Football 2025-26

[SPW]

9 hours ago, thetime said:

 

There is certainly a pattern forming post Busby and post Fergie, although post Busby a quicker decline to relegation.

 

Tommy Doc and sexton stabilised utd, Ron Atkinson was unlucky. Never finishing outside the top 4 and a couple of cup wins. Should of won the league 1 year, after going 10 straight wins at the start of the season. Then Robbo got injured, utd fans knew the crack when that happened. 

Yeah, while going to games before it was under Atkinson in 84/85 that starting going on my own, and then that run the following season. Was an exciting and great time to be 16 and following my team. Still going but a lot has moved on since those days! 

Edited August 31, 2025 by SPW

[charlierc]

I watched bits of the Liverpool-Arsenal game and can't lie - Arsenal were pretty lacklustre. Kinda surprising given they looked alright in the first half but that didn't really translate into a lot of chances. Tricky to tell if Gyokeres is good if Arsenal don't pass to him enough.

 

I'll admit the winning free-kick was decent tbf. Just a proper "have it" smash.

 

Plus at least it was better than the Rangers-Celtic game, which I watched some of earlier in the day and f**k me were both sides really not living up to the history of that fixture.

[kaosmark2]

2 hours ago, thetime said:

 

You've lost me. 

The "be grateful our club is standing up to (whatever)" lot.

[thetime]

2 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

The "be grateful our club is standing up to (whatever)" lot.

 

Which team, im to thick for code. 

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

The "be grateful our club is standing up to (whatever)" lot.

That red bunch from Merseyside I take it? 

 

One who I get greeted this morning have agreed a fee for Isak. Which - meh. We tried but I think clearly Howe has decided the bridge is burnt and best to cash in. 

 

They'd better get somebody capable of a lot of PL goals in. 

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

That red bunch from Merseyside I take it? 

 

One who I get greeted this morning have agreed a fee for Isak. Which - meh. We tried but I think clearly Howe has decided the bridge is burnt and best to cash in. 

 

They'd better get somebody capable of a lot of PL goals in. 

Yup. Landlord FC.

 

Word I saw is that he's agreed to sign away his loyalty bonus, so whatever. Factoring that in the fee is fine and he should go. I'm hoping that this has "conditions have been met" after the statement on nufc.com a couple of weeks ago: ie. another striker coming as well as Woldemade. 

[thetime]

12 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

The "be grateful our club is standing up to (whatever)" lot.

 

You've took 25m below your valuation. Liverpool have gone from 110m plus add ons to 125m fixed fee.

 

If anything Liverpool were in total control of the situation. Leaving Newcastle limited time to get replacements. 

 

As I have mentioned before, Liverpool and Isak played a blinder getting the deal done. 

[kaosmark2]

10 minutes ago, thetime said:

You've took 25m below your valuation. Liverpool have gone from 110m plus add ons to 125m fixed fee.

 

If anything Liverpool were in total control of the situation. Leaving Newcastle limited time to get replacements. 

 

As I have mentioned before, Liverpool and Isak played a blinder getting the deal done. 

It looks pretty bad if we don't get another striker in today, or spend some silly price on Wissa/JSL I agree.

 

Worth saying though, that a big part of that £150m was Isak's loyalty bonus, where I've heard figures ranging between £5-15m. If he has signed that away, that's where part of the difference in valuation has gone.

 

Isak wanted his loyalty bonus and his move. Whether he's got that as a signing on fee or not, seems like he's not got it from us along with a lower transfer fee.

[thetime]

1 minute ago, kaosmark2 said:

It looks pretty bad if we don't get another striker in today, or spend some silly price on Wissa/JSL I agree.

 

Worth saying though, that a big part of that £150m was Isak's loyalty bonus, where I've heard figures ranging between £5-15m. If he has signed that away, that's where part of the difference in valuation has gone.

 

Isak wanted his loyalty bonus and his move. Whether he's got that as a signing on fee or not, seems like he's not got it from us along with a lower transfer fee.

 

End of the day Liverpool get a quality player in, Newcastle get serious money in. Up to Newcastle to develop there squad with the money. Probably next summer now. 

