Rooney

Agree with this. I think the £35k threshold is still way too high and it sounds like everyone will still get it, but tax codes will just be adjusted by HMRC to claim it back for higher earners. It shows the power of the pensioners, reducing the benefit was the right thing to do, but Labour made a botched job of it and under estimated the political influence. It ate in to the Reform narrative. The bigger issue is the Triple Lock needs to go, but not sure they will even attempt that. Again, it's the right thing to do for the Country, but not the noise will be so big. Anyway, from this budget the hidden noise is Council Tax will be go up and there's an extra tax on energy bill. Suspect some form of tax rises will be inevitable, just not sure where they'll do this. Looks like the Markets haven't responded too badly to this.

Most exciting signing in a long while!

So Reform are going to give everyone tax breaks, bring back capital punishments, totally reform the NHS, ban abortion and make sure the pensioners keep all their benefits. This lot are in absolute cloud cuckoo land.

I always find these June games are a bit of an outliter, not sure the players are arsed. I think it should also be called out this team has never played before, but like most England managers, what is our best team and squad? Nobody actually knows and as much as we have some good players, we also have a load of shite who are not good enough at international level.

They do like football, but the problem is the ticket prices are so expensive. Nobodies paying $200 to watch Auckland City vs Benfica. The whole thing only works with more European clubs and superstar players. I don't actually mind the concept, but there's little interest domestically and there is also way too much football. It's just a cash grab by FIFA and it's quite frankly hilarious that tickets were cheaper on Viagogo than FIFA - they literally expected sell outs from most grounds!

Honestly, this song is so bland and totally devoid of any personality. I've heard it 4-5 times and every time I have to remind myself how it sounds. I've genuinely no idea how this has blown up so big.

Anyone going to the gigs this week? I was London Stadium last week and going to St James later this week too! Must say I’ve never seen such terrible logistical organisation for beers at a major event as a side note at the London Stadium. Interested to see who he pulls out as a guest or what cover he plays.

Sounds like for their Glastonbury show they have curated a one off show. Looking forward to it. Feels like the new material is still some way off yet.

If there’s one thing we know about Pep though, is it takes time for these players to be fully integrated in to how he coaches them. There’s a lot of new players and while they all seem like solid signings, if the signings they made in January there’s only Marmoush which looks half decent. He did say earlier the Premier League had changed to be more physical and built on athleticism. Perhaps these signings go somewhere to help that. While I agree about Rodri, the signs were there last season before he got injured that there were cracks. The one unknown for City too this year is the Club World Cup. It seems like these players are barely having a break.. I suspect they might get 10 days off after the Club World Cup perhaps but it’ll be an interesting one for sure. The players will be conditioned well to start the season but unless they’re well managed they’ll be struggling by March/April.

The charges are still on going, it will come out at some point. I think someone gave a spring timeline but without no substance. Suspect they will come up, but it’s going to be really difficult to make something stick. Look at now Chelsea have circumvented the PSR rules, but others clubs are ok with it in the main as it means there’s a get out of jail card for them too. The funnier issue for me, as much as I rate Pep, this probably does just confirm he’s a cheque book manager. They’re banking on Rodri’s knee holding out, as there’s a lot of ground he’s going to have to cover with all of those spaces that’ll be left covering got Haaland, Rejinders and Cherki.

His career is pretty much mapped out by his support team. Would say this move has been in the pipeline for a while - go to Dortmund, leaves the option of the Premier League or other big clubs if he performs well. Personally I don't think he's anywhere near the level of Bellingham. Good deal for Sunderland too.

Agree with that! Felt very much like that 2008 Wimbledon final. Was a great game and so many twists and turns. Loved that a lot. Completely agree about these two dominating the sport, feel sorry for someone like Draper. He's very good, but nowhere near this level. It'll take some injuries and a lot of good luck for other players to have a chance in the Slams over the next couple of years.

