Hobsons Choice

I wonder. If we won the league, Sky Sports would spend most of their time congratulating Man City for coming second.

No I agree, but it's just weird. Finish in Europe, Elite manager, add to a decent squad some top notch talent, including an elite defender, and folks are still not even noticing us.

No one rates us, lads. At all. I just worked on a site with a Forest fan. Nice guy, but I mentioned the Brennan transfer, and he said he doesn't think he'll move to us as it's a sideways step. Forest to us as a sideways step! No one rates us.

'Hi Diaby. Wanna ruin your career? If not come to Villa'

Holding companies

Oh really? I thought that was a done deal. Oh well, I take it back then.

Oh don't get me wrong, the extreme left is almost as bad as the extreme right, but the example you give is not comparable with Climate Change, as there is a raft of empirical evidence to draw on with the latter. The former is a societal issue that we're just trying to find a balance with. You are right that empirically men do have a biological advantage over Women when it comes to physical strength, but the main arguments going on are around what we do about it, and how the right of equality squares with biological imbalances. I would also point out for balance that I think there are a whole host of things that women are much, much better at than men, it's just that men have always held the balance of power and are not in a struggle to assert their rights. Anyway, I don't really find left and right a helpful measure in cases like this, it's mainly intellectualism versus anti-intellectualism. There is nothing 'conservative' about using up all of our environmental and physical resources.

True, but the morons on the left let the experts get on with their (hard earned) jobs

Off the top of my head, Open Water, A Perfect Storm, Buried. I know the first two were supposedly factual but.... Incidentally I hated all three of those films for that reason.

Hmm. They did just get Mitrovic. He's your archetypal blunt instrument.

Played NHL23 last night, also by EA, and I was thinking that if they could make career mode in EA Sports 24 like that it would be great. Plenty of depth, loads of team customisation, which is lightyears ahead of the create your own team stuff currently in Fifa, some back office management stuff. It's pretty good actually.

Grealish is Irish. Can't understand a word he says in that brogue.

Unpopular opinion here. I usually love Venezia kits, and I love the away this year, but this home one looks like it has a zipper. I don't like it.

Maybe, but a maximum of 4 of these players will start the first league game, although more like 2.

Probably also a 'let's see if we don't have to buy any more players' kind of game also.

Ah, bum.

I reckon he might. We're in full PR mode to get other targets in at the moment. Reckon they'll give him 10 or 15 mins near the end to get some juicy action pics of him playing in the kit for press release. Not like he's injured, he just might be lacking fitness after his funimoon.

Shut up, man, I'm very excitingiting.

How do you know 'player A' (and i'm not naming names here) won't be sold to Turkey in a few years for £6m, and then get released. That risk is worth taking when you are trying to get from lower Prem small spenders to the next level. The risk becomes much higher as the stakes get higher- Europe, CL, Top 4, whilst the reward stays the same. We're not in a position where we need to take a risk on players, particularly when you generally only get a run of 1 or 2 seasons to try and establish yourself on that top tier. By all means look at promising talent, developable talent, but when you get an opportunity to get elite talent, you gotta take it if you are us right now. We got lucky with Pau's price tag, but even at a higher price it sends a message to the rest of the league, which can be worth millions in revenue in and of itself.

We should all bow down to these massive footballing GODS who obviously been at the forefront of the game since it was invented, and who must have won everything that ever existed! Except in 2003/2004 Man City were in the Championship (then 1st Div) under Kevin Keegan, with Shaun Goater leading the line. All these clubs get money and start revising their own place in history. It sickens me.

Get him a Spanish passport, and this transfer is as good as sealed!

I could make cases citing club size, stature, history, legacy, fan base, potential fan base (second city) etc etc, but in the end.....indeed, he's an idiot.

For some reason, whenever I see Charles' name written down, in my head Rik Mayall says it and takes ages over the last syllable. De Ketelaeeeeeeeere.

It doesn't seem he was the player that I thought he might be, and I thought he was going to be fantastic. Before Milan I would have bitten your arm off to sign him. That said if he can resurrect his career, he could still be good. He definitely needs the right environment. Maybe that's under Unai's wing?

I think we may have been interested a while back, but his stock dropped a bit after last season. I don't think he's good enough.