The Fish

0:04 seconds in and I pause it for laughing out loud. I was going to try and type it out phonetically but... fuck me It's how he says "the long stairs at St James' Park" Absolutely bodies me and I can't get past it. p.s. @Gemmill Just like Mrs Guardiola, you were full of Pep last night weren't you?

Just the midfielders bought/signed during the Dark Ages under Ashley, and their fee in euros.

apropos of absolutely nothing whenever anyone says "Dumbass" my mind immediately goes to Ol' Franky boy.

I think you're about 15hrs behind

Could have saved yourself a lot of hassle and just written this, to be honest.

Eddie can win cups. Then he can win titles.

Hayden was fine for the Championship campaign. I'd put him at the same level as Dummett.

Dan Gosling too.

A one off title challenging season? Not a lot. Key players stay fit, bit more quality in 1 or two positions. Bit of luck. To consistently be a title challenging club? Fucking loads. We need a conveyor belt of talent from the youth teams to provide both depth for the first team squad, and a reliable revenue stream. We need recruitment to consistently find players that can evolve the options we have on match days (so we don't become predictable) without veering too far from the overall identity of the football we play. We need to get the balance right between selling players that are valuable, without selling players that are priceless. We need commercial deals that can give us the freedom to go off and sign the finished article, in that key position we need. We need a manager that has won things, who can instil in the squad a winning mentality. et-fucking-cetera

He's a guaranteed money maker for me. "Ryan Yates 2+ fouls" tacked onto any bet.

They want fucking shooting if they sign him and don't sing Badé Badé Bawoddladye daye, um Badé Badé

All fart nee shite. @Diego21 will back me up.

Off the top of my head, McClen, Brady, Bassedas, Geremi, Dumas, Faye, Hamilton, Pancrate, Georgiadis, Ireland... does Muto count?

I'd 100% get rid of Barnes if the fee was what we paid for him or more. He's a great option from the bench, as has been mentioned, but only in games where the opponent is stretched. If they're happy to cede ground and possession, only really putting us under any pressure when we get 25yds from their goal, well I don't think he can play round an entrenched back line, I don't think he has the alacrity of thought. His trick is unbelievable. Phenomenal finisher, good pace. But it's one trick. Gordon and Murphy (to a lesser degree) have more variety to their game. Shove Barnes and Almiron into a Transmogrification Device and we'd have a helluva a player.

He lists a few things that he think disproves the notion they're a small club; Young talent - plenty of smaller clubs have young talent on the pitch, plenty of big clubs don't. One of their players walking through their shit tip town centre - has no bearing on the 'size' or tinpot-ness of the club 40k league crowds - would be impressive and would point to a bigger club, but they don't get that, now do they? Big signings for the Championship - small(er) clubs can make impressive, surprising deals. Le Fee (I assume they're talking about him) could be an amazing signing, or he could be Aphonso Alves-esque

If Wood scored a particularly pleasing one off his bonce, you could call it a "work of Arteta" Work of art header geddit?

First teams don't win titles, squads do. And we're a long way off having a title winning squad.

To be fair, Hooley13 makes a really good point. I guess it's unfortunate for Sunderland that they're the only football fanbase impacted by the celebration of Christmas.

Tell you what, for Google to refer to him as an Electrician, he must be fucking good at it.

There's the other side of things. The players who can't get a chance in the PL need competitive matches. The case is obvious for players like Osula or Kelly. But players like Targett need to almost remind the world they exist.

Exactly. Well, aye, that's why I said a happy Bruno could be protected with a massive demand, but if we wanted to sell or he wanted to go, then c£80m is more realistic.

A left back is less likely than centre mid to be on the end of a heavy challenge. And as good as he's been, I don't think Hall is as pivotal as Bruno is.