ponsaelius

He's literally stitched an entire narrative together to make it seem like he wasn't wrong I don't even think Luke is out of the loop completely, he obviously gets some decent information and inside track from the club. But equally he will get stuff that's rubbish or will miss out on other info. That's fine and is the nature of journalism - he doesn't need to be spinning these yarns to cover his own back and protect his ego. It amazes me that an article like that is allowed to get past an editor

Chelsea need to sell players and clear deadwood - but in Havertz, Mount and Kovacic they've sold 3 high quality players to teams above them in the league. Losing Kante too and that is a huge clearing of midfield talent. All a bit chaotic to me.

Mount to Man Utd done deal according to Orny

Annoying isn't it. We've got quite a bit of wriggle room in terms of FFP spending simply because he didn't spend money on anything, which gets misinterpreted as leaving us in a strong financial position. But our lack of revenue and comparatively high wagebill (a lot of which on valueless shite) has been a massive issue.

Villa have brought in £120 million of pure profit from Grealish and Chukwuemeka over last two seasons. That kind of academy development gives so much breathing room in terms of FFP. Look at their squad now and they have Ramsey who could potentially be a Grealish type sale in a couple of years if they wanted to - and the likes of Archer who even if he doesn't make it should still bring in decent money when sold. We need to sort out academy out as soon as we can.

Can you imagine how depressing supporting NUFC would be right now if we didn't get taken over. Doesn't bare thinking about really.

I was always of the opinion that defensive midfielders and CBs should never go for crazy money because they just aren't difference makers at that price point. However Van Dijk proved me wrong at CB, so maybe Rice will prove me wrong too.

I've checked transfermarkt just to make sure I wasn't losing the plot, but he's only played on the wing 19 times out of 141 in his entire career. Admittedly the majority of those were for Ajax - but he's still predominantly played centre mid, attacking mid and this season as a CF (in all the games in the CL he played CF). I agree he's a bit unrefined/chaotic and not sure he's what we're looking for, but I don't think he's anything like what you're describing. From what I saw he was a lot closer to the kind of roaming attacking midfielder/forward African countries used to produce like Okocha, Abedi Pele. Obviously nowhere near that level.

He's nothing like Almiron and Murphy I don't think. I'm not even sure he's a winger (although I don't doubt he could play there)? He's played centre mid/attacking midfield and as a centre forward in all of the games I've seen. Definitely a bit unrefined, does some things well and some things badly, but loads of natural technical ability. Great dribbling and shot power.

He said we were going to sign Minteh way back in January. No idea where he gets his info from but it's weirdly accurate.

That includes all games including youth etc. Since moving to Leipzig he's played most of his football on the right hand side either right wing or RM - with a the rest of the time mostly as a central AM. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/dominik-szoboszlai/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/451276 Personally I think a player like that who can play wide or attacking midfield is exactly what we need.

Shame. Hope we've got another strong option lined up for attacking midfield/winger.

There's a lot of misunderstanding about student blocks and a bit of a negative attitude across many cities to the proliferation of them in urban centres - as if it is coming in at the expense of delivering wider housing targets. But in the anglophone world many people/families don't want to live in apartment blocks if they can afford not to. Purpose built student accomodation is a way to deliver high density accomodation in brownfield urban areas that will be desirable to the target market and in the process free up other housing stock. So in general it is a good thing. The problem comes with the quality of that housing and it's convertibility if there is ever a significant drop in student population.

For what it's worth the reason Heaton and Jesmond are winding down in terms of student populations is the result of a concerted effort by the council to move student accomodation from the suburbs into purpose built blocks in the city centre. This is largely because of the negative externalities that overfilled HMOs and slum landlords have on existing areas and in terms of taking up supply of family homes. All housing supply is interlinked - the more students are moved into the city the more family homes are freed up. And generally students are more willing to live in central urban areas so it is a logical use of housing stock. Boring bit alert but from a planning perspective that was partly implemented through the introduction of restricted areas which remove permitted development rights regarding HMOs. Usually this is a permitted change that doesn't need planning permission - but now it does in those specific areas. And when the use as a HMO lapses (as happened a lot during COVID) many existing HMOs had to reapply (and in a lot of cases were not able to get permission). This is why you see so many former HMOs now for sale as houses again. In terms of student population accomodation in the city centre there is not an oversubscription yet and general policy is in favour of providing it. That said I would say taking LT out of residential use is a certainly nota complete no go if it could be justified as part of a wider public benefit. The same is also true of the heritage considerations (generally it is preferred to keep listed buildings in their original use). If the club did want a much bigger East Stand then buying LT and incorporating it into a wider scheme (I don't mean actually connecting to it - that wouldn't be a goer) would go a long way to removing the residential amenity barriers.

64 in all comps actually.

Played CB for us 17 times. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/emil-krafth/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/184528 Mostly in a back 3. Occasions in a back four have mostly been cup matches against lower league opposition.

Rangers are in the qualifying rounds. Those lists have little asterisk next to the teams that aren't qualified, but are currently projected to come through qualifying based on ranking. Obviously no guarentee. If Rangers did come through they'd likely be in pot 3 owing to their strong coeffiecent (largely as a result of the run to the Europa League final). Obviously all of those teams with the asterisk are not set in stone. Plenty other teams which could come through qualifying - and the final outcome exactly which teams would influence the final pot positions between 3 and 4.

We might have numbers at RB but it's probably our weakest position in terms of quality after first choice. Manquillo/Krafth are both not good enough long term and are both out of contract next summer - while Ashby clearly needs gametime before he's PL ready.

Manquillo will go and I'd imagine Ashby out on loan if this happens. Krafth will stay as 3rd choice/emergency CB until his contract expires next summer.

It's a sensible move from him at that age.

Red Bull teams would be awful in terms of opposition but I'd love to visit both Leipzig and Salzburg

Maybe Ciaran Clark. But tbh none of them really fit their model. Possibly more likely to be a young player. What a fun little game Paully has started.

My first thought was Dummett tbh.

Amdouni is going to be a cracking player from what I've seen.

I don't think Spurs stadium acoustics are good at all. It felt absolutely impossible for away end to make any noise carry when I was there, and home end wasn't much better. The hotdogs were great though.