S-Clarke

Someone elses money. Without ownership investment we'd have got no where, he wasn't pumping in his own cash. Yes, he had ambition and a crazy drive for perfection, but it was underpinned by Markus and the trust fund he'd left behind after his death. Ambiton stems from the top. If you've got an owner who hasn't ever uttered a word or shown any interest in developing plans then you're stuck.

I'd be very, very surprised to see Valery still here - he won't get a sniff now, his time is up. I can't see us getting anyone else though. I imagine we'll pocket any left over cash to allow us to move early on a new GK next summer, without relying on a sale first.

It's not Semmens fault, this approach is driven by the lack of an Owner. He's doing the best he can in the circumstances. Cortese just spent someone elses money. Martin doesn't have someone elses money to spend.

Yeah, I hate that approach. It seems to be creeping into every narrative though and seeds are being planted into supports heads so they accept this approach. Surely our goal is to build the most competitive and exciting team for the future, that the clubs supporters can enjoy? Not hoover up all the talent in the hope of making a quick buck in 3 or 4 years. I'm not naive enough to expect them to stay with us forever, but to talk about selling them when they've just signed is such a noddy view.

Jude Bellingham? He's a first team Dortmund player, his price is probably already £70m. That ship sailed even before he broke into the Birmingham team. I don't know much about small other than the fact he's another highly rated young player, if he's as good as the reports suggest then we have the most exciting full back setup in a long time. Just think, last season we had KWP and Bertrand....talk about filling those gaps. We've done it a slightly different way, probably the only way we can, but I think this is a good use of any left over Ings/Vestergaard money.

What, a mid table finish? I'd take that, and I'd also expect the club to continue to back Ralph if that's where we ended up. Then we can continue to evolve next summer with a new GK etc. If the season is two extremes, i.e we start this season as we finished last (i.e lose every week) then I can't see him sticking it out. But a more balanced season, less extremes and a mid-table finish is the most I expect and is acceptable with the shortcomings we have.

I wasn't discrediting them by saying they are just long ball or anything like that, I just like the way they don't muck around and they literally just go for the throats. They do have skill, but they have a lot of pace and power which makes them impossible to deal with if they're on their game. When they are without Antonio and they have no focal point they'll struggle though.

West Ham don't mess around do they, they just get up the field as quick as they can. Either down the flanks, long ball, or just direct running. They've got the power and presence to be very effective at that. They are your typical Moyes team, he's got his new Everton.

In a few years time we're going to have one of the most exciting young teams in the country, just got to hope we keep our head above water in the here and now to allow that to happen. A risky but brave approach we're taking this window.

Good point, was a year out on that one!

We wanted to keep him, but Reading wanted something like 1m. In hindsight that was a snip, but Cortese wouldn't pay that. So we spent £750k on De Ridder instead. Oh well.

Why aren't you playing KWP? Tino needs a rest now, I wouldn't expect him to be part of this game.

The most alarming thing in that article is the fact that he's now taken over Theo. Shouldn't he have been paid more than him already? How much is f***ing Theo on??? The bloke isn't a footballer anymore.

Wow, quite a sad bump. I loved the Blackberry Bold. Aprox a week after posting this, it was stolen whilst I was on a bus...! Oh well.

To be fair to Stephens I think he's improved massively under Ralph, he's the only defender we have with a bit of bollocks to his game. Prone to the odd lapse but he's light years better than he was under Puel and Hughes etc.

I don't think he's going anywhere to be honest, just coincidental fake rumours circling and he's out injured. Nothing to see here I don't think.

Cut price deal to Burnley? (Removes the log jam of number 10's etc etc)

I'd imagine it'll be similar to the season ticket refunds during the lockdown - just a credit on everyone's account that they can use against other matches etc.

It wasn't a fantastic finish...but he did at least make the keeper work. He could have blazed it over, that would have been 10x worse and Long-eqse. Like you said, he's getting into the right places and his movement is great. If he keeps getting into those positions he'll score more than he misses. SKD is just looking to take the unpopular view just to get reactions.

I'd imagine Forster will play, along with KWP, Bednarek and probably Diallo. Might get a chance to see Broja? And we'll probably have to put up with Redmond too. We can 'almost' put out a totally different team, I do think we have better depth now.

It was a shambles, honestly. What has changed? New company doing it? Are these new readers on the turnstiles? It was a bit of a shambles tbh, for a Premier League club totally unacceptable but credit to the club for actually offering full refunds. Held their hands up. Heads will probably roll over this, it's going to have cost the club a small fortune and we don't have money like this to waste atm.

If people expected Armstrong to replace Ings clinicalness then they are daft. Never going to happen. What we will need this season is more goals from the likes of Moussa, Armstrong, Theo, Adams, JWP to contribute to the goals Armstrong gets. That's how I feel we'll fill the Ings void, not through Armstrong exclusively, but by getting more players in on the action. Armstrong reminds me of a combination of Ings and Long - pest, always on the shoulder, always harrying down clearances etc. Let's not forget his flick in the lead up to the goal either, I'd put that down as an Armstrong assit.

I'd like to see him in front of KWP, those two as an attacking combo could be f**ing frightning. Tino is top level though, he has a swagger about him that you see in the Elite players at a young age. Certainly very exciting.

A very unexpected result! I thought we were somewhat fortunate at the beginning of the game, that chance off the line was ridiculous - I thought that was in to be honest. But we came into it, we composed ourselves as the half went along. Utd got a little frustrated and our press was causing them some problems, as illustrated by the goal. A shame that Adams can't claim it as his own, but I'm pretty sure that was wide had it not been for Freds intervention. The second half started with the Utd reaction, but we actually prepared for it in the sense of changing it up a little. I thought it took us a little while to get used to the formation though and we did sink too deep, invited pressure in the first period of the 2nd half - sadly that told, and they put on in the net. Should McCarthy have saved it? If i'm being really critical, yes. But it wasn't a glaring goalkeeping catastrophe. We actually grew into the game after they equalised and we showed some courage and character which has been missing from this team. You'd have to say that an Ings would have made that 2-1, without a doubt, but we all knew Armstrong wasn't a like for like Ings replacement in goal scoring terms - I like him though, he's a real pest and he suits our style down to the ground - but he's not as ruthless a finisher as Ings. Tino - looks like a superstar already to me, Chelsea will be buying him back next summer on the basis of these two games. You can see why he was so highly rated, he's just got that 'top level' swagger about him at such a young age. Defo. going to the top, so let's enjoy him whilst he's here. Overall an unexpected and morale boosting result. Lots to build on from that.

Sadly I think the Walcott deal screams ''Club PR'', as opposed to pure footballing reasons.