Hughesy

That's a bold claim. Lloris, maybe. Unless you mean currently in better form? Even then, Dubs was a bit scratchy at the start of the season and is only now back at the standard he set last year. Kepa is probably the weakest of those 4 to be honest.

I trust Caulkin, but he was fed 3rd hand news and spun a yarn. It was a clever campaign from her, in the end though not serious enough to come back at any time in the last year, even when interest has sparked again by other bidders. Not sure if she was just an Ashley pawn, the setup meal makes me think so. What did she stand to gain from not being a serious bidder? She didn't get any good publicity from the bid and, in any event, she doesn't work an industry where good publicity makes a difference. If anything, not making a serious bid would damage her reputation.

Haven’t actually checked the full set of articles (and in a very different time zone at the moment), but the 1998 article amendment that Chris posted on Twitter is unusual in that it allows the directors the ability to refuse a share transfer. That is a massive red flag for a bank - but no idea why the banks that lent to us at the time didn’t spot that and change it. Unless there was a subsequent amendment or the money was lent somewhere else in the group. Weird.

Man Utd is the obvious example that I can think of.

In my opinion, if it is significant, it would mean a takeover would be imminent. But it is more than likely to be something completely meaningless. Literally as meaningless as amending the provisions about whether a board meeting can held by telephone or needs to be a physical meeting. The articles basically govern how a company is run and so loads of it is boring admin stuff. If you suffer from insomnia, read a set and you’ll soon find out how dull most of it is.

Getting a bit niche here, but on a debt funded acquisition a bank will often ask for the articles to be amended to ensure that their security is enforceable (assuming the articles don’t already include the required language). But as mentioned above, this would normally happen at the same time as the acquisition and not before.

This could all just be the most elaborate wind-up yet, but the timing is interesting. It's not like companies change their Articles on a whim, and we know MA isn't a huge fan of wasting money. Would take a regional law firm about 1k - if that - to amend the articles if Ashley really wanted to wind fans up. But the timing is definitely interesting.

Agreed - it would seem odd timing to amend the articles now to be honest. But if the articles are being amended for a takeover related reason, you wouldn’t tend to do it in advance of a takeover, you’d normally do it just before or concurrent with the deal actually occurring (for the simple reason that a seller wouldn’t want to amend its articles for a buyer unless it knows the deal is definitely happening).

Amending the articles could mean absolutely anything to be honest. Not sure where the idea has come from that the changes would amend voting rights necessarily - it could do, but it could be as mundane as changing the number of directors required or as meaningful as including provisions regarding external debt.

Can't really understand why someone wouldn't boycott one match. It's one match. Do some Christmas shopping or something. No-one is asking that you pay £600 and never go again. It's writing off £30 for the greater good.

Good.

Players getting admonished for showboating. So fucking pathetic the way people react as if it's a great insult if a player shows off.

I don't think it's any coincidence that Brahimi is out of contract in the summer.

Pretty glad we didn't spend £20m+ on Cairney after his performance last night.

Refs are under pressure from their assessors to implement the rules regardless of emotions attached to a certain celebration - I have no qualms about the ref issuing the card at that time, all he is doing is following orders (which he is under pressure to do) - the FA should IMO just rescind the card now after the event FWIW Claude Puel said he accepted the card as Leicester City approached the game professionally and he expected everyone else (i.e. the refs) to do the same Agreed - it's a yellow card offence. The referee shouldn't have make decisions on what events are or aren't worthy of being commemorated by taking your shirt off.

Was thinking the other day - in 1995 we bought Les Ferdinand for £6m. In 2018, we've have a striker who made 9 appearances this season who cost £5m. Just sums us up really.

Totally agree - can't imagine the only one who still watches the 'I'd love it' interview and actually take pride in it.

Harper was such a weird one for us. He could easily have been a PL No.1 at his peak and arguably would have been a shout for England, noting that David James was England keeper for a time. He was too good to be a second choice keeper, but ultimately, we had the best pair of keepers in the league for a period. I think you may be onto something saying that Harper pushed Shay. In the same way that Krul was perhaps pushed by Forster. Bit tragic that we now have Blob doing the pushing. Dubs must know that as long as he doesn't get injured, the shirt is his. Wonder if/when Woodman will emerge as a contender... With hindsight, Harper should have moved when he got dropped by Robson after that good spell he had. Could easily have picked up some England caps in the early-mid 2000s if he had.

Not having VAR. I know it's fashionable to hate VAR, but it's ridiculous that a game changing decision like the handball on Saturday didn't result in a penalty.

Agree with this - Given was a very good keeper, but his real strength was his shot-stopping. His command of the box, coming for crosses etc was pretty average. With Dubravka superior distribution and ability to come off his line, he could become a better keeper than Given in time.

Totally agree - make sure Muto isn't isolated and hit them on the break with a decent amount of pace with Shelvey clipping balls in over the top.

Just met KK in London for a book signing. What a man - had so much time for everyone and he'd been there for 2 hours already when I spoke to him. Just a great person.

Absolutely love having a keeper who can actually kick it as well. Makes such a difference.

Played really really well today. Couple of great tackles on Zaha.

Obviously it's great that the gap between us and midtable is pretty small at the moment. A couple of wins and you are basically midtable. It's a real shame that we've had such a tough start - if you look at Bournemouth and Watford's starts, they've got about the number of points I would hope we would have if we played the same games. We've got a relatively kind set of fixtures in November and December, so hopefully we can get going then.