Eddy Chibas

Ramos' contact on Salah (locking up an arm, controlling Salah's fall) reminds me of the sort of stunt Zaza Pachulia pulls in the NBA. Some will write it off as accidental, a clumsy tangle, but I think there's some 'dirty veteran savvy' (applied to a key opposition player) taking place there. The heat he's copping is warranted imho

Already knew that going by the previous company names ie. the vetoed casino project. So thanks for the fucking clarification lol. Still interesting that another Yes Man has now connected to the club, although this one is closer to the Ashley's roost. I think this maybe an indication that he'll now sell the land as part of a deal to sell the club. It's another associate of Ashley's with their fingers in the pie - not for my liking. For now I'm leaning towards your first theory.

Already knew that going by the previous company names ie. the vetoed casino project. So thanks for the fucking clarification lol. Still interesting that another Yes Man has now connected to the club, although this one is closer to the Ashley's roost.

Interesting that Mike's future son-in-law (likely), a property developer, is a director of this entity. https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03304860 ..... also raised in the thread, attached to The Mag's article concerning the 55m lease being paid by the club to ?

He shouldn't have to be 'fighting' in the first place, for some basic conditions. Highlights the disconnect, between Rafa (and any manager with an iota of professional integrity) & the owner, we already know is there.

Would be an honour to once more allow Liverpool a few years to fill our coffers and pay another large transfer fee, in instalments.

Ashley (or Justin Barnes): What's the valuation Lee? Charnley: Twenty-seven mill. Ashley (or JB): Okay, bid 14.72 mill..... it will be rejected. ^^^^^ Straight from the "Shaft Kevin Keegan" playbook.

this is no surprise to anyone though, you can sell 2 players for £55m but you're only likely to get £11m per season back or whatever it will be...as dave said it's ashley's own insistence on this bullshit that's the problem This cashflow shortfall, by not receiving a large lump sum (in a single season), and insisting on paying for all incoming players in full conveniently relegates us to the bargain bin (in comparison to what other clubs are spending on a single player) by default. It's disgusting.

A 27m striker (in Cenk Tosun) reduced to feeding on limited scraps, is another indictment on Allardyce's 'drossball' as coined in quotes above. Tosun appeared frustrated as hell when I saw them play. Still he's efficient in front of goal. Looking forward to seeing what he can deliver, if Everton hire a manager who likes to keep the ball on the deck (and not isolate a striker, and use them as lump-ball battering ram).

Go after Barnes. Charnley (whilst out of his depth) just signs the cheques these days imo. Barnes reportedly is MA's deal breaker/delayer/blocker et al. U wot m8? Rafa had no issues (with deals being stonewalled & delayed) during his first transfer window, preceeding Barnes' arrival in Dec '17 (the Jan transfer window, in the Champo). The last three windows have been clusterfucks, which even saw Rafa plead for funds to be released to acquire Murphy's signature. Surely it's no coincidence lol........... I'm not ableist, but nice try. Edit: and yeah, you can fire a Whoooshhhh my way.

Go after Barnes. Charnley (whilst out of his depth) just signs the cheques these days imo. Barnes reportedly is MA's deal breaker/delayer/blocker et al. U wot m8? Rafa had no issues (with deals being stonewalled & delayed) during his first transfer window, preceeding Barnes' arrival in Dec '17 (the Jan transfer window, in the Champo). The last three windows have been clusterfucks, which even saw Rafa plead for funds to be released to acquire Murphy's signature. Surely it's no coincidence

Go after Barnes. Charnley (whilst out of his depth) just signs the cheques these days imo. Barnes reportedly is MA's deal breaker/delayer/blocker et al.

Ya, playing the victim card & trolling the supporter base, again.

Kia Joorabchian (I think still represents him) is adept at securing big money deals for his Brazilian contingent. Hard to see us competing for his signature.

