Chicken Dancer

Yes, the fact it's no obligation does soften it a little, as long as the funds are allocated elsewhere. The jury is out on that one.

I think despite what everyone is trying to say, if somebody said to us after the Everton game that the goalkeeper we'd be signing going into next season was Aaron Ramsdale, 99% of us would have scoffed at it. Hoping to be proved wrong like I was with Joelinton & Murphy, but the point still stands.

Definitely giving it a good go, but you do yourself no favours regarding the allegations of when you show up on here, do you Teddy?

Not going over it again but yes, still think he’s shit. Will be glad if he doesn’t play much (better if never) but fear he’s going to start much more games than we think. Hopefully for the next decade we don’t live to regret not getting Trafford done. Glad it’s an option & not an obligation.

Eurgh. It’s like that option of going forward into your mam or back towards your da. Either option is rotten.

Yep. Fear we will regret this for many years. Alas, Ramsdale to the rescue!

To be fair you’re sort of proving my point that I didn’t quite articulate as well as I’d have like. We’ve almost 100% strike rate on signings since the takeover - abroad or otherwise - the only slight blemishes being Ashby and Targett but it’s been class. The likes of Bruno, Tonali & Botman were gambles for sure, but cheaper gambles. I know that sounds ridiculous when figures like £50m are being branded about, but if them 3 had played in England when we signed them you can easily add another £20m to each player + the additional wages. I totally get why, as they’d be proven over here etc, but there’s so much better value to be had abroad as most clubs can attest too. We really need to start looking for the next Bruno/Tonali and turning them into £80/90m players. I’m not sure why we changed so much over the last 12 months or so.

I’d honestly be more shocked if he leaves this summer vs him staying. He’s shot his load too late - there’s one team market for him and I can’t see us selling there unless they pay stupid money. I’m definitely in the minority of my circle but honestly quite confident he stays for this season.

I quite agree, Howe is a legend & has more than earned our trust. As I’ve said, happy to be wrong once again. I just find the constant links and subsequent bids for players exclusively based in the Premier League to be very restrictive.

I’m not paid thousands of pounds to identify talent. Like who? We’ve bid for Ekitike this summer, who else from abroad? I’m not talking about links. Ramsdale is crap, but I suppose we’ll have to agree to disagree on that and your next point. Matter of opinions. It’s been reported to be a ‘heavy’/substantial loan fee. I guess until we know it wouldn’t be fair to comment on how much it frees up, but the wording doesn’t sound cheap to me. Obviously will be cheaper than £30m+.

Ahh shit yes. Completely forgot that that Howe is ever above criticism. Apologies. Shopping exclusively in England is the way to go (with the exception of Ekitike who we’ve tried for 3 times now). Given Ramsdale has been starting games for about 5/6 years now, I’m sure most of us have seen plenty of him. He’s shit, happy to be proven wrong as I have been before, but I’d sooner he just didn’t see any minutes. If he’s being brought in as a backup then fair enough, but I still don’t think he’s an upgrade on the current back up and resources could be best used in other areas.

Howe clearly likes shopping in England. I’m 100% certain we’d be able to get a better player for similar outlay on the continent if we cast the net further afield. As for Ramsdale I’ll be delighted if he never sees the pitch for us. I hope I’m wrong, I have been before under Howe (a good few times). He’s in the DCL/Kilman bracket for me, and we’ve allegedly tried for both of them in the last 12 months too. Shopping solely in England - with the exception of Ekitike - is a hugely restrictive way of conducting business. We can’t be whinging about PSR in the future if we’re going to insist on shopping in the most expensive market in football.

Slept on this and still think it’s a fucking shit signing, reflective of our embarrassing scouting network.

Just waiting for news we’ve bid for Joel Ward & James Garner. Absolute joke.

Starting to think Mr Mitchell may have had a point.

An absolutely embarrassing summer. Nobody can try and justify this signing to me, it’s a waste of valuable resources. Hes absolutely shit. What’s the issue with looking abroad, seriously? If it’s not a player we’ve courted for years or they play in England/are English, we don’t want to know. It’s absolutely embarrassing now. Complete fuck up from start to finish.

We’re not 2015 Bournemouth ffs. What the fuck is going on?

Seriously we need to get a fucking grip of the situation and look abroad ffs. That’s an absolute embarrassment of a signing and I don’t care if people try and justify it. An absolute shitshow.

This one’s the one that’s fucked me off the most for sure. We had a home run for over 12 months and we’ve still managed to balls it up. Can't even defend them anymore tbh. We really had a chance to kick on this summer and close the gap to the very top, yet we feel as far away as we have since probably 2022. Sounds bizarre considering we just qualified for CL and won a cup, but it certainly feels that way.

Impossible. 1) he plays overseas 2) he hasn’t been a target for 2 or 3 years. Really is making me lose confidence in those above Howe. Two summers of gross negligence - we’ll be very lucky to finish top 7 with the extra games on a very stretched squad. It’ll take a huge effort with some injury luck along the way. I’ve little to no confidence they’ll be able to sign 3 or 4 players in 5 weeks. IF we don’t add to the squad and Isak leaves, the prospect of playing Villa and Liverpool to open the season is much more of a daunting prospect than it already was. I think it’s very likely.

No dressing it up - absolutely shambolic. I can't believe we've just won a cup and qualified for the Champions League...again. Really, really bad from all involved. Finding a young keeper that can cement the #1 spot for years to come will be hard to find. Sometimes you just have to pay the money a club is asking.

I think the club were obviously right to part way with Mitchell if he upset the apple cart, but I don’t think everybody left at the club is completely blameless when it comes to our transfers/targets - including the manager. It feels as though there’s been a brief given to journalists recently to point the blame towards Mitchell with regards to the Isak situation too. May be true, may not. Either way we need the hierarchy above Howe to have some stability and unfortunately for Howe, he’s going to have to learn to work with them. It’s how top clubs operate.

are the sayers still active and kicking about? Could be worth a shot.

Fuck him. He’s essentially went on strike to force a move. He could have left a hero - his goal won us the cup - but nah, he had to be a cunt about it. He could have privately told the club at the start of summer but he’s timed it terribly and I have no sympathy if we make him rot all year in the U21s. We won’t of course, but I wish we had the bollocks / Financial position to do that. Look at Guehi last summer. Reportedly told people he was expecting to move to NUFC but it didn’t happen nor did he force it. Loads of us wanted him too but probably all respected he was a professional contracted to Palace - IE the right way to do it. Fuck him twice over. Tell him it’s abroad or nowt, and £150m + before we even get to the table. Oh and donate his wages to charity, fucking wanker. However, if we could sign a few top level players who are yet to reach his level with the fee, it definitely could be a case of one step back to take two forwards. Sadly, I think the person we perceived to be the answer has just signed for Liverpool. Total mess all around and I’m not having it’s just Mitchell to blame as well. Time for PIF to run the show and take a front seat.

I still don’t think he leaves this year but how committed he will be for 25/26 will be in question. Clearly agitated for a move or a payrise. Not sure I can blame him for asking for more money, but didn’t think he had it in him to agitate for a move. If he’s essentially on strike then we should donate his wages to the foundation, it’s never sat right with me footballers doing that.