2 hours ago, General said:

The owners are stockpiling more attacking players , because that’s what the market wants the most - difference makers, assist makers, goal scorers so the hedge fund owners are hedging their bets and hoping one or two of them will come good and go for a big profit, Noni went to the gooners for about a smaller margin than sh*ttens cost. Neto cost 54 mill, 3 more than sh*ttens at least he’s proving that worth. Garnacho a snip at 40 mill looks good vs a Div 3 outfit but in the prem he’s started as he left off at United. His best season there 23-24 7 goals. George they nearly trousered 22 mill off Fulham in the summer. Mudryk cost north of 70 mill , banned for now but notice hasn’t been terminated bc there may be salvage value and he’s unsellable now. Stevo 29 mill seems to be their best acquisition apparently his worth has tripled already. Lastly Palmer cost 42 mill , 9 less than sh*ttens but a has a talent alas that kittens will never ever have and colds value must of doubled at least.

There’s weaknesses all over the squad that the billion plus investment should have prevented (look at arse squad injury proofed finally last summer based on not winning EPL lessons learned ) but there’s a strategy by Clearfake we cannot see clearly through the fog of war on the pitches because we still think we support an elite trophy hungry football club.

The strategy is banking on getting lucky and signing a GOAT thru scouting and trial/error when they're young.

I speculate this based on the Dodgers recruiting Shohei and Yamamoto when other teams were still hesitating on them

1 minute ago, Deino said:

The strategy is banking on getting lucky and signing a GOAT thru scouting and trial/error when they're young.

I speculate this based on the Dodgers recruiting Shohei and Yamamoto when other teams were still hesitating on them

We have many fans complaining about gitttens. Gittens 50m sounds stupid when you can get Eze for 65m.

But when you calculate the total cost, you understand why our SD got extension.

Well thankfully we got through in the end.

An awful first half performance. A bit better in the second half.

We looked like a team that had been introduced in the tunnel before we came on.

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

We have many fans complaining about gitttens. Gittens 50m sounds stupid when you can get Eze for 65m.

But when you calculate the total cost, you understand why our SD got extension.

Except that the consequences of their actions are not tied to these actions immediately. When Palmer and Colwill are sold to general incredulity from fans and the media it will be because of the depreciating value and lack of marketability of dross like Gittens.

Speculating is all well and good but any investor knows that you dont have this as your sole strategy and if you do speculate, you do it with the penny shares and not those that have Gilt prices.

Another first 45 minutes to forget. Truly dull and uninspiring.

Much better second half with the subs and Buonanotte going from looking like a very poor and even slower Jorginho to someone who could actually play football after all.

Fair play to Cardiff. For a League 1 side they play good football and I like their manager. Thankfully, a little bit of class prevailed in the end.

1 hour ago, WhiteWall said:

Except that the consequences of their actions are not tied to these actions immediately. When Palmer and Colwill are sold to general incredulity from fans and the media it will be because of the depreciating value and lack of marketability of dross like Gittens.

Speculating is all well and good but any investor knows that you dont have this as your sole strategy and if you do speculate, you do it with the penny shares and not those that have Gilt prices.

Not sure that is the case. If gittens flop, 4 years from now, he will only be 25. He is not on big salary and you can get 20/30 m for him. If you count his total cost, it is actually not that bad.

2 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Not sure that is the case. If gittens flop, 4 years from now, he will only be 25. He is not on big salary and you can get 20/30 m for him. If you count his total cost, it is actually not that bad

He's still on £108K a week though.

It's not as if he is on £35-50K a week like Santos, Lavia, Gusto, Guiu, Essugo etc

Still a lot of wages, granted less than someone like Eze (supposedly on base £180K).

5 hours ago, erskblue said:

Well thankfully we got through in the end.

An awful first half performance. A bit better in the second half.

We looked like a team that had been introduced in the tunnel before we came on.