Yup, his connections & coaching pedigree (and that of his offsiders) has to be a drawcard when dipping into the loan market too. Especially when it comes to borrowing & blooding promising youngsters from clubs (like Chelsea) who have stockpiled that talent (where first team opportunities are limited, for now). I don't think that is what is being inferred. Sounds like they are trying to pressure Rafa into committing early by laying any blame for failing to get in his transfer targets at the uncertainty of his own contract situation. Doesn't surprise me in the slightest, but he should flip the table on them and seek black on white assurances before committing. In any case, the mind games will be unbearable this summer. Wish the fat cunt would just sell up and leave already. If there's an air of uncertainty hanging over the management situation (and the first team coaching set-up), whereby it's easier on his bank balance for Rafa to quit during the final year of his contract, then we're not really that attractive a loan destination. I think Rafa would have dipped into the loan market again, utilized his Chelsea connections once more. The club might well remind him of that, as a strong-arm tactic (to get him to re-sign). To clarify, it will much easier for the club to lay blame on Rafa's doorstep, if any potential loan moves (involving cracking youngsters) fall through due to the uncertainty hanging over the first team's coaching set-up. I believe any gun being held to hos head, mindgames to force him into committing, doesn't solely apply to closing permanent transfer deals.

Yup, his connections & coaching pedigree (and that of his offsiders) has to be a drawcard when dipping into the loan market too. Especially when it comes to borrowing & blooding promising youngsters from clubs (like Chelsea) who have stockpiled that talent (where first team opportunities are limited, for now).

It's kinda no coincidence, that this statement (re: Douglas' tweet, and I assume a question was posed at the forum) was made, considering the stadium's 'protected' status expires in 2019. I believe the NUST's application was approved in '14 - I assume NUST will re-apply. Sure there are obstacles in place, concerning redevelopment and the criteria which must be met. Anybody must have rocks in their head if Ashley hasn't at least thoroughly explored all options, and crunched the numbers before ultimately ruling it out because it doesn't make business/commercial sense (to him).

"Commercial" sense, to Mike Ashley? Suggests to me that Ashley has at least explored that option (of making a small fortune through developing the land Vs fireselling the club without a ground, for a big loss.... and whether he escapes with a profit) and crunched the numbers. Nothing is ever off limits, with this man. The land the ground is on isn't his to sell/develop. True, but I wonder if the council would jump at (approve) a major commercial project (involving a consortium headed by MA) that would generate a ton of local jobs ie. a multi-level retail complex/entertainment precinct, with direct to public transport/rail facilities. It would be naive to think that Mike Ashley hasn't at least explored the feasibility of selling SJP, considering that he has been branching out into some major land (commercial) development projects as of late.

From a recent Mark Douglas tweet, from the club/fan forum. "Commercial" sense, to Mike Ashley? Suggests to me that Ashley has at least explored that option (of making a small fortune through developing the land Vs fireselling the club without a ground, for a big loss.... and whether he escapes with a profit) and crunched the numbers. Nothing is ever off limits, with this man.

Not sure he's better than Lascelles and Lejeune. Signed to a six year contract last year too, and won't come cheap at the end of any loan spell. Loan (with the option to buy) would not compute with Justin Barnes.

Flew in to tell Rafa he can have what he needs. Then meeting Charnley to emphasis 'TRY' to give Rafa what he needs. ......... and throws a wink at Justin Barnes, who slyly chuckles and returns the gesture with a playful elbow nudge.

Justin 'Transfer Blocker' Barnes did vetoe a previous loan deal that was lined up by Rafa. There was a buy option attached to it - I think that was reported by Mark Douglas. Safe to say that cost (of the transfer fee, to make the move permanent) killed the deal.

Does Kia Joorabchian (I think that's him pictured on the page prior) own his economic rights? Kenedy didn't have an agent, at the time of his transfer to Chelsea, but Kia's firm arranged the move. Kia is normally involved in big money deals - something to consider, because Ashley is in the picture.

His contract expires in 2020 (?) but I'd expect Chelsea to try and load the kid's pockets (assume he has an agent now) with a fresh contract offer this Summer. It's what they have done with other starlets (who are on the loan merry-go-round). Loftus-Cheek is a cautionary tale - big on talent, a physical specimen too, whose career is being flushed down the shitter so far, because there's been little continuity in his development. If he's signed to a new deal that would push him out of Ashley's price range imho. Reckon he'd be a hit in Germany, not at Bayern though - thinking just a rung below them ie. Schalke or Dortmund. In his boots, I'd only consider a permanent move here if Rafa's future wasn't uncertain (which I believe is tied in with Ashley selling/fucking off this Summer).

