Ex Lion Tamer

Tim Flower became a first team regular at Saints at 22, though he was playing for Wolves in Div 2 as a teenager

I did think we were going to be coming out of that period by now and our wage bill doesn't look that high anymore. I do take the directors at face value though when they say this is what we can afford - I don't think they're on the grift

Spending within your means and managing your costs if you get relegated is definitely less risky than overspending and going out of business if you get relegated anyway

Buffon was also first choice at Parma at 18. Manuel Neuer was a first team regular at 20. Oliver Khan was 20. Richard Wright was playing Championship level at 20. I'm not sure what this is necessary proving to be fair

I agree that I don't fully understand why we have so little money compared to others

If we don't have the money though then it's as much of a risk to spend bigger

If you can take the time to read it, this is why Southgate's defensive approach is ultimately working: https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/nov/14/southgates-pragmatic-shaping-of-england-is-recipe-for-success-at-international-level

Converting central midfielders into the no. 10 role is the way to go IMO. This guy looks like a player - love the first finish on that YouTube video

We've had a bad end to the season but overall, Stuart Armstrong, Salisu, Perraud, Broja, Che have all improved since they joined us

Brentford will go down this season

Hopefully we're looking at Roy Keane, Stuart Pearce and Gordon Ramsay to give the players a good shouting

I'm struggling to think of a precedent for a new coaching staff coming in and turning round a club's fortunes. Actually I can't think of a club sacking three coaches so far into a manager's tenure. I can think of new assistant managers coming in. Steve Bould was supposed to make Wenger's teams able to defend (didn't just long). And that guy who came in at Newcastle under Bruce did nothing in the long run

Welcome to our new coaches: Dave Beasant, Peter Schmeichel and Rene Higuita

Correct me if I'm wrong but the consensus last summer was that we'd done pretty good business in the circumstances

I'm not against having more options there, but it's just as likely that Romeu is knackered after a long season of Ralph-ball

Probably true unfortunately. He'll have seen how the Echo suffered when Cortese banned them

Maybe we did? He didn't want to come South so was a non starter

Regular as clockwork, every summer West Ham start "appreciating" players that will cost more than they are willing to spend

Quite amusing that for ages the criticism of Ralph was that he didn't change things enough

So basically glory hunters are thick, people who support their local team are smart

Forster's return to the team in 2014/15 sparked an amazing run for the team defensively. It can't have been a coincidence. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31300135 Right that he goes now though

We'd get relegated

I find it worse that he's stipulating what level he'd be willing to go out in loan to

Somehow Leeds managed to sustain it last season but otherwise Bielsa teams always wilt towards the end of the season, because he overtrains them. Their players are just not good enough and only performed last season due to promotion momentum