TheInfiniteOdyssey

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Nowt PIF have achieved so far that an ambitious ownership (anyone but Ashley) could have done imo. I thought the infrastructure and sporting structure side would distinguish PIF in terms of ambition / resourcing. Howe and his coaching team have done a frankly miraculous job.

I expected PIF to effectively copy Man City’s sporting structure. Hire the best in-class and just let the club effectively run itself. It seems that is never going to happen.

Xhaka is a really astute signing, provides experience and quality to lead their younger, talented players.

As it stands, it doesn’t really feel like there’s a long-term vision for the club. Yasir has talked about “being number 1” but realistically that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. But even if there was that genuine desire, you would have expected the ownership group to be extremely aggressive in seizing any opportunity to inch forwards toward that goal. I won’t repeat the points of other posters about the training facilities, stadium and sponsorships, but the lack of progress on delivery of the above, unavoidably leaves me the impression that we’re not pushing for this. Ever since Staveley left, we miss a figurehead to articulate where the club sees itself medium to long-term. I’m going to cut Eales some slack since he signalled his intention to step down some time ago due to illness.

Sometimes it’s not about increasing the ceiling of the squad’s quality, it’s about increasing the floor.

Home truths is such a great football cliche. See also: read the riot act.

I’ll be honest, that sounds absolutely terrible and I’ve been of the opinion he’s going nowhere this window.

Can’t imagine Eddie is impressed how this has gone. Given the amount of work done last year on it, including personal terms, this should have been ready-to-go fairly early in the window.

The Premier League would never allow us to make a transfer on that scale to Saudi.

I’d be very happy with Wissa, brilliant rotation option.

Still think £10m plus bonuses is rubbish money.

Feels like Isak’s agent is briefing the media tbh.

Me all day today tbh.

If he goes, it has to be more than £120m. That feels far too low considering the striker market and inflated fees.

It’s really annoying they never adapt their branding to suit the product. This would look even better if their logo was black for example.

The stadium announcement (whenever it happens) will be key, particularly its scope and ambition. I do feel we’ve not done enough on the infrastructure side. The lack of progress on the stadium would be mitigated if there was an improved experience in SJP. But apart from the obscenely priced hospitality suites, they’ve seemingly painted a few walls and called it a day. I was surprised just how tired everything seemed when I went last season.

He’s definitely worth more than £10m + bonuses in today’s market. The guy is an established premier league player with Champions League experience, good age and no major injury record.

Ramsey would be fantastic under Howe. Just don’t see Villa selling though.

It’s a good point and although I think Pope is a brilliant keeper, it makes sense to do a deal if Trafford is brought in. Think the most frustrating thing of the whole goalkeeping situation is that Vlach isn’t even trusted enough to be a backup.

His strike in the 4-1 win at Goodison. What a great night that was.

Yeah I think that’s a crap offer in today’s market. £15m is the bare minimum we should accept given his age and experience.

One of the great strikers in our modern history. Brilliant goalscorer that could score any type of finish. A fully fit Wilson could mix it with the best the league has to offer, it’s just a shame injuries kept restricting his appearances when with his latent talent, could have given even more.