Abacus

From the sound of things, it doesn't seem that it would need too much to go back to last season's system pretty quickly no matter how imperfect - because it seems nobody at all is in favour of the current one. It's the type of thing NUST should be all over if they aren't already, as well the likes of the Chronicle e.g. 5 things we've learnt about the ticketing process (but, seriously questions in a press conference could usefully raise the issue).

The other thing that we don't know is who we bring in. Howe has already said he hopes there will be more to come in the transfer window so, like everyone else, I'm excited to see how many and what level they are at. I think that actually makes us more of a wildcard than most of the rest. A couple of quality signings make far more of a difference to our squad than they do to, say, Man City's. I think the current squad would be disappointed with below 7th. Add two or even three quality players and it's a whole different bag of mackerel in terms of expectations.

Personally, I can logically understand and even agree with why he's gone but I'm still a bit gutted about it. It's a cliche, but he's one of those players where you get to your feet when he's on it and gets the ball.

Not sure what you mean by this? FFP has nothing to do with paying in installments. Unless you mean it's £23m with performance related add ons?

I don't really disagree - Liverpool and Chelsea are the conundrums to me though. Liverpool, yes, look to have bought very well, but my issue is that they have completely rebuilt their midfield and there's no telling how long it will take for them to gel. Another slow start and we could be ahead. Chelsea are a different kettle of fish. So many talented players but an unbalanced squad the manager had little part in assembling. They are really short in some areas and overstocked in others. Whilst I rate Pochettino of course, he'll need to rapidly hone that squad and find a playing style - which means the players not acting like individuals and the owner keeping his nose out. In other words, we can go at them both. But stepping back, yes it's almost incredible what we achieved last year, so it'll be a similar high wire trick to repeat that. As Stottie said, unpopular as it may be with some, I'd de-prioritise the domestic cups this year for league position and to try and make a splash in the CL. You're right about injuries, though. Hopefully that's something our recruitment can cover, as I doubt we're done yet.

We spent most of last season fairly comfortably there or thereabouts within the top 4 despite a cup run, and whilst our surprise factor might have gone, we have slightly strengthened since. Anderson and maybe Miley looking to be decent squad prospects, and Tonali plus Barnes added, with likely one or two more would be something the rest of the league won't be looking forward to. Man U looking OK, Arsenal stronger, Man City already miles ahead of the rest - think they'll be top 3. On the other hand, I don't see why we're so worried about some of the other teams "strengthening" when we are too. In Liverpool's case it's a pretty radical overhaul, in Chelsea's that's a mess of a squad (albeit with a better manager), and Spurs are likely to struggle to adjust without Kane, you'd think. Villa and Brighton will be tough competition too - depending if Brighton get raided for the likes of Caicedo. But even though it's a tall order with a CL campaign on our hands, don't forget Brighton and Villa are in Europe too and similarly to us not used to it. So I'd be hopeful of 5th. And at the same time desperately hoping we can help keep Liverpool /Spurs/Chelsea out of the CL at the same time.

Maybe there'll be another £5m for that giant flag of him.

Very much enjoying the 70's rock reference btw And, bye Darlow. Nothing against him - he'll be an OK shot-stopper in the championship, but it feels so good to be moving on some of these players who were mainly there to make up the numbers in the old regime.

Equally, if the players you go on to buy don't work out, there's a drag on what you can do later. Amortisation works both ways - you still have to recover their costs at some point. E.g. if you buy someone for £100m on a 5 year contract, you're down £20m a year for each of those years in the future. Plus their wages. Unless you're confident your income will go up by more than that each year to cover it all, it's not some magic bullet. So, it's only good if you're in expansion mode. We must be pretty confident we are.

Insider training?

Keeps their attendances up at least. It's obviously just a handful of people doing it for a split-my-sides joke. Not sure why anyone gets bothered about it. Pretty sure, years ago I saw a few Sunderland tops and a Fulwell / Man U branch end bedsheet banner in the Man U away end at SJP. Wasn't sure if it was tragic banter from mackems at the time, or just Man U fans having a joke. Which would also be tragic banter, now I think of it.

I'd stick the Henderson transfer on hold until it's sorted, and screw up Liverpool's rebuild.

Yeah, it's a shame this signing has been so linked with selling ASM and has dampened the enthusiasm around it for some. I mean, it seems the two trades were (probably) linked for FFP reasons, and we'd need cover in ASM's position. But likewise, if we make more than one other signing on the back of ASM going freeing up some more funds, those ones won't be the ones to take the flak. Also not discounting that FFP could be a smokescreen if ASM was actually just unhappy and wanted to go. If so, good to trade an unhappy player for a happy one, whatever their relative merits.

TBH, if one of our players was spotted training with whoever plays for Sunderland, I'd think something had gone seriously wrong with their career.

Before Leceister imploded last season, I reckon most people would have been more than happy with Barnes. It's still quite hard to explain how they went quite so badly wrong. And of course, us overperforming as well has had everyone looking skywards. I think, though, if you look at him less as a replacement for ASM, but more a replacement for a squad player (regardless of positions) like Ritchie, it makes far more sense. I do think you'd need a Trippier style LB to get the most out of him, and that starts to become the priority position to me. No shade on Burn there, but I'd rather a specialist, with Burn as cover there or at CB. I also still think we'll have at least one more surprise signing coming out of the blue as well.

Yeah, plus you're basically buying a player on credit and will pay more as a result. So, it'll cost you more each year from an FFP point of view than if you hadn't effectively taken out a loan and had to pay interest on it.

I'm also not fussed if he goes to Spurs. He's a good player, but either; He wanted to move to London; or He just didn't want to come here; or We thought we had better options for the fee and didn't push it; or His wages were a problem. I'm fine with any of those as being a good reason not to sign him. It might be a mistake of course, which is an option I didn't mention, but there you go. The one thing I can't understand is what he hopes to achieve with Spurs if that's where he lands up. From the outside, it seems they lack ambition to do anything other than try and cling onto the coattails of bigger clubs and if that's the limit of his ambition as well, fair enough. Presumably Kane is going this summer too, so who is he creating chances for?

Hope the medical team have had an early morning airport pint on the way over.

Fashion police.

Definitely excited by the ambition here. Though I'm still expecting Ted Bovis from Chelsea to try and gatecrash it right up till he's signed.

First offer rejected

I don't think there's any great conspiracy to help or hinder Chelsea or Newcastle. But I do think the growth of the Saudi league will benefit those clubs with aging stars on huge wages and long contracts. I'd rather they (like Chelsea) suffered for their decisions, but this is now somewhere else to offload them, and therefore doesn't help clubs who try to do things in the right way. Also think it adds it adds to the massive wage inflation in the game. It's when they start picking up players in their prime on multiple times the wages anyone else can offer that it starts to be a major problem. But then, I suppose people have been saying that about the PL and the big European clubs for years.

Me either, tbh. It was a bit of a daft suggestion by a columnist who was talking about how the Saudi league could distort the game. The logic being they would entice players on vastly inflated wages which then wouldn't directly benefit the selling club - the likes of Gundogan was mentioned. No, I can't see it making much sense either. As for Maddison, I'm at the point where I could take him or leave him. A very good player, but I think we have plenty of options if he goes elsewhere.

I read a suggestion that the Saudi clubs might buy players in their prime from our direct rivals to weaken them. Seems a pretty far-fetched idea to me, but for anyone that enjoys a good tinfoil hat theory, you can have that one for free.

He could just swap the word "first" for "debut", if he knew what he was doing.