or the other, maybe both) Mbemba - £8 million Personally wouldn't let Mbemba go, but reckon there's a chance he will if we can get close to what we signed him for back as I don't think Rafa rates him at all. That'd bring in £45 million or so. If the club were to match that as a budget you're looking at between £90-100 million for surgery. Bring in: Dubravka - £5 million Kenedy - £15 million Striker - £25 million #10 - £20 million Left back - £10 million Right back - £10 million Promising CB - £10 million Some backup Spanish jobber GK - free That'd be a good summer. Could be even better with a bit more investment and some bargain buys ala Merino last summer.

With Haidara and Gamez out of contract it seems likely to me that full-backs will be signed this summer. Got to be looking to upgrade in that case, rather than bring in more of the Manquillo ilk.

I think it's quite hopeful to expect Shelvey and Diame to continue as they have been recently next season.

Wish I could claim so, I just looked at the 'Talk' section on Wikipedia.

That makes it 1989.

Maybe aye. Wikipedia has him born in 1989 but other sites have him born 1990.

He'll be 29 by the time the start of next season rolls round. Definitely the right time to shift him on. I think we'll get our money back from a promotion chasing Championship side. Been a great signing for us though, all things told. Was exactly what we needed going into last season.

Of course it's still funny as fuck that they're relegated, but it's undeniable they're in a far better apparent situation now than they were a day ago.

Juventus have dominated Italian football yet have a pitiful record of one legitimate European Cup in their history, if you ever wanted a clear indication of how bent they are. The only time in the history of Serie A in which referees were assigned matches randomly rather than by 'special commission' was in 1985. Hellas Verona won the title and Juve languished in 5th. Of course the previous and the following season the title went to Turin.

Thanks for letting me know You're welcome.

He spent the majority of his career playing for a corrupt organization, so no.

Correct.

...and punishment was given and served. No it wasn't. Juventus were punished in 2006, but were let off with far worse crimes in 2007. The idea that anything changed during Calciopoli is a nonsense.

I don't think it's justifiable to like Juventus as an outsider if you have any kind of knowledge of Italian football. Supporting Milan or Inter is bad enough, but passable simply because they're not Juve. It's not like Man United, Bayern or Real Madrid. Having an economic grip on a domestic game is one thing, but exploiting that economic advantage to establish a power grip which goes to every single aspect of the system is a whole other matter. You can't even write it off as conspiracy theories anymore. It was all proven twice over in 2006 and 2007.

But the point still stands. What is the justification?

Why would anybody without a tangible reason to want to support Juventus? It's like supporting Man Utd, except they're literally corrupt. The worst possible kind of glory hunting.

Juve's dark hand working its magic since last week.

Complete guesswork. Could as easily have just been bought by a consortium who’s major investor owns Eastleigh. It's not complete guesswork. Clubs in League One can only spend a maximum of 60% of their overall annual turnover on wages. Sunderland's turnover is 5 or 6 times most clubs down there, and 10 times in terms of some of the smaller teams, and they have the added bonus of being able to spend 75% of their income on wages as a relegated club from the Championship. Realistically based on the current contract situations it's only Cattermole and Rodwell who will be sitting around eating into the wage bill, leaving them a huge amount relatively to spend on building a team. League One clubs don't spend on transfer fees, which means they can outbid all the other sides down there for players in terms of wages. Unless Birmingham go down as well, they have no realistic rivals of a similar size. The only hope there was for them struggling down there was if they got stuck being unable to sell the club and were saddled with the debt. That's gone now and they have a whole summer to prepare. They will absolutely piss it. So you think they will do well by throwing large wages at players who only want to go to Sunderland for the money? Isn't that what's gotten them into this hole in the first place? I'm being slightly tongue-in-cheek mind, obviously having some financial clout is a benefit. I'm just cautioning that it's hardly a guaranteed route to success. No. They don't need to throw around huge money at all. The average League One player is on 2k a week ffs.

Complete guesswork. Could as easily have just been bought by a consortium who’s major investor owns Eastleigh. It's not complete guesswork. Clubs in League One can only spend a maximum of 60% of their overall annual turnover on wages. Sunderland's turnover is 5 or 6 times most clubs down there, and 10 times in terms of some of the smaller teams, and they have the added bonus of being able to spend 75% of their income on wages as a relegated club from the Championship. Realistically based on the current contract situations it's only Cattermole and Rodwell who will be sitting around eating into the wage bill, leaving them a huge amount relatively to spend on building a team. League One clubs don't spend on transfer fees, which means they can outbid all the other sides down there for players in terms of wages. Unless Birmingham go down as well, they have no realistic rivals of a similar size. The only hope there was for them struggling down there was if they got stuck being unable to sell the club and were saddled with the debt. That's gone now and they have a whole summer to prepare. They will absolutely piss it.

Even with Cattermole and Rodwell etc eating up wages they will still have a wage budget that will dwarf every team in that league.

If the debt is cleared and they now have a full summer to prepare, they will absolutely piss League One.

Bent club, bent league

Taking Icardi off and bringing Santon on, what a ridiculous sub.

Lucky bastards.