Wolfcastle

Home friendlies. Did one against Barcelona in 02 and got hooked on it. Had two in the previous 10years, one was Juventus, the other a favour to Gateshead/Blyth. Unless its a testimonial can just bin them off. Nearly every single one has been naff.

Had a dream about the group draw last night. We ended up in a group with Torino and Bologna. So not exactly a premonition

Adam Piercing

Last episode the day before the Champions League draw? Quality tie-in-manship Far more looking forward to the latter to be fair. It hard to watch these things at times cos your arse is on the line, its a bit like being one of the main matches on match of the day back in the day sort of pressure, or hosting a tournament nerves.

Bound to. Seen one rattled c*nt the other day getting frazzled by the taking of a photo. Cos instagram is exclusively populated by Mags.

Thinking outside the box here, how about something radical like stopping the clock. Instead of this 90+13 bullshit.

Rocked up in a suit for the first time in years and on time for work for a change, for a job he was begging to be sacked from. Was that his idea of front foot resigning or something?

If that's close to the case there can be no arguement about selling. Mind if that had been on The Manager/Champ Manager/SWOS back in the day I don't think I could have been arsed.

Great problems to have. Strength in depth has arrived, in that department at least. Its a cop out but the amount of games, the amount of subs, starting doesn't mean all that much now, a matter of who gets the lion share of the game this game/week.

He's a free hit for the squad, which were really going to need this season, so am happy to keep him. Squad depth was my biggest worry last season.

Tie They're supposed to hate those in sport over there.

First friendly I can think of against a team in our own division

Little is more certain than the view will be "that looks absolutely crap" from the same people whose documentary about a rinky-dink mudshow could easily have been a parody who claim it nevertheless put them on the global map whilst attracting a whole new catchment of support, particularly in Papua New Guinea

I'd definitely have no qualms about playing Manquillo in cups games, has looked good/useful much of the time he's got a sniff. Lewis looks completely shot if he ever wasn't.

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.