Abacus

Legacy fan alert.

Instead of all this malarkey, I remember when we paid an eye-watering £1.75m to Bristol City for Andy Cole and fretting that could be a huge mistake at the time, before him and Beardsley then nearly tore up the league. Never even in my wildest boyhood dreams did I imagine that later I'd be worrying about amortisation, the sale of infrastructure or the farming out saleable assets (human beings by the way) for the sake of profit calculations. Ah, for a simpler time. Jumpers for goalposts etc.

Didn't we have a reported £40m bid from Lyon just turned down plus reported interest from Liverpool's new manager for Minteh? If you were to be a more cynical person, which I'm definitely not, you might call it as looking like laughable shenanigans all round. The thing that should bother the PL is that they are now looking to sign off on any deal, whether it's within the rules they set or not.

Glad you picked up on the niche reference and ran with it better. Its made me think that in future, I should make even more obscure theological analogies in general football dialogue, and in life in general.

Yes, and Harry Kane stuck a twig in his spokes.

I tend to think of it as a good thing that other clubs are interested in our players. Whilst they can obviously get stuffed, it shows we're doing something right and it feels good that we're seemingly not prepared to budge. And also that there are no stories about the players themselves or their agents rattling on about "dream clubs" etc

I've watched that interview about 3 times now. He's the man they need to play, you can see it in every expression. Let him loose and he'll tear teams apart.

That was outstanding work assuming it was right. I remember laughing out loud when that came in, but hadn't remembered who had said it

Agree with this. Media training is all well and good, but it means you just ignore what they say and it makes them look daft when they try to trot out a party line which is at odds with what you can see. Gordon seems to care less and also to care enough to speak to the fans he's representing. As well as probably saying the same things behind the scenes and that's what you need when the team is in a funk. Deserves a chance to go out and show what he can do for England, but I'm not sure he'll get it. Howe was right about him first time, and if he's being touted as Southgate's successor then Southgate should probably listen to him.

Yeah, reluctantly I'm in the same boat. Then challenge the rules.

He's only crying because his own deal was blocked. Waiting for him to nail his own financial rules to the door of Old Trafford, complete with an interview from Lorraine Kelly. Those rules are basically unenforceable imo and leading all clubs to do things they wouldn't otherwise transfer wise, with none of it being about sustainability.

I wonder how many clubs would fail the acting in good faith test over the years?

Haha, I meant Capello. I'm an idiot.

There's no doubt that Southgate has made a huge difference to the team, when you compare to the underperformance of Sven or Ancelloti. Team selections have always been controversial no matter the manager, because everyone has their own opinions even before you start looking at things through your own club's lens. The valid criticisms for me have always been the safety first approach and the lack of tactical nouse when up against better teams or better managers. Anyway, it's been done to death now. I wouldn't want him as my club's manager and I suspect that holds true regardless of club allegiance. But, he's got one last shot at proving his detractors wrong.

It's all unraveling a bit now. Really thought we'd win that before the game and that there'd be a rush on waistcoats. Saying that, some of the players need to step up in the next round, there really doesn't seem to be a leader on the pitch - sometimes you have to do it yourself.

Agreed. And if Southgate doesn't see that, then he's daft. You need someone to be honest and not just tow the party line - proud of him. Gordon should be starting, he's the breath of fresh air the team needs.

So now we've finished the safety at work seminar, on to football - let's get the ball forward to Harry Kane.

No, bcc him. We'll pick it up on it quicker that way.

Well, we've never once signed Jérémie Aliadière. Questions must be asked.

His time will indeed come. But it should be now. If Southgate can't see what he's got on his hands with the right coaching (which in fairness many of us didn't either till this season), that's on him. Can't wait to see how he develops with us.

It does take a bit of effort to think of the expiry of the clause as a negative, but we're pretty damn good at this by now.

I've thought that too, but there we are.

I'd expect to see a bit of a reaction in the Slovenia game, a bit disappointing he's only swapped in Gallagher rather than experimenting a bit more, but there you go. In isolation, it's not a bad change - at least Gallagher is playing a more familiar role and not out of position. Gordon could help him hugely but that's been said before, and better. Maybe he'll get a run in the second half. Wouldn't be surprised if England top the group easily and get through the next couple of rounds. Then, the talk will be about just having needed time to get the team to gel, coming good at the right time, the important thing being qualification etc. That's all true, and I've criticised Southgate for some things in the past without giving him credit for all the good things he has definitely done, so I don't want to be too critical. Like many, I'm just not convinced about his selections, his tactics or his ability to influence a game enough to think he's the manager to win a tournament. I think it will need a captain style player to step up and drive the team on when it gets tough. Been a bit disappointed in Rice so far to be honest - given how he plays in the league I thought he might be that player.

Stuffs Everton right up as well. He seems a really promising prospect - hope he does well.

Good job certain clubs were acting in good faith when they proposed the ESL then.