9 hours ago, Term_X said:

So the name of the consortium is ‘BlueCo’, now watch a new member choose that as their username..

Does sound a bit like an alcoholic drink 

My first thought was a porn production company LOL

9 hours ago, Term_X said:

So the name of the consortium is ‘BlueCo’, now watch a new member choose that as their username..

Does sound a bit like an alcoholic drink but I’m sure it will become second nature soon enough in association with us.

 

3 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

My first thought was a porn production company LOL

Sounds like a Viagra tablet maker...lets just hope they stiffen our team up, boost our flaccid attack, we can then erect statues of them, 

Edited June 23, 20233 yr by dkw

24 minutes ago, dkw said:

Precedent was set by UEFA when the 2 Red Bull teams played each other in europe about 5 or 6 years ago, it was allowed due to the way the ownership model was ran, something about different board members at each club or something like that.

One of those things I hadn't appreciated was happening, let alone that city had 13 clubs. 

3 hours ago, ssur said:

One of those things I hadn't appreciated was happening, let alone that city had 13 clubs. 

THIRTEEN?! I knew they had New York, Melbourne and one in Japan(?). Who else do they own? 

Be interesting to see how many we end up owning. 

 

Edited June 23, 20233 yr by RIP Mourinho

9 hours ago, Jezz said:

Always amuses me that Neville is seen as a moral authority in football when he’s a lightweight in reality. Just preaches to the gallery, but says nothing of substance or intelligence.

He’s nothing more than a hypocrite serving his own interests, whether it’s for United, Salford or his employer, Sky.

Good time to bring this back.

 

2 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

THIRTEEN?! I knew they had New York, Melbourne and one in Japan(?). Who else do they own? 

Be interesting to see how many we end up owning. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Football_Group#CFG_partner_clubs \

Quote

CFG owned clubs[edit]

Manchester City F.C.[edit]

Main article: Manchester City F.C.

Manchester City trace their origins back to 1880,^[60] taking their present name in the year 1894.^[61] The club was one of the founding members of the Football League Second Division in 1892^[61] and first gained promotion to the top division of English football in 1899, in the process becoming the first team in history to be promoted via automatic promotion.^[62] They are ranked as one of the top ten clubs in England for most seasons spent in the English top flight,^[63] and top five for most major honours won.^[64] Their first trophy came in the 1904 FA Cup Final;^[61] in total, at the point of their acquisition by City Football Group, they had won two top flight league titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and three FA Community Shields.^[61]

After its takeover, Manchester City launched into a complete overhaul of all departments, intent on rising to the top as fast as possible. On the pitch, the following seasons saw the team replaced under the management of Mark Hughes^[65] and then a second time under Roberto Mancini as the lobbying of established UEFA Champions League clubs in the Premier League^[66] forced the Manchester team to act quickly in order to achieve Champions League status before the newly implemented Financial Fair Play Regulations made it unviable for teams to spend outside of their earnings in an attempt to move up the table. Meanwhile, off the pitch City spent £10 million on revamping their Platt Lane academy base^[67] as they formulated plans to produce a £100m training and academy facility on land opposite their stadium, studying training facilities around the world in an attempt to create the world's foremost development in its field.^[68][69] This came in conjunction with the announcement in 2014 that they had received planning permission to increase their stadium capacity.^[70] Further investment came in the field of fan engagement, where City committed themselves to a policy of winning the global popularity contest with a mass display of social media.^[71][72][73] Since the start of the 2016–17 season, Manchester City have been coached by former FC Barcelona player and coach and FC Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola.^[74]

Under City Football Group, Manchester City Football Club have lifted the 2010–11 FA Cup, 2011–12 Premier League, 2012 FA Community Shield, 2013–14 Football League Cup, 2013–14 Premier League, 2015–16 Football League Cup, 2017–18 EFL Cup, 2017–18 Premier League, 2018 FA Community Shield, 2018–19 EFL Cup, 2018–19 Premier League, 2018–19 FA Cup, 2019 FA Community Shield, 2019–20 EFL Cup, 2020–21 EFL Cup, 2020–21 Premier League, 2021–22 Premier League, 2022–23 FA Cup, 2022–23 Premier League and 2022–23 UEFA Champions League.

