The Skipper

People class long term, for us anyway, as 3+ years. Mourinho was the last 3+ year manager we had and he could've potentially stayed longer - so the argument that Mourinho won't stay for more than a season or two doesn't add up for me. Mourinho will come into the club knowing that we're not buying players at £30m for every position now, he knows that CFC are trying to build a team through finding talented youngsters which we then want to nurture to becoming world class superstars which in return will bring us more trophies. We've got a very exciting squad coming through, a lot of people know that, and this is clearly a different challenge for Mourinho. Mourinho and Roman know that they'll both have to be a little bit more patient to see this project coming to fruition. Right now there isn't a better man than Mourinho on the market.

It's not that. It's the fact that we have United on Sunday followed by Spurs on Wednesday. We need to rest players.

Alonso can easily play at the top level for another 3/4 years. I mean look at Pirlo who's 34 this year, prime example. We get him cheap and he could easily be a Makelele esque signing.

We didn't, we agreed to pay his wages till he found a new club which he did in a matter of months.

Daily Mail sensationalising things. In the Telegraph it says Mourinho's release clause is €12m, which is around £10m, and they also say Real will be looking for something considerably less than that anyway - I'm inclined to believe the Telegraph over the DM.

So the guy that's had a big say in us bringing in Lukaku, KDB, Oscar, Hazard, Luiz, Ramires, Mata, Courtois is an idiot? Emelano has done a good job when it comes to player recruitment, I don't know why people won't admit that. If/when Jose comes, Jose won't be working under him but rather alongside with him, which is fine with me as I think Emelano has done a good job. The man has unfounded hate.

I think that's quite harsh to say - one average stint at Real doesn't mean he's regressed as a manager. Obviously he can improve, every manager does, even SAF does till this day; he's still one of the very best managers in the world.

Mourinho's record at Real is shit, we all know, but that doesn't mean you should ignore the work he's done here, at Inter, Porto. Whether you like it or not, there's no better option out there and you know it.

Out of that list it has to be Oscar vs. Juventus. Ones I'd take out would be Ivanovic and Hazard v West Ham but the rest are worthy contenders. They should've done a top 15 instead.

Let's ignore his UCL wins with Porto and Inter then shall we...

We posted profit this year - and that includes all amortisations of the players we've signed already, our previous transfers are included in there already. The FFP rules instigate that for the next two seasons a club can go €45M in the red if they have an external source that covers them - this amount will be reduced over the years but it's still there for us if we need cover. Also, what many people tend to forget is that FFP does not count any contract signed before June 2010 - so essentially, on our FFP balance sheet we're probably around £10m-20m up if you discount all the wages of the likes of all those signed before that. If you add in the fact that you can discount extenuating circumstances such as managers being sacked (as it's a one off payment) and the fact that FFP doesn't count academy costs either you'll soon realise that we're absolutely fine when it comes to FFP. We've got money to spend. If you're interested in further reading there's an excellent article here which is quite dated (published last year) but still very relevant - it explains our situation regarding FFP excellently. There is no need to worry much about FFP, the club have done a good job regarding that.

@Bir_CFC, I posted this in the Roman thread: So, in this scenario for example, we spend £100m/£120m on players and give them all 5 year contracts; it would collectively show up as (£25m) max on our balance sheet due to amortisation. Not to mention that stuff like academy fees, managerial payoffs etc. don't count in FFP - add that to the fact that we actually made profit this year and you'll soon realise that we do have quite a bit to play around with.

We can, quite easily too.

The commentary...

Here's what I think... It's common knowledge that Moutinho's going for £20m, Pepe would probably go for the same or less, since he doesn't even start for Real anymore. With Bale on the market Real might be looking to use a Di Maria transfer as a means of funds, I think if we were to get him we're looking at £20m-£30m. Falcao would cost around £40m-£50m so that comes down to around £100m-£110m - not to mention that we could be selling players as well (Torres, Essien could bring in around £20m-£30m?). I don't think we'll even get all of them but realistically speaking we should be able to afford it if we go about it in the right manner.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/9971838/Yaya-Toure-signs-new-contract-for-four-more-years-at-Manchester-City-to-take-him-through-to-2017.html Yaya Toure signs new contract for four more years at Manchester City to take him through to 2017

Pepe and Luiz would be the most feared CB partnership in the PL for sure.

Uhhm... He scored 12 goals for us last season you know? And that was from the right wing? Don't be so stupid mate. We're discussing Sturridge here, not Suarez, don't even know why you're mentioning him in the first place. i wouldn't be surprised if Sturridge finished the season with 10+ tbh. He's on 8 already.

That would be us done for the transfer window! Cech Azpilicueta - Pepe - Luiz - Cole Mikel? - Moutinho Di Maria - Mata - Hazard Falcao. OMG.

I personally wouldn't look at that - it's a natural thing to do, especially after what Mourinho's said tonight - they've probably been getting a lot of bets that indiciate Mourinho as the next manager, it's not like they're in the know or anything, they just don't want to lose anymore money. They know as much as we do. Having said that though, Mourinho surely has to be favourite now.

Which is exactly what Jose wanted - rightly or wrongly, he's managed to take all the attention away from the Real Madrid loss. This is a real manager (pardon the pun), something we could've used when we've been under controversy this season. I seriously hope Roman offers Jose a contract for next season, he's literally begging to come back home.

It's written, just up to Roman to close the deal now IMO.

Ozil, Ronaldo and Higuain went hiding, and that's why Real lost the tie. Modric was epic tonight though, wow.

No mate unfortunately not.