HarvSFC

Remember never to fall in love with a loan player, unless they're Peretz, Larin, Downes or THB. Hopefully this goes a similar way.

We'd never have had a player named Izzet Furkan Malak had it not been for our link with Goztepe. He also got banned from football, so he could share his experience.

It's the Saudi investment that Simon Jordan linked with us last summer.

When the new Boro signing has to try and deflect from calling the transfer a "stepping stone".

I was expecting to read rave reviews on the Stoke forum, but errrr..... https://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/317513/divin-mubama?page=18&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=google

So, can we report Stoke, Sunderland, Bournemouth and a host of others for having stripes on their back and get them expelled from the league?

https://www.followfollow.com/forum/threads/dan-neil-being-the-captain.328928/page-3 Dan Neil got hooked at half time tonight and Rangers fans aren't happy with him, comparing him to Joe Rothwell. Maybe another one dodged.

Shame to lose Shea Charles. He became the moments guy last season. Leicester away, Arsenal in the cup and Middlesbrough in the play-offs, which was then rendered void. Had that goal counted, who knows, he may have wanted to extend his contract here, but another consequence of being expelled from the play-offs. However, out of him, Scienza, Jander and THB, I'd keep the rest over Charles and hope we do so. While I also hope we get a good sell on, on Charles, as with his international performances and soon to be Premier League, he'll get a bigger move. Although, Fulham are looking a bit rocky at the minute, Arbeloa's a risk after Marco Silva and they're going for Real Madrid youngsters, so could be another West Ham, forced to sell Fernandes a year later due to relegation.

Play him off Larin, perfect. Guess we're just fully focussed on the tall, athletic profiles up top now, which is probably the right road to go down considering what we've witnessed in the last five years. But, will be frustrating if Ballard becomes a £10m+ striker.

We've already had that Abdul Abdulmalik on trial before: https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/19601005.saints-summer-trialist-abdul-abdulmalik-signs-millwall-deal/ Memorable name.

Not saying it now just because, as I've been against signing Stewart back up all summer. Always said he's a good player and if he could stay fit he'd be a 20 goal Championship striker. However, the issue lies in that he can't stay fit. Signing Stewart again would leave us with just Larin as our only physical option up front for weeks on end next season and would be very reliant on Larin remaining fit, as Stewart picks up a lot of knocks throughout the season, even in the last one. Stewart bagged 9 league goals over 3 years. If he was fit he'd have got more, but he wasn't and didn't. Larin scored 8 in 16 games. Stewart's best league scoring season was last season, where he bagged 8, which again Larin equalled in 16 games. Now, depending on us not signing another Damion Downs then Stewart's goal return is very replaceable. You just have to trust that the scouting department, who have done well recently are capable of finding another striker who can bag 8 goals, or more next season.

Shows the different in cultures the two country's have regarding football. German football still very affordable, the 50+1 rule. English football is all about milking money and putting everything behind a paywall, even pre-season friendlies. They'll stream it for free, we'll stream it for £5.

Want Brereton-Diaz to come good and show his Blackburn/Sheffield United form, but he's just so clumsy looking on the ball. Can't fault his effort, it's just his technical ability which is lacking.

Sunderland have gone full stripes with their new kit. Please can this be the last season of the back panel. Would be a small win for kit improvements.

Leeds signing James Trafford for £40m.

Remember a time when were ruining football with Hasenhuttl being one of the first in the Premier League at least to take advantage of goalkeeper injuries as a tactical rejig. Well, looks like that's going next season. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/clyjxd53zkpo

He thought he was going to do a Vincent Kompany, get a move to an elite club despite relegation because of his possession football. Why he was happy to watch us lose every week and change nothing. Only, Russell Martin didn't have the playing career, nor reputation that Kompany has. Meaning two years later, he's managing in League One. The Luton squad on paper was worse than ours, hence they got relegated again in the Championship, and they finished 18th. Martin started the season with 13 losses in 16, 1 win and a 5-0 down at half time final game. No manager survives that in the modern game. Not even a two time automatic promotion winning manager in Nigel Adkins could have had that record and not had fans calling for his sacking. Also, if I recall, Martin had more of a say on who we signed that summer because we didn't have a director of football. He was part of a committee with Mowbray and Kraft/Ankersen? Of course, we didn't get Matt O'Riley, who has since proven to be a waste of money that we fortunately dodged anyway.

Me too, we don't need a 'Jelert replacement', just a bit of fun poking at the Belgian Alex Crook. Reminded myself that he was the one reporting on Sam Edozie going to Strasbourg for £9m last summer. Oh, we could only dream.

The Jelert replacement. Also, Tavolieri is a very poor source. Has been since Lavia and a multitude of other Belgian players. Seems to have gone French this summer.

Looking at other bans, non spying related, but ones that I would consider more serious. Osmajic, the Preston striker. He received an 8 match ban for biting an opponent two years ago. He then received a 9 match ban after being found guilty of racially abusing Mejbri last year. Luis Suarez received a 10 match ban from the FA for biting Ivanovic. The only bite he did in England, but he had a history for it. He also received an 8 match ban for racially abusing Evra. With those incidents on the pitch, bringing the game into far more disrepute than an intern with a camera, I'd find it absurd if Eckert was banned for longer.

Robinson's with the squad in Germany. Sesay, yeah no idea what happened there. Thought he was going to be our midfield cover going into last season, but just completely disappeared after pre-season.

We've potentially missed out on a few targets that the media haven't clocked onto yet because of this and the uncertainty of the manager's position at the club, so alongside being kicked out of the play-offs and points deductions, we're also going through a time of uncertainty and instability that the FA won't consider.

Ipswich also gave Delap quite a low release clause. £30m. They only ended up making a £10m profit on him.

I'm not sure whether I've just fully convinced myself that we're better off without Stewart now after the goings on this summer. But we know, Stewart is liable to picking up injuries in warm ups and training, doesn't even have to be on the pitch. So we'd always be one warm up injury from having to rely on Larin staying fit for three months (Which was usually the duration of Stewart's injuries.) Doesn't feel like the best for me. We all know Stewart is a top Championship striker when he's available. He just wasn't available enough. 9 League goals over three years and 8 of those came last season is replaceable. As long as we don't look in the Damion Downs markets.