revolution saint

I had no idea he was related to Alan Ball (great uncle apparently). Can't see any way we would get him though - apparently City have turned down a bid of 30M for him and Sheff Utd have asked for him back on loan again.

For anyone interested in football finance and the championship then you might be interested in the video below. I found it fascinating and does show the extent to which parachute payments skew the league and how fucked the rest of the division is. For those who don't have the time then basically it should be good news for us - two thirds of teams relegated will regain promotion whilst in receipt of payments and the rest of the league continues to live beyond their means chasing what looks like an almost impossible dream.

Ah sorry, he’d tweeted that it was nothing serious a couple of weeks ago but obviously that’s not the case.

Yes, I agree and would be surprised to see him here on 1st September. Having said that I'm not sure I can see many teams offering us our money back on him either. Probably a loan is more likely. Would love him to stay though. You're probably right that if we keep one of Tella and Sulemana then we won't replace unless we shift some of Djenepo, Aribo, S Armstrong as well.

No, Diallo is fine apparently

We've actually had quite a few links to wide players which makes me think at least one of Tella and Sulemana could leave. Manhoef was recently described as " a plague for every team, because he is lightning fast" by Pierre Van Hooijdonk. In addition to him we've had Grady Diangara from West Brom. He's the kid the West Ham fans and Mark Noble were up in arms about selling a few years back. He's got more tricks than a magician and seems to have a bit of pace about him too. Leeds also linked with him and feels like a similar kind of signing to Max Aarons (if we sign him). There's also been Amad Diallo of Man Utd (presumably on loan) and Bopp from Man City.

Thanks, it was really aimed at FarehamSaintJames. I'm not really sure what his position on JWP staying is. He's been sitting on the fence so long so would be nice to get a definitive answer on what he thinks will happen.

Just so we're clear, you think JWP is going to stay?

Smallbone for me. Thought he was excellent - always available for a pass, moved it quickly and rarely gave it away. Very much a part of us controlling the game and not looking under the cosh as we saw it out.

Yep, really looking forward to this. Can't see us keeping a clean sheet so I'm going to echo Whelk and go for 1-3. I've got a fiver on a saints win and Alcaraz to score.

I think West Ham will come back in again. Not really buying their latest line.

Think the deal for Tino was a good one and glad we got Newcastle to more than double their initial bid. I'd have liked to keep Tino but there were a few question marks over the injury and whether he could get back to what he was, more injuries etc. In addition he suffered stamina wise in his first season, struggled to finish games and needed to be dropped before his injury. I'm not sure I'd be 100% certain he'd last a full championship season anyway.

Forgotten man Larios can also play at right back apparently.

You thinking we're trying to pass off Elynoussi as Tino? I know we're supposed to have released him but it's a really clever plan.

I agree with the two Ronnies.

It's probably the quickest way to get bids up to 50M

There's also the 40% wage deduction so we'll be saving quite a bit on that. Edit, sorry you mentioned that.

Well it won't have come as a shock so Wilcox and Martin will have a good idea of who they want. It's probably one of those "happy to wait" that Martin referred to. My guess is probably Grimes - seems a similar type of player but without the freekicks.

Give us more money?

They'll be back. Moyes wants him and by all accounts has done for a long time.

And in a years time the very same journalist will be saying what an absolute steal Lavia was. Anyway, seems like there's enough interest from other clubs so I'd be quite happy for Liverpool to walk away from the deal.

Go away you tiresome bore.

I'm fucking loving the way Liverpool threaten to walk away from this deal. Hilarious.

Neither is being as funny as Mrs Browns Boys. What is it the fourth or fifth season we've had to go through this. It's tedious and boring.

Yeah, that's pretty unprofessional. It would be nice to tell them to fuck right off now and be done with the whole thing but I guess he'll be off soon. I'd try to whack another 5M on the price for being cunts though.