Sparks

How many world class left backs are out there and available?

Martins is the sort of player who will never fulfill his potential with us, so I can see why he would want to go. Plus the added factors of, the extra money, bigger name team, non long ball football, Champions League, London etc...

Sell because Martins is a donkey and isn't good enough, right?

Indeed, but that's not going to happen.

Not sure where we are going to play him if it isn't right back. Primarily he is a right midfielder, so he can join to que behind Milner and Solano on the bench if we plan to play him there.

Anyone who spends 5 million on Lita needs urgent medical attention, Baines over Shorey all day.

Well at least this has created some debate. Villa's high position is also down to the fact they are the biggest team in Birmingham, Everton are lower because they are almost always going to be in Liverpool's shadow.

This isn't about league positions it's about the size of the club.

Everton do have a fine history, but what is more important is the state the club are in today. They don't fill their ground often, the ground itself is a dump. Financially they haven't been able to compete with any other of the clubs above them and you just need to look back two years when they qualified for the champs league, they couldn't get anybody to join them. Most of the players they wanted joined us or Spurs. Bolton and Blackburn are forever limited by the small sizes of the towns they play in.

Very limited order, the tiers are where the clubs are really ranked.

Were in the same tier as Spurs, forget the Mackems or anybody else, right now they are our biggest rivals. Chelsea are in the top tier to because of their finances, their ability to attract players, and the fact they've won every domestic trophy in the last two years. Their fanbase isn't strong and their limited potential means they are behind the other three.

You constantly hear people debate whether other clubs are "big" or not. So what defines a club as being big and which clubs come near the top of the list? I made this list last season so it includes the teams that have gone down, but I ranked each club and created 7 different tiers in terms of their club size. I ranked each club on following criteria. 1. Fixed Assests - Essentially your ground size and core fanbase that will always turn up. 2. Finances - The Money and Capital the club has. The ability to invest in new players and facilities. 3. Ability to attract players - It's fine having money or doing well on the pitch, but it needs to put it to use in buying new players. 4. Playing history - Important for the prestige of the club and bragging rights, but very limited in terms of what modern use it has. 5. Future potential - Can a club continue to improve or have they gone as far as they can, are there no new fans to attract or no better players they can attract. This is always going to be great debate as to who should be above one another, but I hope to get the tiers as accurate as possible. The clubs position within these tiers is where you can start a real debate. I welcome any thoughts or opinions on how to improve the criteria and list. 1. ============ Man Utd Liverpool Arsenal Chelsea 2. ============ Tottenham Newcastle Aston Villa 3. ============ West Ham Everton 4. ============ Manchester City Middlesbrough 5. ============ Blackburn Portsmouth Bolton 6. ============ Sheffield Utd Reading Charlton 7. ============ Fulham Wigan Watford

Well, it's not really a smart move to sell one your better players to your rivals, you don't see the top 4 buying off each other very often, it's not a surprise to see us or any club making few purchases of rival players.

Could not agree more, would much rather have the money for Owen an replace him, I would be sad to see martins leave though. Would you be happy to see us replace him with Smith?

If Owen goes, Smith is not a remotely good enough replacement for him.

Even without Henry last season, some half decent finishing infront of goal and Arsenal would still have been in the title race.

Barton and Smith in midfield together makes me want to cry.

err... logic would suggest Spurs are at the top of the list.

FFS a striker who gets booked more than he scorers, waste of money on a position we don't need. If our strikers stay fit he will struggle to even make the bench. The 3.5 million could have gone towards a new right back. We all know about the mistakes of the past, but if he signs we will have six first team strikers and no first team full backs.

The only reason some people are quick to jump on his back is because other people are over hyping him and making outlandish claims about his ability. Both sides need to calm down, he is a player with significant potential but he still has a long way to go.

People always complain about the costs in comparison to seating capacity, it neglects the other aspects of stadiums that generate a large amount of revenue. It also doesn't consider the design of a stadium and its individual characteristics such as a retractable roof, sliding pitch etc. Land costs and transport improvements are not included as well.

The seat thing is bollocks, a seat costs about £30 to buy and 10 minutes to install.

All eyes on 2018, budget is certain to rise though upwards of £100 million.

Number one suspect is Crumpy Gunt.

There are a fair number of simular threads to this out there I'm sure.