S-Clarke

Yuck, another loan. Not going to help us!

What they could do to ease congestion is remove those pointless international friendly breaks...

Thanks for the update - can't fault our club, it seems like they are actively trying to address this. But like you said, it's all driven by outside regulations and rules as well. (and it's not a static picture either). It's tricky. There will be winners and losers with any method to be honest, fairest way to me seems to be an open ballot to all ST Holders, weighted so that people who didn't get chosen first time have a better chance next time etc, attendance from previous seasons etc. Makes the most sense, but they've also got to consider bubbles of families being together. I know I wouldn't be able to go with friends like before as none of my usual crowd are renewing, so I'll probably be standing on my own socially distancing if I did renew!

That would be the worst first game of the season! Always keen to avoid the newly promoted clubs at the start of a season. They always play with a little bit more of a bounce and can catch you off guard - even Norwich beat Man City at the start of last season. Give us some games against West Ham, Newcastle, Burnley, Brighton, Sheff U etc to start with please!

From the outset I've always felt we'd let PEH go and asses what we have within, before we do anything else. I think we'll need to see Reed and Lemina leave before we bring in another midfielder. There's also the possibility Jankewitz becoming more involved in the squad and there could be a feeling that the club feel that signing a replacement now will block his emergence. He's very highly thought of not just at our club but in European circles. So, unless both Lemina and Reed go for 'decent' fees then I don't believe we will add another. The PEH money has paid for Salisu and KWP and we'd certainly need to raise some significant funds to sign anyone else.

That was heart-breaking for Atalanta. To be fair they didn't really deserve it on the 2nd half showing, whilst PSG huffed and puffed a bit Atalanta after about 55-60 mins had completely left the game to compete and were pretty much 2 banks of 5! First half they were really good, they counter pressed in packs and got a lot of joy out of it. Then they probably just tired themselves out.

Lots of positive chatter about this guy, he's not been playing at the top level for long at all, so his rise has been phenomenal. I can't say I've seen him apart from a few youtube vids and la liga highlights, but he's pretty capable in those. He's the profile of centre back we've not really had since VVD went. On top of all that, he seems to be pretty grounded and very greatful for where he is. Doesn't seem to come across as a big headed moron (like a certain Hoedt). He certainly seems to have high ambitious but he's going about it the right way. Lots of ticks to this signing from the outset.

Yeah, the instalment plan is simply that - over 3 months, interest free. So it's not the 10 month one we used to run, so I can appreciate that still isn't very affordable (having 100/200 quid payments coming out every month for a couple of months)

I'd imagine Sims, Hesketh, Jones and co will all leave. Decent careers in the lower leagues I imagine, but they'll never make it here. I know someone will probably post about Sims being the answer to all....but he's not going to make it here, I think that much is obvious.

I certainly feel their fan base have been deluded into believing he's someone he's not. It's not helped by those completely inaccurate sky sports articles either. I imagine you'll see him with Lo Celso in midfield and maybe Winks? That all feels a bit samey to me, might be wrong...but I can't see Mourinho lasting too long there, his methods and approach to the game are dated.

Not sure I'd target an AMC type as our priority. Probably more of a box to box midfielder if we add to that area.

That's what a lot of peoples issues are I think, there have been no real clarifications. I think the clubs hands are tied with more wide-regulations and decision making as well. 1) How many fans will be allowed in 2) how that will be decided 3) what happens if you're not allowed in and you've paid full price for a season ticket? 4) Process for refunds..? I'm fairly sure they will refund back matches you don't get 'allowed' to go to, similar to how they gave money back from last years ST. But I don't know why there's no confirmation of that yet and that's why people are a little uneasy (including myself!) about shelling out upwards of £600 when you don't know what you'll get for it.

I can't see them using that logic, there are usually many reasons why people wait until the end to pay. Doesn't mean they're less entitled to special treatment than the ones who renewed early, would be a crazy move that makes no sense. As much as it makes sense to leave it as late as possible, I honestly don't think there will be any real clarification on plans until we go into September, after the deadline. It's a gamble to renew for sure, initial outlay and then not having a clue if you will be allowed to go or not. I just want this all to go back to normal and have us all in the stands again, we've been let down massively at home as season ticket holders for the last 3 years, so it's a real shame that after all home misery that we weren't able to see our win against City.

Name from the past.... Not sure how much we would/wouldn't pay back during that il-fated January? I remember when we sold Virgil there was lots of bluster from Reed and co feeding the media 'We want Theo, Sessengen, Promes...''. We wouldn't be forced into overpaying for Promes etc. We ended up with Carrillo and paid 19m for the privilege. The worst transfer window in my memory!

Lots of really good English right backs at the mo. Pretty stocked in that area for years to come, he'll find it hard to get in a squad imo. Trent, obviously. Walker - still decent. Trippier, Aarons, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Reece James who looks really good. He's come on the scene at a time when there's lots of comp, he could certainly play for England but I think there will be higher profile players in the pecking order first.

Yeah, it was a bit odd. Just hidden right at the bottom of an arrival. The club were making such big noises about keeping both deals separate, yet they plant his departure on the same article as KWP's arrival! Never mind, no drama. Will be kind of interested to see how he does at Spurs, but I'm not too bothered.

Maybe he's had some family tragedy and he's taking some time out? It sounds a bit of a strange thing to post though. I don't have instagram myself, so can't see what's happened previously. What have his previous posts been like?

Happy to up my subscription fee if needed so you can purchase more backend resources, I'm sure others will agree as well. I don't want to lose a good community here, but it's going to die very, very quickly if it carries on like this.

Probably the most obvious signing we could have made at RB! Glad we didn't miss that one, seems like a financially sound deal too. Not the crazy 15-20m prices that were banded about only a month or so back. Salisu next...

At last. Saints have quite conveniently hidden his departure confirmation right at the bottom of the KWP piece. Parking the bad news 😉 Although, I wouldn't say this is particularly bad news. Sky sports did a piece on him and said he could add what they've missed since Eriksen because of his forward penetration. Are they having an absolute giraffe? That is why reading stats and stats alone is a very, very dangerous game. I think they're in for an incredible surprise when he sits foot in their stadium.

There needs to be some sort of investigation into Carrillo and Pellegrino. Something seriously dodgy going on there, and whilst we're at it sue him for £19m

He didn't really rip up any trees there either did he? He may have in 1 or 2 games, but generally he lacks application to be consistent. That's why he's a lost cause and there is no hope for him in a Ralph team. I'd be surprised if clubs are willing to spend cash on him because of this, so it will probably be a loan at the back end of September to a random lower European league.

If they announce it all at once, how is this forum going to cope??? It'll be down for the day!

It's weird how the club haven't announced anything yet. Sky Sports confirmed we'd signed Salisu last week, nothing from the club yet. No doubts at all that these are both done deals, it's just odd as to why the club are keeping it so quiet.