Kid Icarus

Yeah. I'm basically a hardliner on that and a softliner on everything else. Would accept £120m for any club abroad, wouldn't accept any offer that's realistic from Liverpool or any PL club.

Us sniffing around Sesko probably tells you all you need to know about our intentions. Whether it happens or not it certainly appears that we're doing the work to try and facilitate it. Tried to shy away from using such a cringy word, but we have some extreme cuck energy coming out of the club at the moment

If our fans forgave Loic Remy they'll forgive Alexander Isak like. It would be inevitable.

I'm not certain, but I would be astonished for a few reasons. Partly because of the pessimism I'm feeling after what's been a terrible transfer window, partly because of the club's strategy that's a large part of what's made me pessimistic, and also partly because of the player - much too well known as potentially the next big thing, multiple reports of talks and links with other big clubs that went nowhere, too much noise, already talked about for too long, other clubs sniffing about. By comparison, when we got Isak everyone knew about it when the deal was already signed, sealed, and delivered, giving no one a chance to get in there.

Absolutely no reason why that should be the case. Our budget exists and is substantial without selling Isak.

Dunno how it would be done, but there really should be an automated thing that doesn't allow certain accounts to be posted like.

Please don't do the N-O version of saying Candyman into the mirror 5 times.

Same, there's a sense of needing to show our ambition to keep them with some players that others don't have as much. Botman is another. I don't mind it tbh, because I have that ambition too and it comes with the territory, but it does make you keep them a bit more at arm's length for when the club fails to match it and this happens.

Been here long enough and met Slim enough to not know tbh, but whatever.

Unfortunately everything at the moment points towards them selling him to Liverpool. My only barrier to it at the moment is thinking surely they wouldn't be that stupid.

This is where I fundamentally disagree basically. You cut your cloth accordingly. Our budget means we can theoretically stump up the fee for nigh on any player in the world. Obviously that's unrealistic because it would leave us short in other positions and doesn't factor in wages, but there has to be a happy medium whereby we target fewer players than we are right now, meet the valuation and pay the wages, instead of this method where we're clearly spreading our budget too thin across too many targets, coming up short on the valuation of nigh on all of them, and ending up with one signing.

Would be absolutely astonished if he came here tbh. Can't see it happening at all.

Nothing, he's on loan there.

Entire thing absolutely fucking stinks. No idea whatsoever what our role in this is tbh.

Honestly, I think it's because the absolute divies are gearing up to sell him to Liverpool and think it's a smart move.

Morata and Lukaku push him close imo, but i know others disagree.

They're not unrealistic targets, but trying to get all of our targets under valuation when other clubs are sniffing about is incredibly naive. I have no issue with Howe's targets, it's how we've gone about trying to get too many of them that's the problem, as well as the seeming lack of scope and imagination in our plan B and the snail's pace we work at.

I think the bit in bold is more a description of part of the brief rather than an excuse for them not meeting it. I've said this so many times now, but as far as I can tell there's absolutely no reason why we couldn't change tact. One method might be to reduce the amount of targets we have in order to pay what's needed to get players over the line. Eg instead of lowballing for 5 players and ending up with 0, use the budget to meet the valuations on 4 players and increase the chance of actually getting 3 or 4 of them in, then go again in another window for the other players we need and either get a punt signing in the meantime or promote a player. This method of slow brinkmanship seems to be applied regardless of the context. It would be fine if we were going for players that thread the eye of a needle, whereby: - the selling club can afford to lose them - they have time to get a replacement - other clubs aren't sniffing about - the player wants to come/has limited options and that's essentially what seems to have happened with Elanga. But every other attempt seems fo have fallen down because one or more of those factors hasn't applied - in one case to the extent that we allowed a 2 year chase to fail because we waited so long that one of the factors that was always a potential threat came into play at the last minute. In situations like that you would think we would think 'okay, for this reason we need to act fast, is this a priority signing? Yes, okay let's ensure we get him through the door by meeting the valuation and wages. Which signing is last priority? A top level Longstaff replacement? Okay, let's go for a 10-15m punt/promote Miley and revisit next Summer'

I don't think 10% would win a vote so not really. As I mentioned earlier, those fans stuck out like a sore thumb.

Hope I never have to read about that industry plant nonce ever again.

It's a natural low ebb right now. It would be utterly bizarre for everyone to be all sunshine and rainbows when we've missed out on like 10 transfer targets, signed 1 player, and our star striker has downed tools, with everyone shitting themselves that the club's going to choose to sell him to Liverpool

Watch Brentford and Forest stick to their guns and then... Sorry

Wow, didn't see that coming. Good on Forest tbh and good on MGW for acting professionally