BladesPod: European hopes, "Weak" Premier League, & Brighton preview

[Beans]

Evening all,

The winter break is dull, but hopefully this will prove marginally less so. Roygbiv and I have a chat about what Man City's UEFA ban means for United's European hopes, the "weakest Premier League ever" myth, and give a preview of this weekend's game with Brighton.

Thanks, as always, for listening!



Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/bladespod/id1309198119?mt=2

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6wLq5qaiQ123cLHHMnTixJ

 

[dublin 10 blade]

Did your lass go to S6 at the weekend ?
As Reading are her team aren’t they

 

[ucandomagic]

I agree with you Roy Kipling - we should dream and not make dreams our master.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Regards time frames.....in the past when CAS have dealt with anything that is deemed urgent/ time specific.....ei a banned athlete wanting to compete at the Olympic Games Then the court of arbitration for sport have always fast tracked it.....the experts expect CAS to fast track this and make a decision in 1 to 2 months.

Apparently CAS aren’t studying the decision.....they are just tasked with making sure UEFA have followed their disciplinary process properly .
If CAS agree that UEFA have followed the correct process....then it’s expected that Man City will take it further to the courts in Switzerland.
Its not yet known if a Man City do appeal then is their ban lifted? as innocent until proven guilty
or will Man City remain banned.....like the transfer ban that Chelsea faced....guilty until proven innocent.

 

[Holmfirth Blade 1977]

Bonus pod, made the drive from Nottingham quicker but finished just in time for me to listen to Brian the Blade.......

 

[Beans]

Did your lass go to S6 at the weekend ?
As Reading are her team aren’t they

Sadly not, she was actually as annoyed as you can be when your team’s won 3-0 as I think her last 4 trips have yielded an aggregate score of about 10-1 to Wednesday.

 

[nezimão]

loved this guys, many thanks. been on the lookout for a blades pod while i’ve been off work this week. super!

 

[dublin 10 blade]

Sadly not, she was actually as annoyed as you can be when your team’s won 3-0 as I think her last 4 trips have yielded an aggregate score of about 10-1 to Wednesday.

Well she’ll be rightly cheesed off with the spanking
Dem Blades are going to give em in 2 weeks
Great listen btw makes the tram / train journey home very enjoyable

 

[Revolution]

To pick up on one point, it's not going to happen but if United were offered Pukki for 10 million I'd snatch Norwich's hands off. That's small beer these days for someone who's scored more than double the goals any of our forwards have managed this season, and who offers us something slightly different. I'd rather have him than Robinson next season, that's for sure.

 

[Silent Blade]

To pick up on one point, it's not going to happen but if United were offered Pukki for 10 million I'd snatch Norwich's hands off. That's small beer these days for someone who's scored more than double the goals any of our forwards have managed this season, and who offers us something slightly different. I'd rather have him than Robinson next season, that's for sure.

Not sure if he is the type of striker that would fit in the way we play. He failed at Celtic. He is 30 this year and £10M is too high.

 

[Revolution]

Not sure if he is the type of striker that would fit in the way we play. He failed at Celtic. He is 30 this year and £10M is too high.

He's got 11 goals in the PL this year. Sadly, 10 million is the going rate.

 

[Beans]

He's got 11 goals in the PL this year. Sadly, 10 million is the going rate.

I agree that that is at least his value, but to Silent Blade's point, I don't think we are in a position to chuck £10m+ at someone who will have hardly any resale value and has only really done it at Norwich - no guarantee he'd have the same success with us.

 

[Revolution]

I agree that that is at least his value, but to Silent Blade's point, I don't think we are in a position to chuck £10m+ at someone who will have hardly any resale value and has only really done it at Norwich - no guarantee he'd have the same success with us.

I disagree. We are in a position to do a deal like that. We've spent 20m twice and 9 million once. I know those fees are on younger players, but I'm sure if Pukki was offered to us for 10 million we would jump at it.

And there was no guarantee any of the strikers we have already signed would do well this year: indeed, some of them have not. None of them have stellar goalscoring records.

It's hypothetical anyway because it would be madness for Norwich to sell him for that amount. He's worth a lot more to them.

 

[Harry's Game]

If us or Wolves finish 5th Man City’s ban will be overturned and neither will get the Champions League spot.

If Man U. Spurs, or Arsenal finish 5th Man City will get a one year ban and one of those will take up the Champions League spot.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

I rate Pukki, agree his valuation at £10-15m is reasonable given his returns this season in a struggling Norwich side. But I don't think he'd be effective in our system. Seems to play on the shoulder, a bit like Hogan. Not a predatory box player, or somebody that can do a shift with back to goal.

Up top, in my opinion, we need to concentrate on succession planning for McGoldrick's role, improving McBurnie & Mousset, & finding a serious pace option (could already be here in Zivkovic, but I think someone with better pedigree could be required). Sharp definitely offers us something for at least one more year.

 

[Beans]

I disagree. We are in a position to do a deal like that. We've spent 20m twice and 9 million once. I know those fees are on younger players, but I'm sure if Pukki was offered to us for 10 million we would jump at it.

And there was no guarantee any of the strikers we have already signed would do well this year: indeed, some of them have not. None of them have stellar goalscoring records.

It's hypothetical anyway because it would be madness for Norwich to sell him for that amount. He's worth a lot more to them.

That's my point though, all the money we've spent has been on younger players who will either develop or we'd at least get our money back for / flip for a profit in a few years. This hypothetical would be a break with that - I'm not saying we wouldn't do it, just that I'd personally rather we didn't and looked elsewhere instead. Buying players on the up rather than the finished article is likely to be a much better long-term strategy for us.

 

[dublin 10 blade]

The players we have bought for this season at fairly good prices , all have excellent resale value , and we would make a profit on most of them right now
We need ( unfortunately ) to realise that football is now a big money business ,
Some on here need to look up at the accountants up in S6 to see we’re spending money you don’t have gets you .
I know we have Sky money for next 2 years , then 3 more in parachute payments IF we go down next year
And yes Pukki is a good player but there’s other players we should and could be looking at , and I think we’re actually a better team and therefore don’t need him
We all thought before the season started that 1 place above the relegation zone would be a great finish
With every place being worth 2.5 million the money we’ll earn this year will pay for sander
And in a few years if we don’t fulfill his potential then it could be a 50+ transfer
Enjoy the ride Blades , let Sir Chris and Alan sort things out
But most of al
Laugh at Dem Pigs because they really are a shit show and I hope they keep falling to the depths

 

[Kenilworth]

Bump