In April 2022, a report from Der Spiegel, based on leaked internal documents, claimed that the Abu Dhabi owners had previously made payments into the club disguised as sponsorship payments by Emirati companies like Etihad and Etisalat (the same claim that the club had successfully defended at CAS in 2020); Sheikh Mansour's Abu Dhabi United Group had allegedly indirectly paid for underage players to sign with the club; and that the club had allegedly used a fictitious contract between Roberto Mancini and Mansour's Al Jazira Club to pay large compensation fees to the former manager, in addition to his salary. The three cases were under investigation by the Premier League for the last three years. In response the club dismissed these claims as untrue, where sources close to the club said the report was a continuation of an “orchestrated campaign” and part of “an endless attempt to damage us”.^[75][76]

Manchester City Women[edit]

Main article: Manchester City W.F.C.

Although Manchester City Women had existed since 1988 (previously under the name Manchester City Ladies F.C.), they existed solely as an external affiliate of the club until August 2012, with few shared resources and with CFG enjoying no control over the club's management. Four years after the purchase of Manchester City, an agreement was signed in which the affiliated women's team would come under full control of Manchester City and would effectively become a department of the same organisation.^[77]

Shortly after taking control of the club, the side was relaunched as Manchester City Women's Football Club^[14] and applied successfully to join the top tier of English women's football – the recently created FA Women's Super League. When the new Manchester City training ground was constructed it was specifically designed to include the women's team as equal partners, and the encouragement of the women's team to have access to the same sports science and analysts as the men's teams was considered pioneering at the time.^[78] They won their first major in the 2014 FA WSL Cup,^[79] and they have become one of the most successful sides in the professional era of women's football in England, with a total of one league title, three Women's FA Cups and four FA WSL Cups.^[61]

New York City FC[edit]

Main article: New York City FC

Founded in 2013, New York City FC joined the American Major League Soccer as the 20th expansion team; their first season of actual competition was in 2015, alongside Orlando City SC.^[80] To date they are the only team built from scratch by City Football Group. CFG own 80% of NYCFC, with the remaining 20% owned by Yankee Global Enterprises, the parent company of the New York Yankees baseball club, at whose home stadium they play their matches.^[80] The club's first employee was former Manchester City and US national team player Claudio Reyna, who was appointed as Director of Football and undertook much of the initial building of the club^[81] before moving on in 2019.

Building on their work in Manchester, City Football Group announced the creation of a bespoke training facility, using the name "City Football Academy" as would become standard across the group, in Orangeburg, New York, just outside of the city limits:^[82] it opened in 2018. New York City FC's first season results were modest, but since their second season they have made the MLS Cup Playoffs in every season. They lifted the MLS Cup for the first time in 2021.^[83]

New York City FC II[edit]

Main article: New York City FC II

In late 2021, MLS announced the creation of a new division which the USSF recognised as a third-tier league in the US football league pyramid.^[84] NYCFC were announced to be one of the 21 clubs which would enter it as a founder-member. To this end, they launched a development team, called New York City FC II (frequently referred to as NYCFC II or NYCFC2).^[85]

Melbourne City FC[edit]

Main article: Melbourne City FC

One of seven expansion sides in the A-League Men, Melbourne City originally joined their league as a new franchise in 2010 under the name of Melbourne Heart.^[86] In so doing, they became the first club to join the league in a city where the A-League already had a presence, instantly creating a rivalry with founder member Melbourne Victory in what is now known as the Melbourne derby.^[87] Although Melbourne Heart won the first Melbourne derby their early performances in the league were poor, qualifying for the playoffs only once in the first four seasons and finishing in last place in the 2013–14 season.

City Football Group's purchase of Melbourne Heart was announced on 23 January 2014, in a deal worked out with a consortium of businessmen related to local rugby league club Melbourne Storm.^[11] Under the new ownership, they changed their name to Melbourne City in June of the same year,^[88] with the club switching to sky blue jerseys in 2017 – their previous red and white stripes would be retained as their away colours, however.^[89] In 2015 they opened a new City Football Academy facility at La Trobe University based on the designs and principles of the Manchester training ground of the same name,^[90] and began construction of a larger base in the south of the city in 2021.^[91] In 2016 the club won their first major honour by beating Sydney FC in the final of the Australia Cup^[92] (then known as the FFA Cup), while they claimed their first league trophies by winning both the A-League Premier's Plate and the A-League Champions Trophy in 2021.^[93]

Melbourne City Youth[edit]

Main article: Melbourne City FC Youth

As part of the expansion of the National Premier Leagues Victoria 1 (now known as NPL Victoria 2), Melbourne City had an application accepted to field a team based around their now-defunct Youth side in the competition along with five additional new entrants. On 6 December 2014 they announced the creation of their NPL team, which began competition in the 2015 season.^[94]

Although Melbourne City have seen much success in the junior age categories they have not repeated this at the professional level, with no trophy wins. In 2019, when NPL Victoria 2 was split in half to create a new, lower, third tier NPL division,^[95] Melbourne City were one of the teams relegated to the lower level.