[thetime]

Ten Hag sacked after 2 games at Leverkusen. 😂

 

Groundhog week for ex utd managers with Ten Hag, Ole and Jose sacked. The curse of utd players and managers. 

[kaosmark2]

22 minutes ago, thetime said:

End of the day Liverpool get a quality player in, Newcastle get serious money in. Up to Newcastle to develop there squad with the money. Probably next summer now. 

I think the big thing is not wanting to throw this season away, particularly with an opportunity to have some CL fixtures outside the final brutal group of death of 2 seasons ago.

 

11 minutes ago, thetime said:

Ten Hag sacked after 2 games at Leverkusen. 😂

 

Groundhog week for ex utd managers with Ten Hag, Ole and Jose sacked. The curse of utd players and managers. 

I was really hoping he'd stick around until after we'd played them!

[charlierc]

19 minutes ago, thetime said:

Ten Hag sacked after 2 games at Leverkusen. 😂

 

Groundhog week for ex utd managers with Ten Hag, Ole and Jose sacked. The curse of utd players and managers. 

Crikey they went sour on him fast. 

 

I did see Mourinho and Ole last week but just brushed that off as Turkish clubs being annoyed at their European results. Maybe there is something in the water at Old Trafford that takes a while to get out of your system. 

8 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

I was really hoping he'd stick around until after we'd played them!

Tbf, Xabi Alonso and the nucleus of the squad that got them the unbeaten season two years are gone. This already feels like we're watching a collapse. 

 

Would be a strange symmetry tbf. We played Leverkusen in the Champions League in 2002/03, which was the season after they were runner up in the Bundesliga, DfB Pokal and Champions League in the same season. By the time we went there, they were in a relegation battle and were kinda there out of being obligated to be there. 

[charlierc]

46 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

It looks pretty bad if we don't get another striker in today, or spend some silly price on Wissa/JSL I agree.

 

Worth saying though, that a big part of that £150m was Isak's loyalty bonus, where I've heard figures ranging between £5-15m. If he has signed that away, that's where part of the difference in valuation has gone.

 

Isak wanted his loyalty bonus and his move. Whether he's got that as a signing on fee or not, seems like he's not got it from us along with a lower transfer fee.

Looks like overspend on Wissa it is. Feels like we could've got him for £30mil had we gone for him before Mbuemo left for Manchester but it is what it is. As a plug in and play option, we could do worse. 

 

Kinda also representative of the summer as a whole as the fees involved this year are getting wild. 

[thetime]

15 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Maybe there is something in the water at Old Trafford that takes a while to get out of your system. 

 

 

Just poor manager choices.

 

Van Gaal (should never have been sacked) and Jose arguably over the hill. Van Gaal 10 years to late in his career, one of the greats in the 90s. Jose 5 years to late, although never wanted him. 

 

Ole was always a romantic choice, did well until it fell apart. Ten Hag again did well initially with the cup wins. 

 

They all won cups though except ole, even ole got to a European final. 

Edited September 1, 2025 by thetime

[kaosmark2]

9 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Tbf, Xabi Alonso and the nucleus of the squad that got them the unbeaten season two years are gone. This already feels like we're watching a collapse. 

 

Would be a strange symmetry tbf. We played Leverkusen in the Champions League in 2002/03, which was the season after they were runner up in the Bundesliga, DfB Pokal and Champions League in the same season. By the time we went there, they were in a relegation battle and were kinda there out of being obligated to be there. 

I agree with this. It's mostly that I genuinely think he's one of the worst managers I've seen at a big Prem club. It is a very awkward time to sack a manager though - none of the window left to adjust to new manager's ideas.

 

Yeah I remember that. I do think it's sad how success like this gets poached away so quickly.

 

2 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Looks like overspend on Wissa it is. Feels like we could've got him for £30mil had we gone for him before Mbuemo left for Manchester but it is what it is. As a plug in and play option, we could do worse. 

 

Kinda also representative of the summer as a whole as the fees involved this year are getting wild. 

If it weren't for there only being 1 year left on his contract, it'd feel not quite as silly given other fees around. 18/19 goals including no pens is nothing to be sniffed at. I get it from Brentford's POV though. I suspect it would've been £35+5 if it had been the start of the window or that CWC mini-window, but it is what it is.

