ponsaelius

He's not but arguably a better fit for our team and system

Totally agree about Glasgow being class. The right mix of being grand but also rough around the edges. Definitely should hop on the train there more often, kinda forget it's really not that much further from Edinburgh (where I go all the time, admittedly often for flights).

ffs

Eddie definitely does like to have an English core to his teams. I don't have an issue with it tbh. I think there's value in squad cohesion in retaining a strong core of domestic and local players at this stage of our development, and the depth of English talent is pretty decent at the moment to not make it a hindrance. We generally seem to be limiting the foreign signings to being big marquee players (Bruno, Isak, Botman, Tonali).

It's more reliable and regular in terms of service but that's largely because it is just a single self contained underground loop of 15 stations. That's far easier to manage than the TW Metro where you've got parts of the line shared with National Rail, road and pedestrian crossings, loads of above ground infrastructure and stations which exposes to weather, ASB and theft etc. You've also got four times as many stations covering a much larger area. It was really useful for getting to Ibrox from the centre but loop systems like that are pretty limited overall IMO. They've also had their new trains sitting in the depot for years now for some reason so I'm not sure what's going on there. It's very cool though. The smaller gauge and tiny carriages/tunnels makes it really unique.

I love Maxi, he's been a fantastic player to watch for us IMO over the last few years, and I'm honestly gutted he won't get to play CL football for us. All that being said I do think there is a clear logic to selling him right now. Playing style is an imperfect fit, there are definitely injury/fitness issues and this is probably the best time to get a good fee for him. There's an argument that we're losing a player who offers something different/a wildcard, and replacing him with a player who is another system player, and that's a loss to the squad. Equally though I've always found Maxi to be a poor impact sub and somebody who needs to start games to be effective - which I think lessens that argument.

Really looking forward to tomorrow. Only ever done stadium tour at Ibrox, so great to get to properly tick off such a classic UK stadium.

Definitely heard it mentioned outside of here personally. Doesn't bother me anywhere near as much as it did when Ashley was in charge, mind. Just a mildly irritating hangover. Would be good to see it go as part of a general tarting up of the stadium though.

If we hadn't got in when we did 3 years ago, we'd have never been able to afford our house. That's just on house price increase and not accounting for mortgage rates as well. I grew up in Wideopen btw until I was 12, in Brunswick Green estate. It was a lush place to grow up as a kid. Although I haven't been back for years.

Aye that's fair enough - Esplanade is still very ropey. And the junction between B&M, South Parade and the stretch of Whitley Road is the worst bit of the town centre for sure. But even there is finally starting to see some positive changes (see my posts above). The council are supposed to be doing a regeneration plan for the town centre this year so you've got to hope they focus on that area as the other side of town doesn't really need any more help. I don't know what can be done but improving public realm, making it a nicer pedestrian crossing and maybe grants for shop fronts would be a start to instigate change.

There's a three bed mid terrace, no garden, recently renovated to a decent spec, just off roughest bit of the high street that has gone on the market last week. On for £375k. Would genuinely have cost half that 5 years ago. It's gone absolutely nuts. I feel for locals who can no longer afford to rent/buy here just as it's turning a corner. Definitely feel like we've de-railed the thread. In other news Tonali's lass was in Leazes Park today - wonder what she thinks of flattening it for a new stadium.

Preach brother! I'm sitting outside having Italian coffee and lunch in probably the ropiest bit of the town right now, with one of the roughest pubs opposite. It's changing all the time. Personally I love that it's not too gentrified (yet). (this is the cafe btw - definitely worth a visit if you haven't been in yet)

Well I live there now and disagree! You'll struggle to find a street in a town of this size that have as many great independent businesses as Park View does. The main centre around Whitley Road is ropey but even so it's not dead. It's just a rough town centre that poor people happen to live near. It has shops and businesses that I use every single day (including a great cinema!). I probably wouldn't say the same if I lived near Tynemouth High St, as lovely as it is for a day/night out. Honestly town centres are struggling all over the country, even in some of the wealthiest areas. Gosforth High St is pottered with empty units at the moment. Not just the economic situation of running small businesses but the extinction of high street uses entirely leaving marquee buildings unused (see all high st banks closing branches). Most places just probably have too many retail/business uses these days as there's only so many coffee shops you can open. The southern end of Whitley Road is obviously the worst bit of the town at the moment (although it's actually finally seeing some life over last 12 months) but I just don't know if the place is big enough to support what is effectively two high streets.

Whey we live pretty much centre of Whitley and love it.

Whitley is Northumberland coastline man. Anyway he'll have plenty time to meet yokels further north, but for now he can settle in and enjoy civilization. Hope he got to meet Jonny Decker.

She's out in Whitley now.

Forest are considering selling their prized asset to another middling PL club because they got themselves into such a hole with FFP last year. Other PL clubs aren't that daft anymore, they know they have to buy young and with cheaper wages, they have a whole world to scout players from. In the past we might have had some luck flogging to Championship clubs. These days we can't even get Champ clubs to take them on loan with us paying most of their wages.

People thinking we will be getting £10-15 million for Lascelles with a year left on his deal are having a bubble. Again I make the point that Coady went for less at the same age despite being a far better player with 10 England caps who's been a 38 game a season player for years. And that was sold to a very narrow market of a promotion chasing Champ club with PL parachute payments. Honestly if we could get these kind of fees for these players they'd already be gone. The market just isn't there. PL clubs are far cuter. We were desperately lucky that there happened to be one exception to that rule in Forest - but even then we only got a nominal transfer fee for Shelvey because of his wages.

We won't get more than £5-10 million for the lot, and that's if we are lucky.

Premier League clubs are not stupid like they used to be. The likes of Brentford and Bournemouth etc might be small clubs but they're ran by serious people, data driven, solid sporting and business models. The days of clubs having no scouting network to speak of and just buying solid aging pros on big salaries to stay up is gone. I just can't see any market for Lascelles in this game. I like him and he's been a good pro for NUFC but he is not a modern PL defender and is a depreciating asset. A comparable player is maybe Conor Coady who Wolves managed to get £7 million for at the same age. But he's a better player, played multiple times for England, played far more football in recent years. And he's been signed by a Championship club looking to recruit for a specific promotion niche. Clubs will still see some value in an experienced solid defender in a dressing room, like Brentford picking up somebody like Ben Mee. But he was a free transfer.

Every club in the land is dealing with FFP and financial controls. Players with potential or age on their side (and low wages) will continue to go for big money, but aging average players on big contracts you will just not be getting fees for anymore. Every single club has to operate in a landscape where players are financial assets to be bought and sold with the future in mind. It's honestly a bloody miracle that we had Forest give us money for Wood and a nominal fee for Shelvey in this market.

It isn't like. Dubravka is an injury prone 34 year old goalie and Lascelles has a year left on his deal. Just because it's what you want it to be doesn't mean that's what it is. If we could get £25 million for those two they'd already be long, long gone. Time and time again it is clear we more or less can't give our fringe players away because they're crap and yet people think it's football manager. If we could sell people like that we wouldn't be considered cashing in on a genuine asset like Maxi.

Plus you're not getting £25 million for that lot

2 zip

Rather than postponing you'd think it would be better to just flip the fixture with the return one.