Adam P

Nope, their turnaround came when Paqueta and Rice learned how to play together. Antonio turning round their season is an absurdity.

The only reason West Ham did anything of note last season was because they had Rice and Paqueta. In the latter stages of the cup, it was Paqueta standing out as their best player. He found his feet at West Ham and was instrumental in getting them to the final. Losing those two players and replacing with JWP, McTominay etc will make them worse.

When the takeover happened, one of the main consequences was a more aggressive commercial strategy. The sponsorships are all part of that but the revenue from SJP was very poor compared to what it could be. I hope they are trying to balance your concerns with the objective of driving revenue from all sources. Its all part of the mix and is both a positive and negative of the takeover by ambitious owners. The push for international customers in hospitality seems to be a good way of balancing this but i dont think there are straightforward options for the financial / commercial team. I thought 7.50 per game for kids last sunday wasnt that bad.

Said the man in the orthopaedic shoe.

You could argue he 'single-handedly' kept us up, that doesnt mean questioning his team ethic is wrong. The point was about character anyway, if a member of my team took to social media to air their complaints and 'feelings' about the organisation, i'd be raising an eyebrow. I think Eddie will have raised one of his too.

Dont think he was judging the value of him as a footballer, just expressing probably the widely held view that posting that sort of thing on instagram is not a great reflection of character. Put me off him a bit too, which is also in my view irrelevant to my perspective on him as a footballer. It does however speak of a self-centredness which is the opposite personality required for a team collective. So in a away it is actually relevant to his employment at the club and i bet if you asked an expert leader of people like Eddie Howe, he would agree. I also think its quite likely that the idea of him leaving the club was floated at the time of those posts, which makes sense. Eddie will have been watching his reaction. Was he going to roll his sleeves up and fight for the cause, knuckle down in his fitness and tactical training? Or make excuses and make it all about him? I cant know if thats true but i reckon it is.

I'm all for terrible dad jokes.

I grew up in Whitley late 70s / 80s. I believe there may have been some sort of toxic leak into the water that made the kids growing up there at that time dafter than gazza's bog brush.

FFP is either real or it isn't. I err on the side of 'its real'. We will sell this summer from necessity not from desire.

Buying a RCB is definitely part of the jigsaw, the way i see it. L'equipe were saying he was going to Man U about a month ago.

Is this a subtle dental reference to take the piss out of British teeth?

Depends what you mean by 'a performance like that'. In the narrow sense of doing what ASM did in that game then obviously there are only 1 or 2 candidates in the squad who have the potential to play like that. We played quite high risk against City with ASM pushed right up but thats not the only way to play against them or to win games against elite teams.

It might be a little harsh because he had a good season but he is the weakest of the 5 at the back so would be the priority to improve the starting 11. You could well be right that he starts as number one LB though. Eddie will have to rotate this season if we progress in the cups so we need options. Which is why i would be very happy to see us sign Barnes too.

Its another option, would still leave us playing in the CL with 4 internationals in our back 5. Upgrade the LB and we upgrade the starting 11. Upgrade the RB with a flexible RCB and we only upgrade the squad.

LB for me so Burn can focus on CB meaning we only need one CB. Bring in a RB and we need arguably 2 back up CBs.

I imagine if we sell ASM for 35m its because we think we can have a chance to get a better overall player for 70m. He signed for 16m 4 years ago, so depending on how they chose to amortise, 35m would probably be pure upside for the transfer budget. ASM's issues are not just tracking back, its positional discipline too, although both improved they were not consistent when he played. You cant really pick up 'standing around in the wrong place' from stats. I'm sure Eddie said that when we grow, we will have to let go of players who are loved.

Re: Cucurella Curly Hair (yes) Shag his wife (yes) Love of my life (no)

It says Rolfham not Roflham. There are some right wind up merchants doing thread titles.

Sure there are different ways to look at it. My view is that our starting 11 RW is better than our starting 11 LB. So for me, its a higher priority.

I think thats fair and the judgement about what is right will depend on how Targett is fairing, fitness and mentality wise. The way it falls for me is that across the back 5 we have starting 11 quality internationals except at LB. Trippier is still starting 11 for 23/24 so LB is where i would go, meaning Burn becomes cover CB. Manquillo on his way out, no?

Can he not just change it because of the anomalous 't' that is irritating everyone?

My reading was that the two areas of the first 11 that needed upgrading were DM and LB and that the two areas of the squad that needed strengthening (on top of that) were CB and maybe CF. Hoped to get 4 in this summer in those places, maybe 5 if we sell.

People think he didn't and we weren't interested? We made an offer last year near to the 40m currently being quoted, so it looks like a choice to me.

Not sure he can be objectively criticised much for the choice. Less money, CL football next season vs more money and a fairly even chance of CL football in the future. We believe, so our subjective assessment of future CL is higher than some external assessments, given their recent history in the CL. I wish him the worst of luck of course.

You mean gr8t dont you.