All the work they've put in during the pre-season blown out the water by one petulant and self-serving manchild.
Agreed, but I wonder how much is Isak and how much his agent / advisors.
Rumours last night that the head of the PIF was there and is in discussions looking to a solution. I'm generally uneasy about the ownership situation but as per other threads about changing allegiance, it's not something you can give up after 50-odd years and so I'm firmly in 'hold your nose' territory, hypocritical as it makes me.
I can however see one advantage, suggesting to Isak's agent that they can arrange for him to accompany his client to Liverpool for further discussions in carry on luggage if he doesn't wind his neck in, and see if that adjusts the negotiating position.
I've said it before, but there really should be a formal punishment for any player that refuses to play just to force a transfer – say a one year playing ban from the day they sign for their new club.
Well it’ll all come to a head soon enough, given deadline day is soon.
Any comparisons to Liverpool selling Diaz? He said he wanted to leave, they wanted him to stay but he was adamant so they sold him, making a decent profit on a player in his late 20s. Isak has been clear he wants to leave for weeks/months and leaving a sale to the last minute surely affects getting a decent replacement in? If he stays will they get him at 100% commitment for the season? I doubt it. Newcastle also went and bought Ramsay from Villa, taking advantage of their own PSR travails, wouldn’t they have been better using those funds to get one or two strikers in?
Luis Diaz will be equivalent to City's Cole Palmer loss for Liverpool - he started the defence at the attack. And before that Roberto Firmino did the same. This always masked Liverpool's flakey defence.
Agree about player refusing to play being banned, Bosman gave too much power for elite players to hold clubs to ransom.
I can however see one advantage, suggesting to Isak's agent that they can arrange for him to accompany his client to Liverpool for further discussions in carry on luggage if he doesn't wind his neck in, and see if that adjusts the negotiating position.
Isak has been clear he wants to leave for weeks/months and leaving a sale to the last minute
It's not like they haven't tried to find a replacement. Delap, Pedro, Ekitike, Sesko were all actively pursued and would have enabled Isak to leave. It's not unreasonable for a club to to make a players departure dependent on finding a suitable replacement, and I don't think Isak can complain that Newcastle haven't done their best.
The other thing that's required is for Liverpool to make an offer that meets Newcastle's valuation and they haven't done that and that's not something Newcastle can control. Seems to me if Isak wants to have a whine at someone he should be directing his ire at Liverpool for stringing him along and not putting their money where their mouths are.
Isak should've have read the room the minute Liverpool signed Ekitike and re-engaged with the toon about a new contract. He could have been on double the money, speaheading a team challenging at the very top with him becoming a toon legend alongside the likes of Shearer et al. Seems that wasn't enough for him though.
Any comparisons to Liverpool selling Diaz? He said he wanted to leave, they wanted him to stay but he was adamant so they sold him, making a decent profit on a player in his late 20s.
Similar but also not. Seems there was a deal that he could leave after last season if a big club came in, but that was tacit or explicit on the valuation being met. So far they're about 40% under that, and how far under can they be before that 'agreement' is null and void.
Isak has been clear he wants to leave for weeks/months and leaving a sale to the last minute surely affects getting a decent replacement in? If he stays will they get him at 100% commitment for the season?
To me the big difference is that he is essentially refusing to play in the meantime. I apologise if my previous offends, but I think this is 95% his agent and 5% Isak's doing - this is not how a professional player on a decent wage and contract with a CL/EPL club should behave and his agent needs a 'reality check' if he thinks his client's interests are being met by money alone.
If a deal isn't done I'd make him train with the U13 team as long as he likes, it's world cup year and he'll miss out if he has no fitness and game time.
I think your comment is in extremely poor taste.
And somewhat tongue in cheek so there's no need to be so easily offended. Does make me wonder though who Isak and his agent think they're dealing with? Despite PSR the Saudis have the money, political clout and most importantly the need to preserve their own image/brand to essentially write off Isak's contract and transfer value and let him rot for the next three years. I'm very surprised they're willing to risk him destroying his career on a gamble that they can face down people who are very used to getting their own way.
And somewhat tongue in cheek so there's no need to be so easily offended.
I didn't say I was offended, I said I thought it was in poor taste. Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by the owners of Newcastle United.
Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by the owners of Newcastle United.
If that's true maybe Isak and his agent should tread carefully?
