Dr Gloom

I’m sorry, I missed the memo that said we weren’t allowed to question the wisdom in spunking £70m on a player who was worth half that price before the euros. it looks like the recruitment team agree he isn’t worth what palace value him at. I don’t think that’s a bad thing - we’re not Man U and I don’t think we want to develop a reputation for spending over the odds as long as these psr rules are in place. If we could freely spend the money the owners have without fear of a point deduction I wouldn’t be getting involved in this debate, I’d say spend the cash to get the players we want

I also like their idea to build homes on part of the green belt, “brown belt” I think they called it. Hopefully this gets moving sharpish

Again I’ll caveat it by saying it’s early days and they have done some good stuff in the short time they’ve been in power. I just get a bad vibe about Reeves. I was hoping there mint be an early rabbit or two not in the manifesto but I’ve got a bad feeling she is going to pander to a lot of middle England who helped elect Labour. I hope I’m wrong and we don’t have to wait until the second term for the transformative stuff because it might be too late by then. They need to work out how they’re going to start improving peoples lives in the first term. Some signposting around closer alignment with the EU would be a good place to start

made the Bank of England independent - that wasn’t in the manifesto

this is exactly the sort of alternative deal for a centre half I was talking about. I confess I know little about him but he just won the Bundesliga, so clearly no mug, and he’s £20-30m cheaper then Guehi, leaving us more cash to get a RW

fish dropping truth bombs

If we get Guehi for £60ish million plus Madueke on loan, it’s been a good window

lazy twats

I would have been happy to sign Guehi. But I think the prices quoted are nuts and I think RW is a more obvious weak spot in the squad which I sincerely hope we address

I’ll caveat the above post by adding that it hasn’t been bad news and sorting out the junior doctor’s pay was great.

I don’t know. I guess I was maybe deluding myself that it was all designed to win votes from small c conservatives (which it did, successfully) but that once in power we might see a shift to the left and some ambition. They did this in 97 when things that weren’t on the manifesto were announced. The honeymoon period is the time to be bold - the prospect of another austerity government depresses me.

I know it’s all been trailed. I still expected more from a Labour chancellor

there are no guarantees with any transfer. There’s always an element of risk but you have to also play the percentages and I don’t see how Guehi is worth north of £70m like, which is apparently what Palace now want. I think it’s the sort of fee that could weigh heavily on a player who has impressed but hasn’t done enough to be classed as elite. I think we could end up turning to the loan market. We had success raiding Chelsea for Lewis Hall. I wouldn’t be against us doing similar with Madueke and one of their CBs. Loans with options to buy are less of a gamble than blowing the sort of money discussed on Guehi and sticking with Murphy/Miggy for another season

we’ve gone from taking Tosin on a free to spending weeks negotiating to potentially spunk our entire budget on a cb who may or may not be worth £70m (I suspect the latter). Getting a solid CB to compete with Schar and Botman for £30m or so (or on loan) and a top RW for around £50m is surely a more desirable outcome

I wouldn’t be against taking a couple of Chelsea players. They’ve got some quality in their squad and clearly need to shift some of it. It’s not the fault of the players they have signed that they’ve got too many to pick from to form a cohesive side. They’ve got lads who would unquestionably improve our first team.

I was never arsed about Guehi at the price mooted. Massively inflated by an impressive Euros. There are other options out there for half the price - though whether we manage to secure one in the time left before the window closes remains to be seen. I’d like to think we’ve been working on multiple targets. We simply have to secure a RW for the first team or it’s been a disappointing window.

This is bullshit like. More austerity - have they not learnt anything from the past 15 years? She’s like a diet George Osborne https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/aug/20/rachel-reeves-planning-to-raise-taxes-and-cut-spending-in-october-budget

the draft pale ale persuaded me

Ended up in the tap yard after a day at Brockhole doing go ape style stuff with the kids. Pretty decent selection of pizzas and craft beer - ideal

Can’t believe i missed the milk puns. I was whey too late to the party

Wtf are Chelsea going to do with all those players? It’s like they’re operating in a parallel universe to everyone else with their transfer policy which seems to just be: shop till you drop

Nia Archives deserves her Mercury nomination. I really hope she wins it - she would be the first dnb act to win since Roni Size back in the mid 90s. I love how she’s young and her music is fresh and exciting while also giving a massive nod to the old school jungle sound - quite a contrast to a lot of the new stuff out there, most of which is throwaway garbage. She’s an awesome singer and lyricist too: I feel so lonely in crowded rooms and I don’t like how sober feels both struck a chord with me. Can’t wait to see her at Brixton academy later in the year heres her remix of that Fred again track for the uninitiated

@Alex I’m back at Ambleside for a few days. Have you got any good restaurant/pub recommendations in the area? Something with decent veggie/vegan options. We’ve been to a few cool places already but somewhere we could stumble in without a reservation would be good - as well as somewhere with some higher end food (though we would probably avoid anything too stuffy where our noisy kids wouldn’t be appreciated) We’re just back from a week in Tuscany so we’ve had our full of pizza and pasta - I clocked a Japanese and a Thai in Ambleside town. Do you know if either of those are with bothering with?