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I wonder if the uncertainty over the manager situation has any bearing on possible transfer dealings? Does who the manager is/going to be make any difference?

These were from UEFA, so impact European competition?

What? No expulsions for cheating...?

U-turned and decided to sign for Rangers instead… ah well, don’t want people who don’t want to be here enough. European football and closer to home in South Shields, fair enough I suppose

Who knows, France can be shaky at the back and the keeper sometimes panics. They haven't played anyone serious yet, same as most teams, because of the enlarged group stages.

Dan Neil was in talks over a free transfer to Southampton last week & looked to have opted for Saints, but things changed significantly over the last 48 hours & Rangers have swooped #saintsfc @SkySports_Keith

UK is around 5th in the EU broad area and when adjusted for population size falls to 17th comparatively (didn’t say EU zone because of Brexit) https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migration-to-the-uk-asylum/ You can see the growth 2013-24 and the Suella Braverman backlog. Rwanda would never have made even a small dent in it, all optics for Murdoch and co. The appeals is what Mahmood is tackling, whether the IAA tribunals approach makes a definitive difference we will see. Got to be worth trying and reduce legal aid so the activists and law firms are paying a much larger proportion of appeal costs. That might restrict their appetite for the appeals system at recent volumes and instead re-direct more of their resources into supporting settlement of those actually accepted which would be more sensible.

Dependent visas for students were scrapped in 2024. Hence the big dip in immigration figures in September 2025.

I think we probably would have sold THB last summer if a decent offer came in but doesn't seem like anything did. I'm not sure we can expect anyone to bid more than last summer given he has a year less left on his contract and all he's done last season is prove he's a very good championship player (which he'd already done anyway).

Think this is the key to it. Brighton were obviously looking for a centre half and yet THB was not seemingly under consideration for them. As you say, Leeds maybe will look at him now, but it does seem he is still tainted by that shocking Premier League season.

I expect so. 25-30 up front with lots of add ons would be my best guess.

The thing is I am struggling to see who is going to put down the sort of fee we would want for THB. Maybe Leeds now they have sold Strujk? I expect we value him pretty highly and I would be curious if anybody in the prem is willing to match it as he’s not yet proven himself in the prem so represents a modest risk - fwiw I think he is more than capable of playing at that level. If he does go it will be interesting to see how we replace him. It will be tough to replicate his leadership and experience as much as the playing ability. Hoping Spors can pull a European rabbit out of the hat.

What would the asking price be for THB ? 30 million minimum ?

60% of non-EU incomers are on student or work visas or are dependents of those people.

I use the term Flood, as that is what is happening. Over 800k ‘arrived’ still. great net migration is down, but way too many are just arriving and given a free new life.

Congo, then Mexico - piece of piss. Brazil will be the tasty game.

I agree, would be a huge loss for us and has real potential, like Fernandes where West Ham doubled their money in one season i see THB value going a similar way Shame Newcastle spent their GK budget on that French lad, could have done with them chucking us £20M for Ramsdale

I've seen it up close and the Azteca is glorious. And nothing quite irritates me more about this World Cup (aside from the scandalous, vindictive abuse by the Trump regime of the Iran team) than the common American claim that their stadiums outshine European ones. They are bigger, yes, but most are utter shit for football. They're built not just for different sports but for a different sporting culture. The vast and numerous parking lots that surround them are designed for American football and baseball fans who can never stop eating, with "tailgate parties" starting hours before the game. This eating frenzy then continues in the stadiums with food hawkers going up and down the extra-wide, extra-numerous aisles passing blobs of fat burger to ever fatter people. In American sports, attention paid to what's going on on the pitch is slight. Sport is experienced as an individual - it isn't a collective, communal thing at all. Hence, among other things, no real actual noise other than when a goal is scored, no edge, and no humour (oh god how I'd miss this if stuck there). My son went to the England Panama game, played at the MetLife in a New Jersey wasteland. This is the venue for the final. Whoever designed it thought that as an East Coast venue of a winter sport, the stadium didn't need a roof of any kind. The downpour before and during the match meant there wasn't a dry seat, or person, in the stadium. Unfettered commercialism makes the pitch-side parts of the stadium - weirdly devoid of fans and consisting, seemingly, of air ducts, ad screens and scaffolding - a cluttered, ugly mess. It's also not designed to have well built-up ends (because: see above) - the one in Foxborough is even worse, with one end taken up with the largest screen you've ever seen along with what appears to be a vast abandoned greenhouse. Oh, and the pitch at MetLife is worse than anything you'd see in League 2 - swampy and weirdly uneven. It seems FIFA has applied no quality to control at all to pitch preparation and devoted their attention to dynamic pricing instead. Great football (often) but shit major US venues.

If those people most concerned about the net migration figure were to leave, the figure would come down.

It's not negativity I'm just being realistic. Obviously I'd love us to smash Congo and look brilliant doing so which would improve our chances of giving Mexico a game. If lose to them people will start suckling off Southgate but there's zero chance he would beat Mexico.

Dunno why there’s so much negativity about us, we haven’t been that good so far but we’ve still topped the group easily which is a lot better than most world cups in my life time. That said, everyone may as well pack up now as no one is beating France.

In 2021 Donald Trump said cryptocurrency was a scam, in 2025 he made $1Bn from crypto. It sort of proves his point.

He said “flooding in” because that’s exactly what is happening. Hope this helps The only simpletons are those like you that bury their head in the sand and commit to wasting endless cash supporting foreigners

The use of language is interesting, straight out of the Daily Mail handbook there, swarms, floods, plague, it's all very biblical and theatrical, to capture the imagination of one group of voters. The net migration figure of 171,000 from December 2025 is not a flood - but the word trickle doesn't fire up simpletons, and those wheely bins won't burn themselves.

Heard Pompey are looking for a new midfielder. During the WC, I think I’ve found the perfect fit for them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphephelo_Sithole