The Fish

How's the job market, did ye say?

Missed with his first attempt, what a cock up.

Ings went for £25m this summer. You're saying he's trebled in value? Ward Prowse is worth more than Hakimi, or Varane? Give your head a fucking good shake and do it now.

That makes a lot of sense. Although, it might leave us a bit short on Steves.

Wait, you think Danny Ings and James Ward Prowse are worth £150m for the pair? No chance.

It needs to be made clear that you can have a sponsorship deal with a pre-existing business partner if it's at 'fair market value'. So, Aramco could sponsor the stadium for X and the new Saudi Airline could sponsor the shirt for Y and as long as a market case can be made for it's valuation, it's allowed. No, Saudi Airlines couldn't sponsor the shirt for £1bn, but they could do £30m a year. That's less than the big 6 get for theirs and if that's the company we're looking to get amongst, it could be argued that it's fair. We're on tv more than everyone bar the top 6, we're now the club with the richest owners on the planet, the global spotlight is going to be on us even when we're not playing because of the very nature of the owners, there are going to loads of stories about signings, managerial changes, investments in facilities. A better mind than I could certainly make a case that it's reasonable given all the above.

It wouldn't be such a bullshit new rule if existing sponsorships were subject to it. King Power Stadium, Everton's owners 'sponsoring' the training ground and so on. Also, 'Fair Market Value', who the fuck decides what's fair? If IBM think they want to get in on the ground floor of a project with the potential to get among the top 6 clubs, them spending £30m a year on a shirt sponsorship for the next 5 years is fair.

That sets a dangerous precedent. You'll have all of TT queuing up outside your house.

I don't believe you.

You think Lewis can be coached into a decent fullback? I can't judge him off the back of working under Bruce. Who the fuck knows, maybe Joelinton is quality and it's just Bruce that's made him look pony.

I reckon that's harsh. I think that Benitez showed that Longstaff, Hayden and Almiron can do ok in the top flight. Add Willock to the mix plus another central midfielder in the January window and we'll be fine. Personally think the defence did well because Perez was doing some great work off-screen. I think a decent coach would have defence and midfield performing immeasurably better than what we've seen under Bruce. Fucking Hell, the only players who've performed even close to their level is Wilson and ASM.

Read somewhere that they were allowed to look at the pertinent financial information, but little else. It's hard to plan when you can't do worthwhile assessments.

Said it before but the Saudis clearly weren't bothering their arse to forewarn Staveley et al about the u-turn on piracy, so they were all caught on the hop. Yes, personally, I would have had Rangnick on speed dial with a "Look, if this happens, how quickly can you get out of Moscow?" But the signs were that no resolution would be coming before December at the earliest.

Oh, I'm not saying they're going to fix everything toot suite. Just that the decisions will accelerate, for better or worse.

Jones might even get the lads in for training, instead of having 7 of the last 11 off. Look, Bruce is a negative. He's a drag on morale, tactics, conditioning... fucking everything. I understand wanting to get the new manager in, but honestly, I think having no manager is better than retaining his services. He's had his 1,000th game, he's getting millions, he'll get a punditry gig until some Championship owner loses their mind and gives him the job, just bin him off.

That's why I think Al-Ramayan's attendance will accelerate things.

I dunno, QPR? they've had form for that kind of thing in the past

Cheers for reminding me. About the game. Don't need reminding to visit the masturbatorium.

In all the positions that need addressing I think attacking midfield is a ways down the list of priorities. I think we should sort central midfielder (someone to play a defensive role in there) first and foremost. Another Striker would take the pressure off Wilson a bit. I definitely think additions to the backline would help (Tarkowski). But in attacking midfield we have ASM, Almiron, Fraserr, Joelinton (I know, I know), Willock, plus S.Longstaff if needs be. That's before addressing the fact that as ewerk says, Barkley isn't up to much.

I think having Al-Ramayan actually in the country and face to face with the other owners should speed things up a lot. I think if they'd announced Jones would takeover as Interim Head Coach they could have fired Bruce the day after the takeover. But the more it drags on the more blunt Damacles sword looks above his head. We all know he's going to be fired at some point in the near future, so dithering on that front doesn't look like they're taking their time to get shit sorted, it looks like they don't know what to do. Jones can look after the squad while the DoF is appointed, then if the senior backroom staff are in place and suddenly the right man becomes available remove Jones as interim and install the new man. Hopefully in time for the January window to be fully exploited. The longer this drags on the worse the atmosphere in the stadia and on the training ground will become.

Shelvey should be peddled as soon as possible. Gayle too. And whoever is leaking the stories to Hope.

In my defense, I'm very distracted.

Think this defense would be alright with a decent coach. They were before.

The coward.