[kaosmark2]

2 minutes ago, thetime said:

Just poor manager choices.

 

Van Gaal (should never have been sacked) and Jose arguably over the hill. Van Gaal 10 years to late in his career, one of the greats in the 90s. Jose 5 years to late, although never wanted him. 

 

Ole was always a romantic choice, did well until it fell apart. Ten Hag again did well initially with the cup wins. 

I feel like Solskjaer was doing fine until CR7 was signed. Ten Hag's best impact was getting him shipped off to Saudi. Casemiro's intermittent brilliance got you the cup wins, and I don't think he was explicitly a Ten Hag signing? I do actually see a vision of what Amorim is trying to do, and what Solskjaer was trying to do, which I never really saw with Ten Hag.

[charlierc]

1 minute ago, kaosmark2 said:

I agree with this. It's mostly that I genuinely think he's one of the worst managers I've seen at a big Prem club. It is a very awkward time to sack a manager though - none of the window left to adjust to new manager's ideas.

 

Yeah I remember that. I do think it's sad how success like this gets poached away so quickly.

 

If it weren't for there only being 1 year left on his contract, it'd feel not quite as silly given other fees around. 18/19 goals including no pens is nothing to be sniffed at. I get it from Brentford's POV though. I suspect it would've been £35+5 if it had been the start of the window or that CWC mini-window, but it is what it is.

Tbf Brentford did have the option to extend Wissa by another year so one year remaining may well have been a false position. But it is what it is. They've had a summer of extreme churn so I can guess they weren't thrilled at this.

 

I guess football has always had this ride and fall arc though right? Feels like it would be more organic for teams to have good and bad moments rather than the same old big names staying where they are for decades. 

[thetime]

4 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

Casemiro's intermittent brilliance got you the cup wins

 

Perhaps a little rewriting history there. The league Cup maybe, fa cup 2025 he only played against lower league opponents. He was pretty awful post league cup final.

 

He didn't play in the FA Cup quarter final against Liverpool or the final against Man City. 

[kaosmark2]

13 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I guess football has always had this ride and fall arc though right? Feels like it would be more organic for teams to have good and bad moments rather than the same old big names staying where they are for decades. 

Well to some extent. I'm just thinking of wins by teams like Leicester, Valencia, Leverkusen, Monaco, Roma, etc. Any time a small/medium club pulls a league win out they get eaten alive by the big boys in their league. I think the big upside of the Prem compared to others is there's just more of those big boys to share the trophies around, and usually one is having a bit of a struggle/difficulty.

[thetime]

Utd have a new goalkeeper. 😀🫣

 

Would of gone for Martins as the solid choice. Full of experience and been there done it with Argentina. 

 

 

 

 

 

[balti-pie]

Martinez is an absolute arsehole of the most epic proportions, which is amusing, but i cant help but think he'd be hard to deal with in a changing room. Man United dont seem over-burdened with strong characters to keep a rein on people at the mo 

[Skip997]

26 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Martinez is an absolute arsehole of the most epic proportions 

But highly amusing and a really good keeper 

[Skip997]

4 hours ago, thetime said:

 

Just poor manager choices.

 

Van Gaal (should never have been sacked) and Jose arguably over the hill. Van Gaal 10 years to late in his career, one of the greats in the 90s. Jose 5 years to late, although never wanted him. 

 

Ole was always a romantic choice, did well until it fell apart. Ten Hag again did well initially with the cup wins. 

 

They all won cups though except ole, even ole got to a European final. 

A combination of poor manager choices, except Van Gaal ( a great manager and comedian, I miss his conferences), and dreadful recruitment. The latter being the main issue and one that is somewhat overlooked 

[lost]

Didn't both Jose and Ole secure 2nd place finishes too on top of the cups won during that period?

 

Still a big drop off from Fergie but still miles ahead of where they are now.

[Punksnotdead]

For all the talk of Isak, Wissa, etc, no-one seems to be discussing the biggest issue of this transfer window - who the hell at Sky Sports thought it was a good idea to sign up that talentless twat Ronan Kemp to present their football coverage? I'm cancelling my sky subscription immediately! 😃