Melbourne City Women[edit]

Main article: Melbourne City FC (W-League)

Following the success of their investment in Manchester City's women's team, CFG announced their continued support of women's football with the creation of a women's department in Melbourne in 2015 which was accepted as an expansion team in the W-League.^[47]

Since its inception the W-League had seen low levels of financial support from clubs into their female sides, with teams rarely spending even half of their budget cap. In this environment, Melbourne City were able to sweep the board in their first season, going undefeated all season to win both the league and the playoff trophies^[96] and setting a number of records.^[97] In total, Melbourne City have won the Premiership twice (in 2015–16 and 2019–20) and the championship four times (in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020).

Yokohama F. Marinos[edit]

Main article: Yokohama F. Marinos

As with many clubs in Japan, Yokohama F. Marinos were founded as a factory team of car manufacturing giant Nissan, and originally played under the name Nissan Motors F.C.^[98] Though the club changed its name to Yokohama Marinos when they turned professional in 1993,^[98] throughout their history they have remainder under Nissan's majority ownership. In 1999 the club merged with local rivals Yokohama Flugels after the Flugels went into insolvancy – the combination of the two teams resulted in the current name Yokohama F. Marinos.^[99] Over their history they have been one of Japan's more successful clubs, winning the Japanese top division league title on six occasions along with twelve domestic cups and two continental trophies.^{[100][101][102]}

On 20 May 2014, it was announced that City Football Group had invested in a minority share of Yokohama F. Marinos, creating a partnership with both the football club and car manufacturer Nissan.^[15] Through their contacts in the game, CFG would bring several managers in succession to Yokohama. Australian Ange Postecoglou would be the most successful, winning the 2019 J1 League, the club's first league title for 15 seasons.^[103] At the same time, pundits noted that Yokohama's switch to playing a CFG-inspired possession game had influenced the way that football was played in Japan, with many other teams copying their style.^[103]

Montevideo City Torque[edit]

Main article: Montevideo City Torque

Montevideo City Torque were first created as Club Atlético Torque in 2007.^[104] The club adopted the moniker Torque as one of its founders was an electromechanic, and collectively the founders liked the concept of torque as a relationship between power and movement.^[104] Starting from the third tier – at that time the lowest level of the Uruguayan football league system – the club made steady progress, earning promotion to the Segunda División in 2011^[105] achieving finishes in the top half of the Segunda División table by 2015.

On 5 April 2017, CFG announced that it had acquired Club Atletico Torque, a club in Montevideo currently playing in the Uruguayan Primera División.^[16] That season, the club won the Segunda División by nine points, being promoted to the Primera División for the first time.^[106] Though they came close to winning the Torneo Intermedio^[107] – which would have qualified them for the Copa Sudamericana – they would at the end of the season fall foul of the Primera División relegation rules, which saw the bottom three teams relegated based on a two-year rolling average of points per game.^[108] Nevertheless, they would win the Segunda División again in 2019 to return to the top flight again.^[109] In 2020 the club would also rename itself to Montevideo City Torque and alter the club badge,^[110] simultaneously announcing the creation of a training facility and academy system intended to be one of the best in South America. On December 2019 City torque purchase baby football team and named Rincon City BFC. ^[111]

Montevideo City Torque Femenino[edit]

Main article: Montevideo City Torque Femenino

In 2021 Montevideo City Torque announced that they were creating a women's team, borne from City Football Group's desire to support and grow women's football;^[112] they recruited both a senior team and an under-19 side from a group of 100 trialists.^[112] The team was formed quickly enough to contest in the 2021 season of the Campeonato Femenino B, the second tier of women's football in Uruguay. In their first season they won all seven of their First Phase games but performed less well in the Promotion Phase, missing out on the chance to ascend to the top division at the first attempt.^[113]

Girona[edit]

Main article: Girona FC

On 23 August 2017, it was announced that the City Football Group had acquired 44.3% of La Liga side Girona. Another 44.3% was held by the Girona Football Group, led by Pere Guardiola, brother of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.^[18] Girona had previously been loaned a number of players by Manchester City while they were in the Segunda División, in what was seen by some as an attempt to attract Pep Guardiola to Manchester City.^[114][115] In August 2018, Girona had two loanees, both 21 years old, from Manchester City.^[116]

Girona B[edit]

Main article: Girona FC B

In line with the Spanish standard of major teams operating B-teams as development squads for younger players, Girona owns a subsidiary team named simply Girona B, following the incorporation in 2011 of the formerly independent side CF Riudellots.^[117] At the time of the purchase of Girona by CFG, the club operated in the Segona Catalana division, the sixth level of football in Spain. As an official B-team Girona B is ineligible for promotion to a higher division than any other Girona-affiliated side above them in the leagues. Nor is it eligible to play in any cup competition in which Girona themselves already compete.

