Rayvin

Next international break the club announce a rehabilitative trip to Wuhan, China for luxury spa treatment and physical fine tuning at their top medical centres. Chosen by Ashley because it's "weirdly cheap right now"...

I think it's more about getting hard ons over you being wrong. Not saying that's better, but no one on here is pleased we're shit.

Tbf it's not like all 6000 people would influence editorial decision making directly. You're probably talking a far smaller number who would need to be involved to do that. I have zero faith in the BBC now personally, so while I don't agree with Wykiki on this one, I also think he's well within reasonable judgement to assume whatever he wants about them. Actions have consequences.

It's never been an issue of them being right or not. They need to shut the fuck up and make no comments on it whatsoever. Israel is beyond criticism, and it doesn't affect us in the slightest anyway. Let Israel burn the middle east to the ground for all we care, we need to learn our lesson in this - and that lesson is "shut the fuck up".

What do you think the BBC agenda is here then, Wykiki?

Anyone think we're going to be into the hundreds of thousands with this one? I'm not entirely sure I trust China's reporting on this tbh, I suspect that the number will have been minimised in order to allow them to get things as under control as possible.

Fellaini was at least as effective for them as any other midfielder they've had since though. And I can understand Moyes wanting to have an ally in the dressing room.

Whatever goes on with that deal, I hope no one from the Labour party comments on it.

That's a fucking stupid statement anyway. Revenue does not equal profit. How many years would it take Ashley to get all his money back from the club and also an additional £70m? More than 12 apparently.

Does Sports Direct do any business outside of the UK? We ultimately know very little about him except that he's broadly a moron. I can buy into the notion that he scuppered deals like this through being an idiot, but less so that he's intentionally wasting everyone's time. I guess we'll see in the end anyway.

I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic because i just can't fathom what Ashley actually gets out of going through this charade over and over. The fans hate him and are already staying away plenty. The club isn't making him any money in a direct sense, and i struggle to imagine that it really helps in a big way through advertising. Is the advertising worth £70m profit..? It can't be.

The UK has had zero co-operation from the Americans concerning the extradition of the hit and run bitch with diplomatic immunity. Not that I have any sympathy for Andrew whatsoever, or indeed want him free if he is guilty of something. But the FBI can get to fuck.

If they've genuinely been in talks for 4 months then I do think he's serious about selling. No one was screaming at him to spend money this window - in fact, I find myself wishing he had spent about £40m less over the summer. His free tickets move has saved attendances, and while Bruce is playing a style of football last seen in prehistoric times, it's not really like there is united fan sentiment against the club. I also think that if a deal is 90% complete, there won't be any counter offers or anything like that. That shit will all have been settled on by now. They'll be in the very final stages of the legal discussions and the wording of the sale. Also, this was a leak - Its not like anyone knew anything about it for the 4 months prior to that, so why would anyone know anything more about it now? No one knows anything about counter offers, the feelings of the stakeholders, etc. Not unless Ashley himself has chosen to make all of this known, and as I've said, it'd be fucking bizarre for him to play that game for a mere two or three days of attention at a time when he doesn't even need it.

Then why have they spent 4 months allegedly in talks? We assume his reason for this charade is to win over the fans and secure renewals or whatever. But he's been under reasonable pressure with attendances, enough to offer free tickets even, and hasn't revealed this. It's come out now at a point where he's under relatively lower pressure because Bruce is muddling through well enough. It doesn't make any strategic sense for him to leak it now just for a two day boost before he kills it. And it also doesn't make any sense for him to waste 4 months talking to them and permitting due diligence if he has no intention of selling. So i think he must actually be serious about it.

Sigh. If this doesn't happen, we'll never be rid of him.

And that is the first post anyone has made that has given me pause in just accepting this. Back to hand wringing and internal conflict for me.

Yep. We can't stop this happening and aren't endorsing Saudi Arabia if we continue to go - they're the world's problem, this is just football. And I want to enjoy watching us again.

I admire you sticking to your guns on this tbh (even if in the end you're pulled along anyway). You really think you'll give it all up if it goes through? I'm not that principled I guess, but then everything I believed in politically is crashing and burning around me so nihilism is an easy out.

Fair statement if true.. but surely they have been? Have those strikes not been going on for weeks now?

What is his complaint? That Shrewsbury didn't just let them win?

Just to make sure that I'm not just missing this because I'm uninitiated into the sport - the BBC have used footage of a different black basketball player instead of footage of Bryant? dear me.. Cummings' reforms can't come soon enough

Oh I see, snakes means supporters who couldn't handle paying Ashley to punch them in the face. Not everyone is into S&M.

Snakes? Like who? Ashley brought in a decent number of snakes himself, I would have thought we'd be net zero on snakes at least.

Yes, we get suckered into it every single time. Although tbf to Ashley, he does seem to be able to sort of raise the stakes a bit each time. Not sure where we go from here though. North Korea next time out perhaps.

What is more unnerving, Gloom? A state that believes, culturally, based on religious teachings, in the oppression of women and other minority groups - and which believes that it is doing the right thing, as dismal as that view is? Or is it a state which professes to care about these considerations, but which uses the moral legitimacy it gains by notionally standing for such things in order to justify tearing around the middle east with reckless abandon, instigating wars, blowing up children, and funding any group at all (ISIS and indeed Saudi Arabia) as long as it fulfills a strategic objective to win power, resources, or financial gain? The Saudis, as wrong as they may be, have a cultural reason for being total asshats. The American government does not - it simply does not care on any level. Therefore, I suggest that the US is more psychotic than Saudi Arabia. EDIT - I really tried to resist making this post, I swear