Gedge's plectrum

Yep. He doesn't get a free pass for ever though. Next season has to be very different or he's toast

We might want/expect commercial revenues to grow faster, but they *are* growing significantly. To avoid this would have required a red line from Hopkinson. Which clearly didn't happen. Just a theory and I'm not defending it. There was a really easy pr win here and the club shinned it wide

A theory on how we've ended up here. Hopkinson arrives and challenges every area to grow revenue, without exception. Bonuses are likely paid based on that. Giving an area (eg ticket sales) a pass would have an internal impact (ie why am I busting my arse when they don't have to?).

Before the local elections: we're going to DOGE the hell out of things (spoiler: they didn't)

Now: we're going to fly some flags.

I'm not even sure they're competent enough to even achieve that

Aye, but you need to have the funds free to do that, and we didn't. We pushed the envelope a bit too far post takeover and didn't have any assets that people wanted to buy to fill the gap. I'm fairly sure they expected to sell Bruno but there were no takers.

It's sobering because it showed how far away we are and that's not going to change quickly. And we screwed ourselves by having such a shocking summer. If we screw up this summer I'll book in time for a headloss. But not yet #nufc

I just can't work up the energy for a headloss about last night's defeat. City made 10 changes and still put out a team that'd probably qualify for the CL. We made 4 and it exposed the shallowness of our squad. Yes, Eddie could have gone stronger last night, but I understand why he didn't #nufc

Ffs man George 🤬

Losing Miley at the same time is a real killer

He's good enough to start that game on the left ahead of Joelinton!

I can only assume it was to counter their physicality wide. Just makes no sense. We essentially tossed away 45 minutes

I've been cutting them plenty of slack this season but today's a step too far. Absolutely woeful. Wrong team selection (Barnes not starting was insane) and so many poor performances across the pitch. But it's conceding straight after scoring - twice ffs - that's tipped me over the edge #nufc

It's hilarious. And so predictable.

Based on 2 years' form, not a shock. Based on their wage bill, absolutely seismic.

Elanga wasn't great last night but he's comprehensively outperforming Salah. Not entirely sure what the point of him is atm 🤷‍♂️

I fear we can't afford to do that, not yet anyway. That's what we tried to do last summer. I think we target players with CL potential and develop them into that

He really struggles when he's immediately closed down which happens most weeks in the PL. When he's given more time, he's really effective. We need to spend the off season making him much more resilient and better at moving the ball quickly

Yep. There was one guy giving Elanga grief after Willock misplaced a pass to him. It's as though he wants him to fail 🤷‍♂️

Some of our fans in the away end 🙄
On certain players' backs throughout, regardless of how they're actually performing #nufc

We were definitely competitive 😊

Any danger of being vaguely competitive here for once lads? #nufc

Broadly, aye. Glosses over that it wasn't a "purchase" as such and was an action we were forced to take to comply with the very same rules that support City being able to buy Trafford. Utterly self-inflicted, but that's a different discussion

Ah howay, that's comparing apples and oranges

Says everything that City are in a position where they can shell out the thick end of £30m for someone who is hardly ever going to play

Yeah, that was part of Everton's defence as I recall - that interest payments shouldn't count

The stadium and training ground point is interesting. I'd assumed that would be all un-impacted by PSR restrictions. But that was with the assumption Pif would just fund any spend themselves #nufc

It'd have been a very interesting read if it were the other way round 😁

Spot on. Other than Arsenal (and maybe Liverpool) away, this is the worst they could have got

Drawing City is clearly not ideal. However, we've played them twice at home, deservedly won 1 and narrowly lost the other, playing more aggressively than we will need to this time to try and get a first leg lead. We might as well play them now @ sjp than later at Wembley 🤷‍♂️ #nufc

Love this and agree with every word