Ex Lion Tamer

I think you misread Ralph's character to be honest. I don't think he wants expensive signings, he wants to develop players. I think he doesn't want to bring players in unless he can shift others first because he wants a close knit group where everyone has a role and a chance of getting in the team. And I think he he's a patient perfectionist who would rather wait until the summer to get the right player than accept less now

Puts your campaign against Reed in a different light, no wonder you are keen to downplay it

Yes, we have a squad full of average players on big wages, which is at least part of why we don't have money to spend on transfer fees. It's going to take time to turn that around. Reed is gone now, and so is Wilson, so while I don't want to make out that Gao is an amazing owner, we could well be turning things around to correct the mistakes of the past. And I'm personally happy we are not loaded with debt - i'd have thought someone with your political persuasions would agree with me!

The only positive if that he's yet to oversee crazy appointments like Wigley, Gray, Portvliet, Clifford, Woodward, etc. He seems happy to leave that stuff to other people.

Wages only 53% of turnover compared to our 75%, £144m loans owed to Ashley

According to these figures from earlier this year, all but one of those clubs have a lower wage bill and all have more debt https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/22/premier-league-finances-club-guide-2017-18-accounts-manchester-united-city

Ings has already done the big club thing so I'm hopeful that he'll be happy to bide his time and at least give us another season after this one. He won't want to be back on the bench every week, that's for sure. Why not stick with a manager who has him playing the best football of his career and can offer him the prospect of a top half finish next session?

Che will have learnt more from that 17 minutes against Leicester than he would in 90 minutes against Sheffield Wednesday. There's no way he should go out on loan, he needs to keep plugging away at this level playing with higher quality players

Omar Colley apparently https://www.goal.com/en/news/newcastle-face-competition-from-southampton-and-west-ham-for-15m-/1idfzxufl9hrx1qh7cp5ymz2ig

There's plenty to criticise Reed for but this isn't one of them. Do you think that Liverpool wouldn't have increased the asking price if the sell on clause was removed? The whole point of the clause is it allows the payment to scale up and down depending on how successful the player is. Very wise given how injury prone Ings is/was

Double post

Come off it. Reed bought a potentially 20 goal a season striker for just £20m. The sell on clause means we effectively pay a bit more if Ings is a success and gets a big transfer, but save our money if injuries get to him or if he wasn't a success, or if he stays with us!

Total speculation but I wonder if he's been working with a psychologist to improve his concentration

This is really important and positive if true

A few seasons is a bit much but Adams is young enough and has shown enough that we need to see how he does in his second season. I still think he can come good. Looking at our current squad, Redmond, Hoj, Armstrong, JWP, Bednarek and Stephens have all needed time and patience to get up to their current level

The crest would be very much the same as the other Red Bull crests with none of our branding. But yes, I must be mellowing in my old age as I'm not as bothered as I would have been 5-10 years ago

The crest would be very much the same as the other Red Bull crests with none of our branding. But yes, I must be mellowing in my old age as I'm not as bothered as I would have been 5 years ago

The stadium would likely be renamed the Red Bull Arena and our crest would also be changed, if that matters to you

Based on this weekend Villa look worse than us, as do Norwich and Watford. We're on target to get a points total in the upper 30s and should be able to steal some extra against safe mid table teams towards the end of the season. But if Ings gets injured then we're in big trouble

Villa fans booed their team at half and full time, and they're a newly promoted side!

I know coming back from relegation would be difficult but surely "well and truly done for as a club" is a bit over the top?

Vardy turned down a move to arsenal guys

Still think Adams and Danso can come good to be fair. But obviously he's stuck to the policy of buying players for the future rather than ones who can come straight into the team

Genuine question: Are Yoshi and Bednarek good enough in the air to play together? Is this why Ralph is persisting with Vest?

We simply don't know what's gone on behind the scenes. I'd rather have some odd looking decisions then have a manager who is unable to force players to play as a team because the players know they can walk into the team based on ability