Keegans Export

Definitely mod action, I didn't delete my own post!

Microsoft Paint was designed for exactly this purpose - get drawing! edit - you too @Jack27!

The net spend is the key part though. If we bring in £30m for players who aren't even playing currently (Hayden, Lewis, Gayle etc) or contributing little (I love the guy but Miggy) then you're not losing anything in terms of quality but you're adding +£180m of talent (using the £150m base figure I just pulled out of my backside there) which could be four Brunos. You're not wrong about having to have a really high hit rate when it comes to transfers though and that is going to be a massive challenge, but my point was more that what we spend this summer isn't necessarily going to reflect what we will spend in the following summers & doesn't necessarily contradict what they claim are their ambitions.

I don't think the two are mutually exclusive, we're talking about one transfer window. If we can spend £50m+sales this summer to get us to 8th, then £100m+sales the next summer to get us to 5th, suddenly you're a fringe CL team on the up and you can attract the sort of players a side hoping to compete for titles would need. If the aim is to compete at the top end within five years, we can't cash all our chips in during the first proper transfer window when a load of our top targets will turn us down because we aren't in Europe.

People gave up season tickets for all sorts of reasons, you can't just give prior ST holders priority on the theory that they packed in the force Ashley out.

That's a good point actually and not something I'd considered. Hopefully it is the real deal and we will be moving back to embroidered badges. The leaked Rangers kit has an embroidered crest and a similar collar. The Villa one is harder to judge, I guess it's a stitched on badge seeing as theirs is just a basic shield design.

Are there any Saudi-linked companies that have a predominantly light blue logo?

This is probably linked to the new rules around Sponsorship etc. Justifying a hefty sponsorship deal is easier when you're a club that will be playing PL football next season, rather than one that will probably be playing PL football next season. I guess that doesn't just apply to those "related party transactions", even if we're targeting non-Saudi sponsors we can offer a much more attractive package once we're mathematically safe. You're right though, in that the numbers involved will give us a good idea what our spending power will be. At the moment, our Fun88 deal is around £6.5m (SOURCE) and there's quite a big jump from teams around us like Wolves, Everton, Southampton (all £10m or less) and Spurs (£35m). My theory is that if we find ourselves a spot somewhere between the two, say £12-15m then our spending will be relatively modest. If we somehow manage to push through a deal closer to what the top 6 are getting then we'll be a bit more ambitious.

It's a different kind of "registration" really. He doesn't have to be registered as part of our PL squad because he's U21 as you say, but he still needs to be registered as a Newcastle player which they won't allow outside the transfer window.

From the little I've seen on YouTube he seems to pop up in the box an awful lot for someone listed as a DM - seems to be almost playing the role Bruno has been for us, rather than just sitting in the centre circle breaking up play and recycling possession.

I've said before that I'm not 100% convinced we'll sign a striker to come straight in and replace Wilson (someone like Nunez or similar). Eddie Nketiah still hasn't signed a new contract at Arsenal as far as I'm aware, we were supposedly sniffing around in January. I wonder whether we are (or will be) making some enquiries there?

I do like the theory that Spurs will have to lose Son if they don't make the CL...and sell him to a side that is also not in the CL

I posted this on the previous page but I think players returning from loan can only play again for their parent club after the transfer window has opened, which obviously isn't until after the season has finished.

They may have changed the rule but I'm fairly sure if you go out on loan you can't come back and play for your parent club until the next transfer window opens. So if we loan him out next August, we could bring him back in January and he could play for us, but he can't come back and play for us now until the summer transfer window opens again.

Genuinely delighted for the Rovers lads on here, absolute dreamland stuff. That's what football is about.

The proceeds from the sale are going to "charitable causes" so no, Abmramovic isn't getting a penny. Apparently.

They've been one of European football's top dogs for nearly 20 years, they're one of the most attractive brand partners in sport and they have a spot waiting for them if (or when?) the ESL rears its ugly head again. I can see why buying an established asset (and I hate referring to football clubs as "assets" but I guess that's where we are these days) is considerably more attractive than buying a project you have to build from the ground up (like us) with no guarantee that you're going to reach the heights you want to reach.

I think it'll be 4-6. Striker, CB, LB and a CM would be the four, another CM and a RW would be the six. I also think we might not go crazy with the striker - if we are being ruled out by the likes of Nunez, Isak etc. because we aren't in Europe, I think there's a chance we'll go for someone like Ekitike to challenge/rotate with Wilson, rather than a full "marquee" style signing that will relegate Wilson to essentially a backup. Then, if we can get into Europe with those improvements, we'll revisit the big centre forward signing next summer. Edit - to add that this is based on us not being able to recoup much from player sales. I don't think we have many sellable assets and I think we will struggle to shift the likes of Clark, Richie & Gayle for any sort of fee because of their wages. Almiron and maybe Lewis are the exceptions to that, we might find someone willing to punt £7-10m on either of those two.

More or less yeah, but you still have to be on the website at a certain time on a certain day to get a spot in that queue. With the ballot you'd have a set period of time to register what you wanted in terms of numbers and which price categories you'd be ok with. When supply is expected to massively exceed demand, its undoubtedly the best way to do it (which is why the large-scale events such as the Olympics and cricket/rugby world cup have used it) but I don't think they have enough time to get everything set up. I don't know anything about computers/software etc but I imagine it isn't something you could knock up in a couple of months?

You said "they should be a complete different entity" tbf Your only argument against having a top quality training facility for them is that they dont need it now. Right, fair enough. But firstly, this thing is going to take years to put together, so who knows what level they'll be at in 3, 4, 5 years time. Secondly, even if they dont need it, why not just build it anyway? What difference does it make? Our owners are worth billions. They're going to invest a vast sum of money in a state-of-the-art training facility. Why not spend a few quid giving the womens team their own space within the facility? Whether you like it or not, women's football is becoming more and more popular globally and in this country. There's a long way to go for sure but the growth is there. Why not make sure we're front and centre of that?

Right well let me answer for you - no it hasn't. The highest paid womens footballer that I can find is on about £7k/week. So your reasoning for completely cutting off the womens team is something that might happen in the future? And you're basing your theory that this might happen on...what? I'm sure it's not your intention so please clarify if I'm wrong but your post implies an element of "don't let these uppity women get ideas above their station..."

Has that ever happened at any of the top women's clubs?

Such as...?

Was that the one where we had a scout at the Forest game to watch Prutton and he reported back that we should be after Jenas instead?

Yeah but if we're talking about it being mathematically impossible for them to catch up then .com are right