Agree with what everyone has said on here, I think they had a lot of fun making this film too and you could tell the people writing it really cared about the franchise. I was a YT video with one of the producers and he was so passionate- could really tell he loved the franchise. There's so many ways for the story to go now. Richard Harmon was so good in this! I loved the fake cop out early on. It sounds like they will bring AJ Cook back as the continuity character going forwards. Also agree with everyone that 4 was pretty much tripe.

We are signing a striker, but we need to sell Nunez first. As usual, we will spend no more than £50-60m net this summer. All the journos are reporting it and first with what I suspect will happen this summer, 4 signings and done.

Nunez is 100% off this summer, which leaves Jota or Diaz as our forward options. Well documented we're after a forward at the moment, but won't buy one until we have sold Nunez. Of our forward options, think Slot only rates Diaz, Gakpo and Salah. Jota's form fell off a cliff after his last injury- looks a shadow of himself. There were 3 real spots for us where we could upgrade this summer (left back, creativity and a forward who plays Slot's style).

haha this really is hilarious Can we get these two on a PPV in Saudi please? Only way to end this fued!

Liverpool are not sniffing about though and we're in the Market for a striker too.

Just think myself there is something in there if the big clubs are avoiding him despite the need for a striker. I think one of the issues might be his inability to score goals with his head.

Yusuf is a good communicatior and he was close with Farage. I disagreed a lot with what he was saying, but he articulated it in a way that was powerful and believable. Much like Tice, he's the one they parrott about in front of the media and clearly they were going to give him an MP opportunity. Must admit, reckon he's probably seen the way the wind is blowing and realised he chairs a Party compromised of people who hate his religion. There is no way Farage or anyone can unify that group of people and come across as Governable. They've barely got a team and they are falling apart all over the shop, a civil war with 5 MPs. There is absolutely no fecking chance this lot are going to be able to avoid a meltdown within a month if God help us they ever get to power. As always, it's great to see Reform focusing in the real world problems though.

Think we can safely say there’s more chance of Reform collapsing than forming a government at this stage.

Those deals don’t really happen anymore as they are so complex. I also can’t imagine Brentford paying over 175k a week for any player, considering Mbuemo is allegedly on 45k and is asking for 250k at Man Utd! I think Antony might get a transfer or loan move, but think you’re stuck with the rest without taking losses on them. Think Villa might be interested in Rashford still, but they look like they’re in a mess themselves with PSR. It’s why selling Garnacho and Mainoo are probably appealing as they appear as pure profit on the books and probably quite likely to get decent transfer fees. Personally, I know you guys don’t rate Hojlund or Garnacho but under Ten Haag these players were doing quite well. I’m not convinced what you’re buying and being linked to is necessarily better or an upgrade. Take Gyokeres as one example- Liverpool, Arsenal and even Chelsea seem to be avoiding him even though he's available. There’s got to be something even in the numbers or the player data that shows he’s not value for money.

Deals will still happen, they just won’t be formalised. Think the window opens again in two weeks. The reason we’ve got this splurge is the teams involved in the Club World Cup have kicked things off, so there’s a rush to get signings done to play in the tournament. Isn’t Rashford injured currently? I think the issue is with the likes of Rashford, Sancho, Antony, Garnacho is it’s well know Man Utd want rid and have to sell. In a game of poker, it’s far likely Man Utd are going to blink first. Don’t think anyone is going to stump up massive cash outside of possibly Garnacho. But Napoli seem more focused on free agents at the moment.

Solid signing for City, but yeah they have a huge squad now. Wonder who gets dumped from here on in.

That’s terrible journalism. No links or any concrete sources in there, literal headline grabs. Can’t see it myself as no one is going to be able to afford his wages. More likely to be a loan move. The paragraph below about Wirtz says Bayern and Man City are still trying to sign him 😂

Bayern Leverkusen have a sporting director, I think they will be staying very clear of certain players. Their highest ever transfer fee is about £20m too- reckon they will focus more on young value players or older experienced players to plug the gaps. Buying a whole new team at the same time is a recipe for disaster. Like I’ve long said, be interesting what happens to the likes of Mbuemo and Cunha. So many players go to Man Utd and under perform, so will be interesting if they continue to the trend or not.