ender4

Mason Mount is a top notch keeper.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54366716 Singaporean-backed firm Bellagraph Nova says it is pushing ahead with its bid for Newcastle United Football Club. One of the firm's co-founders Evangeline Shen told the BBC her team is in regular contact with the Premier League club. Bellagraph Nova has been the subject of a number of revelations since its bid was revealed in August. The company has been criticised for inconsistencies about its assets and has retracted press statements. Bellagraph Nova particularly came under fire for a photo-shopped picture of its three founders meeting former US President Barack Obama. Revelations about the group have been covered extensively by Singaporean media. In an exclusive interview Ms Shen told the BBC that "bidding for Newcastle is part of our strategy because it's a well-known football club but still has room to improve, and we believe that improvement is good for the club as well as for our brand". "We started real planning for the club such as whom to hire as trainer and whom to sign for players," she added. A £300m bid put forward by Saudi Arabia's Private Investment Fund fell apart in August due to protracted negotiations. Bellagraph Nova then stepped in with a £280m offer but has since become mired in controversy. But Ms Chen is confident about the pursuit of Newcastle United. "We are always in contact and we are still very aggressive on trying to close the deal. "I can tell you our team just met Mike Ashley's representative last week on the process in Paris again." Out of nowhere On its corporate website, Bellagraph Nova says it has 23,000 employees and revenues for 2019 of $12bn (£9.3bn). Singapore-based corporate governance expert Mak Yuen Teen said it is not unusual for some companies to exaggerate their credentials or "window-dress". "I've seen listed companies continually misrepresent themselves including on the Singapore Exchange - announcing deals that are false, using fake degrees, but this is at a whole new level," he said. As Bellagraph Nova and its entities are not publicly listed on any stock exchanges, apart from one linked company called Axington, their claims about revenues and employees cannot be easily verified. "It's quite unbelievable that a $12bn company with 23,000 employees appear out of nowhere. Most likely they are claiming potential partners as part of their business," added Mr Yuen, who is an associate professor of accounting at the National University of Singapore. Talking about the revenue and employee figures, Ms Shen said "the calculation we have is a generic one because we can only base on what our partner firms and our subsidiaries tell us to consolidate". "I understand the numbers may look large, but as the nature of online business, it's very normal to have a lot of employees," she added. Observers remain sceptical about Bellagraph Nova's ambitions.

Derby, Nottingham Forest, Leeds (in the championship), Middlesborough, etc are all the one big team in their city. Whereas SHA are a small team in the West Midlands which have 3 bigger teams surrounding them - Villa, Wolves and West Brom. Plus they have generally been shit for their whole existence, so who would start supporting them? Only if they were forced to by their parents. I would suggest that's the main reasons why they don't actually have many fans.

With Rashica on the RW and Watkins up front

Is there no-one under the age of 21 in that squad? Would be nice to see the ages of all our players if anyone knows. I wonder what the average age of our squad is?

Well its about £2 million per position, so if we finished 7th rather than 17th, that's an extra £20 million that can be spent on wages/transfer fees. It would also help in negotiating the next shirt sponsorship, plus other random sponsorships, so maybe a couple million boost there per year. So if Barkley is costing us say £10m for the year, and he improves us by 5 positions, in effect he cost us nothing. (very simplified i know)

I think we are done with incoming transfers: Aston Villa boss Dean Smith says he does not expect any more new faces to arrive, unless there are some outgoings. "I think we are quite happy with what we've got at the moment," said Smith. "We set a target of what we wanted and the positions and we are comfortable with that. "We will have to keep our finger on the pulse in case anyone comes in for our lads. If there are outs then there's a possibility of ins after that." https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/54381088

I’m sure Smith has known that for a long time. He doesn’t decide the budget or how many players can be signed. One for Lange and Purslow really.

Jack Grealish

Though didn’t they beat Wolves as well - no idea if they played a similar team against them

I’m sure I’ve seen Watkins score a goal though

Maybe they can’t be bothered playing

Hasn’t Watkins also scored more goals for Villa than Davis has in his whole Villa career?

Or maybe he is! Lol

Ok, I think Smith isn’t going to risk our first team players in this match

Maybe to water the pitch or do some weeding?

I think you’ll just about be ok

I doubt he’ll bring anyone on straight away as he doesn’t really want to play any of the first team in this match.

Stick or twist for the second half? Would rather not have to bring on any of the first team to keep them fresh for Sunday, but would also really really like to win 5 games in row and get through to the QFs.

Maybe Stoke is that far?

I think its just his boner for Barkley making it difficult to walk.

so Rashica or no Rashica? No other links left now is there?

- John Terry and Lampard connection - paying higher portion of his salary than others were willing to pay - the chance to play with Jack Grealish - looking at our 4th place in the league and 4 wins out of 4 this season.

If a straight loan was the only way to get him, then better on a loan than not to get him at all. Gives us a year to find a great replacement and helps with FFP as well. Also, if he can help push us into the top half of the table, it brings more options of players next summer.

Not yet, but improving fast. Last season he had a moment each match where carelessness or loss of focus put the defence in danger of conceding. He needs to improve that focus this season to be the best England CB.