CB Fry

Maybe. But they've only finished true mid table once under Potter - his previous two years they were bottom six and below us. Before that two seasons scraping up under Hughton. So 4 out of 5 seasons in the Prem finished bottom six. Will depend on who they get of course.

This. It's a terrible fit, he'd probably be gone by Christmas but go for it. Take the money and the Champions League games and the experience. I always look at managers and think that as long as their last-but-one job went okay they'll always get another shot. So Potter goes in at Chelsea and is binned, fine - he's not going to be out of work for long and he'd get a job at a club like Leicester or Palace or Saints etc no bother at all. Even if he goes to Chelsea and loses ten games in a row and is sacked before the world cup, he will bounce back. Honestly if he turns it down he's a fucking plank. Take the money and the challenge. Make no mistake i think it would be a terrible appointment for Chelsea but that's not the point. Also it brings Brighton back into the bottom 6, all being well.

Now, I'm not comparing Truss with E Haaland but this has reminded me of the stuff that came out after his first Prem match following the Charity Shield game when he was a bit off the pace. One match later and Pep and others giving it the "ha ha ha you all said he was shit and he's not". No one said Haaland was shit in the first place, and I haven't seen anything anywhere that would suggest that Labour have "underestimated" Truss whatsoever. I have no doubt they expect a honeymoon period and a poll bounce, especially as she is about to dish out a load of money to people. The polls this weekend will be much closer, probably Truss in front in some of them. Labour have definitely estimated that.

Chelsea are chaotic (see Lavia, R for evidence of that) so I would not put it past them to get permission, speak to Potter, making his role as Brighton boss untenable, and then they go and offer it to Pochettino anyway.

You think Austria v Macedonia would be a 10-0 match in mens qualifying?

Eddie Howe wants to be worried with a Champions League winning manager with experience of managing big clubs back on the market.

Can't see it being Potter. Chelsea under this ownership seem to have turned into a worse version of Man United. They'll want a big name celeb manager - Pochettino seems the obvious one (did he take over from Tuchel at PSG?)

My personal favourite thing is all the people who we spitting blood about things like Alex Scott taking over as presenter on Football Focus (typical leftie-woke-box-ticking-quota-filling whatever-happened-to-the-best-person-for-the-job etc etc) seem to be the exact same people crowing about the four great offices of state being occupied by non white men and ha ha ha fuck you we're the best at diversity. Make your mind up lads x x

Its the Dave Lee Travis at Radio 1 method - quit before they sack you. Entirely performative, of course.

Everything about it is insane. Just imagine if Saints say yes to Chelsea. What kind of bad-faith move would that be - our Joe Shields can kiss good bye to any future young stars if that's how we treat City and their young stars. And even for Chelsea, it doesn't make them look ambitious or forward thinking. The kid has played five matches in his entire career. Their leadership just look ridiculous as well. Absolutely nuts.

Incredibly bold decision by the Laura K production team to book Joe Lycett on the debut program. Thought it was a gamble before he opened his mouth. He absolutely delivered. Never laughed so much at a Sunday morning politics programme. Genuinely brilliant.

Very easy to foresee lots of " well, we did some good things, just unlucky on the day" results for the rest of the season. Let's hope we can bounce back against Brentford because the bottom six is going to be tight this season.

I think that is something that just happens at any well run club. Whereas putting this concept forward as a fundamental/primary reason to sign Barkley (or to retain Walcott etc) is misguided. James Ward-Prowse can mentor young players with the added advantage of, like, being a useful player in the first team.

No, not really. He did not say we definitely had him, and from the subsequent reports in The Athletic and elsewhere backs up what Blackmore said at the time.

Pretty unequivocal.

Maybe he wants to play for Chelsea, and he's got a great contract and chance to do that?

This. Pretty obvious now that he didn't want to come to us or any club like us. He doesn't need to, his next step will be a CL level club (or Man United, virtually the same thing). He does not need a season or two poncing about at a 14th place Premier League club. He's signing a new contract which is great for PSV but in reality it means one more season and he'll be sold next year. But not to us or or bloody Leeds.

Just to confirm, you can all say how shit he is over and over again but wah wah wah wah he's said on the Villa website that he pleased to sign for Villa how dare he. As I said, get over yourselves.

That is not a "parting shot" from Bednarek. They are quotes aimed a Villa fans, not us. Villa is a bigger club than we are as well anyway, so it's just a fact. Honestly, get over yourselves.

I think I'd quite like this as a home kit one season (black shorts obvs).

Some of us did 12 hours ago.

Gakpo is out of the question.

I'm worried this will make us too reliant on Lycano for goals.

Admit it everyone. We're a total laughing stock.

I think its perfectly plausible that everything he said was true.