I have a strong suspicion that like with Mourinho when we crashed out at home to Bradford in the FA Cup 2-4 that Maresca did not prepare this match and just picked a makeshift team telling them they were better as they were the higher league team and then worked at half time to turn it around based on what he saw and made changes.

I guess it might be what we call family time and it makes us as supporters on edge of what might be a humiliating loss, we got away with it and turned it around in the 2nd half.

So we move on to the Semis and wait with a mixture of hope and trepidation not least due to what team and preparation they will get before.

9 hours ago, Bob stark said:

You need to take salary n age into account.

£135k a week. https://www.capology.com/player/jamie-bynoe-gittens-38207/

Is this supposed to be cheap or something?

Edited December 17, 2025Dec 17 by GarnachoCheese

Always great and reassuring to know that for every signing our directors make, they have to stop and think of how much profit can they still make if the player flops vs finding the right balance of young and already elite players.

5 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Not sure that is the case. If gittens flop, 4 years from now, he will only be 25. He is not on big salary and you can get 20/30 m for him. If you count his total cost, it is actually not that bad.

who are you getting 30m from for a player who will ultimately spend the next three year being passed around Europe on loan again cos he can't cut it here.

8 hours ago, strider6004 said:

I have a strong suspicion that like with Mourinho when we crashed out at home to Bradford in the FA Cup 2-4 that Maresca did not prepare this match and just picked a makeshift team telling them they were better as they were the higher league team and then worked at half time to turn it around based on what he saw and made changes.

I guess it might be what we call family time and it makes us as supporters on edge of what might be a humiliating loss, we got away with it and turned it around in the 2nd half.

So we move on to the Semis and wait with a mixture of hope and trepidation not least due to what team and preparation they will get before.

Good shout!

9 hours ago, strider6004 said:

I have a strong suspicion that like with Mourinho when we crashed out at home to Bradford in the FA Cup 2-4 that Maresca did not prepare this match and just picked a makeshift team telling them they were better as they were the higher league team and then worked at half time to turn it around based on what he saw and made changes.

I guess it might be what we call family time and it makes us as supporters on edge of what might be a humiliating loss, we got away with it and turned it around in the 2nd half.

So we move on to the Semis and wait with a mixture of hope and trepidation not least due to what team and preparation they will get before.

.JM picked a pretty strong team for that game - not a line up I'd exactly call "makeshift" !

We went 2-0 up, they pulled one back, and then it all went tits up in the last 15 minutes when they bizarrely scored 3 unanswered goals.

Probably the worst result of the entire Roman era ?

I remember being really ticked off (= f**king furious LOL) at the result, as I had a good bet on the quadruple that season, and this was the result that derailed it :-)

2 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

.JM picked a pretty strong team for that game - not a line up I'd exactly call "makeshift" !

We went 2-0 up, they pulled one back, and then it all went tits up in the last 15 minutes when they bizarrely scored 3 unanswered goals.

Probably the worst result of the entire Roman era ?

I remember being really ticked off (= f**king furious LOL) at the result, as I had a good bet on the quadruple that season, and this was the result that derailed it :-)

We were doing fine and winning until Mikel went off injured after 70 minutes. And therein lies the lesson.

18 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

He's still on £108K a week though.

It's not as if he is on £35-50K a week like Santos, Lavia, Gusto, Guiu, Essugo etc

Still a lot of wages, granted less than someone like Eze (supposedly on base £180K).

Ah 100k is too expensive but still not a big problem. He is still 21.

14 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

.JM picked a pretty strong team for that game - not a line up I'd exactly call "makeshift" !

We went 2-0 up, they pulled one back, and then it all went tits up in the last 15 minutes when they bizarrely scored 3 unanswered goals.

Probably the worst result of the entire Roman era ?

I remember being really ticked off (= f**king furious LOL) at the result, as I had a good bet on the quadruple that season, and this was the result that derailed it :-)

Well he left out Terry, Fabregas, Hazard and Willian.

We still had quality yet did he prepare for the opposition?