Girona additionally operated a primary B-team – CF Peralada-Girona B – although this team was merely in partnership with Girona and neither Girona nor CFG had any ownership stake in the club. In 2019, the affiliation with Peralada was terminated as they were relegated to the Tercera División.^[118]

Girona FC Femení A[edit]

Main article: Girona FC Femení A

Though they had operated a women's side since 2017,^[119] Girona Femení A only came into being in 2020, when Girona purchased the women's section of local club Sant Pere Pescador, renaming them to match the club's identity.^[120]

Girona FC Femení B[edit]

Main article: Girona FC Femení B

Although Girona FC operated a senior women's team for a number of years, financial constraints had forced them to cease operations at the senior level in 2013^[119] and by 2017 the Catalan club operated just 3 junior teams with a total of 41 youth players in their system.^[119] Barely two months before CFG bought into the ownership of Girona FC, the club announced an expansion of its female set-up, including the restoration of the senior women's team, to start competing in the fifth tier of women's football in Spain.^[119]

Sichuan Jiuniu[edit]

Main article: Sichuan Jiuniu F.C.

On 20 February 2019, it was announced that the City Football Group as well as UBTECH and China Sports Capital had acquired Sichuan Jiuniu F.C.^[121]

Mumbai City FC[edit]

Main article: Mumbai City FC

City Football Group was announced as majority stakeholder of Mumbai City on Thursday 28 November 2019 after acquiring 65% of the club.^[122] Mumbai City FC is a professional football club based in Mumbai, competing in the Indian Super League. Since CFG’s takeover of Mumbai City, the club saw its initial success by the premiership and championship in a single season in 2020-21.

Mumbai City FC Reserves[edit]

Main article: Mumbai City FC Reserves

Mumbai City FC Reserves were announced to be competing for the first time in the I-League 2nd Division, the third tier of Indian football.^[123]

Lommel SK[edit]

Main article: Lommel S.K.

City Football Group was announced as majority stakeholder of Lommel SK on Monday 11 May 2020 acquiring the majority (unspecified) of the shares of the club.^[21] Lommel S.K. is a professional football club based in Lommel, competing in the Belgian First Division B (second tier).

ES Troyes AC[edit]

Main article: ES Troyes AC

On 3 September 2020, City Football Group announced that they had purchased the shares of the former owner of Ligue 2 club Troyes AC Daniel Masoni, making them the majority shareholder of the Ligue 2 French club.^[5][22] The club won the championship and was promoted to Ligue 1 at the end of the 2020–2021 season.

ES Troyes AC Reserves[edit]

Main article: ES Troyes AC

The development side of Troyes AC, known variously as Troyes AC Reserves and Troyes AC 2, play in Group F (Grand Est) of the Championnat National 3, the fifth tier of the French football league system.^[124]

ES Troyes ACC Féminine[edit]

Main article: ES Troyes AC Féminine

ESTAC Troyes are represented in the women's game by Troyes AC Féminine, a senior side who compete in Grand Est Regional 1^[125] (the third tier of women's football in France), having been denied promotion to Division 2 Féminine by the early closing of the 2019–20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[126]

Palermo[edit]

Main article: Palermo F.C.

In July 2022, CFG acquired a 80% majority stake of Italian Serie B club Palermo.^[127]

Esporte Clube Bahia[edit]

Main article: Esporte Clube Bahia

On December 3, 2022, City Football Group acquired 90% of Esporte Clube Bahia. The deal was finalized on May 4 2023.^[128]

 

16 minutes ago, RMH said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Football_Group#CFG_partner_clubs \

 

Read this earlier, here's a condensed list-

• Manchester City 
• New York City 
• Melbourne City 
• Yokohama F. Marinos 
• Montevideo City Torque  
• Girona FC 
• Sichuan Jiuniu 
• Mumbai City FC 
• Lommel SK 
• Esperance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (ESTAC) 
• Palermo FC 
• Bahia 
• Club Bolivar - Partner Club

10 hours ago, Jezz said:

Always amuses me that Neville is seen as a moral authority in football when he’s a lightweight in reality. Just preaches to the gallery, but says nothing of substance or intelligence.

