[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

We could have offered a holiday barge on the grand union at Tipton ....... just a thought. (Does the grand union go thoroughtipton, excuse my lack of canal knowledge)

'Fraid not. Its West Midland branch terminates (in as much as any canal can really "terminate") at Bordesley Junction. The major cut running through Tipton is the Birmingham Old Main Line.

As for Lukaku: the word has always been that he snubbed us when we went in for the second loan deal and chose Everton of his own accord. When they finally came to buy him a year later, it's not too much of a stretch to believe that he'd have favoured them again; his prospects were better there. Hence it wouldn't just have been a case of us stumping up the £28m; we'd have been forced into an instant bidding war, and you'd have been looking at a £40m+ layout instead in no time at all. Maybe the eventual price tag on him would have justified that. Or maybe right about now, we'd have all been moaning that Lukaku's current goal drought was because of piss-poor service, that we shouldn't be thinking about selling him, and why can't we just stump up another £40m for a winger?

It's all a high-stakes game of poker, which is never fun when you're the bloke who shows up with the fewest chips, and even less fun when someone's stood by your shoulder telling you the hands you should have gambled on and the ones you should have folded long after they're done.