CB Fry

Didn't realise how complicated the play off stages are. Still twelve teams in it for three slots. Scotland at least guaranteed a home draw but still looks entirely within their power to choke it.

Jesus wept.

Honestly by some distance the least plausible explanation. He had a long contract with Villa so would have been paid by them for the next two years anyway. He wasn't going to be hard up. I am sure he has his reasons for getting back in so quickly but "it's a pay day" will be nowhere near the top of the list.

How about obviously no I didn't and have never, ever said anything remotely close to that. Nice try though.

Involved in five consecutive games off the bench, offered plenty of cover and security and scored a goal in open play. Fuck me, just imagine what the "he's proved you all wrong, he's proved you all wrong" forum div brigade would be making of that if that was Lycano's contribution for us already this season. Clue: they wouldn't be sneeringly describing it as "nothing of note".

You wrote them off, didn't you. You wrote them off.

Like people who said Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson should have spent the entire European Championships watching it at home on TV? Those kinds of people?

But people wrote off Valery at the beginning - he's definitely going to prove everyone wrong by being brilliant any day now right? I think that's how it works.

Yes, and it is also possible to sign players for the first team: like Adam Armstrong, like Stuart Armstrong, like Che Adams, like Kyle Walker Peters, like Jannick Vestergaard. I didn't think it was a unjustified opinion back then that Vestergaard's replacement should be a player signed with that intent rather than a "one for the future". In Stephens and Bednarek we have two third choice CBs competing for second choice. I would say now that Salisu being an absolute beast this season has made that less of an issue so I salute Ralph for that. Jury still out on Lycano himself though.

As someone who far too often gets into pointless bickering on here about nothing (Look, I'm sorry everyone), this seems a particularly thin issue to argue the toss over. Fight the good fight, though 👍

Nah, you're alright. He didn’t like a particularly exciting signing at the time, which is the kind of thing I said when we signed him. If he turns out to be a Ballon D'Or winning greatest centre back of all time, that doesn't make what I said in August incorrect. He didn't look like a particularly exciting signing at the time. Said it then, still true. My main criticism was that he wasn't the front line centre back i thought we needed, and oh look I'm right. He didn’t go into the first team as a first choice CB. So I was right there too, he's barely played. So remind me what people have been proved wrong about again? What victory lap are you actually on here?

Really odd post. The comments around the time of his signing were closer to "it's underwhelming" (his appearances, reports from his club, the general underwhelming-ness of it, the fact we were picking up third/fourth choice players from relegation level Serie A teams). We'd also just sold a centre back for £15m and in previous windows we'd been buying CBs for £16m-£18m. This guy was nowhere near that. Most people wer not saying "he's useless" off the bat because most people had never seen him fucking play. If anyone is "imagining" things its you.

Yes I get that, but I just think he's had four years of absolute triumph at his boyhood club, in his hometown, as a hero. Within a week he is suddenly flat hunting in East Anglia, or living in a hotel and charged with turning around a completely different club. Also loads of pressure next season because Farke did deliver two amazing title winning campaigns. He scraped Villa up through the play offs. But its not really about "football". I just think at a human level it's a bit mad for him to rebound that quick.

In ten years time when he's signing copies of his autobiography in Waterstones Solihull, they'll be a chapter about how he regrets going to Norwich within a week of being sacked by Villa. Feels absolutely mad to me at all levels.

The main problem with Cummings is that he is absolutely full of shit. If, as he claims, Boris didn't have aclue then what were his advisors doing about it. Like, his chief advisor.

I think it's that if we had sold Mane for £41m to Man United rather than the £36m to Liverpool then we would have won the Uefa Cup by now.

Nice to see him get one. Surprised to see McGinn involved though?

Feels odd to me that Dean Smith is putting himself forward for Norwich within days of being sacked. Have a little holiday mate, spend your compensation. Also dreading the almost inevitable narrative of "Dean Smith loses his last game against Saints to get the sack but he bounces straight back with Norwich in his first game against...." We aint got time to be part of "fancy that" fairy stories or future pub quiz questions, we've got points to get. Just give it to someone like Felix Magath or Bob Bradley Norwich, just get on with being relegated FFS.

Wah wah wah

There is a universe where Liverpool paid their record fee at the time for Mane, which the universe we are in right now. As others have said there is rarely a "bidding war" these days, especially when a player has settled on a club. I have no memory press reports of lots of clubs in for him, i think mainly because, as Mane has said himself, he chose Liverpool and wanted to go there. Honestly, 2016 for gawds sake. Lets say we got another five million for Mane ten transfer windows ago. What exactly would have happened differently than we are experiencing now? I tell you one thing, we probably wouldn't have got all the add ons from Man U and Arsenal l because they ain't won shit. So incredibly likely the "£40m" or whatever newspaper headline fee you desperately wanted to see from them probably wouldn't have matched what Liverpool have had to actually pay us in this universe.

Not really no. There's loads of factors in play and this is one of the smaller ones.

I know you didn't understand anything of what I was saying, and that's fine X x x

We live in a representative democracy - that isn't "how I want things to be" it's the way they actually are. Our voted-in representatives then have the powers to run things and make decisions - like judgements, rules, processes and sanctions for MP's standards and behaviour. That's not "how I want things to be" it's the way they actually are. Therefore the processes, checks and balances to regulate MP behaviour is already there, and through the power of democracy, our collective votes have facilitated their existence. That's not "how I want things to be" it's the way they actually are. The wider public in any constituency do not get to select their candidate for the party they prefer before they get to vote for said party/candidate. We don't have a primary system. That's not "how I want things to be" it's the way they actually are. As a result it is facile, pointless and incredibly cynicial to think that in a general election the public are then able to decide to cast their vote as an entire collective (say a 80k electorate) on one singular issue - the probity of their candidate - rather than manifesto, leader and the myriad other issues that are live in a national general election campaign. To extrapolate that as a proxy validation/exoneration of an individual is cynical and incredibly bad politics. The Conservatives saying "let the voters decide" know this entirely, and you are parroting along with it, which is your choice in a democracy. They know that the Conservatives will win in safe seats anyway, which is a blessing for them to continue to behave as they please. It's playing back the shortcomings of our system for their own benefit. You've swallowed it and are trying to twist it using the facile smears you are trying on me. It's awfully sweet. My entire post was a description to you about the way things actually are. The fact you have interpreted it as some wish list of "how I want things to be" is quite frankly bizarre. And proof positive you didn't understand it. Bless.

Nope, wrong again. You didn't read it, you sure-as-shit didn't understand it. So you just fell back on pointless, lazy slurs because you can't be arsed with a tiny bit of detail/context. In that post I put how I regretted bothering with it because I knew I'd get shit like this so thanks for proving me correct. You can wilfully misunderstand and misrepresent what I said over and over again, I will keep pointing it out. On the last point, well, the proof is there. If it walks like a duck...

He's assembled an army of backroom staff to help him, so from that perspective he is the absolute dream SaintsWeb Forum appointment. Backroom staff is what its all about, and he's got, like, five Danny Rohls he has.