The9

Seems to have posted a lot less since Cortese left and former players have been welcomed back...

It's a good job absolutely nobody should care about that table then isn't it?

Fairly sure Elia and Djuricic are "outs" at this stage...

Needs more spreadsheet

People really don't want to listen to other people who actually know the regulations about this stuff, do they?

Benefits of our model: - Focus on player development usually brings rewards - Infrastructure in place (both personnel and facilities) makes it difficult for other sides to prevent this continuing in the way they can by signing players away. Generally we only lose one person at a time from behind the scenes. - Regular profit from player sales - sustainable model - There are lots more players at a lower level ready for development than there are top level players, so the market will already exist - Being in the Europa League does give more opportunities for younger players to develop skills - Aside from the regulations we have to meet, does anyone REALLY care where players come from?

It's precisely our business model - get players relatively cheaply, add value to them and sell them on. That doesn't just mean academy prospects, it also means players like Clyne and Bertrand. If we manage to unearth some that are happy to take £30k/wk instead of £100k/wk to get regular matches at a club which has an outside chance of a trophy every season, all the better. The dream of half a team of academy players depends on us either keeping the ones we produce or buying back the ones we've sold. Both of these options involve us either paying massive wages to ensure they don't go to the money-rich clubs, or finding the ones who want to play for us no matter what the offer, and Le Tissier's retired. Until we can keep the best players by offering regular Champions League and big money we won't be able to offer regular Champions League and big money. You can see the problem here. Add to that not being able to integrate players when the stakes are so high for every match, and we can't blood players or give them time to develop without potentially costing the team vital points. The other way to get the team full of kids is to get relegated.

Absolutely hatstand.

I should think we've already returfed it in the 2 weeks since the record-breaking match, our season starts in 6 weeks, no time to hang about.

There's a lot of not-twinning going on there... you've got Arsenal and Spurs both at home for a start.

There is clear evidence just a few posts above that there has been plenty of messing about - this is our latest EVER "first signing" in the Premier League since we came back, in a close season where we haven't changed managers.

Hmm, why has he edited the "new manager" bit? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm???????

Well there's "doing our business too late" fodder for Alpine right there.

JPT Final isn't one of the matches that Club Wembley membership offers as part of the standard "subscription", for some bizarre (i.e. obvious) reason, though it does give you the right to first refusal on them. Core Events and Optional Events: https://clubwembley.wembleystadium.com/Events/EventTypes Core: All England Men's Senior International home games The FA Cup Final The FA Cup Semi Finals The FA Community Shield The Football League Cup Final The Rugby League Challenge Cup Final Option: Option events include concerts and other public bowl events, apart from Excluded Events (please see next section). So basically anything else, inc JPT Final and PlayOffs, but not The Olympic Games UEFA Champions League Finals tournament FIFA World Cup Finals tournament Rugby Union World Cup Finals tournament Rugby League World Cup Finals tournament Any association match held at the Stadium where The FA or the Football League is not the event owner Any other bid event So basically the Core ones are Club Wembley, the rest are just normal tickets for anyone. I had a Club Wembley level ticket for the Conference Play Off Final in 2013, I doubt there was a single member there.

Surely they'll be turning up in their numbers for the biggest game they'll have this season?

Alpine must be gutted, he's probably got a 5000 word rant on us not signing anyone ready to upload that he can't use for another 2 weeks now.

As for the Austin or Pelle argument, should I ignore that we've just signed Juanmi? Pelle is integral to our build up but Austin (and Juanmi) offer a different kind of threat, for which we'd need to set up differently. Unless we plan on picking them both in midfield.

There's no way Pelle's signing for Bologna, they can't afford him and we don't need to sell. They can have Gaston for £10m if they've actually got the money.

Though I admit this is quite a hint from Saints wall and Facebook:

Not until it's on the OS we don't.

No, they're always boring and uncreative and usually lose to Germany or Netherlands the first opportunity they get. Kane looked decent last time I watched a couple of years ago, Clyne looked poop. So there you go.

Or Alex Oxlade-Chamb... wait.

Nobody pays for transfers in L2. Amused to see that in a division where everyone has at most 8 or 9 imports, Newport had 16 foreign players (i.e. 16 English players). They've all left now except the keeper and 2 others now anyway.

Maybe the player value calculation uses league position rather than the other way around? Football's a meritocracy, the problem isn't that the best players make the most money, it's that the best players all sign for the only clubs that can afford to pay them, perpetuating a lack of true competition. Not sure why it makes a mockery of that, when there's a proven link between experience and wages, and between wages and finishing position?

Actually, given that we're playing the Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg on the Thursday before (August 6th) but not the Thursday after, Monday night would probably suit us.