Wolfcastle

I look forward to the embelished (gravy, weight, full kit, some other flaw) report on that on RTG.

Always got to be at least one with some fans. Not just ours, its a football fan thing. Like part of the experience. But its a right come down coming on here hoping to see some Chiesa gen or someone out of the blue, even some totally made up but assuaging link and find out its just our players getting slaughtered.

In the same way it didn't stop Man City from growing and hasn't stopped us so far. The CL money isn't as vital to maintaining our standard as it was or as it likely is Spurs and others. We'll have a stronger side this time next year than we do now with less Ashley players and more non-Ashley ones.

English football had the greatest heritage but it wasn't until we started flashing the cash that top foreign players were interested in coming. We were the first 'sell out' league really. Serie A had the rightful claim of being the best league in the world, the biggest crowds and were dominant in Europe it was attacting the best players and when the change started.

That's absolutely the key for anybody prone to freaking out about it. Its not like finishing 5th under Sir Bobby which meant terminal decline with one CL place available due to Chelsea's takeover. Were not going away this time, we'll continue to get stronger.

They're getting worked up now about our fans calling ASM "Maxi" like shortening a long name and referring to people by it is either a new discovery or another example of poor decorum that's beneath them Catts for me like

Provided he doesn't go to a usurping competitor the established elite in Europe will probably be fine with it. Its challenge to them they're concerned with not European football.

If it goes as expected - Tonali plus at least two others - its a good window, especially when factoring in FFP. We'll have added a world class player and fleshed out the squad with the extra CL games and have lost one good but unreliable player and reserves in effect. If windows continue on like that, which they quite likely will, we'll be there after a few more. That plus a fully bedded in Gordon. I cant get vexed.

Goldberg reckons Livramento and Hall....Who's Next?

Its not fair market value what we'd by buying Livramento for, but I bet that's alright.

Any different to them having David Connolly in the 90s? He'd played barely a handful of games for Watford mostly in the third division and came back to England with a going extinct second-tier Wimbledon. Or the Italian league last century. David Platt was the top English player and left England to go to Bari, not even a midtable club, for example. Its nothing new. Just a different Trojan horse.

They want fair market value explained. Simplicitically if Neves can go for £47m with no complaint then a player the same age, from a better team going for considerably less is if anything unfair on us and they can have no complaint.

Club know better than me, maybe see longevity and progress in there that the layman can't, but to me the price was already a bit galling and the player not worth faffing around on so any additional faff I hope we've no time for.

and the widely reported modest figure of between 20-30m, little more than we paid for him years ago, largely ignored in favour of hysterical made up ones along with all the other clubs that Saudi have signed players from so as to have another good old meltdown.

Ha, history repeating. A couple of them had a FTM flag at McCoist's testimonial. Got it taken off them by stewards and shushed by the Rangers fans. Further similarities in the scoreline and the gulf between us and the mackems.

If our most sellable asset only fetches that, the future is pragmatically going to mean trading out a purple to bring another purple in and not a whole lot of building.

And if Cole wasn't a starter and didn't go for a record fee. Its more Kelly/Peacock. One a cult hero the other our best player for the 2years prior but neither guaranteed a start anymore

Unhappy with FFP mostly.

I'd pay £8 to watch the Ally McCoist testimonial again cracking night that was

That and FFP alone make it a untenable arrangement unfortunately

Yeah, much as I didn't like Bellamy it was balanced by what he delivered and there was only bad about an abject manager - and arsehole himself - forcing him out. *Bramble was shite

I've wondered about that along with Man United having to be wary of ffp after their recent slap on the wrist, the Mbappe situation (where can he go without a pay cut under ffp but Madrid and that might not be straight up) and some people moaning about the Saudi league whether ffp might get a reassessment.

They 'Meyt drawa' with Rotherham next season.

As long as the club is going in the right direction its just one of those things. Not a Beardsley/Gazza/Waddle scenario. David Kelly was my favourite player, Barry Venison was our player of the year and we sold them but the trust in the manager/club superceded any wrench. Even years later with Woodgate, the best defender most of us had ever seen and we weren't going places at the time but the business improved the club (given he was a perma-crock)

Wish I knew what the offset was. Just to fund Harvey Barnes I'd just as soon not but if we can add two for letting ASM go when I think about the minimum of 6 extra top class games with the squad as it stands I just feel were going to be stretched as fuck if we dont fill out. I do think he'd be a lot of fun in Europe next season. (and actually ideal for the Saudi league probably) On the other hand if he's available as much as he was last season we'll be kicking ourselves and the frustration will go through the roof when he does play unless he improves consistency.