OTF

That sort of thinking will only hurt us, you're asking for foul play against players who have nothing to do with the underhanded tactics employed by the club they play for. Foul play that would see us penalised and negatively impacted beyond this game. It also just reinforces the idea that they're operating at a different level to us. These are the teams we are aiming to compete with on the pitch, so playing at home there's no reason why we shouldn't be thinking about winning fairly especially with this extra motivation.

The only way I want to fuck them up is by defeating them.

I hope we keep our noses clean, hard but fair. It will make us appear small time if we take our frustrations out on Liverpool's players. As much as I don't like many of them they've nought to do with the whole Isak affair. I dare say the ref will be waiting for the opportunity to penalise us for the charged atmosphere so we need Howe to have the same talk to Bruno that worked when he went on that lengthy clean run to avoid suspension.

But who's replacing Bruno?

I am honestly a bit worried that Bruno and/or Joelinton will do something silly during the game given how much animosity will be simmering throughout the crowd combined with his existing hatred of Mac allister. The referees will only be too ready to vilify us rather than the league's golden child so we'll happily be hung out to dry.

Now would seem a prudent moment to confirm that you are indeed the real Dr Gloom from Bananaman?

Also if you're being realistic it is likely that Brentford did tell a player with a year left on his contract that he could leave this summer. There's no way anyone at Newcastle would have said or even implied that was the case for Isak. But yes even with this monumental difference I've not seen anyone say they support Wissa downing tools.

Better not to see it tbh.

Look at the deluded and entitled initial response to that from a Liverpool fan. No acknowledgement of the fact that Isak is under contract for 3 more years. Failing to recognise that there would be no reason why anyone from Newcastle would have told Isak he could leave this summer.

I don't disagree with this, but by the same token surely Isak/his agent must believe there is still interest as they can't be naive enough to think that a basic move like his tweet is going to cause the club to u-turn on its position and accept a lowball offer.

I don't believe the club will resort to fining him immediately, but if he doesn't smarten up it will come. That will have a far greater effect on Isak and I'd say that would be the burnt bridges moment. Currently through their statement the Club has extended the olive branch to him, ball is in his court to smart up or fuck his career and his bank balance.

Eddie knew this was the way it would end and has been very careful to not say anything that could be considered at all incendiary. So from that perspective he will be fine. The biggest obstacles will be Isak firstly as he has doubled down on his position with his statement and taken fire at the club. The other will be the rest of the team, whether they will be able to accept Isak back into the fold after he's publicly indicated he wants to leave in the way he has. His agent and Liverpool have really fucked him over but at the end of the day the bucks stops with Isak and he has acted incredibly poorly and naively considering the year he has remaining on his contract. I'm not going to get fired up about it like others have on here. I won't take it personally but I can see why our players could and should.

It seems like a maturity and footballing knowledge issue with Osula, something that will improve over time, just how much remains to be seen.

They can have all of the Wilson money.

Haha yeah I know, but turns 29 in a few weeks.

They're not similar. Isak has 3 years left on his contract and is 3 years younger than Wissa who has 1 years left. 1 year remaining for a 29 year old is the last bastion of getting a reasonable fee for a selling club, 3 years left for a 26 year old is if you want this player you better pony up the big bucks or you can tell your story walking.

The club is the only party who can trigger the option but the player then has to agree to and sign against the terms of that option for it to be effective. It's intended as motivation for players to continue to perform when they're approaching the latter years of their playing career. But here Wissa has done so well that he was never likely to take up the option if it was triggered by the club. His transfer owes them a couple of million (he was signed for £8.5m 4 years ago) so everything above that is pure profit for them. So they will do very well out of it if we pay even £30 odd M for him. He doesn't have the glamour/appeal to attract interest from bigger clubs than us IMO, so as team in the Champion's League you can see why he wants to sign (a likely 3 with an option for a fourth) contract with us during this window. If he stays another year there he becomes a free transfer but if they have a poor season and he doesn't keep his good goal record or he has injuries then his appeal drops right off and being at the doorstep of 30 he would struggle to sign as lucrative a deal both financially and career wise.

They have the option if he also agrees to it, so in other words it's completely irrelevant. I can't see him staying there at all due to his age and the current state of their relationship.

They're having a laugh with one year left on his contract and him on the verge of his 29th birthday. Don't begrudge them trying it on, but we'll move on if they're doing anything more than trying to squeeze a slight bump to our existing offer.

The only ways in which the PL would move to change is: - The best players in the world start going to other leagues with more money available - There is a legal challenge to PSR that they don't have the inclination or time ($$$) to fight. The first is not likely to happen because there are still four of the biggest and richest clubs in the world, so it comes to the second as the only way to overcome it. Perhaps this falls to us (and Villa and Forest), as Man City have already established their revenue such that PSR is not an issue for them. Then there is the coexistence of the EUFA financial regulations around wages which will still hurt us, though more likely to get away with fines if we breach that - again they won't bite the hand that feeds them if we're bringing high profile players to European games.

Adding to the above it is denying clubs from having youth players with long term commitment and attachment to their local clubs for multiple reasons: - Firstly they tend to be comparatively stiffed on wages as they're already at the club - They're the most profitable to sell

As much as I think Ramsey is a good signing for us, I can't help but feel sorry for Aston Villa about having to part with a key youth player for PSR compliance. Not only is it counter-intuitive to the stated purpose of PSR it sees the ambitious clubs battling to overcome it, namely us, Villa and to a lesser extent Forest being the ones to lose out. Us with Anderson and Minteh. We really should form an alliance with these clubs and legally reciprocally transfer promising youth with buy-back options to facilitate more on the books profit and PSR headroom.

Is Ashley was still here it would have been an upgrade to our rehabilitation facilities.