Hope has packed up and left the toon. This transfer window will be unbearable, but at least we know the drill. We're counting on Ashley to protect his investment, unless he gambles too cheaply or if they incompetently spend most of the funds on someone who can't score. God only knows who we might bid for, but anybody who knows anything about football could do better than making Rose and Bentaleb permanent. (It'll probably happen.) I'm not one to predict relegation, but I almost don't care.
Nobody thinks he has the money to buy the club. It was probably self promotion all the way. I doubt we hear from him again. The Saudi bid started before Covid. I'd expect for Ashley to wait for fans to return, so he doesn't have to accept a cut-price bid. No matter the rumors, I'm not buying any talk of remaining Saudi interest or new buyers waiting in the wings. The official withdrawal actually did us a favor of giving us a break from hoping for news every day. I'm going to take advantage of the break to finally enjoy the rest of the summer.
Well this is going to be a tough transfer season after talking about the chances of signing Coutinho, we have secured the services of Jeff Hendrick instead. It could have been worse, we might have just made Bentaleb permanent. So it's an upgrade, but we have a little further to go if we want to dream of finishing 13th again. Toon supporters have the most unrealistic expectations, don't we?
There's been a decent amount of business before the season start. Nothing too exciting, but they do appear to be meeting their needs. Now it only remains to be seen how well they play in black and white. Callum Wilson, CF from Bournemouth for £20.03m Ryan Fraser, LW from Bournemouth on a free transfer Jamal Lewis, LB from Norwich for £14.85m Mark Gillespie, GK from Motherwell on a free transfer So, there we have a forward who can start for us, if Joelinton continues to flounder. Lewis is in for Rose, who only wanted to return to Tottenham and win back his fans. Fraser can only be a backup for Saint Max. And a backup keeper - 3rd, I suppose. Now, we can start guessing about departures: Maybe Darlow? Ritchie seems a fair bet, which would make me sad. We're still going to suck, but it's great to have players who give their all. I love it when he scores, but it's only a couple times a season. Plus, he missed half of last season with an ankle injury. We shall see. Atsu is truly surplus now. Yedlin is rumored. Someone from midfield, but not Shelvey, Hayden, Almiron, or Matty, who we just re-signed. Muto is low man on a low totem pole, if we can somehow unload him. Gayle might go instead, because he's more marketable. In summary, we've done the minimum, and that's more than you can expect some years.