WilliamPS

Presume never had to pay those add-ons!

Did he really cost that much? I remember his performances just after he signed and just thinking good grief, what have they done singing this guy. If he signed for 14m he must be on a decent wedge, no wonder he’s hanging on to the bitter end.

I take your point but we’re talking 6th choice here - that means not always making even the bench when everyone is fit, except for a real youngster it’s not an attractive offer to many players. The squad could really do with another top level CM as agree the drop off is too big, but I’d be fine with Longstaff being 6th choice. Although perhaps it’s time for a move for his sake really.

I reckon Nuno has a touch of the Ranieri here, he will keep them calm, I don’t think they’ll feel pressured.

The optimists will be thinking chance of catching Forest, I’m still with the pessimists in that Villa dropping points is the better outcome…

Feels like that’s Brighton and Bournemouth done with respect to the top 6. But might start to see a gap in the table open up. Probably doesn’t mean much as already clear Chelsea, Man City and Villa are the teams to watch

Hayden and Lewis are only still on the books as they can’t be got rid of, despite all efforts

Mbuemo would come in and immediately provide another source of goals and assists in the PL. He is well proven now, would be an incredibly low risk signing. That also means he will cost. But am sure Howe would love such a banker of a signing. Any younger player picked from a lesser league might have a higher ceiling but will have a much higher risk of flopping - so that is the trade off. They don’t all work out, no matter how good the scouting is. Murphy has maybe made it more possible to take a bigger risk at RW as he has shown he can be dependable for what his game is.

Howe is still the manager whether Delap or someone we’ve never heard of is signed. It’s not a reason to sign any particular player over another.

Yes, heard Wembley is the most profitable stadium in Europe to hold an event in for the hosts, that’s why UEFA love it so much; £££. That might change now the Bernabeu and Nou Camp are being revamped. Presumably that’s both due to its 90k capacity but also the volume of corporate built into it

Has it gone to the Saudi overlords for approval and that’s the wait? Given the cost I guess it’s squeaky bum time for them, are they ready to drop serious cash, knowing even in the best case it won’t start to generate a return for 5 years. Plus a training ground too.

Mid season it’s bad practise. I thought the whole point of having an agent was that instead of doing this you send them a text saying ‘get me outa here’ and the agent does all this for you in the background so you dont get a load of grief. If it’s summer and the club are rejecting offers then players do use their power a bit, but in March it’s daft.

Madrid deliberately and publicly moved away from signing older players for big fees years ago, no way Madrid bid 90m for a 31 year old. Some of the papers publish any old shite

They’ll go through the books separately, but Anderson and the Greek were in effect a swap plus cash deal. Chelsea have done them too. If someone like Everton or Nottingham are up against PSR in June there could be another swap - maybe the Greek fella fancies a new club

FIFA have always been envious of UEFA basically controlling elite club football through the CL, this is just a greedy attempt to get even more money. Really the European clubs should have shot this down to protect their players

Isn’t the issue that this isn’t possible unless the PSR situation has changed really massively - if you sign an established CB and RW (so 100m odd) then you can’t get the other 3. The choice is do you want 2-3 established players but run a thin squad, or take a chance on 5 more unproven players but bulk out the squad for Europe

Bruce has always had loads of mates in the media, how he’s been allowed to fail over and over against so successfully.

Qualify for the CL and the only risks are Bayern, PSG, Madrid, Barca, Man City and maybe Liverpool. A good few of those aren’t interested in a striker this summer. Man Utd and Arsenal are utterly deluded. Arsenal fans don’t seem to realise they’ve blown it, Man City will be back next year and they’ll be back to 3rd /4th. Man Utd it’s not even worth commenting on. Liverpool probably need a striker but if they also need a RB, CB and LW they won’t be able to afford Isak. Get CL and it should be ok for another year at least.

Honestly some people are just addicted to misery. Finally win a cup and its terrible as the club are arranging the wrong type of celebration? You don’t have to go if you don’t want to

I suspect the £100m comment is right, so it’ll be 3 first teamers in, CB, RW and by the sounds of it GK. I think the squad is v light at CM and at ST. Willock and Longstaff cannot really be sold without replacements. But these might be the risks that have to be ran its a shame there doesn’t appear to be any pipeline of players from the academy who could do a job for a 4 game stretch in an emergency, the way Liverpool, arsenal, city and Chelsea always seem to have someone for that

Worse for the players, some of them could have reached much higher levels with actual coaching, especially the younger ones. Bruce is a twat

The dry bit will probably be from the council, the council would have to license any booze sales

I thought he did very well. Surprised by comments that he drifted in/out as I thought he was busy and very involved in the attacking play. If he does well against Brentford he will keep the starting spot - that is how Howe has tended to work in the past - if you’re playing well you keep the spot.

Of all the reasons not to want a player I’d put being too professional and not agitating for a move down the list. I’d take Guehi at a sensible price - however Palace will probably hold out for something silly, if so best to leave it be

Agree with the posters about the Europa League. That would be a great competition to have a real go at and some fun sides. whereas realistically in the CL you might get some great games but ultimately are only in it to make up the numbers, until Real inevitably win it. However the money and the players desire for CL football mean that has to be the target. I’d be a bit disappointed with the Conference.