Keegans Export

I remember reading an article, probably 6-7 years ago, and it was basically saying "The Saudi's want the biggest boats, the most expensive mansions, the most sought-after paintings, why are they leaving football to Abu Dhabi and Qatar?" The answer was basically the opposite of sports washing - they wanted as little attention on them as possible.

Google tells me that the Botswana national team are nicknamed "The Zebras" which seems ideal really

I like DCL over Toney but I'm not sure I'd go for either if we're talking over £40m

From what I can gather, he won't be too involved in actually identifying the players (not this summer at least) but he will play a role in the negotiations/logistics etc.

Couple of things that make me think its fake. The crest looks stuck on, rather than embroidered. The Fun88 logo usually has a white border (which gave us the big 4 on this season's kit). I also think the lettering on the Fun88 bit looks off, a bit too thin maybe? A better picture would help obviously.

Determining "market value" of sponsorship is a thing. It's a key part of advertising, working out the value of each opportunity is important to both sides. The main driver is market size, which you would argue is pretty big for most PL teams due to the TV coverage. I'm sure I read somewhere that you could basically argue that "market value" is just whatever the current highest deal is because otherwise how do you decide how much lower than that is "fair"? Where do you draw the line? The problem is that they're trying to regulate something (the value of a particular advert basically) that in the real world just regulates itself.

There was someone mentioned a little while back, Jeremy Darroch. Former Sky executive and a Newcastle fan. Although he (sort of) distanced himself from it. I wonder whether a combination of it being handled by specialist recruitment firms who are happier keeping tight-lipped than football people and it not being a particularly "sexy" story means nothing is really coming out in the press.

Link not working for me, although I don't have Instagram. Does that mean we are either sticking with Fun88 or going to announce a new sponsor at the kit reveal?

I'm 100% on board with Richarlson. You could play him up front, or either side in a 4-3-3. Classy, hard-working, knows the Premier League. The Bellamy comparison is perfect - sometimes you need a little bit of cunt in your team & he could definitely be ours. No idea what it would take though, didn't he cost Everton about £40m?

I know it's probably a bit sad but I love shit like this. Making a real concerted effort to get the best possible people in each role in each area of the club Not just having Lee Charnley do everything

Looks like he's the Youth scouting manager at MCFC and he's only in his late 20s. Impressive.

I get that, and my comment was tongue-in-cheek to an extent, but I trust Eddie to build the squad in line with how he wants us to play and I trust our scouts to find the right players to fit the brief.

I know Targett is the safe pick, but I do love a full-back who spends more time in the oppositions box than in his own half. Sod defending.

Release clause is £58m apparently so we'll probably have to go to that

Hear me out, but I do wonder whether our spend will end up closer to £60-80m (plus sales) rather than £150m+ We might find it tricky to bring in our top targets due to not being able to offer European football next season. The decision then is, do we just go down our list until we get someone in, or do we wait until we can offer it, then move. I don't have any inside knowledge or anything but I think we (or the owners) may look at what £90m got them in January and think that maybe two quality additions (£30-40m) plus a loan or two and one or two free transfers could have us knocking on the door of the European places, where you're in a much stronger position to attract those top targets. Obviously that alone isn't going to get us into the top four but there may be an element of keeping our powder dry, see if we can sneak into the top 6-8 then start with the huge nine-figure transfer windows to push us from there to the top four (which, let's be honest, is the real challenge).

I think Paqueta is one of those (not unlike Bruno) where we aren't necessarily chasing to get that deal done but if its later in the window, we've done most/all of our other business and we get word that Lyon would do business at an amount we're happy with, we'd do the deal.

I remember this lad being linked a little while back, along with the kid from the mackems academy. Hopefully we can actually start to develop these players, our Academy/U23s has just been a fast-track to the semi-pro ranks recently.

I wondered this but according to Transfermarkt he's played as much on the right as on the left recently so I don't think he'd be a replacement. ASM, Diaby & Wilson as a front three would be explosive ?

It's a nice thought, and I don't doubt that we could meet whatever the asking price is, but I don't see any way he isn't playing Champions League football next season. A couple of seasons too early for us in my opinion.

I think in the immediate future (ie this summer) Ashworth will have a more hands-on approach regarding transfers in and out than he will have going forwards.

That's my theory. If he was keen to come in January, he'll definitely be keen to come now.

100% My preference would probably be a DM. Against the better sides Bruno can sit deeper with the new DM and help cover the back four, in other games he can push forward and pick the ball up a bit further up the field.

That would be a disappointing use of £30m

I'm not familiar with Inacio but I'd take the other five over Carlos. Having said that, I'd have been delighted with Coutinho, Kamara & Carlos so you have to give credit to Villa, they've done some very good business so far.

His Canada manager is a Geordie and/or NUFC fan I think