If that's true maybe Isak and his agent should tread carefully?
Sigh.
I'd certainly be turning down any invites to the embassy
Isak has been clear he wants to leave for weeks/months and leaving a sale to the last minute
It's not like they haven't tried to find a replacement. Delap, Pedro, Ekitike, Sesko were all actively pursued and would have enabled Isak to leave. It's not unreasonable for a club to to make a players departure dependent on finding a suitable replacement, and I don't think Isak can complain that Newcastle haven't done their best.
I think this is the key to the whole thing. Newcastle can't get another proven striker in so refuse to sanction Isak leaving and are prepared to gamble that he'll integrate back in once all this has died down (which he will, even if he does then go in the next couple of windows). I think the 'fair market value' thing is much harder to work out. The value of an under contract footballer is very much down to how much a buyer is willing to pay vs how much a seller is willing to sell at (and there are multiple factors that are considered inc injury record, KPIs/stats, attitude, resale value, existing length of contract, how desperate the buyer is for the player,, how much the seller needs the £ etc). £150M would make Isak comfortably the 3rd largest transfer fee of all time (the frankly stupid fees that PSG paid for Neymar and Mbappe a few years ago being 1 & 2). For a player with a couple of decent seasons in the EPL and some injury concerns I'd say that this was way over value and can't see Liverpool paying more than £120-130M (and even then that's over the odds), FWIW I think Brentford overvalued Wissa at £50-60M (and even surprised that Newcastle bid £40M), but like Newcastle, they didn't want to sell and set the price accordingly.
As a Liverpool fan I'd like to see Guehi come in as Konate looks a liability and will be off on a free after RM has done their usual tap-up job. I'd like to see Ekitike be given the chance for a run in the team (I'm not convinced that we're looking to play him and Isak together), and would settle for another striker in the mould of Jota (RIP) who would provide a fantastic second option and be happy not to start every game.
Rehire Big Dunc in a management capacity. He'll make an offer that cannot be refused. Problem solved.
The owners aren’t daft enough to stick Isak in the reserves for three years. Why do this when you could sell him and reinvest the funds? PSR - for all its faults - helps mitigate billionaires simply bankrolling clubs and spending vastly more than their revenue. Times running out though and reintegration is surely their main sim now.
The owners aren’t daft enough to stick Isak in the reserves for three years.
Probably not, no. Of all football club owners though, Newcastle’s owners have the money, the patience and the wider political motivations to resist the urge to cash in. I really wouldn’t want to be in Isak’s shoes trying to call their bluff.
Brenda Rodgers back to his best in Europe tonight. Celtic really don't like a penalty shoot out.
So how long are we giving Graham Potter at West Ham?
I doubt he’ll last the next five games. Forest away, Spurs and Palace at home, Everton and Arsenal away. Yikes.
This is just embarrassing. So much for this new Amorim era.
Sacked before Christmas with us in 15th and the next mug lined up for the same endless cycle.
Rinse and repeat
In the lead up to the game I did see a comment posted on the BBC.
Bit worried looking at that line-up, a fair few first teamers rested, making it harder for ourselves to beat United.
Maybe Amorim's plan all along was to concentrate on the league this season 🤣 (they have to pull it nack before full time surely)
Two of my best mates are from Grimsby and proper fans (… FISH!). and are absolutely bloody loving this! They’ve been texting me every few minutes to remind me how utterly shite we are.
The irony of Phil Jones being a pundit too.
I’m not sure I can endure another 45 minutes of this. How much did we pay for Onana? He wouldn’t make our local pub side
Maguire up front yet?
Proper old-school footie with criss-cross shadows from the floodlights. Love it! Come on Fish Finger Boys or whatever they are called 🥳
Forget ‘who put the grim into Grimsby’, who put the grim into Manuu.
There are barely the words to describe how much my Bolton-supporting ABU wife is enjoying this. I’ve not asked her (because I’m taking it as a given) whether she’s got money on Grimsby. I think I already know the answer to that particular question
Utd 😂
Humberiliation.
And yet Amorim isn't the worst feeling manager of the evening - Rangers have been utterly humped 9-1 on aggregate.
We deserved **** all out of that.Fair play to Grimsby. They played us off the park from start to finish.
Another absolutely pathetic display. The club is just an embarrassment. A squad that’s had about a squillion quid spent on it and they’re comprehensively whooped by a Sunday League side.
