S-Clarke

I don't think they do ensure our long-term future. You need investment to be a success, you can't run on income alone - not in this day and age. If he's not going to invest, then we will slip slide away. I'm not suggesting we go and splash zillions on mega players, but some ambition and some investment will be required if we want some fun and enjoyment. How are we going to compete in the NPC if we went down? He doesn't want to invest, so how can we compete? There's not enough income alone, and then you've got clubs down there splash £15m themselves on players now. So this belief that he doesn't have to invest into us is just tosh. He is being a lazy and unattached owner with no intentions to do anything with us, therefore he needs to **** off. And also....why is he talking to the FT and not fans of the club? We want to hear from him, we don't want to be searching other webistes to get info. He's an absolute charlatan.

This is exactly it, and I share your concerns. As others as said, whilst we are Top Flight we will tick along...but as soon as we go down, the entire place will just come falling down on top of us. If we go down in the near future with Gao in charge, we will not be seeing top flight football for decades in my eyes. He offers us nothing, there is no connection and no meaning to his ownership. It's a token ownership and I can promise you when he realises he is losing money, he will try and tip us of the edge as quickly as he can to save his own skin. It's a very, very worrying future ahead for us. Everyone has the right to ask why Bournemouth are able to invest more into players than ourselves (without selling) - something has gone horribly wrong when that happens.

Spurs would be a better move for him for sure. But you've got to wonder what exactly clubs will be getting? He was utterly dreadful last year, didn't live up to any hype. Granted, in a poor Fulham side. But I still expected to see some more from him.

I hope we get this one over the line, he's a really good forward. Would add a lot of pace to our attack and that would probably finish our additions in attack - then we can focus on the back.

Villa have just signed Jota from Birmingham, so maybe their sights aren't really set too high for next season.

Whilst the world cup was fun, our performance was still pretty overhyped. We only beat Tunisa, Panama and Sweden. The luck of the draw and penalties enabled us to get to the semi final stage, but we were never on the level with the other teams at that stage really. We've got some good young players in the attacking third, but there are some serious holes in the side - as other's have said, midfield. Which begs the question, what in crying out loud has Delph done to get called up in the first place? He doesn't even play for City anymore, he's certainly not good enough for this level. Rice looked hideously out of his depth. So, it's a good young squad, but the media have overhyped it based on quite an average world cup performance. We still fall short against teams of any real quality.

I can't imagine anyone even paying that. He doesn't even look like a footballer.

It's got Leicester written all over it.

Stephens being paid 28k more than Bedernak is simply criminal. No one is going to take Stephens off of us on that wage. Our contract management over the last 3 years has been diabolical. It makes me sad.

https://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/serie-a/tmw-fiorentina-3-club-di-premier-league-si-muovono-per-dragowski-1249757

We are looking at a Serie A Goalie apparently.

Wonder why we're delaying the announcement. Or maybe we didn't feel it was worth a great big announcement. I just hope he does a good job.

Yeah, it wasn't a test website. You'd publish a test website with dummy text, not specific text detailing out spurious claims about their links to Southampton.

I don't think that's what he was saying, it's more about understanding the type of delivery and service these centre forwards require. When Pelle was at Feyenoord he had the supply needed by wide players, so Koeman made sure we got a high calibre wide player who he'd have known well. We pretty much pulled in the best Erenvise goal scorer and the best assister to play together, that's why it worked. Having a manager who understood what got the best out of Pelle was the key here.

It was nice, I agree. It was just ruined by the absolutly diabolical season it featured in.

This is exactly why he left. Look at that. So pleased for him though, deserved a final swansong like this!

We could have a really potent side with Redmond one side and him on the other, he looks so strong, powerful and quick. Polar opposites to the players we've looked at in previous years. He looks pretty tall a well, 5ft 8 for a winger is a good fit for this league to be be fair.

Little bit dramatic!

Yeah, Ralph knows all about him so I will trust his opinion on Lookman. Everton just have too many players and spent too much, they have a very lopsided squad. Lookman is actually a really good talent, just can't get any consistancy in a very overcrowded Everton squad.

I ummed and erred for a good few weeks, but I did renew yesterday. The main reason is probably because of Ralph and that bit of positivity and higher expectation he brings. I can't see him standing for rubbish and I'm sure he believes he will be backed. The main issue will be who we can shift and how many of them to open the gap in finances, but I'd hope even without doing that there is a budget to make improvements. He's pretty clear in what he wants and I think for the first time in years we are building with an identity, and not just the theme of 'passing the football' - so hopefully, our recruitment will be based around players who will suit the high press and high energy approach and not just signed because they can 'pass the football.' Overall the value, compared to the match by match ticket prices, is pretty good this year.

It kinda reminds me of the home kit we had in the Championship when we came 6th (Wolves 6-1 etc). Maybe not the neck black, but I'm sure we had red and white and black panels somewhere.

Christ, if that's the quality they have to offer, then no idea where they're going. You could see the quality in L1 squads such as ours, Norwich, Huddersfield etc - but this was just empty of any ability, same for Sunderland. Struggle next year for them after this I reckon. Utterly dreadful team, although it would have been quite funny to see them get raped in the Championship. More years in the wilderness for them. Quite funny.

When you've got someone like Ross calling the transfer shots, I'd prefer the kitman to make the calls. If Ralph wants to recommend, then he can do what he wants. It will be better.

Ah good old Kirk and his friend. Out of interest, are you content and happy with what's going on? I just feel slightly uneasy about shelling my money into what potentially looks like becoming some sort of financial vehicle. It’s all shady and has been since we first heard about the ‘potential’ takeover.

I'm with the people who are asking questions here. We have an owner who has never said a thing, we have no idea what his intentions are. We now have a new shirt sponsor, supposedly the biggest sponsorship in our history, by a company who is from China, yet to exist, and has links to Gao. It absolutely reeks and stinks and I hate it, I’ve hated Gao being in charge from the day it was announced as it stunk even whilst they were negotiating. This has probably made my mind up about renewal to be honest.