He’s nothing more than a hypocrite serving his own interests, whether it’s for United, Salford or his employer, Sky.

Neville is football's version of a social media activist, he just says things to try and look like he is a moral figure in football when in reality he's a hypocrite and would look the other way if his precious United or Saltford did anything remotely similar. 

1 hour ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Neville is football's version of a social media activist, he just says things to try and look like he is a moral figure in football when in reality he's a hypocrite and would look the other way if his precious United or Saltford did anything remotely similar. 

He also berates owners for sacking managers even though he sacked many managers at Salford.

You summed it up perfectly, he's everything I hate about social media these days, a sanctimonious tosser.   

Despite the clear plans to renovate the entire thing they seem to keep making little alternations to the bridge despite this, we’ve now got new signage. 

 

20 hours ago, DarkMata said:

Does that mean they only buy teams that wear blue?

We’re looking at Portuguese club Rio Ave next who play in green & white, so I doubt it.

Chelsea squad clear out latest, all prices sourced from @FabrizioRomano and @Matt_Law_DT from @TeleFootball:

✅ Hakim Ziyech - £8m
✅ Edouard Mendy 
✅ Kalidou Koulibaly 
(Combined fee of £34.2m) 
✅ Kante - FREE 
✅ Kovacic - £25m + £5m add ons
✅ Havertz - £60m + £5m add ons 
⏳ Mount - £50m + £5m add ons 
⏳ Azpilicueta - FREE 

6 players confirmed leaving - most pending medicals. 2 more ⏳

178m raised without add ons. 
A potential of £193m with add ons 

 

What a start. Good work by the club. 

31 minutes ago, JM7 said:

Chelsea squad clear out latest, all prices sourced from @FabrizioRomano and @Matt_Law_DT from @TeleFootball:

✅ Hakim Ziyech - £8m
✅ Edouard Mendy 
✅ Kalidou Koulibaly 
(Combined fee of £34.2m) 
✅ Kante - FREE 
✅ Kovacic - £25m + £5m add ons
✅ Havertz - £60m + £5m add ons 
⏳ Mount - £50m + £5m add ons 
⏳ Azpilicueta - FREE 

6 players confirmed leaving - most pending medicals. 2 more ⏳

178m raised without add ons. 
A potential of £193m with add ons 

 

What a start. Good work by the club. 

All that and no mention of a move for Pulisic. Also wonder what will happen with RLC and CHO now.

12 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

All that and no mention of a move for Pulisic. Also wonder what will happen with RLC and CHO now.

Probably loaned to Strasbourg if no one wants them.

7 hours ago, Term_X said:

Despite the clear plans to renovate the entire thing they seem to keep making little alternations to the bridge despite this, we’ve now got new signage. 

Is that real ?

Wonder what the point of it is , and the cost ?

8 hours ago, JM7 said:

Chelsea squad clear out latest, all prices sourced from @FabrizioRomano and @Matt_Law_DT from @TeleFootball:

✅ Hakim Ziyech - £8m
✅ Edouard Mendy 
✅ Kalidou Koulibaly 
(Combined fee of £34.2m) 
✅ Kante - FREE 
✅ Kovacic - £25m + £5m add ons
✅ Havertz - £60m + £5m add ons 
⏳ Mount - £50m + £5m add ons 
⏳ Azpilicueta - FREE 

6 players confirmed leaving - most pending medicals. 2 more ⏳

178m raised without add ons. 
A potential of £193m with add ons 

 

What a start. Good work by the club. 

This all looks great on paper and the Mount deal continues to trundle on but we haven't actually done anything yet.

As far as I can see is that the only deals that have happened is Kante out and Nkunku in. One out on a free and one in but bought before the Winstanley/Stewart team came in.

I am sure these deals will happen and they would have done well in restoring an element of our reputation.  A reset perhaps. But if all these collapse or get watered down in some manner I can see the press and punditry continuing to make hay at our expense.

I am not being negative, far from it, I would just prefer to hold back our congratulations on a job well done until it was actually done.

24 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

This all looks great on paper and the Mount deal continues to trundle on but we haven't actually done anything yet.

As far as I can see is that the only deals that have happened is Kante out and Nkunku in. One out on a free and one in but bought before the Winstanley/Stewart team came in.

