madras

Don't think he could score from the bench mate.... went off ten mins ago! beat me to it. (i'd have been more sarcastic mind)

the germans are missing ralf keidel

So you agree that Taylor is one of the worst defenders in the Premiership then? Come off it, he's not great by any means but he's far from one of the worst. if you believe the press we have been linked this close season with 2 who are a lot worse than taylor....dawson and gardner

have a think about it this way; newcastle put in a 17m bid for michael owen who is desperate to leave real madrid making them front runners for his signing as they're his only way to play regular football then liverpool decide they want him and will match the fee is it ever going to happen?...you can spout all the facts you like about that too but we both know what the answer would have been, only difference between the two is fergie wanted rooney enough exactly...they didn't and it did happen. all you are saying is if man utd hadn't come in for him we'd have got him.....it's the same with every player (ie if real madrid had been in first for ronaldo he wouldn't have gone to man utd) you are saying if we go in for players of that calibre then we will never get them as the man utd's and liverpools will nip in and get them. you've gave yourself an example of at least one occasion when it didn't happen. good of you though as most on here will conveniently leave out evidence that doesn't support their ideas but you on the other hand are prepared to damage your own argument in the name of finding the truth. aye alright mulder wasn't going to happen, NEVER mate...not sure what you're trying to say really...i've been fairly clear about the whole thing - in my opinion there was never a time when man u wouldn't have made the move to sign him once we started the ball rolling, that's it really what the f*** are you arguing about? that we put in a bid? never denied it that IF (and we eveidently disgree fundamentally about how big this IF is) manu didn't bid we might have got him? never denied it carry on though, you're doing well a big enough "if" that if we hadn't bid man utd wouldn't have. owen and liverpool was a great example as was ferdinand to arsenal or spurs before we signed him, and beardsley was off to leeds before we bid. you are saying rooney was "never" gpoing to happen,i'm saying it was a distinct possibility.

have a think about it this way; newcastle put in a 17m bid for michael owen who is desperate to leave real madrid making them front runners for his signing as they're his only way to play regular football then liverpool decide they want him and will match the fee is it ever going to happen?...you can spout all the facts you like about that too but we both know what the answer would have been, only difference between the two is fergie wanted rooney enough exactly...they didn't and it did happen. all you are saying is if man utd hadn't come in for him we'd have got him.....it's the same with every player (ie if real madrid had been in first for ronaldo he wouldn't have gone to man utd) you are saying if we go in for players of that calibre then we will never get them as the man utd's and liverpools will nip in and get them. you've gave yourself an example of at least one occasion when it didn't happen. good of you though as most on here will conveniently leave out evidence that doesn't support their ideas but you on the other hand are prepared to damage your own argument in the name of finding the truth.

i'd much rather a journalist had shit grammar but was insightful.

mrmajorism in "look i think this and all the facts in the world wont change my mind" mode

It's a fair concern. I don't know why I'm particularly any more optimistic than you - I've paid for three years too so they'd better make it worth the commitment - but I still think we should be able to wait a couple of weeks more before getting too worked up. Everything the club has done so far (debt payments, managerial switch, the off-field changes, the youth signings) has been done with the long-term stability of the club done at heart IMO, even if they've not handled it all particularly skillfully. That gives me hope, along with the fact Keegan surely wouldn't have returned without promises of backing. I think we'll make a mixture of signings this summer in the end, but with an emphasis on younger players hungry to prove themselves (hence the Modric thing). I accept this might not be enough for some though. I'm waffling here, so I'll stop now. ever considered the modric move was nothing more than an attempt to "convince" fans we're gonna spend big when we're not dave? bit like the rooney move that was simply never going to happen in a 100 years but was designed to make us look like we were still competing/able to compete not saying it was, just saying it's worth considering...the optimists like yourself are basically hanging onto that modric shred at the moment for everything it's worth 'cause if you took that away then on the field wise things look pretty grim really don't they? said it ages ago, if we'd identified our targets as that move suggested we might have done then where was the move for the next player when that deal went south? he can't have been the ONLY person we intended to sign could he? a pessimist is never disappointed!!! what would be the point in that...3 days before the window shuts and after the season tickets had been renewed. in the modric case it would only have been worth it had NUFC leaked it but we'd been in talks for a few days and had kept shtum. as in the rooney case if the selling club had kept quiet no-one would have known and thus defeats the exercise you have as a conspiracy.

does that matter ? Yes it does as there's arguably been better English players since then. If it was the '92-'97 Shearer then without doubt. still englands first choice centre forward till 2000 and would have been for another year or two had he not put a stop to it.

does that matter ?

you may be on your own there.

behind woodgate and terry as a defender. looks better than he actually is.

also there's a lot of people just falling out with football and had been survivng on partisanship for a few years.

or why would we be interested in a 29yr old who's already failed over here ? or why would an agent make things up to stir interest in a player to try and engineer one one last pay day ? or why would a journalist make things up to fill copy ?

spains odds to win the tournament drifted from 2.6 to 2.8 the moment villa went off. (germany in from 2.24 to 2.18)

how do you know we didn't ? how do you know we were in fact in for him ? how do you know he didn't say "no thanks" before the tournament ? as yet,for all the talk we were only confirmed as being in for modric. all the rest (turan,gomis etc) are as yet unconfirmed by us (as you'd expect),but more surprisingly by the selling club.

Exactly. Same with Arda - there's no way a player like that would move pre-tournament when a good tournament would see their stock rise to such an extent that bigger and richer clubs would be in for them, and even a poor showing would barely see their value depreciate. If the big was bid, as it was for Modric, they'd have sold him - the benefit of a big price regardless of a s*** tournament would have outweighed any relatively small increment in the price if he had a good tournament. Of course, we'd not have made the big bid unless we were sure they were potential top class, hence the only option was to wait and see, hoping that they have decent tournaments whilst showing glimpses of potential, rather than being the top stars in the tournament that they did turn out to be. We should now just move on and look at the potentially top players who didnt get a chance to perform in the Euros. Huntelaar for example - if we bite the bullet and offer big now, Ajax have no reason to hang onto him in the hope that a big CL club will come in with a marginally bigger offer, and it seems like hes off the radar due to the top sides scrambling for the Arshavins etc. doubt his price would drop due to a shit tournament and youtalk as if the player (and his agent) have no say in it.

didn't some say that about portugal ?

how d'you find stuff like that out ?

but alan"i'll give my over the top opinion instead of cemmentating" green

and fuck...it's alan "everyone wants my opinion" green

the commentary is ever so slightly ahead of the action

deffo a foul but maybe just outside the box

he stood up

if the player wants to go to a club offering less than others then it will probably happen. bidding wars aint what they were since bosman.