'Even allowing for inflation, this thread is not worth 198 Terry Francises' - EPL 2017-18

quick straw poll in the pub last night: evrybody irl knows that Henderson is dogshit

I’ve never seen Grealish do anything notable in the 10+ times I’ve watched him play but I trust Windsor’s judgement. £40m seems a lot but West Ham apparently want £60m for Arnautovic so who knows?

Shaqiri has a cheapo release clause and would be a much more vfm option than paying ridiculous money for inconsistent Arnautovic, but I'm a bit surprised he's being linked with Liverpool.

Hey he'd solve their tricky attacker crisis.

I like him a lot but now we're already on the verge of signing Ramadan Sobhi from that relegated set of duds, wouldn't want too many of 'em!

Shaqiri has a chapo release clause

xxp Grealish has been transformed in the latter half of this season - came back from a long lay-off having done a lot of work in the gym and is now stronger, more up for a scrap, makes more tackles. Bruce has moved him in from the left wing to play as a 10 and everything goes through him now.

he's just wonderful with the ball at his feet. great at receiving it under pressure and either wriggling free or drawing a foul (often draws 10+ every single game, ppl love kicking him, he seems to love inviting the kicks). makes sensible short passes when necessary to protect the ball so isn't a liability, but is generally more proactive about turning and looking for the forward pass, which are almost always well-judged and well-weighted. he's already the best playmaker I can remember ever having seen play for Villa since I started watching when i was a kid. and the first player we've had in years who gets that excited and expectant buzz from the crowd every single time he gets on the ball.

see lots of Premier League fans (not just Spurs, he's being linked everywhere) rolling their eyes a bit at the prospect of signing him, either because they've not seen him play since we went down or because he's only really had half a good season in the Championship etc. (which is not an unfair statement but it's still wrong). but i'm pretty sure that if he gets a move to a biggish Prem team and gets to work with good players he's gonna shine almost immediately and will be playing for England sooner rather than later. there really isn't any other English player like him that I'm aware of.

he's visibly being held back by the quality of the players around him now; that's part of the reason his highlights reel might not look like much. so often he gets the decision and execution absolutely bang-on, kick-starting moves that almost immediately breaks down when someone else loses the ball. play him alongside quality attackers and he'll be shredding defences.

wouldn't begrudge him leaving at all. just hope we don't let him go for nothing. though the thought of Daniel Levy coming to the negotiating table fully aware of the financial mess the club's in right now doesn't fill me with hope

"often draws 10+ every single game"

should probably be working as a WC pundit for ITV with this kind of insight

all v positive maybe a swap for dele if yere in that bad a position

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/wolves-rui-patricio-world-cup-14758822

lol!

Jonny Evans at 3.5m is great business. Surprised given all the interest last summer.

Mrs Patricio otm

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44414487

Winter break!

oh ffs

coming soon: 4 15 minute quarters and no draws allowed

Nah that's fair enough, so many players just grind to a halt or break down with injuries in the spring and it works fine in Germany, Spain and France.

Still waiting for the SFA to bite the bullet introduce summer football in Scotland.

Six-year contract for Kane, excellent fucking work all concerned.

yep

and the salary is a notable step

we just spent £15 mill on Kongolo, money well spent and no offence to Schindler - but he is the highest quality defensive player I've seen at Town in my lifetime and is just as good in the middle or at LB (which was handy when he currently only have 2 championship quality LBs), he's a such quality defender and I can't believe he hasn't been snapped up by a bigger fish, well lol, apparently Watford were in for him as well. I thought there might have been issues about his tax free mega-wage at Monaco, but we massive now!

xp Probably work out at the same hourly rate now VAR will be used at all Premier League matches

wow collymore

so he's basically called Ian Wright an Uncle Tom and a cunt and Jenas a milquetoast!

i mean you say basically but that is literally what hes done

Collymore is a bit like Barton, in that he seems to think being a complete shit makes him an outspoken maverick. But a stopped clock etc!

I should have said a valuable outspoken maverick, because he isn't exactly a great alternative to his easy targets!

liking the badge on the new huddersfield kit calzino!

apparently Leeds fans have been trying to take the piss out of it, talk about rich!

it's got 67.1% yes votes on DATM, so not a complete design travesty like the Leeds one, but not quite blanket approval! I think it's ok.

i think it looks nice!

It is sort of linked to all that "Terrier mentality" bollox from the marketing dept, where we try market ourselves as a small club, whilst spending £17m on a defender. It wears a bit thin for me, prem money is so ridic these days - the smallness of small club ain't quite what it used to be!

but at least it is traditional part of the club's identity.

I'm more happier with the signs at Hudds station reminding any passing Leeds fans that we are indeed still an EPL club. And they haven't bothered advertising Leeds season tickets on Northumberland St for a few years now!

100k per week seems cheap in context for alli to sign

It is sort of linked to all that "Terrier mentality" bollox from the marketing dept, where we try market ourselves as a small club, whilst spending £17m on a defender. It wears a bit thin for me, prem money is so ridic these days - the smallness of small club ain't quite what it used to be!

Just for comparison, Celtic's highest transfer fee paid is £6m - for Sutton in 2000 and Hartson in 2001. By the way, the top 3 transfer fees paid for a Celtic player are from the same club - the football colossus that is Southampton FC. And people wonder why Celtic can't compete in Europe.

some butthurt Newcastle Utd fan wrote a blog about what a disgrace it is that a tinpot clubs like Town, Brighton and Bournemouth have all smashed their transfer record in the last few years.

It's not much fun being a feeder club for Southampton.

My heart would bleed for you Tom but your financial resources are ridiculous in terms of the SPFL (6-9 times the wage bill of Aberdeen and Hearts, not to mention million pound+ transfer fees). More money in transfer fees to Celtic would make it even more of a procession.

In terms of the English Premier League that 6-9 multiplier is the difference in wage bill between top spenders Man City and 17th to 20th .

AVB to Real is being talked up by the French press and must happen.

First day in the office he tells Ronaldo his era is over and they need to move beyond it.

Cron's ready to come to Wolves anyway so it's all good

hey it looks like the sporting lisbon explosion will blast rui patricio your way

still fighting over him but we seem to be front-runners.

Raul Jimenez signing imminent too apparently

this whole meltdown is incredible, and if it sees off the club president bruno de carvalho after all his outbursts the schadenfreude will be exquisite

yeah the bit about the ultras maybe being incited by the chairman is :O

president i mean

That really is crazy.

Poch stays, Lopetegui will be RM's new manager

poch in lop off