What happened to Robert after Sir Bobby was sacked? What happened to Ginola after Keegan left? They were cast aside by the next manager pretty much immediately. 99% of football managers imo either aren't capable, or don't want to, work with a flair player of that type, which is why Sir Bobby and Keegan were special since they appreciated them. That's down to the prevalent mentality within the sport, managers are trained and developed to appreciate hard work, teamwork, etc, more than individual talent because it's inherent to the job. The majority of professional footballers are "talented" so the easiest and default thing to do as a football manager is to get them as fit as possible and working as hard as possible on the pitch to try to get three points. A player like Robert / Ginola / Ben Arfa throws a spanner in the works, because their talent far exceeds that of those around them but they come with issues that causes disruption, not only in match day tactics but off the field as well - jealousy from inferior players, resentment from hard working teammates who see someone not pulling their weight defensively, etc etc. So on top of the requirement to be tactically flexible, managers need an additional set of interpersonal skills to deal with the complaints and squad harmony issues. Most managers just don't have that in their skillset or can't be bothered. Ben Arfa is simply unlucky in that he never found the combination of right manager + right club. At Nice he had the right manager and teammates, but the club was too small fry arguably. NUFC was the right club for him because we're a "sleeping giant" in terms of potential (we can afford good wages, have a big stadium with large support, "best league in da world" etc), Hatem himself said "everything is here" just before he left so he clearly understood the potential of the club if it were run well. We're also not able to attract players of his talent level minus the flaws - if Ben Arfa was solid defensively, made more runs off the ball, and released the ball more optimally you can be sure he'd have been snapped up by Real/Barca/Juve/City/Bayern/etc as soon as he was available. We never had a chance of getting Hazard, or Ribery, or Robben when they were in France/Holland for example, we'd only have a chance if there was something off-putting about them. Similarly, a top club won't need to put up with a flawed player like Ben Arfa since they can sign players at his ability level or higher without the flaws. So NUFC was a club where because we're restricted to flawed geniuses the team could have been built around him by putting him in a key position that compensated for his flaws (e.g. wide forward with minimal defensive duties) and having teammates with the necessary skillset to cover for him. But unfortunately we had the wrong manager at the time. Nice had the right manager, but were too small a club to keep him. Just to give one example out of many as to why Pardew was a terrible manager for Ben Arfa, just consider the fact that we played Ben Arfa as a wide forward in a front 3 (in a 4-3-3 system) about a dozen times in his 4 years here. That's a role he seemed to be most suited for, and it meant less defensive responsibility and more freedom to attack. Most of that dozen or so games were during the run of impressive form that had us playing fluid football for a couple of months which ultimately was the catalyst for us finishing 5th and nearly qualifying for the CL. Ben Arfa was our standout player in that period, but before that season had even finished Pardew abandoned that formation/lineup forever, and steadfastedly stuck with his preferred flat defensive 4-4-2 for pretty much the remainder of his time here. I can't recall if we saw Ben Arfa played as a wide forward in a front 3 again after that, but if we did it would have been completely sporadic/random one-offs. What kind of a shit for brains manager abandons a system/formation that gets the best out of not only everyone in the squad but also it's most gifted player who actually produced great form in that system? The Alan Pardew type does. Anyway, more to the point, since Bobby and Keegan were managers who appreciated flair players and understood NUFC as a club (especially its limitations of the type of player were restricted to, i.e. flawed geniuses that the elites don't want), I have no doubts they would have not only incorporated Ben Arfa in their teams but most likely would have built the team around him. With respect to Rafa, he's from the same school of manager as your Pardews, Sounesses, Alladyces, Mourinhos, etc, a negative manager who doesn't like players who don't follow instructions and don't like to take risks, but the difference with Rafa is that he's actually exceptionally good at most things (tactics, transfers, training, player development, etc), so that will compensate for him missing a trick at NUFC of utilising flawed geniuses whilst other clubs avoid it. Class post ? It is a good post. I'm still of the belief that if Obertan hadn't broke a toe, Ben Arfa wouldn't have broken into the starting eleven and that three headed attacking monster (Ba, Cisse & HBA...which Pardoo accidentally stumbled upon as his moment of tactical genius) would never have materialized. Ben Arfa (before he had even kicked a ball under Pards..... when he was still recovering from the broken leg) highlighting the differences between Clairefontaine's football philosophy and Pardoo's wouldn't have sat well with The King either.