Eddy Chibas

If sold the shadows Colback chases on home turf, belonging to opposition midfielders, will at last be released from Jack's constant harassment.

Very interested to see how he develops, under Rafa, free of the merry go round loan cycle. Has a touch of class about him. Should be able turn a very healthy profit (given the low fee in today's market) if he has an extended, break-out run of form.

Colback features in say 15 league games (as part of a rotation, or due to injury/s) that will cost us points. I prefer to look at the prizemoney situation for where the team finishes how much £ is lost with each position the team slips - due to the Colback Factor. Always maintained that the immediate blow to Ashley's precious balance sheets, by paying off Colback's contract and releasing him, would be offset & partially absorbed by a higher league placing and associated increase in prize money.

. Everything triple checked and checked again. Suppliers of product, back in the early days before ShitDirect took off, weren't careful enough in their dealings with him either. I suppose he was a relatively unknown fraudster back then, in comparison to his standing today a nightmare to deal with. Wholesale prices/delivery charges etc agreed to informally meant nothing, when doing business with a bloke who was prepared to order his staff to block a delivery truck's access out (with their own cars) as a way of strong arming suppliers into renegotiating terms that were already agreed to.

Struggling to think of a single player we have signed during The Age of Ashley, on the back competing with clubs for their signature ie. winning a so called bidding war. If anything the club's habit has been to wet the beaks of agents in order get a clear run at players with contract clauses and/or their contracts running down. Don't sell this narrative that Rafa has installed a genius masterplan, or the patient waiting game you have outlined, because Sports Direct United has operated like this for as long as I can remember. You're suger coating a turd, the regime.

Fair enough, re: the title role. His position was supposed to be central in the area of recruitment, yet we're still lagging Boro. Can't knock other & more ambitious clubs/academies for spending over above the minimum Cat 1 budget in order to entice families to move into the area, by offering a guardian a side-earner. Speculate to accumulate. Spear (with the six figure sum it cost to acquire him) flaming out, after he dominated in the younger age groups, and refusing to broaden the se search net because of his case & others seems small time to me, considering the palms (of agents) we have greased in recent years in order to get unobstructed runs at players with release clauses.

The knock on Beardsley, for being a shithouse head of academy, is warranted. There's a joke amongst other clubs (and youth scouts) that our yth talent spotters rarely venture outside the city limits. For a Category One rated academy, their search net is limited - it's pathetic really.

Barnes = Tony Jimenez (2017 Edition) Incorrect. Barnes' niche is attracting investment or finding ways to raise cash. He won't have any impact on blocking Charnley, if anything he's there to ensure that Charnley is doing things by the book and avoiding any more tax drama. Much like Barnes another conduit (between management & ownership) to oversee deal making, both have been/were described as Ashley's Mr Fix Its. If anything (along with the foreign investment angle) he'll ensure that the club doesn't hang itself this time by providing the manager with giftwrapped brief of evidence, for a constructive dismissal case. They'll be doing shit by the book this time, and he'll see to it ie. no more conference calls, with directives to deliberately underbid for players, ala what Keegan had to contend with.

If the reports are anything to go by, hasn't he done something similar this week with the instruction to Charnley to up our offer for Jacobs? It's f***ing pathetic like, the manager having to tell Charnley how to do his job. 8m (for Jacob Murphy) is an uncompetitive offer in this market. Not worth the fax paper it was printed on. We paid £5m for Jermaine Jenas back in Bobby Robson's day. I would say that the 5m (Jenas), 6.5m (?) for Dyer, and 8m (Viana) amounts we splashed out back in Robson's day, for youngsters with bags of potential is probably 10+ to 20m in today's market. This is how out-of-touch Sports Direct United is with what is happening in the market re: going rates. Edit: Dyer (6.5m, signed by Gullit)

Barnes = Tony Jimenez (2017 Edition)

If the reports are anything to go by, hasn't he done something similar this week with the instruction to Charnley to up our offer for Jacobs? It's f***ing pathetic like, the manager having to tell Charnley how to do his job. 8m (for Jacob Murphy) is an uncompetitive offer in this market. Not worth the fax paper it was printed on.

