Very familiar with it thanks. Didn't come across. Seemed more like he was implying they were in the bargain basement because they're shite. But tbf I had just woken up.

Have you seen what they cost? Bargains are good value, they're quite the opposite...

Christ, only just seen this. 'As we go through a turbulent time'...fucking hell Steve, we've been going through a turbulent time for 10 years now!!

So, I was just looking at RB Leipzig's 'history'. They are only 11 years old, after Red Bull bought some village team near Leipzig called SSV Markranstädt and renamed them RB Leipzig. They started off in the 5th tier of German football, with a plan to invest 100 million Euros over the next 10 years (I don't know how much they actually ended up spending). 11 years later, they've just reached the quarter finals of the Champions League. By 2016, after 7 years, they were in the top tier of the Bundesliga. They have a stadium of more than 10k capacity above ours, which they've been pretty much filling since 2016. Yes, Leipzig is much bigger (600k pop, 1.1 mill in the 'urban area', no rival local club of note) but this club didn't exist until recently so it didn't have generations of loyal support to inherit. I say all of that to contrast with ourselves - 10 years of Venkys rule have taken us from a mid-table top-flight club with loads of history and generations of supporters, to quickly being a second tier mid-table side, briefly being a tier 3 outfit. With some 200 million pounds or so squandered, and attendances dropping to 14k. Can you get more opposite in your trajectories than that? Double the spend (if the Leipzig figure is right) and whereas they got 4 promotions and Champions league quarter finalists with great crowds, we dropped a league, briefly two, and nearly halved our attendances. Just goes to show what good, responsible ownership with a vision can achieve. Even if I don't like how corporate the whole 'Red Bull owning numerous football clubs' thing is.

Was just reading Smallwood's comments thanking the fans for singing his name and it occurs to me we don't have enough songs for individual players. Arma has been our best player for months and as far as I'm aware no song mentions his name? Think we could do with one. To modify one everyone already knows the tune to (easier to catch on): Adam Armstrong's magic, he wears a magic hat, And when he's 40 yards out, he says I'm having that! Any other ideas?

Hated City ever since. Before it was popular lol. Not for the result (which was one of the biggest miscarriages of a result I've ever experienced) but the pitch invasion of our hallowed turf over a poxy second tier title and the way they'd infiltrated the home stands in their thousands too. Plus they and their other Manc cousins have always been amongst the worst behaved visitors in general.

At Ewood? 4-1 I seem to recall. And we battered them all game but somehow got drubbed. Then they all invaded our pitch like they'd won the World Cup (I would say like they'd won the Prem, but we didn't invade the pitch when we won the Prem...but here they were wanking off about winning the second tier).

Dunno who it was, and I'm paraphrasing, but a commentator once said along the lines of, "For those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are the ones playing in yellow."

Lol maybe you misquoted him and he said 'not a great goalscorer but a scorer of great goals'? In which case I'd take your point, though it's still a fair observation on what the player is like, as long as he isn't saying that makes up for it. Not much use scoring great goals if you hardly ever notch (as a striker). I don't remember Michu and Benjani scoring lots, they were a bit shit (maybe Benjani had like one season where he scored quite a few I think? At Pompey?).

So you didn't find it more exciting when Arma smashed that 40 yarder than if he had just accidentally scored at the same time off the back of his head from a couple of yards? What Shearer said there is fair enough. Great goals are a bit more exciting and require more ability. He isnt saying they matter more though, just observing that certain players have a penchant for the spectacular. It's only if you say great goals actually count more that you're being an idiot. Context of a goal will always matter more than the style of it of course, but classy goals add a little extra oomph to the excitement (in the same context). They do for me anyway.

It's a dumb thing to say though. Of course it's what they're supposed to do. And some of them are good at it, some aren't really. In a relative sense. In a literal sense (ie compared to you or I) they're all good at it. Also, don't quote Keane. It will soil your soul

Can we please stop arguing over who is the most/real ITK? Got to be honest, it's a little sad.

You had all of them? You big stud you

He's wrong.

Don't believe the Dutch league has an equivalent as such, we have more professional leagues than any other country if I remember rightly. The caps may change what you're saying though, so it doesn't necessarily matter whether they can earn more here for now. I was more referring to the Championship though, if a cap comes in here. There are plenty of players in this league who could move to top flights elsewhere if a cap severely cuts what they can earn here. I'm not against a cap at all btw, just think it needs to be well thought through, and even if it is there are disadvantages too. But overall the sport would be better off if it's done right.

We still don't know if we have a transfer budget.

It's the ludicrous difference in funds when you jump up a league, especially to the Prem, that creates this lack of realism. If the riches on offer weren't so disproportionate this unrealistic wages thing would be a much less pronounced problem. The EFL solidarity payments from the Prem should double.

Fuck that. We'd have to sell most of our best players to be compliant. Anything turnover-based merely cements the dominance of the big-city clubs, which is already a problem. I've been crying out for wage caps for years but if it was done based on turnover I wouldn't like it. That would be a misapplication of it akin to FFP, as it means everything will end up decided on demographics and you'll never see Jack Walker style fairy tales shaking up the order to add excitement. IMO they should let owners put whatever they want in, as long as it's a gift and not a loan, as the whole point is supposed to be stopping clubs going bust, not stratifying them based on gates.

To any of the dozens of other leagues. If this isn't extended to other leagues it does reduce the competitive advantage English football has had for a while now. How much so remains to be seen.

Rumours that Brentford have decided who they want to replace Watkins. Meant to be Jacob Brown at Barnsley. Seems an odd choice, winger with 2 goals this season, but whoever they're interested in I'd want to look at too! They're far better at this than we are.

Ooh we beat Fleetwood and Carlisle to his signature...how ever did we manage that?

Well at least he only played and threw away one game. Alan Fettis on the other hand....

Dunno about that, it doesnt include any insults.

Kevin Davies. 7 million when that was a lot of money in the game. Expectation was high. Beattie went the other way cheaply as part of it. Davies was crap for us, Beattie was great for them. We then sold him back at a significant loss, bringing Ostenstad over as a makeweight in that deal. He was even worse. Davies ended up at Bolton, who I hated, for free, and was great for them. Still makes my blood boil.

I agree he shouldn't cost much more than 1 million with Charlton's and everyone else's financial situations. At that price, with his age, the data, and having seen a bit of him from the clips, it seems a no-brainer. A million isn't going to be the difference between breaking the rule limits or not, nor between administration or not. You expect he will have 10 years left at or above his current ability, so you're talking 100k a year plus wages.