LRD

Good cross. Yedlin should have done better.

Always knew he'd come good.

That's a nice crowd. Kudos to everyone there!

Thing is with the majority of fans now they have heard it all before an know it’s all just a PR exercise and they ignore it. There will still be some who are taken in by it but that percentage of fans now is very low. On a separate note talking to someone yesterday who knows Dabizas and he was saying if a player throws a shirt into the crowd they get invoiced it off the club. Not sure if that was common knowledge but it just shows what a tight bastard he is. True, we are aware of previous where club statements have been issued without the signatory's agreement nor knowledge. My concern is that this will influence some people, especially with the media reports. We are on the verge (ha!) of starting prolonged protests, and could do with all the support we can get. The statement is proof that Ashley is definitely rattled though. Not surprised on the Dabizas talk. Ashley runs the club using the same business principles he does with SD.

Don't know what to fully make of this statement. So confusing. So dividing. Keith Bishop played a blinder with this one, a day before the protests.

We got rid of players who are totally outside Rafa's plans in Mbemba, Mitrovic and a few others and replaced them with players Rafa might actually use, improving our squad depth. Majority of the signings are older, experienced internationals with experience in the PL or other European leagues. A couple of them are loans though. We will be going through the same process next summer once their loans expire, including the annual search for a fit and proper striker. That could well be sans Rafa who has spent dedicated hours beyond a manager's remit into creating some resemble of a transfer miracle. Would the next manager be able to match that? With the appropriate funding, we could have gone straight for a proper starting-eleven upgrade instead of betting on riskier transfers and then having to replace them. Rafa's record at his previous clubs speaks volumes when he was properly backed. No doubt we have unnecessarily delayed our transfers to save a few hundred k in wages at the cost of the new players bedding in with the squad. Yet another less than ideal situation. Of course, we are still waiting for that evasive LB and #10 since forever. Heaven forbid a long-term injury to Dummett when he's not even one of our best players. All those could have been resolved without a net spend (instead we go into a 20m profit) and Barnes' interference.

"Here, we accept the 12m deal for Jacob but how about we throw in Josh and do a twin deal for 2m more?"

The signings we've made, plus a first-choice left-back and a marquee number 10 would have been a good window imo. And we can't use lack of funds as an excuse either, with the 20m net profit from sales. Rafa has done the best he could under very tough conditions.

Contemplating retirement but not officially done it yet.

Rafa sold him after one season. Great signing ffs. Koulibaly is his replacement. Makes a lot of sense imo. You watched a lot of Napoli like? So solid and great that once Koulibaly came in, Rafa sold him over the other CBs he had. Koulibaly is the best CB for Napoli, a team come closest to challenge Juventus in these few years. Fernandez is just an average player. What's surprising? Or you failed to understand that it's already "great" for us to sign an average player under current circumstances? Why should we be happy with signing an average player and proclaim how great it is? Give your head a shake.

Once Lejeune gets back, I doubt we will keep 5 CBs on the books anyway. If he* gets sold end of the season for a profit, happy days yeah. If he gets sold as a loss, the difference's effectively a loan fee for one season. * Could apply to any of the CBs. Just hope it's not Lascelles.

Rafa sold him after one season. Great signing ffs. Koulibaly is his replacement. Makes a lot of sense imo. You watched a lot of Napoli like? So solid and great that once Koulibaly came in, Rafa sold him over the other CBs he had.

Rafa sold him after one season. Great signing ffs.

Was talking permanent transfers...

Possibly our first transfer deadline signing after how many windows?

Alan Nixon / The Sun any reliable like?

"Yes, you can sign players" means nothing when Barnes always stops them.

Can imagine the conditions for "spending every penny the club generates" as: 1. the club record transfer fee shall not be broken 2. the club will not pay over 10m for any player over the age of 26 3. there cannot be any players outside the 25-man squad. players have to be sold or loaned out 4. Justin Barnes has veto rights over any transfers It's impossible to work with such constraints.

"Rafa can have every penny the club generates" x 2.

Preseason or not, he's a free agent so he can sign past the windows anyway.

Serie A window closes on 17 Aug.

Can't loan him. We can if there's an obligation to buy. Think that's just rubbish from one of the journalists. Never seen it happen to show that it's true.

Can't loan him.

Don't worry. Not going to happen. Obivously it's 99.9% not going to, but howay imagine breaking the transfer record and blowing £20m on Ings man You're 0.1% too optimistic.

Don't worry. Not going to happen.