Rayvin

Isak isn't worth £150m to anyone other than us, who will be left without a senior striker if he goes. That's why we set the price that high. Because the pain we will feel to losing out on him has to be offset by something. It's not on us to just bend over and ensure he goes for fair market value when we will be left completely exposed. If you want other examples of clubs doing this, look at Thiaw. Or Coutinho, who wasn't worth anywhere near what Liverpool got for him.

It is, but the strongest aspect of our club at the moment is actually the playing team and management. We still have very good players, and a very good manager. This summer has all been about the board and recruitment teams, which have indeed been shambolic - but there's no reason to assume that carries into the playing team. We'll still be a good team, just not as good as we could have been.

I don't think the season will play out as badly as this summer has, mind. We should still be a lot stronger by the time we kick off. I feel bad for Howe but hopefully it lights a fire to make a point.

Well it's hard to imagine we're going to accept it then, because as it stands we'd be going into the season with no senior striker. And I continue to believe Isak won't down tools.

Wouldn't surprise me if scouse. For some reason they can't stand the idea that anyone anywhere thinks poorly of them and seem to need to defend their honour at every turn. Serial victims who are better at whining than they are even at football. Either way though, it doesn't look like they're going to come back with another bid at this point so Isak is going to have to accept that they've fucked him over, especially with Sesko now not happening. Reintegration surely the only way forward now.

Who is it that we are trying to impress here, just so I'm clear Presumably we're raining on some sort of parade?

We have covered on here in excruciating detail all of the frustration and criticism of the board for the handling of our summer, so I don't think we can be accused of being blinkered about this Liverpool have carried on like a pack of cunts throughout, lowball bids they know won't be accepted only to make it more painful for us, claiming they won't bid without encouragement from us then bidding anyway, chasing players we're after, etc. But yes, ultimately Mitchell created much of this problem a year ago, and I am yet to convince myself he isn't on the payroll of one of the cartel.

That really should be the end of this then. We were really fucking clear that we wouldn't sell for less than £150m and no one in either Liverpool or Isak's camp should be deluded enough to imagine that him agitating was going to knock 40 fucking million off the asking price. I mean come on. I still think there might have been a scenario where they tried us again if we got Sesko, but since that doesn't appear to be happening it seems to me like they've completely wasted everyone's time and royally stitched Isak up.

He fucking should do because if he's staying then they've absolutely hung him out to dry.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/06/tax-rises-budget-deficit-rachel-reeves-niesr Broken record time but a 40bn budget deficit reported for which we will all need to pay higher taxes. Brexit costs us 36bn a year. And on that note, the reason our costs are so much higher than the rest of Europe is because we privatised everything for short term cash grabs only to get charged more for the services in the long run. Fuck neoliberalism. It is a cancer.

Man City just sort of exist as a kind of almost benign superpower in the PL, it's such a weird club. Impossible to dislike them in the same way as the cartel.

I rate McGinn tbh. Wouldn't be opposed to that at all, just surprised at the idea that Villa might let him go cheaply.

This. Completely agree.

Think this is a fair assessment. And I agree with what several others have said generally, it's the executive that have fucked up the elements of this summer that were within our control. Really disappointing. Of course, a lot of this might have happened either way.

Entirely reliant on football manager for this, but I believe there's "percentage of profit" and "percentage of fee" as options there.

I suspect everyone involved with the club is hating this but recognising that there is simply no option other than to try to proceed no matter how bad it gets, and then try and shrug off everything else. They only win if our heads go down, really. I say this with my head firmly on the floor mind, but then I'm not being paid by the club to turn this around.

Collapsing star. It's the only way to be sure.

I think I'm about done with this window. Close to being done with the entire sport (I wish).

Why would Man Utd pay 5m less than we will and expect that this will mean they get the player? I swear half of what we're reading is complete make believe tbh. Like, for a bidding war to work, they have to put a bid higher than ours, no? So what the fuck was the point in that first bid. They gonna come back with a new one and essentially outbid themselves? Beyond fucking tedious.

Are they all back at training today? No updates on Isak being there or anything?

Ah fair, then yes, hard to argue anything to the contrary.

I've been wondering if this is a perfect storm of the PSR period ending freeing up a lot of clubs to act, and our emergence as a contender for the signatures of some of the better players. I think next summer might be a lot less stressful than this but we obviously can't afford to just stall our development with that in mind.

I'm wondering if that's why it's all quiet on that front at the moment - that it'll be defined by which way this lands.

They've been forced into it because we're about to walk away I would guess.

Aye the Mbeumo one I flat out don't get. As soon as it was clear he wanted 250k we dropped it, because he's not worth anywhere fucking near that. We didn't 'miss out' to him choosing them, they were just the only club stupid enough for pay that. So yeah, the fact that they've tanked their wage budget isn't our problem.