Keegans Export

I'm not sure my nerves could hold long enough but imagine the atmosphere if we beat Brighton on the 18th to secure top four...

He's had nearly 18 months to work on his fitness with Howe and his team. And yes, on ability alone he's up there with the best we've ever had but unfortunately Eddie wants players who fit his system and ethos & I'm not sure ASM does. We have three types of player - the ones we don't want to let go (Bruno, Botman, Isak), the ones we just want to get rid of (Fraser etc) and the ones we can do without but could get a decent fee for (ASM...?). I haven't seen anywhere near enough of him to make an assessment but if the same people who brought us Bruno, Botman & Isak think that Diaby is the guy they want then selling Maxi to help fund that move is fine by me.

(Luke Edwards)

From the Luke Edwards article about ASM & Longstaff being back in training.

Do you think the fact that away games are almost a closed shop is affecting it? Obviously I don't want to go over old ground with the loyalty points debate but if you've got the same 3k or so doing all the aways expanding the songbook, then they get scattered all over SJP for the home games they aren't going to catch on as easily. A lot of the chants I know are from my Uni days when I used to do a decent number of aways.

However, as a counter point they have been one of the most vocal and passionate human rights activists around. Since October 2021 anyway...

I have no idea what I'm looking at here...

I actually thought Gordon was OK? Decision making wasn't great but he was our only threat in that first half. Lavia would be a great fit for us. He's the same as Bruno in that he's happy to receive the ball under pressure because he knows he has the touch/skill/strength to retain possession.

One thing guaranteed - it's going to be perfect conditions for a good knee-slide. Joe Willock, don't let us down son...

What's happening with Gnoto at Leeds? Doesn't seem to feature much despite playing well earlier in the season. He'd be on my shortlist for the summer.

I reckon the same. One of those games that feel really tense at the time but when you look back at it was actually pretty comfortable.

They would absolutely benefit from getting promoted ASAP, same as every other team in the Championship. You could come up and finish bottom with zero points but you'll still get a massive chunk of cash from the PL plus another set of parachute payments.

That's exactly what it is

I think they were/are worried about the global "influence" of PIF, that they could encourage a non-related party to go well above market value. These rules stop that from happening (in theory).

If they win their last two games they'll be on 71 points which (in recent seasons) is usually about right for 6th/7th so it's not been a huge outlier in that sense. Obviously if they end on <70 points and still get 6th then that would buck the trend a bit.

In an ideal world yes, but competition is just another way to motivate players (eg Willock, Longstaff, Joelinton in the original post) and we should encourage it.

Wilson/Isak is the perfect example - I don't think there's any coincidence that Wilson has suddenly started looking more dangerous since Isak has started banging them in. If a player has the right mentality, the competition will drive them on and that's exactly what we'll need next season.

Five in the £40-50m bracket, definitely. Firstly, we've seen what we can do with that sort of money already. Botman, Bruno, obviously Isak was more but unsurprising with the striker premium. Secondly, if we've got any chance of remaining competitive across domestic and European campaigns we're going to need bodies in. Our best 13-14 players have shown what they are capable of this season but they won't be able to do it Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday on a regular basis. The aim should be to get ourselves into a position where we have two options for each position without a big drop in quality. That obviously takes time but five Botman/Bruno types is going to help more than a couple of marquee signings.

I'm not sure I ever said it on here but I've described him in the past as a "nothing player" - he didn't create, he didn't tackle, he didn't run, once the goals dried up in the second season he didn't score either. He didn't seem to have any particular role to play. Thankfully he (& Eddie) have made me look a proper chump.

I think by modern Premier League standards our atmosphere is pretty good. It constantly gets commented on by BT/Sky, perhaps they are just playing along with the stereotype? Or is the atmosphere nowhere near as bad as some would have you believe? Having said that, there's nothing wrong with striving to be better. It isn't going to happen overnight though and they aren't suddenly going to make the whole lower Gallowgate a standing "signing section", it'll be done gradually, starting with the small section in the corner then expanded if it's successful. I also wonder whether the hypothetical "Fan Park" would be used to play a role. If you have a large area for fans to congregate pre-match, have a few drinks and be encouraged to get some chants going (would music & lyrics on big screens be to cringey?) then perhaps that would permeate into the ground? Anyway, we've just humped Spurs 6-1 so I'm finding it hard to be annoyed about anything tbh

Exactly my thoughts - if you're paying that sort of money we need the complete package, not just talent. Gordon was about the limit for "potential" at £40m and I think that'll remain the case unless we start qualifying for the CL regularly.

Fair enough. Good record from RW.

They both fit the profile I suppose. Felix would be outrageously expensive though? And I don't know where they've got 13 goals and 11 assists for Chukwueze from.

Don't worry, we'll pursue him for weeks, be just about sign off on a bumper £80k/week contract, freeing him from his unsuccessful spell in Paris when our Hugo logs on to Twitter to see a picture of Eddie and Dan sharing a laugh, NJOY above their heads...

Athletic now running with this story too.