I am sure these deals will happen and they would have done well in restoring an element of our reputation.  A reset perhaps. But if all these collapse or get watered down in some manner I can see the press and punditry continuing to make hay at our expense.

I am not being negative, far from it, I would just prefer to hold back our congratulations on a job well done until it was actually done.

It’s the 24th June, the CL final was only 2 weeks ago. It’s insane this much activity has happened such a short time into the off season.

9 hours ago, JM7 said:

Chelsea squad clear out latest, all prices sourced from @FabrizioRomano and @Matt_Law_DT from @TeleFootball:

✅ Hakim Ziyech - £8m
✅ Edouard Mendy 
✅ Kalidou Koulibaly 
(Combined fee of £34.2m) 
✅ Kante - FREE 
✅ Kovacic - £25m + £5m add ons
✅ Havertz - £60m + £5m add ons 
⏳ Mount - £50m + £5m add ons 
⏳ Azpilicueta - FREE 

6 players confirmed leaving - most pending medicals. 2 more ⏳

178m raised without add ons. 
A potential of £193m with add ons 

 

What a start. Good work by the club. 

Whilst it is good to renovate the squad. I have to admit to being a little apprehensive that all the experience is being removed. A lot is made of the  young ManU team of 95, they did though have good core of experienced professionals within the setup who helped ease the transition. 

 

 

1 minute ago, charierre said:

Whilst it is good to renovate the squad. I have to admit to being a little apprehensive that all the experience is being removed. A lot is made of the  young ManU team of 95, they did though have good core of experienced professionals within the setup who helped ease the transition. 

 

 

The same expierence above is a huge part of why we had one of the worst domestic seasons in the past 2 decades. The squad needed gutted out from top to bottom imo 

1 minute ago, Chelsbear said:

The same expierence above is a huge part of why we had one of the worst domestic seasons in the past 2 decades. The squad needed gutted out from top to bottom imo 

Agreed, we are though replacing them with very young players who have yet to cut their teeth in top class football. All squads need a good sprinkling of experience, ‘players who have been there’ know how to grind results out when the team aren’t playing well. As it stands, I’m looking at the squad and asking Silva apart, where are the leaders? If we start the season well, the transition should be relatively smooth, a couple of defeats though and this season could go very tits up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, charierre said:

Agreed, we are though replacing them with very young players who have yet to cut their teeth in top class football. All squads need a good sprinkling of experience, ‘players who have been there’ know how to grind results out when the team aren’t playing well. As it stands, I’m looking at the squad and asking Silva apart, where are the leaders? If we start the season well, the transition should be relatively smooth, a couple of defeats though and this season could go very tits up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I suppose its a risk we need to take especially when we are close to the bine with FFP. Need to get shot if as many miss hitting players on big wages as possible. Didn't think we would be able to shift as many as we have so far. 

I don't have high expectations for next seasons tbh, just hope it's better than last.

14 hours ago, Term_X said:

Despite the clear plans to renovate the entire thing they seem to keep making little alternations to the bridge despite this, we’ve now got new signage. 

I like that, very old school feel to it, lovely stuff.

5 hours ago, charierre said:

Agreed, we are though replacing them with very young players who have yet to cut their teeth in top class football. All squads need a good sprinkling of experience, ‘players who have been there’ know how to grind results out when the team aren’t playing well. As it stands, I’m looking at the squad and asking Silva apart, where are the leaders? If we start the season well, the transition should be relatively smooth, a couple of defeats though and this season could go very tits up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn’t have leaders though, did we? We had experienced players but no leaders on the pitch other than Silva. Ziyech, Havertz, Mendy, Koulibaly… they could be in the Caribbean (mentally they were) and no one would have noticed it during the match. We need James, Chilwell and Sterling to step up and start to be more vocal and act like captains. And I can see Enzo also becoming a leader on the pitch.

2 hours ago, RMH said:

We didn’t have leaders though, did we? We had experienced players but no leaders on the pitch other than Silva. Ziyech, Havertz, Mendy, Koulibaly… they could be in the Caribbean (mentally they were) and no one would have noticed it during the match. We need James, Chilwell and Sterling to step up and start to be more vocal and act like captains. And I can see Enzo also becoming a leader on the pitch.

I’m not necessarily saying some of those shouldn’t be moved on, more their replacements are still very young and learning the game instead of a couple of more experienced players who would help the transition. As for the players you mentioned, I only see James with possible leadership skills. Time will tell if any can step forward.