The Fish

Well, I'm Shogun miss those boys.

Slot does have all the pundits cooing about him, but then so did Brendan Rodgers. Given they make c£800m in revenue, they've got tremendous spending power, enough to bin off a bad manager and his bad signings. You'd need a succession of poor appointments to really damage their standing. Same is true with Man Utd, the difference is, the Glazers (and hopefully INEOS) appear way less competent than FSG.

I think I said that before the takeover happened. Clubs like Man Utd and Liverpool would need an extended time away from Europe, or a catastrophic collapse to fall out of consideration. They could spend 3 seasons bobbling between 8th and 12th, and some hockling scrote would still name them as 'dark horses to get CL football'. We can absolutely become a regular contender for the top spots, but their wealth, contemporary strength and infrastructure means they're really unlikely to fall out of contention that far or for too long.

Did you hear that Antony hired a photographer to capture his goal scoring success? Revealed: Man Utd flop Antony has been hiring a personal photographer to catch him in 'action' - with Sonic the Hedgehog toy kept in the wings for almost entire season to celebrate his first Premier League goal | Goal.com UK Easiest job in the world.

He might go on loan to Ipswich or Leicester, but I think it's better for his development if he stays where he is.

Well, it's the Eredivisie, he should tear it up if he's any good.

Definitely the former.

It's just the same dumb top down thinking, if someone isn't sitting in an office they can't be as productive, can they?! I know when I was at Royal London at the beginning of the first lockdown we found that productivity actually went up, and people were more likely to be online for longer hours too. In my new role I've maybe been in the office 5 times in 3 years. The same is true across my team and many of the other teams I deal with. There's zero appetite from middle management and below for a return to the office. Of course the Ops managers and people who sign the cheques for the giant buildings are keen to have bums on seats, but frankly beyond some meeting spaces I'm not sure what the justification could be?

That's strike 2

I work from home and would I fuck tolerate my lad bunking off school. Just makes things immeasurably harder.

You couldn't afford the hip operation.

Just a bit of fun ✅

Deputy for Schar in Tosin, I reckon. Big lad, good in the tackle, good range of passing, not slow (just takes a while to get going). Kelly is versatile and a good squad defender, upgrade on Targett for sure. If we can fill two spots in the squad for (relative) peanuts, that means we can focus the funds on the more expensive areas like RW and CF. I'd still like a better deputy 'keeper who is more comfortable with the ball at his feet (or at least more brave in coming out to sweep up as Pope is) and I still think we need depth at fullback. I also like the fact that it looks like we're doing some business early. Longer to bed them in, longer time on the training ground, better chance of them hitting the ground running. Also means we can focus more intently on deals that are perhaps more complicated to get over the line.

No, he fucking doesn't I'll be having words about his behaviour with Mr and Mrs McGroin when they come in at the next PTC.

Almiron is useful, and that's kind of the problem. He's fast but doesn't time his runs brilliantly, he's decent technically but not great, he can finish but doesn't do it consistently, he harasses opponents well and is busy. But all of that while useful, isn't enough for a team with lofty ambitions. Longstaff, Burn, Krafth, Lascelles, Dubravka, Murphy, Targett are all in the same bracket, for me. That said, I love him, even if he does look like a kid who's never had a bedtime, but if some Saudi club flashes £25-30m for him we should sell. The frustration for me is that while Barnes and Gordon can play on the right, neither are at their most effective there. Minteh looks good, but it's the Dutch league so who knows? I don't think Almiron is the reason we drew the game, the whole attacking unit were off their game and he at least injected some impetus.

What's tripping you up?

In an Athletic piece about Liverpool's hunt for a new wide player.

Ok, that's enough of that. Fingers on lips, bums on seats now. You've all got work you should be doing.

This time.

A mate invited me to his stag in Glasgow. It would have cost me £500 for travel, hotel and "activities", that's before food and drink. For a Stag in Glasgow. I did go to his second stag in Bristol, for 1/2 the price, so I think I made the right choice.

Who's recently announced he's leaving his job and will likely be fleeing to a country without an extradition agreement...

Just typical of top-down thinking. Outmoded ideas that people only work hard when in the office, or that emails= productivity. I'm at my most productive when I'm at home getting on with the fucking job, not sending an email to Mike to see if he fancies a brew in 10 minutes. *disclaimer I'm never particularly productive.

I've been on some corking stag dos to be fair; Oktoberfest in Munich, week in Portuguese villa, European tour of London. Mine was a day at the races, a steak dinner and getting drunk in York (although we were the oldest people in the club, by about 20yrs).

I was sat beside two massive Kiwis on the flight from Singapore to London. For 13 1/2 hours I was pressed against the window like the last commuter squeezed on the Japanese underground.