Froggy

Yes. We approached him for a recruitment role but he wanted the sporting director role. We wanted Ashworth for that instead. So it's true he turned us down, but not for the role you were offering. Mitchell was a lot of fan's first choice for our sporting director role mind, mainly because of the recruitment aspect. That'll be down to Wilcox and Vivell now instead.

Agreed. You sign a top sporting director and a lot of people's first thought is to convince themselves he's better than Ashworth. A sad way to be.

Only because you're convincing yourselves that Ashworth had nothing to do with any of your success or signings.

We picked Ashworth over this guy. Really hoping we made the right decision, especially now he's gone to you.

Your words not mine. I said I'm not going to pretend to know anywhere near as much about him as you fine gentlemen. Obviously though I know ball to a much higher level than you all apart from Kaka and TCD. I'm just being polite.

He was the Championship Young Player of the Season. Surprised you don't watch much of the Championship given how closely your club has been affiliated with it recently. Less of those fighting words also Rod. I do jiu-jitsu. These hands are weapons of mass destruction.

Calm down Rodney son. You don't even know who Gray is to make the comparison, you said yourself.

A couple of my closest friends support Leeds. Seen plenty of Gray because of them. Looks a smasher. I never said I know nowt about Anderson either. I was just being polite and not trying to act like I know better than the supporters of the club he played for. I've seen him plenty. He's alright.

Not going to pretend to know anywhere close to what you lads do about him. Purely from an eye test I didn't think he looked to be near any of the other players you've mentioned in terms of current ability never mind potential. I was shocked at the fee to be honest.

Archie Gray is unreal though, and just turned 18. Anderson is bog standard and is 3 years older. It's not the going rate at all. It's definitely PSR fuckery, and if it can be exploited I don't see why you wouldn't do it. No way. Was clear Gordon was class IMO. £45m will turn out to be a bargain for him. Anderson will end up at Norwich for £10m in a few years.

Every day on here to be fair.

W-I-N-N-I-N-G

Nope, but what footballers are getting paid isn't Jim Ratcliffe's fault either.

I never said it wasn't crass mind. At the end of the day there's going to be a lot of people out of a job. My point is that if there has been a review and the workforce is overinflated, I don't see what people expect a business owner to do. Continue losing £7.5m a year so you're seen as a nice guy?

People = Newcastle fans.

I feel like this is supporting my point rather than yours? If we have an overinflated workforce, it's pretty much a necessity to streamline it, especially as you can't back it through debt due to PSR. Either way, I wish we'd all stop acting like optimising a workforce isn't part and parcel of pretty much any corporation.

If you're using PSR to try and differentiate, then streamlining operations and cost cutting makes even more sense for a football club than a regular business. You're thinking of De Jong. Bit racist.

It's just how business works, and football clubs are businesses like any other. If we have double the staff of clubs of a similar stature, I'd argue that's a problem that needs addressed.

Martial also currently without a job.

It's £7.5m a year if you give a conservative average salary of £30k, which given that the offices are mostly London based, will be way off. If the staff are indeed surplus to requirements, it's a huge sum to be paying out needlessly. I've seen passengers in a workforce when the team was less than 20, never mind 1100 strong.

Well he is since the cuts are from London offices. He's saying Mancunians for effect. His agenda against Ratcliffe is fairly annoying when his financial reporting is top class.

Kieran Maguire hates Ratcliffe almost as much as Disco hates Thomas Frank.