Greg

The daily spreadsheets will ultimately look better though, and ultimately Ashley & Co. are spreadsheet guys. Football reality, and how the contract market operates. For top-line players entering contract negotiations in their late 20's, approaching the eve of their twighlight years in other words, this contract deal - ie. lets say 3 to 4 years - will most likely be their last 'big earner'. After this one, after the next deal expires, it's very much about lower contract lengths & lower wage packages as the next batch of top-liners emerge in the same 'wage earning' bracket as they step into the void created as the likes of Owen & Bergkamp. Owen has every right to tell the club to f*** off, while and Ashley & Co have no idea as to how the market operates with relation to paying the going rate and keeping your key players on board. On the other hand The Glaziers come from a football background, admittedly a different code, and previously they turned around a cellar franchise in the form of Tampa Bay. Looking at it from a slightly left of centre view they backed their football front-office/a new head coach by keeping their established top players on board - ie. Derek Brooks is one name, and a dominant defensive unit - when they could've allowed them to be picked off in the free agency market in the name of financially restructuring the club/franchise. In other words they payed the aforementioned 'going rate'. And they've done likewise at United. Utter crap, the Glazers took over the Bucs and played by the rules of their particular game, i.e. the salary cap, they couldn't replace Brooks for a similar or lower salary so they paid him the required amount needed to make him stay. As for Owen, whilst he is good, he's not worth £110,000 pw anymore - the likes of Ronaldo, etc are on £100kpw or more and MO just isn't in that class anymore. Also, none of our 'rivals' are paying anywhere near that amount for their top players, Spurs, Everton, Villa - we would like to be competing with that trio next season, but why are we paying almost twice as much as their top earners? This is just error-laden, I don't know where I should start - the comment about Jon Obi Mikel for one...the only agreement Chelsea had in place to sign Mikel was the one Kenyon brought with him from OT. There was no prior relationship with Lyn Once again though, you're comparing the club to the top trio of elite teams in the country, who have far greater spending power and are already established within Europe, which makes it easier when coming to sign players. While I'd love to see us challenging in that top 4 bracket, I'd rather see us progress in an timely and sustainable manner, as opposed to splashing out a couple of million in the hope of 'doing a Chelsea'. Just a flame, why bother? The Arsenals and the Chelsea's have still got their feelers in the talent pools which matter most, and with regards to Chelsea that is attributed to Arnesson's influence & knowledge of some these lesser leagues, the talent pool angle i speak of and yes it takes money to compete................... we on the otherhand are dipping our antennae to where, North of the Border. Viterre, having being a scout/talent spotter in the lower leagues would be well versed - ie. looking at low talent probability & but cost effective talent pools were the club implements a scattershot approach - when operating within the constraints of an extremely tight budget And Viterre's credentials have been massively overstated as well. The word 'Real Madrid' have been bellowed when his resume has been presented. Is this the same Real Madrid who have a proven pedigree when it comes to snapping up some of the top Spanish & South American youngsters going around, before & after Viterre's 6 month or so stint in Madrid? His name is Jeff Vetere.

Laughable really when you consider the other changes we've made. New Academy Director, two new fitness coaches etc etc.

They were not vegetables, not in that soup. Possibly dried parts of a vegetable.

Yeah Edgar had his dog with him!! He did indeed, and he went and got Robbie Elliott and some of the other coaching staff a cup-a-soup from Snack Attack, only there weren't enough cup-a-soups left to go around so I think Elliott did without. What sort of soup was it? That, I don't know. s*** ITK tbh It had loads of little green bits in it if that is any help.

Yeah Edgar had his dog with him!! He did indeed, and he went and got Robbie Elliott and some of the other coaching staff a cup-a-soup from Snack Attack, only there weren't enough cup-a-soups left to go around so I think Elliott did without. You must have been near me, I was stood to the immediate left of our dug out just to the left of Robbie Elliott and Mark Hulse, the two physios had the soup.

Yeah Edgar had his dog with him!!

It was men against boys in front of Kevin Keegan, Terry Mac, Chris Hughton, Richard Money, Jeff Vetere, Arthur Cox and many more as we lost 6-2! Ryan Donaldson opening the scoring with a nice finish slid under the 'keeper after a quick free kick but they soon equalized following Fraser Forster dropping a cross under pressure, possibly a foul but when we ball was played back into the mixer Benfield equalised. Benfield then took the lead after Ryan Donaldson gave the ball away with his back to goal on half way but back we came and a good ball from Danquah set Jonny Godsmark away who beat a few men in the box before firing past the Benfield 'keeper. It was soon 3-2 to the home side following another mistake by Fraser Forster, a long ball forward caught him out of position and he was lobbed by the Benfield player, very good finish to be honest, it was soon 4 and 5 following some shocking defending most notably by Callum Morris as we went in to the break 5-2 down. The second half didn't get much better as Benfield increased their lead with a goal past half time substitute Ole Soderberg. One moment of madness nearly saw Benfield score a 7th, Soderberg throwing the ball out only for it to hit Danquah on the back of his leg, Soderberg then picked the ball up but the referee gave a free kick for a back pass, Danquah hasn't even been looking so it certainly wasn't an intentional back pass, Benfield take a quick free kick and the ball is in the back of the net, referee is about to blow his whistle to get the game under way from the centre spot again until he finally notices the linesman on the far side has his flag up for off side!!! I heard Money talking to Vetere afterwards and he wasn't very happy at all. I also spoke to Robbie Elliott who is now a fitness and conditioning coach and some bloke called Kevin Keegan.

Forster, Taylor, Tozer, Morris, Lough, Danquah, Marwood, Doninger, Ferguson, Donaldson, Godsmark. Nice on, thanks.

I'm going to go along tonight, think we'll have a very young side out.

Blackburn boss Paul Ince has revealed that Aston Villa have lodged an offer for midfielder David Bentley. "We have had an offer from Aston Villa but I do not want him to go," he said.

He's at the Under 19 European Championship.

If it means less chance of Alan Smith being in midfield on the pitch I'm all for it.

Injured.

Decent little player, needs to bulk up.

No doubt he has some talent but he doesn't have the best attitude when playing for the Academy, often strolls around thinking he's Mr. Big when in reality he has an awful long way to go as we all know.

I very much doubt he'll sign today or even tomorrow. We haven't agreed a fee yet.

If you look at your season ticket renewal forms it is now called 'Gallowgate Stand'.

What'd he say? I wasn't really paying attention but one of the other pundits said he'd be claiming a penalty if he had the shot Henry had that was blocked and Shearer was like 'No, I'd have hit the net'!

Nice comment from Shearer!

He's looked awful in both games.

Oh dear.

But there is no risk in us not having sold them, who needs a guarantee on something 99% sure? banks and financial institutions also i think we may see more attendances starting with the figure "4" than we have for a while. We saw sub 50k in 6 home league games the season before last, only one in the season just gone. Will be interesting to see how attendance are this coming season.

http://www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10278~1326123,00.html

It should actually be much easier for them, only one side of the away end to section off as there is a massive glass wall at the other end.

While we don't know for sure what he is on it is not beyond the realms of possibility that he has a % yearly wage increase clause in his current contract.