Midfield_General

That Ings tweet is from an Aston Villa fan in Belgium with 190 followers. It’s just a complete random talking absolute bollocks.

Wouldn't it be more likely to be a 'gardening leave' type scenario, where he could resign but would still be held to a notice period (e.g. six months) during which he can't work for anyone else? Jordan did that to Steve Bruce at Palace if I remember correctly. Once that notice period expires though I don't think the previous club can have any further hold over him. Not that a six month garden leave period would do him a lot of good for a club who was looking to appoint someone now though, e.g. Leipzig.

Ooof, another smack in the teeth for Danny. He's currently desperately trying to convince Leipzig to hire him after being passed on by us, Leicester, Middlesbrough, Hamburg and Werder Bremen because their madman Chairman is demanding £5m to release him from his contract. I wonder if he might actually do the unthinkable and resign at some point, just to get out of that basket case of a club, even though it might potentially personally cost him millions in lost earnings.

Looks like this might be happening: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jun/17/sheffield-united-ruben-selles-take-over-from-chris-wilder-manager Big decision to sack a manager with a track record of winning promotions, who in his last season has overcome a points deduction to get them to within a whisker of promotion back to the Premier League, to replace him with someone who's just come fourth bottom in the same league and been sacked for underperformance. Especially when the reason is that the incumbent manager 'disagreed with the owners' enthusiasm for a heavily data-driven player recruitment system'. So hopefully Selles gets off to a bad start with his squad of cheap spreadsheet players, the split fanbase revolts and they implode nicely. Then that's one promotion rival who would have been a big threat pointlessly and needlessly weakened. Excellent.

He was a major transfer target for Martin at Rangers, who has signed him twice before. They seemed pretty confident up there that their 'special relationship' would be enough to get him to join them, but instead he chooses to go to Norwich on a free. Ouch. Martin's first Champions League game is in just over 4 weeks time.

Just to keep things ticking over then: have we done Shea Charles to Leeds from a week ago, from some shite Leeds site who got it from seven throwaway words with no sources in the Daily Mail? https://www.leedsunited.news/transfers/leeds-united-are-now-considering-surprise-raid-to-sign-15m-southampton-midfielder-that-pep-guardiola-loves/ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-14792559/Premier-League-clubs-Newcastle-Magpies-Champions-League.html Or the subsequent 'actually he'd be more likely to go to Rangers', in the opinion of a random journalist, with absolutely nothing to back it up? https://www.leedsunited.news/transfers/look-away-daniel-farke-as-leeds-united-midfield-target-told-hes-now-more-likely-to-sign-for-rangers/ Pretty weak stuff isn't it. But it's all I've got.

Got to love these articles. Headline: Genoa want Sulemana at all costs Article: Genoa think €10m is too much

Second half of Soccer Aid was entertaining. Everyone else is having a light-hearted jolly kickabout for charity, then Carlos Tevez comes on and treats it like he’s playing for Argentina in a World Cup final, batters random celebrities and skinny Youtubers out of the way left right and centre, scores 4 in 10 minutes and then commits a textbook professional foul to prevent a breakthrough for an equaliser that would have taken the game to the penalties the organisers clearly wanted. In any kickabout there’s always one person who takes it just a little bit too seriously isn’t there. Also never thought I’d see Leonardo Bonucci ironing out Stephanie Houghton, but there it was. Straight through her. Got the ball though.

He should sign up with whoever got Bednarek 70 grand a week for losing his man and flailing his arms around

On a different note, when I was at Uni in Cardiff a car pulled over while I was minding my own business walking down the street. The driver wound down the window and very rudely demanded to know 'Where's the football ground?'. It was pre-Google maps, and I wasn't sure, so I gave him the best directions I could off the top of my head. He tutted and sped off without so much as an acknowledgement, let alone a thank you. After he'd gone, I realised that the driver had been Phil Neal. I also realised the directions I'd given him had been completely wrong. And I was glad. Fucking rude prick.

When I was a kid my sister took me into town to buy some new goalie gloves from the club shop at the Dell. While we were paying for them, the fella behind the counter said 'have you seen who's in the car park?', so we rushed out and it was Peter Shilton. So I not only got my new gloves, but I also met the goalie who at the time was talked about as being the best in the world, and he signed them for me. As a young keeper it was the best day of my life.

