a1ex2001

Not my analysis it’s the FT you are disagreeing with thought it made a nice change from discussing the governments hard right position on immigration to look at something else they are hard right on, we could always throw in the banning of peaceful protest if you want another classic hard right feature or the continuing use of ‘othering’ to dodge the blame for being utterly incompetent. You keep pretending they are centrists if it makes you feel better but they are demonstrably not.

Centrist, or financially the most right wing government in the developed world you decide? That’s ignoring the litany of other right wing policies as well. If the government goes far enough right the centre lands up in a ridiculous place which leaves us with Labours worrying lurch in the same direction. https://twitter.com/RichardJMurphy/status/1575766938411831297?s=20

Our current government are centrists this really is a post for the ages! Either you are standing so far to the right that you polish your jack boots nightly or you are deluded (maybe both) any government that has Suella Braverman in one of it’s most senior posts will never ever be centrist as centrists could never tolerate her extreme right wing views! She is just one example I could list countless others who hold or have held senior government posts. If you look at the rhetoric and policy coming out of the current shambles and see centrist you need to seriously re calibrate your world views.

Still lack the firepower of a real goal scorer which I think will hamper them. I’m expecting some decent football though and a much better showing than last year. Their squad is massive though so maybe we should be tapping them up for some super star loans…

The country of origin which is known for huge numbers? our rate of deportation is appallingly low compared to some other similar countries. The first key would be actually processing applications and making decisions which we basically don’t do. The Government love this ‘problem’ it is a total distraction from on going abject failures, rank corruption and cronyism. It has absolutely nothing to do with any of the major problems and challenges facing this country yet it is plastered all over the news like it is the biggest single issue facing the country. It shouldn’t even be in Rishi’s too 5 let alone seemingly top of his list. What do people think will actually get better in the country if we ‘stop the boats’? The NHS will still be broken, the housing market will still be broken, the economy will still be broken and the rich will carry on getting richer while they laugh at you and feed you someone else to blame.

Ah so it’s the civil services fault now? Congrats on swallowing the latest Tory bait. The Civil service is yet another convenient ‘other’ to blame while once again the government Rob you blind. The rate of processing is appalling and the backlog has got worse year on year, this isn’t a recent problem. Despite the masses of vitriol and excuses from our government nothing has changed instead we just see Rwanda, barges, tents and noddy slogans like ‘stop the boats’. How are the public so blind and gullible? I’ve never voted labour in my life and think the inability of the current opposition to actually offer a genuine alternative on this issue is embarrassing. It would be nice if one of our major parties wasn’t chasing the lowest common denominator on this.

The government don’t want to ‘stop the boats’ they are the latest in a long list of ‘others’ that they blame for their failings. They used to like blaming the EU but then we left an everything got worse not better so a new ‘other’ was needed to distract the simple minded while they line their pockets. The government could ‘stop the boats’ tomorrow by opening asylum processing facilities in France they choose not to. They could process the thousands of asylum seekers rotting in hotels they choose not to. They could actually deport some failed asylum seekers and again they choose not to. One day people will wake up and realise the people crossing the channel in small boats aren’t the ones doing them over and notice the rich guys running off with the sacks of cash laughing at them for being so gullible.

Armstrong scored a bucket load last time he played at this level and Mara is good enough to get goals to would be great if we got a couple of really good strikers in but I don’t see us doing more than replacing Adams if he goes. Personally I’d keep Adams his value as a striker out weighs any fee we are likely to get this summer after we pay his sell on clause.

Maybe they got to the city and realised it really wasn’t worth it. Must be a nightmare as a footballer uprooting your family often without a lot of choice of destination. I’d take him back even at 33 if he was anything close to the player we had back in the day sadly he went from French international to washed up in about 6 months at united.

