SteV

I think it transpired that the medical team were advising that he get the surgery done, but Botman himself was adamant that he felt OK and he could play through it, with the ‘expert’ opinions that were sought being split on whether doing so would result in it going completely. In hindsight it was obviously a massive error to let Botman get his own way, but having said that, effectively forcing a player to have surgery when they feel they don’t need it is probably easier said than done.

Our incentive would be his significant wages off the books, but that’s probably only really relevant if we think he’s no longer likely to contribute to any real degree on or off the pitch.

200 VIP boxes in our new super stadium. £500k a season. Pay upfront for a 20 year lease. PSR sorted forever.

They didn’t really ‘spend what they wanted’ though. They complied with FFP, just not in time for the deadline, due to them selling Brennan Johnson a month or so later to get a better price for him. It would have been like us hanging on to Minteh for a bit longer, then getting £40m instead of £30m for him. Which in the grand scheme of things, would hardly have been worth a points deduction.

Indicative of how much of an absolute twat it is to get away from that ground. I certainly don’t ever advocate leaving a game early, but queuing outside a shopping centre to get a train at 10pm on a Monday night in the bastard freezing cold is not where it’s at.

That weekend looks a bit of a cluster fuck as TNT have selected Everton v Man Utd as the early Saturday game, but it will get moved to the Sunday if Man Utd are in the Europa on the Thursday. Seems the two matches picked by Sky on the Sunday (ours and Man City v Liverpool) will definitely stay on the Sunday, but could be any time if they end up with three TV games that day.

Tbf I think he tried it without the ‘for a while’ on the end.

February fixtures supposed to be confirmed today.

Off your own back, yes. However, you only have to have a (free) NUFC account set up for someone who has a ticket, be it a ST holder or member, to transfer you a ticket if they aren’t going. There’s obviously the unofficial third party / tout route as well.

Those two are their two holding midfielders aren’t they? So hopefully they won’t be as effective in doing that?

Soumare suspended and Ndidi went off injured today, so big hole in their midfield if missing both of them.

In hell

Aye, I mean I kind of knew he wasn’t first choice LB at the club (had forgot about Hickey actually) but the few times I’ve seen him play it’s been as a forward, and he didn’t particularly strike me as someone who could slot in as a defender.

Still can’t get over Keane Lewis-Potter being their left back now.

Fatigue

He is shit, but doesn’t feel like he is ‘against’ us as such. So 50/50 whether his shitness works in our favour.

No point in having a squad if you continually play players when not 100% if there are viable alternatives. We saw what happened last season when we did this (granted, through lack of alternatives in most cases).

Surely it’s better they play game that they’re 100% fit for than the one they aren’t?

Howe name checked Gordon and Tonali in his presser as the two who were struggling physically the most after Liverpool, so hardly a surprise.

Worth noting that he signed on 6 year contract in 2022 for £63m. So still got three years of amortisation to go, so if he were to be sold in the summer you could knock £30m off any fee that would be ‘reinvestable’.

It’s Sunday

Sunday 3pm. Bit shite tbh.

Out of contract on summer anyway.

Losing manager has to do immediate pitch side interview at full time before the camera cuts to Alan Sugar in the studio

Are they though? Own team bias aside, I’d have absolutely no desire to watch Chelsea batter Morecambe. Possibly different if it was at Morecambe, but a routine victory to nil for Chelsea’s reserves isn’t high on my watch list. At least Villa v West Ham should/could be competitive.