It shouldn’t even have gone to penalties. There was nowt at all up with their third goal and it should have stood
Yea but it's given the rest of us a midweek giggle.
Russell Martin gone surely. What a terrible couple of days for Scottish football with Celtic going out as well.
Very grateful that another Utd has distracted the media for about 24hrs.
Although if you’d paid 80m for a striker you might expect him to volunteer to take a penalty against Grimsby.
Although if you’d paid 80m for a striker you might expect him to volunteer to take a penalty against Grimsby.
The occasional shot on goal might be nice too.
Amorim has the look of a man about to walk. I wonder if Big Sam is available to try and keep us up?
Although if you’d paid 80m for a striker you might expect him to volunteer to take a penalty against Grimsby.
The occasional shot on goal might be nice too.
Amorim has the look of a man about to walk. I wonder if Big Sam is available to try and keep us up?
Reading his post match interviews he deserves sacking just because it's clear he doesn't have any answers and has given up... I mean at least put up a bit of a fight, even if you're not convinced you can.
When you compare the difference in effort and attitude between United on Mon night and the pale imitation of 'United' last night.... WTF have players like Mbeumo and Sesko gone there instead of to clubs that want to win things. Money only? Because all I see at Man U now is a faded version, a crap stadium, a dysfunctional ownership - is there any glory in being a Man U player in the 2020's compared to being one of the greats mentioned alongside Schmeichel, Cantona, Beckham, Rooney, Ronaldo, Giggs, etc.
Amorim isn’t exactly inspiring as a leader is he?
Because all I see at Man U now is a faded version, a crap stadium, a dysfunctional ownership
Thats a fair appraisal, but I’d have put it in a more sweary way. The club is a complete basket case.
WTF have players like Mbeumo and Sesko gone there instead of to clubs that want to win things
Because they’ll put you on a five year contract on insane wages and then you can just sit back, put your feet up and put in minimal effort. Then when the team are shit, the owners will just sack another manager and line up the next mug to oversea the holiday camp in the dressing room.
Before the end of last season I predicted that Amorim would just be a repeat of Ten Hag. They’ll give him a few hundred million to spend over the summer, then sack him at the start of the season after a string of terrible results leaving us near the bottom of the table.
The question isn’t why would a player go to United (for megabucks and an easy life), it’s why on earth would any manager go there. Old Trafford is just a graveyard for managerial careers
When I saw the score last night I thought ah Utd obvs rested most of their first team. Looked at the lineups - nope they had all the big summer signings out.
It's impressive how quickly they've turned into proper Utd players. Can they do it on a wet summer evening in Grimsby?
Not a chance.
If Ipswich hadn't got knocked out by Bromley I'd be laughing
The question isn’t why would a player go to United (for megabucks and an easy life), it’s why on earth would any manager go there. Old Trafford is just a graveyard for managerial careers
WTF have players like Mbeumo and Sesko gone there instead of to clubs that want to win things.
An extra 100k per week no doubt. Looks like the toon have had a lucky escape, especially in the case of Sesko on current evidence. Not really sure what the solution is at Man Utd. At the very least they need a manager who knows how to manage modern football players and get the best out of them. After that someone who organises how they play around the players at his disposal and the teams they're playing against. Thankfully even with the Isak cluster**** I doubt Eddie Howe would consider moving to Manchester.
I wonder if he’ll change the formation to 4-3-3, or similar? Surely he’s got to - he’ll have played in it hundreds of times as a player so can surely coach it. I think United have the personnel to play this pretty well, clearly they don’t for his dogmatic genius 3-4-2-1 or whatever it is.
Ooh, let me think... Mega-money contract that'll be paid up in a relatively short time leaving you free to enjoy the mega-riches in your bank account
Fair point. Apparently he’s on £6.5 million a year. I don’t know what the T&C’s are in his contract about payoffs if he’s sacked, but given how inept the club is at negotiating players contracts I’m sure he’ll be quids in
God only knows how much United must have spent paying off sacked managers
Looks like the toon have had a lucky escape, especially in the case of Sesko on current evidence.
I was thinking exactly the same last night, dodged a bullet there especially at the transfer fee involved. I haven't seen much of Sesko b4 last night but I thought he looked like a rabbit in the headlights when he was forced to step up and take the pen, for £80m you would expect him to be one of the first
