Valerie

Some time ago the like button took a holiday, but it's returned now. I would prefer this place not to become a Disneyland of emotion buttons, with the possible exception of a "bugger off" button.

Andy Carroll back at Newcastle. The Peter Principle personified. I read he has a one year contract, so we can be rumoured to be in for him again after our transfer ban

Perhaps the club wants to see how the first half of the season with our teenagers will pan out. If things are dire: Danny Drinkwater to the rescue

Anybody know somebody at a midtable Italian or French club?

There is a difference between Luiz pushing this - which just means he wants away, without us knowing when he asked the club for a transfer - and the assumption of many people he demanded a new club to the point of holding the board ransome 1 day before the transfer deadline. People are filling in the blanks and then throw hissy fits over their own imagined scenarios. And no, I don't like him going to Arsenal, but I'm not blaming him for his choice (we don't even know how many options he had in the first place), and I'm not losing any sleep over it either.

Did the board inform you when exactly David Luiz asked for a transfer? Do you know for a fact he forced the issue? And how do you know the fee is £8 million, might there not be add-ons? How would letting him rot in the reserves help anybody? FFS Scott, you''re smarter than this hysterical BS based on no factual knowledge whatsoever.

You were quite adamant on a couple of occasions none of it was speculation, and objected to my remarking everyrhing was speculation. But hey, changing your opinion aka seeing sense is allowed, it's progress even 😛

Everything you wrote is speculation. It may have been clear to Luiz longer than to us that he would get limited playing time, so he could have handed in a transfer request as is his right before we were aware of it. That may have been the reason he wasn't playing in the last two friendlies. Contract extensions are no guarantee a player is staying, especially not with a new manager coming in, which is what happened. It just means he will not go cheaply or on a free. The transfer request will have given both Luiz and CFC the opportunity to find him a new club and to negotiate. We are in no position to buy a replacement, nor did we send someone like Zouma, Emerson or Tomori on loan only to find ourselves short of defenders, so why be upset about his timing. The alternative would be having an unhappy influential senior player. That hardly seems preferable. There is no evidence David Luiz acted "disrespectful" or conducted himself disgracefully. Perhaps in the future we will find out what happened, but for now he deserves our gratitude and respect, not anger and booing.

Don't feed the troll.

Circumstances such as what? There is only speculation. And booing a former player who has played a big part in our successes, that's just pathetic.

I just hope the moronic element of our supporters won't boo him when he plays against us.

Exactly. Some people are colouring in the blanks and then blame players for the things they themselves have dreamed up. Players are employers, don't look at them and their choices from a fan's point of view. Most players will make the same choices we do in our jobs.

For whatever reason he's leaving us, all in all I regret to see him go. He's been part of our squad during some successful seasons. Not a run of the mill, colourless player by any means! Hopefully our young ones will be fine without his experience. And his runup for his penalty in the CL final still scares the crap out of me. Thanks for everything David, be happy but not successful at Arsenal.

No prob, anything for you, you know that

So many great goals, and so many players I had a soft spot for. But the main takeaway from this video is obviously: bring back the Umbro kit.