So 'no evidence'. Excellent.

The best signing of the summer.

Already our best summer signing imo.

Nope, I refuse to believe all players age #Yakubu

I don't hate that tbf. Weirdly, had we signed him before Downing, I'd probably feel better about both signings...

It was good, but some really gross spots in the later matches. Plus Cody takes a NASTY unprotected chair shot. They claim it was a gimmicked chair that didn't work, but didn't look that way to me.

If Gallagher comes in as a striker and not another false winger, I'm happy with it. Strikes me as closer to Graham's heir apparent than Breo.

Reports coming via Whatculture and PWInsider that Vince has handed over creative control of Raw and Smackdown to two 'Executive Directors'. Respectively Paul Heyman (Raw) and Eric Bischoff (Smackdown). They will reportedly have 'the same power over their respective brands as Paul Levesque (HHH) over NXT'. That is potentially a long-awaited game-changer for the creative processes on Raw and SD! I guess the Alliance finally won!

My favourite 'pairing' of intros (back when it was Raw on a Fri night, Smackdown on Sat morning) was Across the Nation for Raw, and Beautiful People for Smackdown. Really got you fired up for the show! Thorn in your Eye was good, but it was on its way out as I started watching WWE a week after WMX7 (yes, what bad timing). There are 3 unpopular opinions that stem from the timing of my fandom. Firstly, I completely bought Stone Cold as the suck-up bad guy. Secondly, Biker Taker was better than it's given credit for. Third, the Invasion angle was legit AWESOME at the time (though clearly it could've been booked better in hindsight). *Dons tin hat*

Those 3 are also established internationals, one of whom is McNair's international teammate (and came through the same youth setup) who could have a word.

Rothwell, Palmer, Davenport were out of the blue too. No links to any if I remember rightly, not even from Pete O'Rourke! Only ones we knew about were Armstrong, and Rodwell. The Brereton signing had a slight 'saga' to it of about 2 weeks, but Freeman was another bid out of the blue.

Personally would only have had Lindsay out of them all. Powell possibly, at a stretch.

Anything to do with the above scenario of giving credit to fans who now can't get it?

I had it in my head he was a good u21 coach before Derby but can't find any trace. At least that would've added some logic to the Chelsea interest beyond 'club legend'.

I enjoyed the final GoT season but there were too many gaps and arcs left unexplored for the story to really make sense. Dany was portrayed as snapping, even though you could tell it was 'meant' to be a gradual decline. But that's what happens when the story leaps 3 months in one episode. Jaime and Brienne needed more exploring too. More definitive explanation that Jaime couldn't allow himself to be redeemed because he was so ashamed of what he'd been doing to appease Cersei. Also Bronn randomly threatening Jaime and Tyrion halfway through at Cersei's behest? Nah, there's more to his story than that. And Dorne basically doesn't exist! Need GRRM to finish the books so I can read them and get the story proper in my head. It's no coincidence that the show has struggled for great dialogue since the end of S5. They should've waited for GRRM to finish the books before beginning filming imo.

Would also argue Samba and Nzonzi were from the definitions of obscurity. One from Hertha Berlin B's reserves, the other a kid from Ligue 3.

*cough* Samba *cough*

Not the fella spotted at Brockhall is it?

Tbf, if that was a case of one CM to tackle and give the ball to the other CM 'possession recycler' that's fine. As long as (like Tugay) they can recycle it straight up either wing or into the path of a running strike. In our case, recycling straight to Dack, Rothwell, Chapman, or Graham (I'd even include Armstrong and Brereton if they were already running at the box) would be superb. Just need to be sure this recycling player has a bloody good pass on them 80% of the time.

Doesn't strike me as a happy world.

Peter Whittingham had no England career nor much (if any) PL experience though.

Was Dack not a brave move? I'm not saying TM is brave by nature or anything, but that was a brave gamble to build the team around a guy who loves his nights out and had community sentences to carry out.

Cautiously optimistic. Welcome Stewart

That's what happens when you turn SD into Raw Recaps. They need to commit to the brand split and have both shows run at 2 hours.

For those saying Hanley is a 'hoof' player, I don't remember that at all! I remember a defender who (within his ability) would maraud forward from defence quite regularly, but knew when to get rid or play wide to Conway. He's not a 'baller' by any means but better than hit n hope imo. By far the best option for a brute CB that's realistic imo.