OTF

Craig has a proud track record of never being wrong according to Craig.

More like the Isle of Wong.

That's more palatable. Have the knockout teams play their regional rivals, so you have less distance to travel and more of a local rivalry. Then you end up with the 'best' team from North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania. You could feasibly split Europe and South America into regions so they may have more than one team reach the finals with 8 teams. And fuck this over 4 years qualification crap, just have it so that only the season prior to the tournament impacts qualification so you get the best teams at that point in time only.

Nah it's a load of shite all about the money. You can't fit it into the football calendar. We have the World Cup for this kind of country based comp as well as Euros, COPA America, ACON, AFC Cup etc. Then Champion's League, Europa etc and Domestic Cups through the regular. There's no room for anything else this is just cash grab bollocks with no meaning or legacy. Nice advantage to the big clubs and even the smaller clubs who managed to qualify. Chelsea qualified for it by winning the 2021-22 Champion's League 4 years ago. The NZ team in it qualify through the Oceania Cup which started as a Cup essentially between Australia and NZ, until Australia left to join AFC (Asia) in order to have a more consistent World Cup qualification path, so now it's NZ teams vs tiny island nations. Most teams are already amongst the richest in their country (if not the world) so it's another way to elevate them financially. It's soulless. Of course if we manage to ever qualify I take all of the above back.

The man is an expert in the field.

Exactly, there's no chance he is a complete flop. Has a good injury record. Hard working, fast, unselfish player, both footed. Young and can improve. Won't currently be on huge wages. He should be a massive priority for us.

I wonder what Chelse are telling the players that they sign. 2 Seasons (games played, from 90+) Caceido €116m - 73 Lavia €62m - 17 Nkunku €60m - 38 Palmer €47m - 70 Disasi €45m - 37 (loaned out) Jackson £37m - 65 Ugochukwu €27M - 12 Sanchez (GK) €23m - 48 Petrovic (GK) €16m - 23 (loaned) Washington €16m - 2 (loaned out) Angelo €15m - 0 (loaned then sold) 1 Season (from 45+ games) Neto €60m - 35 Felix €52m - 12 Dewsbury-Hall €35m - 13 Jorgensen (GK) €24m - 6 Kellyman €22m - 0 Anselmino €16m - 0 (then loaned out) Amagou €15m - 1 Veiga €14m - 7 (then loaned) Wiley €10m - 0 (then loaned) Adarabioyo (Free) - 22 This window (so far): Pedro €60m Delap £35m Estevao €34m Essugo €22m Penders (GK) €20m Sarr €14m Paez €10m Would they even bother trying to pretend to players that they're important to their plans? Or do they just tell them how much they'll be making? Bolded the ones who have had some degree of success there, was feeling very generous with Jackson. That's over €80m spent on GKs alone in a couple of years and they likely don't know who their best keeper is. It gets worse if you go back another year as well. As a fan watching all of that go on it can't be a very rewarding process. I hope we never turn into this soulless conveyor belt of mercenaries.

You're making it sound way worse than it is and way less complicated also. 1. We're not going to upset a harmonious squad that just won a trophy and qualified for the champion's league by bringing in players on huge wages. This rules out many options, but it's likely the right move. 2. The summer transfer window can be a slow burn (yes I know we already have one of those). Sure some business gets done early, mostly by clubs that have few financial restraints, but most happens towards the end as teams selling quality players need to confirm that they can replace them. There's always that domino effect as well as bigger moves occur that money goes back into the market and more players move. 3. We are an attractive prospect to both domestic and international players. We have champion's League, we have a manager who consistently gets the best out of players. We have a slew of internationals in our team both for England and other countries who have earned or maintained their positions whilst playing here. 4. On Trafford, he is a long term target. He wants to come here and he will come here. The clubs have to do the dance on what that final fee is. Every pound saved there is a pound that can be spent elsewhere. It's PSR that means we have to move like this, but even under those constraints look how far we have come in four years. Not getting him earlier hasn't hurt us at all as both Pope and Dubravka had some incredible spells/games through this season. 5. Ability is only one factor in signing a player, we also want to ensure they have the right attitude and are coming for the right reasons. 6. Hardly anyone is taking the piss. Chelsea very obviously are, but few others run the risk. Aston Villa took a bit of gamble and having missed out on CL next season are going to have to take action to at least give the appearance of satisfying PSR. 7. Who have we missed out on that we desperately wanted here?

From everything we know they're a perfect fit for each other. Not upset at all that we didn't sign him.

This bollocks makes it seem like they've sold themselves short at £200m. We were sold for £305m 4 years ago and it took Ashley a while to get a buyer. We're a club with over 100 years of history, one of the highest attendances in the country and huge international recognition - not to go all SMB but I've had people call out/comment positively on a Newcastle shirt in New York, Hawaii, South Africa, Italy, Sydney, Melbourne (and call out and comment negatively in London). I'm genuinely happy that women's football support, viewership and participation has had massive increases in the last 5 years but the reality is that it will always be a vastly inferior product as far as the game play is concerned. These sort of stunts to fund the main event only serve to make a mockery of the progress that has been made.

They look from ordinary through to shite tbh. The bayern one looks like a knitted sweater vest. The Juve one is probably the nicest but you'd be hard pressed to know it had anything to do with Juve.

I feel like we'll be well positioned to bring Anderson back in a few years when Forest are faltering.

Can they not buy them back at their actual value and then repeat the trick?

Presumably we'd want to get into the Women's Super League first (fanks Mike), then we can use Chelsea's valuation as a guide.

I hear that we've agreed personal terms with Matt Targett and we're absolutely desperate to hang on to Joe Willock despite a lot of interest. 😉

Let's see them both before we decide.

We have to do the dance with their clubs on the price though. Pedro has confirmed attitude/behavioural problems on and off the pitch which is the reason they're willing to sell. He doesn't excite me for many reasons. I was hoping the years of signing decent players with issues were over but apparently not.

Not an overseas player, but from an overseas league, but yeah I'll agree since he had plenty of PL experience. Buying from PL clubs also has a bit of an incestuous feel to it. Elanga I like mostly because of his pace, but he's also not selfish. Technical ability and positioning can improve with age and training but if you're not fast now you'll never be and speed (particularly on the ball) is so important in wide attacking players. It's why I'd never consider Pedro to be a wide player.

I don't understand why we're apparently focused on only PL players. If you look at our best transfers since the takeover they're Bruno and Botman (France), Isak and Trippier (Spain) and Tonali (Italy). Tino and Hall we paid for their potential but they've turned out to be great buys. Howe has shown that he can coach players into the league, so we should be looking elsewhere as well to make our PSR dollar go further. I don't think we should sign Pedro. Elanga I do, as long as the price isn't excessive. Trafford if he continues his trajectory he could be an exceptional long term signing, similar to Hall and Livramento.

Jose Enrique is in the top 50.

Sign him up. Elanga I mean, and Demis Roussos. Dig him up first. Fun fact: I was at the Herodion at the foot of the Acropolis for his performance in 2010. His first in Greece for 37 years according to Google. And by at I mean wandering around outside like a tourist on their first night in Athens.

I guess the flip side is that they may consider that Elanga is at the peak of his value based on a season where Forest exceeded expectations by a great deal and based on his age and length of contract. They may fancy that they could turn that fee into a couple of players of promise from a lower cost market for the upcoming season where they'll (like us) have a busier schedule.

Big Willy also counts as a home-grown player for us (I believe) as his combined time with Sheffield and us under the age of 21 qualifies him.