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Selling the shirt and stadium sponsorship to themselves in a roundabout way via Etihad Airways probably helps

Possibly. It's good that he won't cost much but he still has to fit what we need and I'm not convinced that he does.

Presumably our sales and recruitment this summer have one eye on 2027/28 when our budget will be very constrained should we fail to go up this season.

If this is all true it leaves me wondering how Man City can pay 130m for Anderson.

I'm picking up JWP vibes with these assessments of Neil.... Reasonable comparison?

Looks like we are still projected to play Ecuador which would be a very tough game judging by their performance against Germany.

Sunderland fans: Having said that Dan Neil will never be a Premier League player. I’m actually surprised a team as high up as Ipswich went for him in the first place, although I guess he was seen as more of a rotation option than a starter. Tidy player, good on the ball and able to do a few different roles in the centre of the park. He's a decent central midfield player. A lot of football fans dont seem to know what a central midfielder does. Even the likes of Xhaka, Simone and Deschamps had their detractors in the past. We'd be relegation fodder by Xmas with them both in the team. He was never going to be 1st name on the team sheet, in the premier league, he got lucky playing for his boyhood team, in the 1st division, if he'd played anywhere else, he'd have been found out as soon as he reached the championship, never mind the premier league. 1. Captained the side to promotion 2. Played more minutes than any other player 3. Was awarded more MOTM on this very forum than anyone else last season 4. Is credited by the likes of Rigg for being a massive help to him. 5. Took on a new pivotal centre mid role he had to learn as he played the season … last year was his first season in that role. Replacing at the club a bloke like Evans and far more reliable than likes Ekwah 6. You dont understand what you were watching … why do you think RLB thought him as pivotal, he made him captain, gave him the holding role and gave him more minutes than Bellingham, and that’s saying something His technical abilities are good but his thinking is slow. More time to pick a pass would let him shine. Quality player.

They'll all be moved for TV. Either the Friday, Saturday or Sunday. West Ham v Portsmouth probably moved to the Sunday prime time slot. I reckon we'll be on the Friday or Saturday. Hopefully find out next week.

A few things on this: They used him as a squad player who was in and out of the side. We are brining him in as a squad - end of the day, the championship is a long season and many sides would take him as a starter. Tonda has shown he's an excellent coach who is able to integrate and improve players... he did that last season with a squad that wasn't his own. His rotation and ability to keep the team fit, rotate them, and seemingly get them all match sharp and confident is one of his strongest attributes - runs like we had (with the congestion and quality of opposition) don't happen by fluke - Tonda has got something extra on this front. Both Spors and Tonda have significantly more experience of the championship (in relative terms) going into this window. Performance wise, they have plenty of credit in the bank, and £25M for a squad player (charles) to be replaced with another squad player on a free is surely good business. If it was Downs or Jander being replaced then we be a bit more concerned - and who knows, Tonda might get him thriving in the middle.

You are always positive Dave, which is great, but do you actually know his game well? Ipswich fans: It may be an unpopular opinion, but I've been really disappointed with his contribution since he arrived. There's no drive in his game, no bite in the tackle and he really does not seem comfortable unless he has a tonne of space and time. Not unpopular. I agree with you totally on this. Weak, lacks fight and not technically good enough to compensate for that.no surprise whatsoever he didn't get games in the PL, he's miles off it. Taylor has to be ahead of him and Cajuste. He was okay as a temporary body in the squad. There is a reason he is not wanted by a club looking to get established at the next level. No, you're absolutely right. Was hugely influential against Swansea but has completely gone into his shell IMO. Another that is starting to play things too safe having played nicely through the lines in that Swansea match. He's a bit of a meh all right. Still a better option to Cajuste which is not saying much for either. Not unpopular with me. Taylor is a better player now and will be in the future. Sunderland don’t want him - it looks more and more like a panic/insurance deal the longer it goes on. He hasn’t added anything to us if we are honest. I am sure you are not alone. Hard to see what he is bringing to the team at the moment. Does not drive forward with the ball, safe sideways/backwards passes, not seeing the passion or grit that Taylor has shown recently. Not alone tonight but just stood watching while Portsmouth scored the 2nd goal. Not really the kind of physical profile that I thought we were looking for. I know he has not played much this season but by now he should be reasonablyup to speed. Quite disappointing.

Kind of bad for you that you're based in Southend though.

Kinda good for me as I'm based in Southend.

I'm happy with the draw, a good tie before we get our first league game underway 😊

Just goes to show how massive we are.

It's a bit different as it has nothing to do with profit and loss, rather it's focused on connecting your football expenditure to the overall revenue of the club PSR worked on the basis of a club being permitted a maximum amount of allowed losses over a 3yr period of time SCR works on a maximum of 85% of your club's annual revenue being allowed to be spent on footballing costs (manager's salary, transfer fees, player wages and agent fees). Owners are allowed to top up annually with a c. £10m cash injection. An owner would be allowed to put that money in up front or later in the reporting period to alleviate the possibility of their club narrowly failing the SCR rules (by less than £10m), but the money must be a no-strings cash injection and not a loan

In Thunderbirds, "FAB" is used by International Rescue agents as an affirmative acknowledgement like Roger or 10:4 or it could be Fan Advisory Board Virgil Thunderbird 2

Fair enough. I guess the concept is similar though?

Getting Dan Neil on a free transfer would be exceptional business for us. Quality player who is box to box midfielder.

Everyone is different, but Flynn Downes shows what rhythm of playing every week can do for a centre-mid.

Looking forward to the pride match tonight. Should be a cracker.

Funny, but they won't be laughing after that run of games!

I think the fact he was Sunderland captain at such a young age can only bode well. He must have some leadership qualities about him and has been round successful promotion teams.

Think it's time to change the words of the song from 'No Scotland, no party' to 'No Scotland, let's party'

To be fair to him though he hadn't played for six months when he went on loan.Thanks for the link I'll have a look.