Optimistic Nut

It does give hope that a quality GK & CF in the summer might give us a second push, like. As a starting point that's been the difference between us being bottom half this season and challenging top 6.

Where I am these days. Other than Newcastle & Hearts I can't remember the last time I sat down looking forward to watching football.

I'd sooner just start the season beginning of September with no interruptions (plus you'd have reached end of the transfer window) and get the internationals out of the way in August than this.

Spot. On.

Leeds are doing well.

Wow..

And Ashworth who helped oversee the likes of Hall, Livramento, Tonali & Barnes was poached from the project by a club who could spend far more freely than we can.

It's a very valid excuse, though. You've been able to mis-spend for the best part of a decade, but throw enough mud at it, some will stick, like it has now.. We've recruited pretty solidly for 3 and a half years, have one poor window, and it's going to set us back massively. How the fuck is that fair?

Go so far back? It's relevant because we had to spend an absolute load just to become an adequate Premier League squad. We started from a position of Darlow, Manquillo, Lewis, Clark, Fernandez, Dummett, Hayden, Shelvey, Ritchie, Fraser, Gayle as half the squad. No-one was ever going to spend money on that so the money spent in the first couple of years was always going to be skewed. We spent just to tread water with the bigger clubs, who all spend way more than us even since then.

So using this from 23/4 to today, we've spent €200m.less than you and brought in €55m more. Aye, nowt to do with PSR I'm sure. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/einnahmenausgaben/wettbewerb/GB1/plus/0?ids=a&sa=&saison_id=2023&saison_id_bis=2025&nat=&pos=&altersklasse=&w_s=&leihe=&intern=0

After the Bruno, Trippier, Botman, Isak, Pope signings in Jan & Aug 2023, our squad had cost £500m less than yours. https://football-observatory.com/WeeklyPost430 Haven't looked, but I'd be very surprised if we've spent close to what you have in the 3 years since.

It's wank. 4 years since the takeover, we ran Man Utd close first season, overtook them second season, pillared them third season, we have one bad year and it's like nothing happened. They can spend without consequence, we can't.

Froggy on the wind up/missing the point again. PSR isn't letting us spend the money on players that'll attract the top players, not letting us pay the wages the big clubs can to keep their elite players.

They've moved on from running Football Manager in holiday mode to just asking Chat GPT.

To be fair, Klose & Podolski went into the 2010 World Cup with 5 goals in 52 between them, got Germany to the Semi Finals scoring 6 between them.

Might be wrong, but now wouldn't there just be one line needed? One line from the furthest point back of the last defender, does any of the attacker overlap this? Yes, goal. No, offside.

Done this to death but the "guideline" and "interpretation" was always daylight. Watch any match up to about 2010 and when they'd show a replay of a potential offside, unless there was daylight, everyone was pretty much happy with it. All this law change is doing is going back to that, but in a VAR world.

Let's see how the likes of Dias try shady bollocks like shoving Burn offside the other week, knowing if he's not pushed him far enough he might just gift a goal. Let's see defences actually think about offsides and it becoming an art form again, rather than the absolute lottery it is these days. I don't know why people think defences are suddenly going to stop the high lines, it's going to be the same for both. If it does go that way and we get to see flair players who can take on a few defenders with quick feet, or can pick an inch perfect pass again with creativity, rather than just who runs hardest and fastest, then bring it fucking on.

I'm looking forward to the return of the Henry/Bellamy style start wide, bend their run between the CBs and away. Never see it now because the offside law is a farce.

Stuart McCall played in the Euro 96 match and was apparently Interim Player-Manager in the 00/01 season when Bradford went down.

Stuart McCall only other I can think of that's not been mentioned while he was at Bradford maybe.

Calderwood wasn't joint interim with Hughton between Kinnear & Shearer was he?

Ideally the new centre-back is someone who'd push these two. It's why I think one of Burn or Schar will have to move on.

Lincoln City rocking up there for a league game would be exquisite.