Apparently Newcastle have placed their DoF Dan Ashworth on gardening leave after he asked to be released from his contract to join Manchester United as their Sporting Director - Newcastle want 20M in compensation.
I have to say that nothing about Newcastle's squad or performances makes me think he's worth that.
I would take Isak, Joelinton, Bruno, Gordon, Trippier, Miley, Livramento, Harvey Barnes, Lewis Hall, Botman, Schar, Willock, Jacob Murphy and Elliot Anderson in a shot. But other than that, nobody...
Isak is talented but hasn't completed a season in his entire career, he's that fragile.
Gordon shows flashes of ability and is very fast, but isn't worth the nearly 50M they paid for him.
Livramento cost 40M and can't get a game ahead of Dan Burn.
Barnes is decent and probably worth what they paid.
Hall cost 35M and has less than 20 senior appearances, so the jury is still well and truly out there.
Botman is foreign Joe Worrall.
Miley and Anderson came through their Academy and Ashworth has nothing to do with them.
Joelinton, Guimaraes, Trippier, Schar, Willock and Murphy all joined before Ashworth.
Actually, this guy might be perfect for Man U if they plan to continue their tradition of paying huge money for foreign players who consistently fail to play anywhere near their price tags. His track record seems ideal for them.
He was at West Brom when they were a premier league team and was at Brighton, whose recruitment has always been good. Newcastle overperformed last season, so someone must have done something right.
If Millwall and QPR go down as is possible, and Brentford and Palace avoid the drop as seems likely, the Championship will feature no London clubs for the first time since the 1904-05 season.
If the implication is that he's leveraging his position as a DoF to make an agent money from transfers, why did he go to work for the FA for six years?
No. It's a satirical comment on the increasing importance of people who move the money about, instead of running around on the pitch moving the ball around.
You've long been an advocate of clubs separating roles (I think?) and buying players (not that that's all there is to a Director of Football) is a pretty important role in any football club, so it makes sense to get the right person in that job and pay the going rate. If you get it right, he'll should outlast the coach by a considerable margin.
The most goals conceded in a 38 game premier league season is 89 by Derby County. Sheffield United have conceded 65 from their first 25 games and are currently on track for 99. Their remaining 13 games include Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Newcastle away, Spurs and Forest (what?). I give them a fair chance of cracking the century.
(Most ever conceded was Swindon in 93/94 with 100 but from a 42 game season.)
Did we decide who we want to see winning this game? I'm assuming Palace on the basis of needing as much daylight between us and 18th as possible in anticipation of a potential deduction?