Shadow Puppets

Am I being stupid here, or isn’t this ticketing issue a pretty minor thing? It seems like the level of vitriol towards it is massively disproportionate to the actual issue. I think it will be a stupid oversight rather than anything malicious, and it will all be sorted out within a week.

I'm not 100% sure what's going on, I haven't followed it. Could someone breakdown why everyone seems to be up in arms? (Starting with the Memberships thing)

Why?

For me Joelinton is the first person on the team sheet. Whether that’s in midfield or wide left.

Any news on that one?

Which company actually own NUFC?

You don’t have to be a director to be a chairman, in UK company law.

Well he clearly isn’t. He’s not the fastest, but he’s certainly not slow.

He’s in no way “slow”. I don’t understand that take whatsoever.

Targett, Murphy, Burn and Dubs shouldn’t be going anywhere.

Why? Tonali is more than capable of playing there. If fact many people believe that’s his best position.

Why?

After (if you believe he’s being literal with his use of the word “few”)

Two more. He said that in the press conference before Barnes was official.

I’m guessing that he’ll rock up in Atlanta today and they’ll do media duties before announcing tomorrow.

Nah, he's still there now. You'll see him by the corner flag in the background of Barnes' photos tomorrow!

I'm obviously not going to tell you that, but all I will say is I've been lucky enough to be around some of the players a lot over the last couple of years. The ones I speak to are all generally lovely, the camaraderie is great. I'm not saying that they "don't like him" necessarily... it's that he is known to be quite rude to people, especially "less important" staff.

His popularity... directly from two current players. And the "difficult to manage" stuff has been well documented throughout his entire time here (and before). He's regularly late for training etc etc.

Reasons to keep Maxi: IF he can stay fit for even 75% of the season, he's a different type of player to what we have, and on his day unplayable. A player you pay to see. On his day. IF in those games when he does play he actually performs to anywhere close to his ability. Reasons to sell Maxi: His "on" days are about 3-4 per season. He is injured far too regularly. He contributed next to nothing last season in our best season in 25 years, and we played very exciting football without him. He can be replaced by a player who scored more goals in one season for a relegated team, than Maxi has in his entire time here. He can be replaced by a player who has a good fitness record. He can be replaced by a player who is English, contributes to our homegrown quota, and at a good age with room to develop. He isn't the most popular figure in the dressing room, and is notoriously not easy to manage. And lastly, it gives us some extra wiggle room with FFP. Seems pretty simple to me. The only slight problem I have with it is the reported fee... it's about £5m-£10m too low. Other than that, makes perfect sense.

Another angle to throw in… I know for a fact (from various horses mouths) that Maxi is not a popular figure in the dressing room.

Gordon because he has a tonne of potential and can cover 3 positions. Barnes because Maxi contributed next to nothing in our best season for 25 years, and Barnes is a far more productive player with a better fitness record. It’s not rocket science.

Eh? Tonali, Isak, Botman?

Look, at the end of the day, we’ve just had our best season in 25 years, and Maxi contributed hardly anything to it. As much as I love him when he’s on his day, to sell him for around £25-£30m and bring in Barnes is a no-brainer really… a player who is far more productive and likely fit more often (albeit less exciting)… and it may also free up FFP slightly to allow us to get another position covered in the process too.

Or… it’s purposefully slightly low to not bring controversy to our door? Mind you, it’s not THAT low. £30m - £35m is his range in my opinion, which will be backed up by his stats, injury record, the fact he’s not an international player etc.

I’m absolutely fine with us selling him asking as he’s replaced with a player capable of playing 80% of a season and with an eye for goal. €25m seems low, but who knows how accurate that is.