The Fish

I'm a huge defender of the BBC, but I wonder if a change to the licence fee mechanism would be worthwhile?

I see enough in the performances to think that with a few better players we've enough to survive. Watford, Burnley, Norwich, Everton, Leeds have all looked awful.

Nice. HBA can talk up Newcastle to Botman.

There's a great deal of time and a huge gap between our current commercial revenue stream and where we could be. If we can get commercial deals in place that lift our income for fuck all to West Ham, or Everton levels (which is fair market value imo). Our FFP envelope stretches once more. There's also the prospect of dumping a load of dead wood off our wage budget by selling the likes of Lascelles, Clark, Shelvey, Krafth, Longstaff(s), Gayle, etc.

I agree, but again, I think that's because of the players. Specifically Lascelles and Shelvey. I think replacing them with better (not a huge ask in JL's case) mean those dropped points will be picked up later in the season.

Watford, Norwich as well. I'm not claiming we've been great or owt, just that individual errors have cost us significantly. Even in games where we've been outplayed, things could have been very different had we not suffered from individual mistakes born of poor quality players.

I don't think that's true. I think we've looked better than a good number of teams, we just haven't finished them off.

Don't mistake my posts as a fullsome defence of the new owners, I think there've been several missteps and mistakes made. Getting the right DoF in should have been the priority, but I'd wager the size of the task behind the scenes and the size of the task on the pitch meant that priorities have had to be more fluid. The things you mention are why things don't appear to be moving quickly. I'd suggest that they are moving quickly, but just not quickly enough from an outside perspective.

This is the point that so many on twitter (and some on here) seem to overlook. Every other club will demand a surcharge because we're Premier League rich. Every other club will demand a surcharge because we're Rich Premier League rich. Every other club will be reluctant to sell players midseason. Every player will demand a phat wage because we're rich. Every player will demand a phatter wage because we're in the relegation spots. Right now, we're not an easy sell, because regardless of the 000s at the end of our bank account, we're a relegation battling side managed by Eddie Howe. Instead of the midtable side managed by Rafa Benitez we were 24 months ago.

There's an element of risk with every signing. The way I'm approaching it is that given the 'quality' of the current squad, any additions are very likely to be improvements. Botman is very highly rated, Carlos, for all his errors, is still a good defender and better than Clark, Lascelles et al. We don't need to be signing van Dijk, we just need better than shit. Look at the players we've been legitimately linked with. There's a clear pattern of trying to address weaknesses in the squad. Trippier is a good rightback who's got experience and ability. Wood is a proven goal scorer in the Premier League. Tarkowski, Botman, Carlos, Attilla [Insert Last Name here], are all good to very good centre halfs. Zapata is a rated striker. This is way better than previous seasons where our approach to signings was scattergun and hunting for a bargain, rather than looking to plug the gaps.

What dusty little compartment of your brain did you dredge that from?!

I've zero problem with bringing in a loan player or two. We've done ok in that market before (Dubravka, Kenedy, Willock, Willems) and done badly (Slimani, Bentaleb, Kenedy, Doumbia, etc.)

Loan deals don't tend to become doable until the end of the window.

I appreciate that we don't want to set precedent of massively overspending, but they have to be aware of our particular set of circumstances and accept that we are going to have to pay over the odds because we're; in the relegation zone are a Premier League club are the richest club on the planet.

Alright, sprinkle it on my fucking cappuccino, then.

They can call it whatever they like as long as it means I can get some time alone.

Inject it into my veins.

I think a pragmatic approach is a great platform to build upon for any club that isn't elite, nor the richest club on the planet. But having the Saudi money and relying on pragmatism to elevate us is like driving on Rainbow Road and not immediately jumping off to the left.

Well, we've won once all season and are still within 3pts of safety. We're likely to improve the squad (further) and get our first choice striker back too. I don't think we're going to win once all season. We've looked all right in quite a few games but have been let down by a) poor quality player, b) timidity in the players. This is a squad of lads who've had fuck all coaching for 2 years, fuck all conditioning for 2 years. As long as we can keep in touch, I believe we can survive.

I worked out it was Blyth by the sun's position and the tide, but, sure, use 'triangulation' if you like.

Are those four of the wind turbines on the horizon, or just the shitty camera?

Mrs Fish has just successfully implemented unlimited annual leave at her place, or "Time well taken" as they're calling it. Lucky bassers We get 1 day a month without meetings, or expectations to do any work called "spirit of you" days. Ostensibly they're there for mental well-being, or development, or any training you want to do or whatever. Literally everybody has been using them for boring life-admin shit, or a free day off to tack onto your annual leave holiday.

What Benitez did in that season was provide solid foundations to improve upon. HAd he had the freedom to build the team that he wanted, I'm sure we could have built upon the midtable finishes. You're right, it wasn't always thrilling football, but neither was it under Hughton, for the most part. Difference being, Hughton had a midtable PL side in the Championship, and Benitez had a top of the Championship squad. We still blew some teams away, and played some lovely stuff at times. As an aside, I think there's a misremembering of Benitez' football as some kind of turgid borefest, I don't think that's true. Certainly not in the Championship. It was pragmatic, first and foremost, but if the forwards clicked we weren't a bad side to watch.

The legacy of Bruce's reign lives on.

Even if this Carlos lad two foots his own players in the warm up, he's better than every centre back at the club.