HarvSFC

Never seen VAR pull the play that far back before. There has been some dodgy decisions going on for the North and South American sides recently.

I think his wages are too high to make anything other than a loan feasible. West Ham gave him a pay increase from us when he was our highest paid player and he'll still be on a hefty wage despite the relegation percentage drop, as McCarthy, Aribo, Ramsdale etc. were here. As stated above as well, JWP isn't good enough in this current state to play regularly in a midfield two in the Premier League. Yes, we do have a squad full of players who aren't quite able to make the step up to being consistent Premier League performers. However, we can upgrade those, as their wages won't be taking out too much of our budget. It will be like the goalkeeper situation again where we couldn't upgrade for years because we were already paying top dollar for players that were inadequate for our situation. So, yeah, loan I'm fine with and test to see what kind of player he brings to the team now. But, a permanent transfer would be reckless.

It's why they extended the group stages to three teams qualifying. Not that any of the host nations needed it, but when the decision was made USA and Canada had very little hope of finishing in the top two spots.

So does that mean all red cards within this tournament will now get suspended for a year?

The women's game needs to separate itself from the men's and become self sufficient for it to grow naturally and provide stability. They were basically handed a top level stadium and state of the art training facilities while also taking finances away from the side we all grew up supporting because it became trendy to have a women's team. It wasn't how the men's game grew all those hundreds of years ago and it took our club 100+ years to have the facilities that we have today. It feels like the women's game ran before it could walk and it just hasn't generated the interest that the all knowing Semmens thought it would.

BWP a pundit on ITV. His Dad must have put in a word.

Stoke going for the simple stripes front and back, rather than a blank back.

Smart signing, especially on a free. Good age as well, not like a Charlie Taylor, Lallana or Romeu who joined on frees at the end of their careers. A midfield depth of Downes, Jander, Neil and Bragg is still more than good enough to win promotion. Weird us signing players early and before the player they're replacing has gone. Now lets get it done.

The dangers always were that after his form in the second half of last season that he'd have a good World Cup and as a result more suitors. However, we got it done early, what a joy.

Good player when fit. However, 9 league goals over three years is more than replaceable. Larin was one behind Stewart's three year output after half a season. Also agree with the club's stance that he maybe isn't good enough for the Premier League. We've seen him up there and he seemed a bit lost at times, bullied. Isn't your archetypal tall striker in that he'll battle with and occupy centre-backs like Larin does, nor does he have amazing pace, so a more physical striker would also be of benefit to us going forward. If the recruitment team can get this one right. Good moments this season, but his Saints career has ultimately been very frustrating. Seeing his name on the bench in a lineup graphic, only for it to be announced 20 minutes later that he's had to pull out of the squad due to injury, or that Stewart's "two weeks away" every week for four months.

"We wanted to keep James. We didn't want him to go back. James didn't want to go back" Sorry Nathan, he didn't want to back to you.

Damn, and we got expelled for watching a few training sessions.

Lets have another summer of Spertsyan then.

Yeah, sounds like he wants better terms than the contract he was on. Has he earned better terms? No. Is he a good finisher? Yes, but he isn't reliable. Guess he's gambling on having a blinder at the World Cup and aiming for one final top end contract, like Hal Robson-Kanu after the Euros.

Boom, great day. Feared an exodus akin to the admin years following the amateur hour at the end of the season, which also followed a mockery of a season in the Premier League the year before. These two signings show Eckert very much still has a lot of belief in him from the players and while there will be some outgoings, these two loan signings in January elevated us to a higher level and now they're permanent. Larin occupies centre-backs so well. He's always battling with them and giving them something to think about. We've been used to strikers hiding from a challenge in recent years and Larin definitely doesn't do that. Played a bit drunk Middlesbrough away, but well worth signing on a permanent based on his other appearances. Now to actually take an interest in him during the World Cup. Thought he'd keep his options open and then get links towards Wrexham with their Canadian links and his performance against them away.

The commitment of Kelvin Davis with the play style of Artur Boruc.

Very surprising, positively. Feared we had seen the last of Peretz and that we'd have to go into another season with Bazunu. Peretz is the 2026 Artur Boruc. Got a huge mistake in him every now and again, bit mental, but does the basics and capable of pulling off a worldie. Looked solid against the Premier League opposition, Fulham, Arsenal and Man City last season too which can only be a positive. His communication from the back also shouldn't be understated. Watching him live, he gets involved in our attacking set-pieces and organising the players from all positions. Communication was a weakness within the squad for a long while and Peretz fixes a lot.

I do wonder why the bullying narrative didn't come up out before he got caught, or was he also happy to try and get a taste of the Premier League money?

They wanted Charlie Austin on there.

He is the one that stopped us winning automatic promotion. Without the play-offs we wouldn't have been caught and sailed into the Premier League where spying rules do not exist.

The one who failed at Valenciennes and then somehow earned a promotion to us, no loss. "Rasmus Ankersen — always three steps ahead." So the two relegations are just part of one long plan.

Nice to see it had an impact.

To be fair, Karen Brady was on our side during the play-off expulsion show.

Got us kicked out just to see their side lose 1-0 and spend more money for the privilege. 😂