Rayvin

Bas Dost was £60m mind

Not a bad shout that actually. Injury prone but beggars can't be choosers.

Aye, someone will pick him up in January. Not us. Don't really see why we can't persevere with what we have, but there we go. Maybe if we sold Mitro, we'd have enough money to buy someone better than him though. i.e. if they've got £15m kicking around for a striker already, and get another £15m for Mitro, we might get to spend £30m. Not that we'd get anyone amazing for that, but still.

Aye but we had to be on the front foot more last season. We won't be doing that this year, so bursting counter attacks should be more effective.

It's just one season. We consolidate this year then we're on basically an even footing with the bottom 12 next season - which means we can push for top 10. Beyond that who knows, maybe top ten is about as good as it gets under Ashley - but Rafa can certainly get us that far, and in two years it would be a fairly speedy achievement.

As in they've bid for him, or we're just chucking him under the nose of anyone we think might be remotely interested?

The new TV deal came in last summer, and clubs were still spending fairly modestly. It's only this year that we're seeing them spend massive sums. Stands to reason that this is about as early as most clubs could do so - which means we're just going to have to accept that we're a season behind the others. So yeah, we'll be consolidating - but this is where Rafa should be able to make a difference. We'll be a tough to beat side who play on the counter, with an experienced manager who has a good record for taking points off teams who are 'better'. We'll be fine.

Aye, really think people are overstating the quality of the PL...

We have such a rich culture

It really is fucking weird that he does that

Didn't look amazing for Sunderland last season but they were hardly a good team to begin with. Hopefully he does better with us.

Rafa could have come out saying the things he is to set a face saving stance ahead of the season. If he knows it's going to be tough, by doing what he's doing, he'll protect his reputation. Moyes did it at Sunderland last year.

Couldn't you argue then that Ashley is just trying to keep Rafa sweet for as long as possible, knowing that if we can make it to next season, we can have a proper go in the following year? Maybe even Rafa knows that.

And yet, a club policy surrounding the concept of wiping one's own nose is actually a long term, sustainable approach.

Really don't think Rafa has said anything here that we need to be unduly concerned about. He's had the same position all summer.

Is this, or is this not, money being spent

This coming just in time to fly in the face of the prevailing wind in the Rafa thread.

Fine, if that's true then your theory fits. But it makes Rafa an idiot, unfortunately. EDIT - unless Rafa knew this was coming as much as Ashley did, and the whole sorry affair has just been about posturing for the inevitable fallout; fans and football be damned.

Why would Rafa have left a meeting with Ashley, without an actual figure concerning what the budget would be?

Also, your theory suggests that Rafa went into a meeting with Ashley, was told 'we can spend what we earn' and never questioned what that figure was...

Do we not get some manner of instalment of the season's windfall in a week or two?

'Optics'.

We'll have to agree to disagree. I remain unconvinced that Ashley gives a fuck about the day to day running of the club, and as long as it 'wipes it's own nose' he'll be happy. Charnley is the one who got us relegated, will be responsible for replacing Rafa if he goes, and actually, is responsible for keeping everyone singing from the same hymn sheet. He is woefully out of his depth running this club, and has proven it repeatedly. Charnley is paid far less than any other CEO in the Prem. Largely because he's a compliant, incompetent fucknut. But he'll be topping up what he earns through profit related bonuses. He's probably more interested in those than in building something for the future.

It is, but how is the situation with respect of time any different now than it was prior to Rafa's interview, with the exception of the fact that now a couple of hours have past, and that Rafa has acknowledged we're having a hard time signing people - something we're all aware of. I genuinely think that interview has revealed nothing we didn't already know, and shouldn't cause any more panic than any of us had at 9am this morning