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Yes, the gamble failed. But Webber knew he had to try to do something differently to the first time, so he tried. At the time everyone thought Gilmour, Rashica, Sargent etc would give us a proper shot. But to pay for that shot, and the chance to bounce back, we had to borrow, and the way he structured the debt was clever and well timed. Most on here don't seem to realise that of the £100m guaranteed on promotion, about 70% of it is already committed on salaries and wages. It cost Forest £250m and an awful lot of luck, to stay up by a point or two. Burnley have already spent £90m and haven't yet got a point. Both must have borrowed - it will be interesting to see their accounts in June.

Well, if we'd borrowed £100m at 2% a couple of years ago on a 15 year term (which was available) we'd be looking good now earning 6% on it. That's good debt. I don't know what terms we got on the supposed £66m but again I suspect the money we have now banked is going a long way to paying the interest.

He hasn't even had a scan yet. Wagner is basing his initial "assessment" on immediate swelling but it isn't necessarily ligament damage just because there is swelling. There is no way of telling that it will be "months" at this stage - you can't feel or see ligament damage - that's why I suspect a bit of mis-information is going on.

I am a natural cynic, and I find the vagueness of Wagner's information a little too convenient in terms of the imminent closure of the transfer window. I'm willing to wager he will make a remarkably speedy recovery after the international break.

I suspect drink has been taken.

Eh? they've been playing together so far so will need another forward. Idah is already mentioned as linked to them.

I really think the FA should work harder at persuading ex-pro's or even younger lads who fall out of the game to become referees, on some kind of fast track process. But. as we agree, they need to get paid more.

I think Wagner likes Placheta as an option on the left side and think he'll stay. Wouldn't be surprised to see Idah move on - Swansea need a replacement for Pirloe and £5m would probably get him. Another striker would arrive then - but probably from Europe rather than PL.

I don't really understand why we're bothered. He was never a committed Norwich player, just picked up his wages. Decent enough, never outstanding, in a team which was clearly outclassed. Also surly and moody. He'll probably be an OK Championship player but if 1p5wich are paying a big proportion of his supposed wages there is much better value out there.

I can only go on my own experience and that of my contemporaries. At least a dozen referees at various lower level leagues (from equivalent Div 5 right down to Intermediate levels) gave up when they hit their mid 30s because the money wasn't enough to compete with their time demands when marriage/children/houses came along. None of them gave up because of abuse - I think that reduces once you get away from Junior or pub league football. The ones who kept going tended to be the ones who either had independent means or no such family demands. Ex-players retiring in their 30s could easily retrain in a very short time to be referees. They won't do it for £70k a year.

No. If they got paid £1m a year there would be thousands of them. The abuse doesn't help but it's the money.

The problem is there aren't enough qualified referees to replace them with. Partially due to the abuse they get, along with a comparatively paltry match fee. If the FA started paying referees properly they just might get more people taking it up.

Point taken - but it was pretty much unanimous that he was a failure as an £8m purchase. Not so much now.

When I'm driving, it's possible I might call someone a bald-headed ****. I don't really think he's a ****. He's just a driver making a mistake who happens to be bald. I might actually get on quite well with him and we might enjoy a pint together. I don't hate him. The fact that I call him a bald-headed **** says more about me than about him. It isn't hate speech, it's just me being an idiot. Football fans are idiots, mostly. Sometimes not though. I don't have an issue with the Sterling chant for instance.

Worst - Several contenders for me, including Gilmour, Thomas Helveg and John Hartson but my vote goes to Omar Koroma. One of those we signed from a video and Harry Redknapp's recommendation. Currently still plying his trade at Worthing, despite still not being able to hit a barn door from a yard. Best - Leroy Lita. If he'd stayed as a permanent we wouldn't have gone down to League One. Still playing at 38.

Just to be clear though, this is the same Josh Sargent that everyone now wants to keep even if we get bids of £25m plus, as the Josh Sargent who we "spunked" £8m up the wall for just two seasons ago. He's gone from absolute donkey to virtually indispensable in a few weeks. Likewise Sara has moved from a waste of £13m to being worth more than the £30m West Ham supposedly want to throw at us, and Jon Rowe will apparently become our first £50m player. It's 3 games, everyone.

I don't think anyone really knows what the point of VAR is. Is it to make "fair" decisions? Apply the laws to the letter? Assist the on field officials? Improve the armchair fan's experience? No idea. Everyone assumes that VAR would have called our game against Southampton differently - our "offside" goal to stand; our penalty given; their penalty cancelled etc. It's all in the eye of the beholder, of course. Man Utd fans will tell you it wasn't a penalty. Everyone else will tell you it was. In a perfect world VAR would always give the "correct" decision. It doesn't, because there is still human involvement. Pretty similar to referees, some of whom are not as good as others. If we all want a mistake free game, stick to the PC version.

I can't remember us ever winning there. I fear a 2-0 defeat.

NO!!!! We dodged that bullet once already. Simply not a very good footballer.

I'm as guilty as anyone with yellow coloured glasses and the 18-19 team was undoubtedly the most exciting I've ever seen, BUT in the rarified air of the EPL the same players simply didn't development quickly enough. Pukki was consistent and his injury hurt us - pretty much all the others either dropped a level or couldn't step up. I don't think adding a couple of £20m players would have made a jot of difference at that time. As for Farke, I'll always be a huge fan - there's again a big BUT. He and his coaching team lost the plot on the restart in 19-20. The team was unfit and unprepared and simply didn't believe or care enough. Every player at that time was uncertain and poor in possession. In my view, this was repeated at the start of the EPL campaign in 21-22. We were off the pace big time in the first few games - badly prepared as well as tactically inept. I can't know why Farke and his coaches were seemingly unable to maintain concentration and tactics over a longer period in the EPL - maybe he was just out of his depth. I guess we'll find out for sure if he takes Leeds up (that's a very big "if" by the way - the current squad looks way too short on quality). As for our "jewels" - I never thought any of them were individually outstanding apart from Buendia when he cared enough. We now have some potential new ones. Life goes on.

I'm a bit surprised at all these supposed real men from Yorkshire whining on and on about it. None of them mentioned the blatant penalty not given for handball. I know it's sickening losing to the last kick of the game, but their defence was shocking and didn't deal with the cross - instead, setting up Idah for the tap in. You can either take it and move on or whine and whine and whine........

Absolutely - as good going forward, better defending. His height makes a difference in this league.

If you compare him to Liam Delap, who was excellent today for Hull, there really is no reason why he can't be as good. Delap was all over Gibson from minute one, scored a good goal we created for him and almost a second (good save by Gunn). Idah was obviously only on for a few minutes but he did good work before the goal and that was a reactive finish - good signs.

I don't! No one should leave a City match early after all the dramas we've had in the last decade and a half.

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