TheBrownBottle

Wissa was replacing the experience of Wilson - we were bidding much lower numbers on him early in the window.

I’d be surprised if we’re shopping in the £60m player market this summer at all - too many positions to strengthen or replace.

Bobby Charlton must’ve been off his tits if he genuinely said that. Whitehurst may be up there with our worst ever no.9s - a thoroughly mediocre player and a thug to boot. I’m not sure our crowd loved him in the way he claims.

Yeah, this is true. It applies to football generally, but if applied to the English top division I’ve seen a few of these cycles at my advancing age. The solution to a footballing style is found and adapted quickly. High pressing was the counter to ‘tiki-taka’ possession football - forcing opponents into mistakes. Direct football is the counter to a high press. And so on and so forth. It’s happened throughout history. We’re not close to the nadir in terms of style that I’ve seen - the early ‘90s were spectacularly grim. Hoofball (and hoof the opposition), offside traps and the back passes.

Wissa was Wilson’s replacement was always my understanding

Decimal point missed on that one I think

Spotted Ekitike’s agent’s car in Sydney this morning on the way to a meeting - can’t wait to see him upfront with Stamatelopoulos

This times 1000

Rob Lee on the right looks like himself mind

Shite news, love the man

I remember him - weren’t they kicked out after Grey scored?

You'd think the club would be offering an extension regardless of where he's playing in September - seems daft to let it run down.

Would it be reduced if he was sold abroad? Made the Gordon sale go down like Calpol for me - that was one of those moves where I think all parties could basically walk away happy and we can wish the player all the best.

Agreed on all counts - and the new rules are weird; they even run March to March from what I can understand. The only small advantage from the new rules for us is that transfer losses can be amortised over those three years too - which should reduce the impact of getting shot of someone like Wissa for a fraction of what we paid.

He was a solid top division midfielder pre- and post-PL breakaway, which absolutely meant he could play. He was decent enough. He was decent enough crack tbf - anyone who was at SJP when he went in nets for Wimbledon could attest to that (and he wasn't that bad in goal really, even though we scored six that day). The thuggishness was absolutely in his game - though most of that side during that period were the same. He also wasn't as innately unlikeable as Dennis Wise, so there's that too. I very much doubt he'd be a top flight player today, mind.

Even the weird songs were absolutely shite, seemed to be a bunch of twats who'd never been to a match in their life 'Nayim from the halfway line' they weren't

Has to be Osula vs Man Utd for me, but I do love BDB's heeder

After three years it will - years 4 & 5 we'd be -£40m each season

We’d have a delta of about £27m available for transfers (assuming Leao’s and Woltemade’s wage costs balance out), less Leao’s signing on fee

I wouldn’t like to see Barnes go, but I’m also not convinced he’ll ever be more than a ‘super sub’ for a good side. He’s been pretty much the best finisher at the club since he joined, but he disappears from games much of the time. I wouldn’t be hopping up and down if the club decides to cash in - and I’d also be happy to see him in the squad opening day.

He feels almost designed for Serie A to me - I could see him being a massive hit there with the slower pace of the game married to that more tactical & technical style.

Never understood the ‘we have money to spend’ in Jan stuff. The only thing which dictates money available is the extant FFP rules in place - we’ve got 85% (+15%) of next year’s turnover available. Our turnover next year will drop off compared to this year’s- and even if you push it up to its maximum possible, you’ll be looking at roughly £360m-ish. Our current amortised transfer fees would be around £150m (the figure for 23/24 was £100m, our splurges last summer will have upped it by 50%), our wage bill is around the £250m mark (which includes for all the club’s wages, some of which will be deductible). Under the new rules we’ll be skirting somewhere between 85-100% of income next season. If the Gordon sale falls under the old FFP rules (which it should, as the new rules don’t start until 1 July) then any profit isn’t available. The Athletic is reporting it’ll be included in the new rules - then that’ll give £13m + Gordon’s wages for the summer. In other words, enough for perhaps two £30m players to be brought in. Last summer fucked us, the lack of Europe has hurt us, if the rumbling about difficulties securing a good FOS sponsor are true then that doesn’t help either. We’ve gambled and overstretched. I don’t think it’s the end of the world - I think a proper clear out is needed in any case. The bad moves last summer have hampered this summer, though.

We’re going to need more money than the Gordon sale for a rebuild - not that that means any specific player has to go, but it’s sell to buy.

Wish they’d sell DVDs or whatever of these shows, never get to see them, KK is always worth listening to

Yep, agree completely