Keegans Export

I'd never heard of Keith Wyness so I looked him up on Wikipedia and he seems a bit of a...character.

I asked this in the FFP thread but I'm not clear on what Man City are actually arguing against. The "related-party" transactions pre-date our takeover I think, City seem to be challenging "associated-party" transactions but I'm not sure what the difference is between those two?

Have they already put some money into the club or was that the other lot?

Because we were available for a decent price with a willing seller therefore giving greater opportunity for ROI? It'll be interesting to see how much Everton's sale ends up costing if/when it goes through.

Because those are two massive global investments and we are a mid-sized football club with minimal global reach other than via the league we play in?

Unfortunately I have two kids so...

I know this has probably been covered repeatedly but... City are arguing against the "Associated-party" rules rather than the existing "Related-party" rules, yes? And is the difference that; Related party = owned by same party (eg. PIF wanting to sponsor NUFC) Associated party = owned by someone else, but is (or could be) linked to the same party (eg. a company PIF have invested in/have shares in but don't own outright) ??

That's a good point actually. Alternative would be to play it at SJP but that would be a logistical challenge seeing as it's supposed to be tomorrow.

I disagree with this part. Assuming we were going to sell Joelinton to alleviate the PSR issues, we managed to solve that by selling our 6th choice midfielder and a winger who never played a minute for us. You could argue that was mostly good fortune on our part and we played it badly with trying to flog Gordon etc but we did manage to get through to June 30th without losing a first team player which was a win in my book.

If Eddie gets results on the pitch, he's going nowhere regardless of whether there's "Civil War" (TM Craig Hope) or not. The problem at the moment is that, while we clearly ended up two players short in terms of incoming transfers, he isn't getting the most out of the players we do have this season. If that carries on medium-term there'd be questions asked from above, DOF or no DOF. Likewise, if he starts to turn things around performance-wise and keeps us in the hunt for Europe by the time January comes around, he should be backed with at least one incoming. Finish in the European spots and no DOF in the world will be able to convince his bosses to bin the manager.

In all likelihood we will sell someone for a decent fee in the next 12 months, assuming we don't qualify for the CL this season (in which case the point I'm going to make is moot anyway) When we make that sale it will free us from the shackles of PSR (to an extent) and allow us the opportunity to invest, refresh the squad and begin post-takover NUFC part II. The question for the Directors will be "Is Eddie Howe the one we want to entrust with that project?". Two years ago the answer would be undoubtedly yes. However, now we've got a £40m RB who may or may not be #1 choice. We've got a £35m LB who might actually be better in midfield. We've spent £50m+ on one of Milan and Italy's top boys and we don't seem to know what to do with him. We've got a £150m front line that isn't clicking to the extent we're relying on Jacob Murphy to try and get us out of trouble (and in fairness he is doing a good job). There's still plenty of time left to change the narrative but if we're still having these problems at the 10-game point there'll be question marks around who is going to be entrusted with the rebuild.

What's concerning is that we don't seem to know what our best line-up is or what our style of play is. Who is our best left back? Tino or Trippier at RB? Why can't we get Tonali in and clicking after 10 months of training with his teammates? We apparently can't get Barnes and Gordon working in the same team so one of them is going to have to sit on the bench (Gordon, on current form). We don't keep possession, we don't press, we often aren't disciplined enough to sit back and play teams on the break. It's like the Gerrard/Lampard thing England had for years but all over the pitch.

Canny team that. Tonali possibly a bit hard done by but Willock not undeserving of a start. If Gordon, Barnes and Isak can link up...

Listen up, this is a Spanish guy. From Madrid. He knows about winning. Or at least living vicariously through football teams that win. Which is exactly the same thing. Edit - and by the way, nobody saw losing the Final as an achievement. Getting to the final, yes. But not losing it.

I'd sooner see Osula play CF and just rely on him for link-up play, occupy their CBs etc. Rely on Gordon, Barnes and support from CM for goals. Anything he gets is a bonus.

That's a good price for that much Mecano tbf

Spurs' was just over £1bn apparently

I think the challenge with Everton's new stadium is that it's being partly built on a dock so required some extensive groundwork (if that's the correct term)

I'm sure this has been covered but why are some of the EFL Cup games tonight/tomorrow and the rest next week? Presumably something about Europe but not all the teams playing next week are in Europe. Why not just play them all next week?

Don't disagree. Top left in two different shades of green as the away kit.

Article I read this morning said the hearing will be a couple of months or so but the decision might not even be by the end of the season. Then whichever side loses can appeal so....

If they are found guilty of at least some of the more serious accusations they have to be given a hefty punishment otherwise the PL/FA/whoever just look incredibly toothless. I'm talking points deductions over multiple seasons, eight-figure fines, potentially transfer bans. I don't think they'll demote them down the leagues to be honest but if they gave them points deductions over a few seasons to almost guarantee they'd finish outside the top four (eg. 30pts per season for three seasons) that might be reasonable. If it was just a large deduction for one season they'd just be straight back in the mix the following season. However, I think they'll get away with it. As we've seen with Leicester's case, the rules and regulations are riddled with loopholes, poorly-worded clauses etc. They've hired heavyweight after heavyweight to fight this case for them and I can see that paying off.

We're clearly not playing particularly well. It really depends on whether you believe Howe can get Gordon back to 23/24 levels, get Tonali and Bruno working together, get Isak a bit more service etc. He managed to take a team destined for relegation to a comfortable mid-table finish (admittedly with a very good January transfer window), then qualify for the Champions League the next season then drag us to the brink of Europe again the following season despite having so many first team players unavailable for extended periods. I've got faith that he can get it clicking more consistently and if he does, we're on for a cracking season.

Still think it would look better with white/cream shorts but yeah it's a really smart kit like

Personally I'd rather have Tonali/Barnes for 65min against fully-fit opposition than 25mins against potentially tired opposition (or fully-fit substitutes)