This man is 33 years old. 7 years younger than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Saints promoted as runners-up to Sheffield United, getting pipped on goal difference on the last day of the season because we never win the league, whatever division we're in. Coventry to lose to Ipswich in the play-off final. We'll narrowly beat the Skates at theirs, and smash them at ours. Everyone will make a big deal of the Charlton games because of Jones but we'll beat them comfortably home and away. Leicester to start on -12, never get going and finish outside play-offs, causing their fans to go into meltdown over their ownership. Oxford, Wednesday and the Skates relegated.

Armstrong's reported to be on £60k per week. Even if he took a 50% pay cut, £30k per week would still immediately make him one of Rangers' highest paid players. He's also valued at around €13m. Rangers record transfer fee of all time is £12m and they're really excited by the prospect of a 'cash injection' from their new owners of a laughable £20m, which they'll expect to cover 4 or 5 signings. Half their regular starters last season were signed for less than £1m and they consider £30k per week to be very big money. They're not in a position to afford any players of ours for whom there might be any other real interest from the top of the Champ or the bottom of the PL. That's why the Downes rumour yesterday was so ridiculous. This is going to be a recurring thing with any players that Martin wants to take, or with most of our players who people think would do well in Scotland. The transfer fees and wages they're able to pay up there are an order of magnitude less than the top of the Championship, let alone the Prem. We've got bang average players like Armstrong and Aribo who have got used to being paid sixty grand a week, and elsewhere in the Championship there are no-mark players like Mike Tresor and Zeki Amdouni being signed for transfer fees of £16m, £17m, £18m. Rangers can't get anywhere near that. Rangers are a big club in terms of crowds and stadium etc, but they are small fry when it comes to spending power. A £12m record fee paid puts them in and around the same bracket as Swansea, Stoke or Cardiff. And they paid that 25 years ago when they were much more of a force than they are now and before they went bust.

So what's a pixie?

I got tear gassed in Marseille at England vs. Tunisia in 1998. The planning for that match was like it had been scientifically calibrated to guarantee as much crowd trouble as possible. England, with their notorious hooligan following, have been drawn to play Tunisia, so let's play it in Marseille, which has the biggest North African population in France outside Paris, including 128,000 Tunisians, and where half the police are of North African descent. Chuck in a baking hot day and a 2.30pm kick off time allowing plenty of time for a load of wankers to get tanked up and boom. Carnage.

If we’re just going to hoof it long and lump it into the mixer then maybe, but I’d hope Still has got a bit more about him than that and I very much doubt that’s how we’re looking to play if we’re serious about promotion. Onuachu can’t press for shit. He’s blowing out of his arse after 30 minutes. He’s basically just an expensive misfit, and if someone’s willing to buy him then we should just get whatever we can for him, get him off the wage bill and move on.

What a transfer window that was. £22m on Sulemana, £18m on Onuachu and £8m on Orsic, to fit the style of Nathan Jones who we sacked eight weeks later. £48 million pounds.

Well with that whopping £20m cash injection from their new owners who can stop them, we might as well just hand him over. £10m buys you Eli Junior Kroupi or Lewis Dobbin. Not an English 26 year-old first team regular with two seasons of Premier League experience. That's embarrassing, even for Nixon. On the Rangers boards they're saying that even at £10m he'd be well out of their range. Downes as a realistic target for them is a laughable suggestion. They might as well say they 'want to raid' Arsenal for Declan Rice, because it's about as likely to happen.

So you're saying you'd prefer to sell the shit ones and keep the good ones. It's pretty radical thinking.

Tavernier’s been there donkey’s years and Martin actually played alongside him during his short playing stint at Rangers so they probably know each other fairly well.

Horrible, horrible attempt to play out there. They could have easily cleared that about six times.

'Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton are waiting for a sign from Lazio before making a concrete move for goalkeeper Christos Mandas.' 'That’s according to Il Messaggero, via La Lazio Siamo Noi, who say both sides have show ‘concrete interest’ in the 23-year-old.' 'They’ve shown concrete interest in the goalkeeper according to Il Messaggero but are waiting for a signal from Formello before they ‘manifest themselves concretely’.' Presumably he's useful against teams who look to get it in the mixer.