shurlock

Along with Spurs, one of the games I'm most looking forward to - f**ked trains apart. Just a shame Lallana isn't playing.

Nice one Glasgow - it's odd that in all the discussions of new contracts for MP, we heard nothing about an automatic extension.

Morgan was on £17K p/w the season before last FACT

Income from future success going to players in the form of higher wages and bonuses - how odd The idea of the situation becoming unsustainable is not an inevitability. It is contingent on future success which may or may not have happened -probably not if you believe that we've hit a ceiling. And needless to say, future success may have unlocked new, offsetting revenue streams. So it's largely speculative handwringing. Of course, should the worst have happened, sales could have been conducted at that point, probably at an even bigger profit given we're assuming a world where players had been even more successful than this season. All is known that the player wage bill as a % of turnover is currently one of the lowest in the league. For all those who agonise over sponsorship and empty corporate boxes, it really is a drip in the ocean compared to TV money and akin to squeezing blood from a stone without firstly success on the pitch. No matter how many Apple salesmen Ralphy employs, the board will quickly learn this painful lesson if it continues on its current path and that the best way to increase the bottom line is to cut costs, not increase revenues when your product is a pile of s**t.

Agree

Hit and miss = 6/10 (and that's with points for the cockle-warming, feel-good factor). Parts are more believable than CL's account but other parts strike me as utter tosh.

Hypothetically player sales could generate enough money where she's recouped her investment and some. While I doubt the plan is to sneak over the line every season, what's the worst than can happen? We get relegated. Something the regime would want to avoid; but we'd still be an attractive takeover target with the guarantee of parachute payments and sound finances/infrastructure.

It makes me happy that you've been wrong at nearly every turn over the past six months.

To keep us competitive enough to stay up.

Willems might be a good shout, though another Eredivisie risk. Missed the WC through injury.

As well as Forster and Van Djik, the Molina article (other thread) says we've also been tracking Celtic's left back, Emilio Izaguirre for several months, though no bid is anticipated. The priority, it appears, is Jetrol Willem PSV's left back. We've also met one of Papy Djilobodji's representatives recently (Nantes CB), though nothing immediate is in the pipeline. Hardly names to get the pulses racing.

The Molina article suggests that by cutting costs, selling players and putting finances on an even keel, we can provide any potential seller with a blank slate which is much more attractive.

Yep while the clearing the deck (debts, loans etc) for a sale.

Again the Molina article says that Christian Purslow was also instructed by KL to sound out the market for buyers. Kruger is also doing the same, using his big black book of WEF contacts. Article says that officially saying we're up for sale a la Villa would only attract tyre kickers and show that we're weak. Kruger's a more discrete intermediary.

That's what the Molina article says -basically there to tap his world economic forum contacts and massage the egos of the rich and powerful.

No

The rest of the article is interesting- Says Spurs are the only ones to make official equiries/bids for Jrod and Morgan. Its unclear whether Arsenal have, though Giroud's been lobbying Morgan and there have been discussions between his agent and Arsenal. If Celtic make the CL, it could throw the van Dijk deal nto doubt (Koeman is a massive admirer), though £10m should be enough to get him. We've also been tracking Celtic's left back, Emilio Izaguirre for several months, though no bid is anticipated. The priority is Jetrol Willem PSV's left back. We've also met one of Papy Djilobodji's representatives recently (Nantes CB), though nothing is in the pipeline.

Can you provide the original link.

The anyone-but-Cortese brigade would still prefer to take a blunt razor and cut their noses I guess.

Crab Lungs being a flippant knob again? Surprising as there are a lot of people who are genuinely willing to listen to what he has to say.

Guess dismissing the rumour as "in the ether between some dinlow on twitter and Alpine's warped little mind" would partly account for that.

Come on - keep things in perspective. The Sunderland FA cup tie was worse than this

This time last year Norwich were rejecting multiple bids for Ruddy from Chelsea; Benteke handed in a transfer request but ultimately stayed -not to mention all the rejected bids we never hear about. It's very difficult to keep players when the vultures start circling but not impossible.

God I hope not. Harry Kane is s**te.

Ben Smith @BenSmithBBC · 2m Southampton and Ronald Koeman are of the belief that players who want to leave, should go. An admirable policy, but a risky one. If true, sounds like a voluntary rather than enforced course of action.