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Willock, Barnes, Almiron & Osula to come off the bench should allow us to keep the tempo up for 90+mins

Played 80+mins in the last friendly

Front six, Pope and Schar pick themselves. Beyond that, I'd be surprised if he went with Tino and Hall. I think he'll have played Schar and Kelly in the last friendly with a view to them starting together today. Edit - Trippier, Schar, Kelly, Hall back four I reckon. Would have guessed Burn LB until I saw Gordon's FPL team.

It's interesting that all the reports at our end are hinting at something more than "Offer made, then rejected" and that the leaks are all coming from their end. Could it be that this is actually a pretty standard negotiation and isn't actually playing out as is being reported?

Not exactly. Isak was first choice, deemed a bit too pricey so moved on to Pedro. Wilson’s injury swung it back to Isak because we needed a #1 forward and Sociedad were willing to meet part way price-wise. That's how the Athletic say it went down anyway.

This is going exactly the same as Botman. Asking price goes up every time the bid increases.

We also have the option of playing Barnes - Isak - Gordon. Plus Howe has previously championed having Joelinton LW in certain fixtures which would push Gordon or Barnes to the right. Absolutely agree that we could do with a quality RW but we aren't bereft of options even if you take Almiron & Murphy out of the equation.

Have you got anything more specific about this clause/incentive? Best guess is that the sell-on percentage owed to Chelsea is lower prior to the season starting. Edit - just seen @Nucasol's post above

Assuming that line about only writing the cheque once was intentional, that makes it clear that whatever they end up doing stadium-wise is going to be the absolute maximum they are willing to stretch to. If your ambition is to have a world-class stadium, an extra 5k on the Gallowgate and some extra corporate suites isn't going to do it.

God help us if you have to use a different turnstile after the 42 years of sustained success we've experienced... (I'll feel very bad if you have to use another one and choke to death on a chicken Balti pie at half time)

There are very few clubs who would have a manager win the League title and the Champions League and not qualify as a club legend.

Barring a force majeure event we should absolutely be aiming for top 5 which will hopefully be enough for CL football in 25/26. We were only 6pts off that last season and every other club we'd expect to compete with (aside from West Ham if you want to put them in that mix) is in Europe.

I think that's unfair for a couple of reasons. Firstly there's every possibility we have been looking at other targets over the past two weeks so they won't have been wasted whether he signs or not. Secondly, yes it's always best to have business wrapped up early but we've spent half of the transfer window with a Sporting Director on gardening leave and his replacement has only been in situ for about a month.

$20m/£15m is a good price for us, anything around the £12-15m I'd accept. Hopefully they pulled the plug on that other guy to get closer to our fee and Miggy's salary.

Just because he can doesn't mean he should

The most distressing thing about this whole saga is Steve Parish's hair by a considerable margin.

The way FFP works you don't even need to sell for more than what you paid to make a "profit"

Move on

I anticipate the long-read on the Athletic detailing who he is, where he grew up, quotes from his former teachers and work mates and how his love of trains and retro football shirts led to his starring role in the ad.

Agree with all the above - I'd rather stick with SJP exactly as it is than move out of the city

I think we've got 26 players that need to be registered as it stands, 27 if Guehi or another CB come in That's not including Ruddy (28) or Jamie Miley who I think is U21 still? It also doesn't include Lewis, Fraser, Ashby or Hayden (32) who we're still paying a wage. . We sign a RW (33) too and that's a squad of 25 plus eight players who we're paying a salary to but can't register. Unless we make some serious moves on outgoings I would be surprised if we brought in a RW if either Almiron or Murphy don't leave.

It did linger on him for quite a long time, would be odd if he was just some random bloke?

I imagine they wouldn't be putting this guy out there doing interviews if we weren't very close to an announcement of some kind. Presumably step one is either are we moving or are we staying. How much we get beyond that will depend on what's been going on behind the scenes, because they can't come out and say "We're moving to Castle Leazes!" only for the Council or whoever else to say "No you're not" If I had to guess, I reckon that before the end of next month they'll say that they're going to look to build a new stadium and are beginning to investigate all avenues before identifying the optimal site etc.

I like it, it's just not a patch on the original. I also don't like that it seems to have blue shorts.