40 was never what we were going to get that was just the headline number I was realistically hoping for mid 30’s but if we have got most of the 30m upfront then it probably balances out. Of course we need to sell any club that gets relegated does and most publicly say they don’t. Finances have to be balanced and players who don’t want to stick around will always be moved on surely everyone knew this was coming and wasn’t expecting the board to announce a full list of players we wanted to get shot of and who wanted to leave and stay etc

If it is 30m guaranteed then I don't think it is the end of the world in terms of fee, I'd hoped it would be higher and maybe the actual deal will be it is very rare the real numbers get published these days and most really big fees seem to include plenty of clauses that will likely never be met. I think realistically given the lack of competition for his signature and his age etc the best we were ever going to get was a deal up to mid £30m's which is why we were publicly asking for £40m

It’s his fault we have a left back playing centre half!

Did someone say feel good factor…… There was no need to put out such an awful side, reminds me of when Harry sent a team of kids out to get slaughtered last time we got relegated. Getting embarrassed by a league two side benefits nobody.

Agreed if he stays and we get promoted it will be worth way more than any transfer fee we get this summer.

Totally agree he always gave his best and on occasion he was the player that made the difference. Ultimately he wasn’t quite good enough which isn’t his fault and he will likely do well at his new club.

Maybe the keeper will go up in the last minute and score, lightening doesn’t strike twice right? Sadly I can’t make it which is annoying hopefully for those that do it will be better than the 2007 game when we could have played to the end of time and still not scored!

Maybe by the final test they will realise the difference between being positive/aggressive and playing wildly uncontrolled hook shots with 3 or 4 men in the deep waiting for it! It is hard to believe we were 180/1 when Lyon limped out of the series! What a waste of an opportunity! (They’ll go and chase 450 now I’ve said that!)

Definitely something gone in behind the scenes they had a great season and would have one the league most years with the points they amassed. Seems crazy to unsettle the team going into the championship but there has been tension with the board before and the owner is a bit bonkers.

If Che is happy to give us a season in the Championship we should be doing everything we can to keep him. He is a proven goal scorer at this level which is exactly what everyone is saying we need and we know how much they cost!

There is no magic formula as there is always risk involved in any deal as football players are people not machines so sometimes it doesn’t work out. The whole point in data is to use it as part of the decision making process at the end of the process will always be a compromise as you can’t always get the players you want at the price you can afford. Using data well is an essential part of football but it won’t stop the club buying bad player or appointing the wrong managers the human element is always there to mess things up!

Totally agree, he is a brilliant player for a club at our level but clearly isn’t on the big boys radar or he would have been long gone. These media stories are just noise to fill pages and get clicks in reality JWP will go for mid to high 30’s to a decent but not stellar club like West Ham/Spurs. The absolute best he could hope for is a bit part player at Liverpool purely because they are in such dire need of midfielders this summer.

Totally agree I’m really not sure how people are managing to form an opinion on him given he basically didn’t play for the club!

Who’s going to buy him for anything like what we paid or are you suggesting we should give him away? Tall Paul has a chance of being a successful striker at championship level there are plenty of examples of outstanding championship strikers who have failed to make the step up (Armstrong, Adams, Billy Sharp, Jordan Rhodes etc). Buying someone proven at that level will cost a fortune top level championship strikers don’t come cheap just look at what we paid for Adams and Armstrong!

Swap deals haven’t really been a thing for years, there is always talk of it in the press but it just doesn’t happen even obvious ones you’d think were swaps were conducted as separate transfers like when we sold Bridge and got Le Saux and similarly when Kevin Davies went to Blackburn and we got Beattie.

You do realise the vaccine was fully out of your system in about 30 days and all it did was trigger a natural response from your immune system? There is zero chance of mass king term side effects from this. We have been mass vaccinating for 100 years in a similar way people need to pull their heads out of the conspiracy hole and actually think before posting stuff! The very idea that a UK government that couldn’t even keep a piss up in the PM’s home a secret could some how completely contain the fact that COVID vaccines are killing thousands of people 2 years on is utterly laughable on a par with those who say the moon landings were faked and the evidence successfully suppressed for a generation despite the 1000’s of people who would have been in on it!