Struggling to think of a player we've signed amidst competition from other clubs, during Ashley's reign (especially since Carr's arrival). Usually we've relied on having a clear run at players with cheap release clauses, and as you hint at those with a year or so left on their contracts. Even in the case of Gini we benefitted from a 'gentlemans agreement' (that PSV would sell him and not hold out for a huge fee) between Gini & PSV.

Ashley will pluck a teenager studying IT, from one of his sweatshops in SE Asia, and pay them peanuts to design an app. Clubs pay a monthly subscription and receive an alert when we lodge a derisory bid for any of their players, and reject a bid accordingly. 5% of the income generated by the app is directed to NUFC's coffers, the rest is funneled into the pockets of Sports Direct.

(Sequence of Viking Claps to kick it off) Worrrrrrrr Mike Worrrrrrrr-orrrrrrrr Mike You saved us from the banks When they were bashing down the doors We don't care for transfer kittys And trophy signings anymore Bal-ance! Sheeeetttt! Champ-eeeee-nnnnns! Under Alan Pardew! Worrrrrr Mike Worrrrrr-orrrrrrrr Mike Come sing with us and share a pint We know you miss us We love you.

If things go pear shaped (with Rafa) the singing section will have to belt out enthusiastic renditions of the "Wor Mike Saved Us From the Banks" & "Wor Mike Cleared Our Debt" songs, if he shows up at the stadium. This section's days might be numbered if the FCB song is wheeled out again - Ashley couldn't handle that particular jingle the last time round.

Tbh when I read about our 8m offer, for a well regarded U21 international (in Jacob Murphy) coming off a pretty solid season, I laughed & thought it was a derisory bid in the current market ...... or it was one of those deliberate low-ball offers doomed to fail, the sort of fun & games Keegan had to contend with when he wanted deals done.

If he's pushed towards a tipping point (and Barnes/Ashley vetoing deals Rafa lined up in Jan was a warning) ala Keegan, my admiration & respect for Rafa will grow stronger if he walks.

Both Murphy twins appear to be solid talents. Can't remember which one scored a long distance cracker in one of Norwich's early league fixtures last season. Despite the "he's not for sale" response (from Norwich) an 8m offer seems a bit low-ball to me, almost designed to fail.

Bom bom bom, another one bites the dust. said at the weekend we just won't be able to compete with other PL clubs for these chelsea youngsters, other PL teams will offer them a better wage contribution if a loan and well north of £10m if it's a straight buy we need to get used to where we are this summer sadly Was never going to happen anyway. According to Douglas a loan move (with a purchase option this Summer) was lined up by Rafa during the January window, but was vetoed by Ashley (or I assume by Mr Fix-it/Transfer deal blocker aka Barnes)

One injury from The Colback Effect re-emerging. Loftus-Cheek is a huge talent. Worth testing Chelsea's resolve with a bid for a permanent transfer.

Could be argued that Ashley's parents, who re-mortgaged the family home to pay for Lil' Mike's first store, didn't benefit either from the flotation of SD. They supposedly have a frosty relationship with Ashley, haven't spoken to him for yonks. Wouldn't surprise me if the tight arse prick simply repaid what he borrowed and cut them out of any potential windfall.

....... also heard (this allegedly took place after Mort stepped down from his post at SJP, after the post-takeover transition period was complete) that Mort travelled to Newcastle to resolve a dispute with Ashley over monies owed to his law firm which handled MA's purchase of NUFC.

All the same, from our end (based on what i read) Ashley personally intervened and ended our pursuit after Keegan had put in all the hard work so that we were in the frame (to secure his signature). Point being, Benitez & Keegan have similar credentials when it comes to player recruitment. They're respected figures, have the networks (contacts) in place to tee up deals and sell the club - they're ambitious and and prepared to put in the time during the offseason, when somebody like Pardew is happier partying & promote himself at some party haven in Spain. However Ashley must be nightmare to work with because his input, when he has slammed his foot down in the past, has highlighted a disconnect between himself and an ambitious, top manager (Keegan).