TheBrownBottle

That’s right, it was - forgot about the fanzine! Never heard them sing it, but it’s fair to say it must’ve been around a while for that. Seems apt that their ‘anthem’ is something that only winos sing.

We’d need a bid which would smash our transfer record before CP would even look at a bid for Wharton I reckon. Excellent footballer but I don’t think we’re in a place where we spend that much on a player who’d still represent a fair amount of risk

The Flat Cap Arena works for me

Robert Jarni remains my favourite of these bizarre double-transfers

I’d never realised it in all honesty - never heard them sing it before. They’re a weird bunch

He shouldn’t be punching away, it’s a simple claim, the back pass law didn’t exist in 1986. Maradona is almost a foot shorter than him. It’s dogshit goalkeeping.

Yep, it’s not a solid basis - and one of the only times I saw the Mackems was vs Burnley and they both looked shite I think Burnley will continue with that style of play, and the clean sheets will become two and three goal losses pretty quickly

He’s a thick racist cunt, but I think he’ll be proved right re Burnley, who I reckon will end up finishing bottom. The Mackems will end up just one position above them, though.

At fault vs Poland in 1973, stood six yards off his line for a FK twenty yards out vs West Germany in 1990. Shilton’s incompetence got England knocked out of three WCs. If there is a position that the English are shit at but have zero self-awareness about, its goalkeepers (just beating out centre backs).

The LC win was fantastic, but it won’t have translated to much extra money in the coffers. The prize money is a rounding error in the club’s accounts.

Haha fucking hell, they can’t even be arsed to look up what we paid

100%. Used to be the same when I was younger and was CM/FM obsessed and so were my mates. It also helped that the PL wasn’t Europe’s top division at that point, meaning that generally an expensive player from abroad was going to be a likely hit. This is no longer the case, as many clubs (especially Man Utd) can attest to.

He played LB in the LC Final. Looked less than great the whole season at RB. Doesn’t mean he isn’t a RB, just that it’s actually a fair bit of time since he played well there. Again, doesn’t mean that I think he’s not good enough or that we should sell, just that if Howe chooses to do so then I’m fine with that

Yep, without the restrictions this wouldn’t even be a point of discussion - the only reason to sell would be if the player wanted to leave or the manager wanted shot. There has been no indication of either in Livramento’s case. Gordon and Livramento are good footballers, which is why they’d attract good money. The situation is what it is - are people going to hoy a leppy when the club does sell a first teamer that we wouldn’t necessarily want sold? All seems a bit soft to me tbh - football has always had player trading. I’m happy if we get to the summer with nothing but new players and no-one is out the door - but there’ll also be zero anger from me if any of our players is sold (provided it’s for a good price and Howe sanctions the sale).

Christ, can you imagine if that happened today with social media? I thought the couple of hundred wallies on the steps outside SJP was bad enough

If we sell them, we'll buy new ones. I doubt most of the board were aware of Bruno, had seen much of Isak, or had spent much time thinking about Tonali before we signed them. I've complete faith in our recruitment capabilities.

All of our players are available for purchase - it’s all a question of other clubs being able to afford them. The Sky Six have always traded players amongst themselves - our income is dwarfed by theirs, so if they come in with the right money then the player is off. I think Man City - if they’re interested enough - will pay what it takes. If we get close to double what we paid, the lad is off (the £100m valuations on here notwithstanding, obviously). The lad looks much better at LB than he does at RB, but he’s not our best LB. I couldn’t give much of a shite as long as all of the money (more importantly headroom) is available for Howe to spend - which it will be. And if the lad goes, it’s the manager’s call. I’ve no idea where this idea that we don’t sell our players comes from - every club sells their players. If we are actually going to get to where the ownership claimed, there is a real chance that none of the current squad are there when we do.

We don’t need to sell, but we won’t exactly have a bumper budget if we don’t.

I’m perfectly comfortable signing the lad if Howe wants him - Howe’s record on signings is as good as anyone in football

That would be a great draw, but I’d swap the first three teams out - we’ve played Barcelona, PSG and Juve before. Whack Bayern, Real & Atletico in there and jobs a good’un

PSR restrictions etc etc etc Howe really isn’t the greatest at being ruthless, either

I reckon teams which lose more than half their league games despite having the 7th highest wage bill in the country don’t have a fucking leg to stand on

It means our owners are spunking a billion on a joke tournament and pouring an additional £100m into the coffers of Man City and Chelsea - which in Chelsea’s case will help with their FFP woes