I should also note that ‘my’ shirt will have 88 on its back to represent my fathers age who passed away in April …the club held a minutes applause for him at the last game of the season as he had followed them for 74 years. Post his passing we found a wallet with a load cash in to under a pillow but found all of his old season tickets in the safe..bless him 
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Nice story David. Your dad will be there, in spirit, at all Nuneaton home games.
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The football season 26/27 thread awaits.
Our third preseason friendly this Sat is against a team managed by an ex Nuneaton and Wrexham manager, Kevin Wilkin and Telford.
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Yeah you definitely need to be on the FS thread. Would be interested to read there what you think of Wilkin.
With Nils Koppen (formerly of Rangers and FC Copenhagen) installed as director of player recruitment; and the sidelining of arch-meddler and self-styled “wheeler dealer” Dirty Dave Sullivan, there is some optimism over at West Ham that a) we might be able to hold onto some key players (Bowen, Dinos, Taty, AWB, KWP, Soucek, maybe Alvarez) and b) recruit some decent new ones (I also truly hope we can persuade Chels to sell us Disasi after his excellent loan period last season).
We also have some donkeys we need to shift – JWP, Todibo, Cornet, Fullkrug and others – maybe Koppen can get those mugs in N17 to take them off our hands?
You were doing so well…
Didn’t know Nils Lofgren knew much about foottball, Kev.
Do we know the contractual situation? I.E. do they have a clause imposing a pay cut, one which delays it in the event of relegation if they go straight back up etc?
Tielemans. That came as quite a surprise, and £35 million is nothing in today’s market. Aston Villa fans are furious, so that suggests it’s a great signing.
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Hmm. Maybe…
But, a quote from a Spurs fan on the net :
‘United’s move is straight out the Daniel Levy playbook. A decent player at an affordable price rather than the first choice at a more expensive one.
Its how we ended up with players like Lo Celso instead of Bruno Fernandes.’
In my opinion, it’s not shrewd economics driving this deal (if it had been, United wouldn’t have earlier offered double the money for Mateus Fernandes). It’s that they have failed in their quest to bag a really top midfielder or one with great potential, and they are settling for a level lower.
Very un-Unitedy.
Having said that, he will probably go on and score a hat-trick against us next season…
It’s a different era at Manchester United now. If Ed Woodward were still at Manchester United, we probably would have signed Fernandes and Tonali. The club felt Fernandes was too expensive and that his wage demands were far too high, among other things. Did he really want to join Manchester United? No, he chose the money instead.
I actually think it’s smart business to sign Santos and Tielemans for the same price as Fernandes.
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You may have the last laugh. It’s how these players perform next, and the following, seasons that matter. 
I hope so too…
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Looks like Wrexham have a new first choice keeper in the building. Who will blink first then? Okonkwo or Danny Ward? Fairly ruthless as usual from Parky.
Reports from David Ornstein are that Court Case FC are pushing very hard to the tune of 100 million Euros for Bouaddi the 18 yr old French midfielder from Lille. That would make about £220 million on two midfield prospects eclipsing what Spurs have spent so far revamping their midfield.
Two Italian managers already under a whole heap of financial pressure De Zerbi and Maresca will both be expected to bring success next season especially Maresca who must be expected to deliver a Premier League title court case rulings aside of course.
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Of course, as usual, nonsense.
Both managers will be given time, that being a couple of seasons (three transfer windows perhaps) or so, to completely rebuild their teams and then mould them into teams capable of winning trophies.
Good lord, how much time did they give Arteta !! 
The Spurs fans will be patient. Next season they will be hoping for a challenge for European qualification. Then push on.
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Spot on!
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Maresca will inevitably be under some pressure but unless something goes badly wrong he’s going to get at least a season to tweak stuff just like Pep did. City have been planning for succession for years. Doesn’t mean it will go well but it does mean they won’t automatically look at the manager if anything goes awry.
Can’t see De Zerbi being under much pressure at all initially. Spurs aims are clear enough. Better football, top half of the table and rebalancing the squad. Most Spurs fans I know saw enough at the end of last season to be pretty relaxed about this.
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I can’t see how De Zerbi is under financial pressure Bob? It looks like they’ve given him a blank cheque… He will be under pressure to perform, yes. But so will Arteta and all the other managers in the league. I think Spurs’ financial rules position is relatively comfortable. Unlike someone like Villa who have to sell Tielemans to fund Manzambi.
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