ponsaelius

I hate him aswell. His shit patter and analogies man. Fuck off Aye he's a weapon. Thought both his Sheff Wed side and Swansea were a horrible bunch of snide bastards when they played up here.

Roofing as a club were pretty much the work of one bloke. Was always liable to go the wall once he decided to retire. Went along to Hebburn yesterday. Lovely set-up they've got there.

Yeah I was gonna suggest Joe Bryan on here. He's been excellent the few times I've seen him, particularly against Man Utd in the cup. He's 32 in October and playing in the 7th tier. He's not the next Jamie Vardy. Billericay have just bought the league by signing players from the level above for daft money.

Will there be fresh season ticket sales this summer or are we at the non-matchday capacity?

Derp

And the ref adds on 2 mins of added time.

VAR is such a joke. 4 minutes they spent on that Bologna penalty.

Why? A team from outside the major leagues winning a European trophy (even if they're sponsored by Red Bull) would make me feel there's still some hope for "lesser" teams in Europe. Is France a major league? Yes. Haven't won a European trophy for 25 years. There's not a French side with the history of Benfica. 22 years. PSG won the Cup Winners Cup in 1996. Even when you're arguing an accurate point (about the relative failure of French football) you still manage to fuck up.

I like Mbemba but he's probably never going to be a defender Benitez has confidence in. Rafa would take a more limited player who can head things away and is more likely to stand in the right place.

Hahahaha never a corner. Scheisse Red Bull

Oh and there was regulations against it at the time and still is now.

It could happen again, but is unlikely to become a common occurrence. Even in the commercialised modern English game the concept of a franchise doesn't really work, because the marketable aspects of a football club are so intrinsically linked to the identity of the clubs and where they're from. The Wimbledon case was a very specific example because they had been without a home for over a decade and were unique having developed a fanbase that had spread beyond their early non-league roots in Merton. It was also unique in that you had a large New Town urban area that didn't have a Football League club. This is very rarely the case owing to both the way football culture and urban areas have developed in the UK, and the Milton Keynes (and the two similar Scottish examples) are basically circumstantial perfect storms. There really isn't in my opinion a great deal to be gained from moving a British football club. The failure of the MK Dons project is evidence of that.

Real rarely keep a clean sheet even against the real dross of La Liga. On paper, the game should finish about 5-4. True, but i mean Roma are a very bad team and they've put 6 past them. Benzema/Bale/Ronnie/Isco. It prob goes against most peoples opinnion but im not sold on Trent Alexander Arnold. Gets caught out a lot imo No Champions League semi-finalists are 'very bad' teams. Except maybe Schalke in 2011. Mate come on, Roma are objectively ass. Juan Jesus as CB. You're not shit if you knock out Barca, Atletico etc and lose a semi final by one goal. They made a mess of the first leg, but then so did Man City against Liverpool.

Real rarely keep a clean sheet even against the real dross of La Liga. On paper, the game should finish about 5-4. True, but i mean Roma are a very bad team and they've put 6 past them. Benzema/Bale/Ronnie/Isco. It prob goes against most peoples opinnion but im not sold on Trent Alexander Arnold. Gets caught out a lot imo No Champions League semi-finalists are 'very bad' teams. Except maybe Schalke in 2011.

The £3 million or so spent on him is worth it in that he directly contributed to two winning goals, and no doubt his mere presence in the club lifted the gloom of the transfer window and also gave Gayle a kick up the arse. Certainly not a shite signing when you view it through the prism of the greater context. We move on in the summer.

The other teams coming down + Charlton. Birmingham or Reading would make things interesting, Burton and Barnsley less so.

Nah will cost daft money I think.

Talking about the players that they'll have eating into the wagebill, it's only really Cattermole and Rodwell which are the issue, which is manageable. Most of the rest of their squad are out of contract or on loan, and they'll be able to shift all of the others that aren't IMO. I know it's nice to think about them struggling again, but I'd be stunned if they don't come straight back up. Getting out of the Championship again could easily be 10 years away though.

It's around that. Can be a fair bit more for top players, and a fair bit less, but that's around the the average. League One really is a whole different ecosystem to the Championship. Most players are on between 1 and 2 year deals, and players very rarely move around for transfer fees. Size of the club and matchday revenue is everything at that level. Even if the new owners have very little finance behind them it would take serious mismanagement for Sunderland to not finish in the top two next season.

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.