MrBlack

Wasn't he Matty Cash's replacement at Forest? Sure people were saying we should have just signed him instead of Cash not long after we completed Cash deal. Did he play last season for them? Bit of a strange one for them to be selling him after such a short time, rings alarm bells.

ACL injuries aren't the career death sentence they used to be. And presumably they have some kind of insurance from an FFP perspective so they can just move on and sign someone else if he ends up being perma crocked. You know, like selling him to one of their sister clubs in Saudi Arabia for what they paid

Anyone willing to find a Valencia fan forum and translate their thoughts on our victory? Felt like we were having decisions and dirty play going against us, but kind of interested to see if they felt the same. Great showing given the number of matches played recently and temperature. Whilst they're rarely a good indicator of league form, it's been a good pre season and I don't expect Emery will let standards drop when it matters

Because then psychologically you're not getting a deal when you pay the same amount as you are now, if its the genuine RRP.

Sounds like something Gerrard would say. Doesn't have a plan, just uses the emotion of the moment. See then having a real struggle this season and Howe getting the sack by Christmas.

I assume the rule was set for the entire season to stop this happening. If they'd said "until they get kicked out" it gives some incentive for them not to try as hard as they might. Set the rule for the season then you eliminate any impact on the sporting element of the competition.

I think his issues at Barca weren't entirely his doing. He picked up a pretty shit sandwich, and was told what he had to do to improve by the powers that be. They then asked him to finance it in a way that worked. But I am for sure glad we got Monchi instead of him, a far more complete director. Always the chance we never actually wanted him and Barca were just name dropping us for some weird reason.

You'd think they would have opened single ticket purchase for the 250 seats (or whatever they planned to set aside for single purchase) already, at least to members or for ST holders to upgrade for the first game. I'd imagine as the first home game of the season, a few more than average would take them up than normal, to see what the fuss is about or just to kick off the season with a bang. Might even see a few then thinking it's worthwhile then paying a slightly reduced amount to extend for the season (original cost less what they paid for that game). Kind of try before you buy option. The fact they haven't done the first thing I mention suggests they're not sure what price they want to set it at. I can't think of any other reason why they would delay the 250 they're reserving for singular sale anyway.

I hope he will.

Did we not just sign an extension with them? I don't see it ending anytime soon... unless that extension was negotiated before Heck came in?

Makes you wonder how much of the allocation the TV fans are getting. The fact they mention they've reviewed the process for away tickets suggests it is going to be more than the 6 or so you'd expect them to have available as the respective ratio of the overall hospitality allowance. And if it is, I wonder who they're taking these away tickets off

More random pattern backgrounds and a mono badge... probably legit.

I'd guess it's more likely going to be around the £100 point. The relative increase between a regular ST per match cost and on the day ticket price is about 20% isn't it?

We missed the boat with Davis. A hangover from when our academy wasn't well run. That and his injuries prevented him getting loans/ game time. Hopefully Ramsey's injury is a one off in that respect, and he's done more in the championship than Davis did, at a younger age

Is he the kind of player that assists the assister a lot? His (selective) stats that the posts you've quoted seem very good for this kind of player.

You don't launch a product without knowing if there is demand though. If they thought ST holders would take them up, then they got it very wrong which doesn't reflect well on them. They could have got a guide on what price point was viable for their expected market. If they thought they wouldn't take them up and knew they were going to be opening up the offering it also doesn't reflect well on them. As @cheltenham_villa says above, it isnt clear cut. Thinking it through some more, maybe the fact its all very last minute and still doesn't seem to have sold out maybe does point more to poorly thought through, rather than consciously excluding existing ST holders. I'm torn too now, but it's definitely one of (very few) bad points against the club lately. Maybe the last hangover from Purslow and hopefully one they'll learn some lessons from when they have to sort out the messaging when the North stand closes.

I'd argue that his performances getting Boro to the PL are more proof of ability than Chuk's 10 minute cameos for us, and we sold him for 20m when he effectively only had 6 months left on his contract. 10m would be low for me, especially as the market continues to get crazier all the time, even since the time of the chuk sale

You seem to be suggesting they expected the existing ticket holders to buy up the offering and just happen to have ended up expanding it because they didn't. I think they could have expected most not to jump at the chance to spend this much more (and probably did) when they're already hit by greater than inflation increases. And so I view it as a more conscious effort to flood the stand with more money, rather than an accidental "well, we've got to sell the tickets to someone now". Also, I wasn't saying they needed permission, just that they dont appear to have been very open about their intent. And I think it was deliberate. If you don't then that's fine...we'll never know for sure, and you are right that they've clearly got an aim to increase revenue, so maybe assumptions should have been made by the ST holders when they were interviewed.

It will either be a loan, or a much bigger fee than 10m. I reckon a loan is far far more likely.

I agree with the sentiment that this is being marketed as a new corporate/ hospitality type offering and hence you can't say the people taking it up are jumping the queue. But you can definitely lay some blame and anger at the club's doors for how it's been handled. They interviewed season ticket holders for their opinions and used them to justify putting the service in. To then deliver a service that clearly was never targeted at them is underhand and I don't like it. Not to mention that the season ticket holders are complaining about the existing service, and will now find that they're actually worse off with less room than they had before, and will be paying over inflation increases for the privilege. The club should have been more honest about what they were doing

Seems that maybe he's just a good luck charm

Agreed, he clearly didn't mean or expect to break the guys leg, but did look like Marcelo was putting his foot there for no logical reason other than to block the player and either try to win a free kick or commit a foul.. if he'd played with his normal momentum his foot wouldn't have been landing where it was I don't think. Guess its easy to say viewing a slow motion replay... maybe I'm being harsh

I don't think so... It could be that the defence are so used to having a world class Emi behind them, that when they have a not very good Olsen they get even more nervy than they would if the step down was from a lower level gk than Emi. But fundamentally, that only happens because he really isn't that good. The biggest issue is his complete inability on the ball. It shows no sign of having improved this pre season, and means we have to abandon our way of playing if he starts. It does seem that the management have more confidence in him than most of us though...

Fools. They should've just got Eni Aluko to message them both on the sly with whispers that the other team were bidding more than them.

Wouldn't surprise me. That's effectively a fee as if we'd sold him we'd have owed him the remainder of his contract money anyway. Positive for our FFP position this season anyway.