Armchair Pundit

I must admit, every time I'm seeing us linked with any player over £30m now I'm getting twitchy about whether we'll get stung by the wanky PSR/FFP bollocks again at some point in the future and whether it's going to be worth it - bloody ridiculous way to be having to think.

I can't wait to here Schteve McLaren's Jamaican accent after being there for five minutes.

£75m for Gordon? Errr... nope, need a bit more than that thanks.

True, but so fucking infuriating that we had to do it for no other reason than to balance some dirty, stitch up bollocks ruling, put in place to handicap us and teams who want to catch the cheating bastards running the league - especially on the pretence of protecting clubs from owners who don't have the money or assets to backup their long term spending. Absolute shit show, essentially cements every team outside of the Sky six into feeder clubs for any players that come through with any talent. Just a load of wank, all of the PSR/FFP shite.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/uk-news/sunderland-three-bed-home-goes-29602853

Pah! https://tbrfootball.com/questions-will-be-asked-after-newcastle-united-spend-20m-on-confirmed-signing/

Anything new on Raphina?

News again today saying that De Bruyne going to the Saudi league will push Pep to go all guns after Bruno, they don't want to let it lie do they.

Shearer saying you couldn't and shouldn't drop your captain and record goal scorer, confirming that he wouldn't if he was in Southgate's place. It's exactly why England doesn't win anything. You can't live on the past or pick players by name over form. Kane shouldn't have been playing for most of the games, certainly nowhere the minutes he had. We had better options for several positions, but continued to setup to accommodate certain players instead of playing tactically and to our strengths... I think it's why I'm becoming ever increasingly 'meh' over mens international football. When you have professionals and supposed experts, most of whom the FA seem to value the opinion of, saying they'd stick with clearly failing aspects, it's time to move on - madness being repeating the same actions and expecting a different outcome.

Every time I open a news site: "Gordon to Liverpool", "Liverpool move for Gordon", "Liverpool/Gordon/Liverpool/Gordon... etc". Now I'm seeing "Man City move for Gordon" - it's getting really tedious! I know (I hope) it's just lazy journos, but the way the media are pressing for us to lose Gordon is pretty sickening. I have to admit, trust the process or not, if Gordon was sold I'd seriously question our owners, it's not a sale I'd be able to just let slide. I know the excuse would be long term goals/FFP, etc, but after last season he's more than just a player to double your money on.

Gordon is one of three untouchable players, surely.

Striker replacement for Wilson?

Just don't see how this is a viable tactic, with having no left side outlet: ... especially when you add in a complete lack of press

Fucking hell, Gary Neville having a wankfest over Mainoo. Swapping him in still doesn't resolve playing Foden out of position or having no natural positioned players down the left hand side. Urgh.

£35m for Anderson, meh, he was average most of the time anyways. If it means we keep hold of some of our better players then so be it, we have cover in his position of an equal or better standard I guess.

For £33m, I wonder if that's low enough to expect a sell-on clause. It's a shame and one completely brought about by an unfair, rigging of the system, but I guess it's for a player who we've never had play for us, so hopefully we'll never miss what we've never had. Still a bag of wank that we had to sell him though.

Just sickened by the whole PSR/FFP nonsense, it just feels completely unfair and rigged.

Has Southgate been giving the Italians tips?

With Tonali back, I can understand Anderson being an option to leave. Not that they're the same position as such, but Anderson is average really, so we could just drop Longstaff in if we keep him or one of the academy lads. Think I'd rather lose Anderson than Minteh, just because we will need options on the right if Miggy goes, especially with Ritchie having gone as well (again, not that he was that much of an option, but he was cover if needed).

Yeah, I hear you! The latest I've read is Tripps not being fit, so bringing in Eze at left back instead. That's right, Eze, an attacking midfielder at left back... How is Southgate capable of playing so many players out of position and think that's okay?! Just seeing Gordon come on in the last match for the last few minutes showed what we're missing on the left, why the fuck are we playing a central midfielder on the left?! I just can't fathom why Southgate feels the need to play both Foden and Bellingham, just pick one and put him in his natural position, at a push put Bellingham next to Rice, but sort the fucker out! You wouldn't play two fucking goalkeepers. So frustrating.

Incidentally, seeing as points are only influential within the league standings (and we're not winning the league anytime soon), we could take the points hit, reinforce to a better level and concentrate on cups, seeing as they automatically get into Europe as well. The only problem I foresee with that would be obvious loss in funds from final league position. I'd think the players at the club, even the top ones, aren't daft enough to think we'll win the league in the next season, they just want progress I'd hope. (Edit): Mind you, it's pipedreams really, we all know the league would find some way of punishing us more than anyone else, they're just looking for an excuse. I say break out the world's most expensive legal teams, we can certainly afford that.

Fuck them, take the hit then bring the lawyers in to make a full scale attack on how wrong the rules are. Maybe sitting back and letting the others do it isn't worth it, especially when we're now seeing so many examples of these stupid rules being anti-competitive, hypocritical and complicit in holding teams to ransom and forcing them to sell their players for less than they're worth just to hit the spreadsheet target. It stifles progression and doesn't allow for teams with owners that can afford to spend, even if they add in provision to contracts or holding money in trust to cover potential fees. And that's all before you even get to the unfairness of those teams that are already established prior to rule implementation having a massive advantage over everyone else.