Football

Must be - Levy would probably offer them £5m plus Winks.

Is this £60million Richarlison to Spurs move just hot air? How can anyone think he is worth that!?

Newcastle paid £25million for 30-year-old Chris Wood. Using that as a baseline, £60million for Richarlison is a steal.

At times he seemed to be single handedly dragging Everton out of the relegation places last season and he's still, somewhat surprisingly, only 25.

They managed to get Nick Pope for £15m though which is an absolute bargain.

Yup, that' a steal. Amongst the many disadvantages of going down is losing the bargaining power for your top players.

Yeah, the Wood transfer was a bit of a weird one. I totally agree that £25 million was a hell of a lot of money for him. It is quite the reverse Andy Caroll situation. However, you could also look at it in a different way. At the time, Newcastle and Burnley were neck and neck for third relegation price, and buying Wood strengthened our squad and weakened theirs. 25 mil is a steal for a place in the league.

I think the our other transfer business has been surprisingly sensible. Tripier, Targett, Guimaraes and Pope all seem like solid buys and in some cases bargains. Next two potential signings (Botman & Ekitike) are very promising and pretty expensive purchases. Could turn into Kompany, could be flops.... Who knows.

Finally, a disclaimer. All this money comes from Saudi Arabia, who execute their own citizens for minor offences and are a regime that do not allow many things that I love about our society. This money is sports washing and although I cannot change what has happened, I recognise my responsibility to acknowledge it at every opportunity.

Solid post in general.

And would say Guimaraes really looks proper good. And others solid enough. Though suspect Wood will drop down pecking order

Yes, I agree that he will. It will be interesting to see what happens if Ekitike comes in. Can probably learn a lot from Wilson, but it is difficult to see how they play together, and where Wood fits into that system, even as cover.

English football, a purpose-built hostile environment

Says enough really.

I didn't realise it is the same in grass roots cricket.

Have seen the comms getting aggro at track league & bmx events so shouldn't be surprised, although don't see it in the Running events I take part in, but have heard tales of pushy parents in kids athletics.

Competition, huh. What is it good for?

Finally, a disclaimer. All this money comes from Saudi Arabia

I think you'll find the Premier League Fit and Proper Persons committee have been extremely diligent when they say there is no connection between the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia (chairman: Sheikh Mohammed Bin Salman) and the country which runs it (crown prince: Sheikh Mohammed Bin Salman). Therefore clearly not a sports washing enterprise.

Oh hang on.

Surely more concerning is that the government stuck its beak in to encourage the FA to clear the deal.

This

The Tories third kit was designed by Hugo Boss, what do you expect.

Don't forget that sleeve sponsor that has also received a lot of money from the sovereign wealth fund of Saudia Arabia.

The current trend of goalkeepers being good with their feet counted against him a lot. For shot stopping, and in particular commanding the area, he was one of the best, if not the best, in the Premier League but he's never going to be playing neat passes around the back line.

Loud applause

Where has all this Castore kit come from btw? I’d never heard of it until a few weeks ago and now half the Prem is in it. And the England cricket team. It’s barely better than fucking Macron in my book.

Some start up UK business that struck lucky with Andy Murray being their first big professional on their books. Have since managed to get more teams from other sports including McLaren F1 team.

Enjoying the Ev fans saying Richalison moving to spurs isn't a step up.

What ever happened to the spirit of the game?.. have these values diminished in UK society?

my youngest daughter was a gifted middle distance runner with Highgate Harriers junior team.

Win or lose we always encouraged her to congratulate others at the finish line

Another boring Friday at Derby. 🍾🍾🍾

Congratulations to England u19s winning their euro Cup (courtesy of the villa lads)

That Saudi knock off kit with a bookie on it will have the ulema in a bind.

Thoughts on James Chester and Conor Hourihane? Looks like we might be signing them both.

Feels weird to be adding players instead of losing them for next to nothing.

Surprised Chester is still going! Pretty solid defender but won't offer much else. Good vocal leader type.
I love Hourihane. He has the clichéd 'wand of a left foot' and will score the occasional screamer. Good set pieces. He is a bit frustratingly lightweight though and can go missing for lengthy periods. Alongside a combative, tackling, energetic midfielder he's good but don't expect him to do much tracking back.
Should both be pretty good for where you are (sorry) - both have a touch of class.