Dokko

With new money available to all standing still means going backwards this year in the EPL, and for me its going to be the toughest ever season for everyone. There are more teams closer to picking off Arsenal to 4th than Wenger would care to think about, and the battle for the UEFA cup spots will be as open as its ever been and i expect ourselves to be there at the very end. So who do you think will improve, be about the same or be weaker due to whatever reason. I've paired off the promoted/relegated teams to give a better balance of the league, i've put it in order of finish as well, although that was pretty much quickly done to form the below: Chelsea - Some changes to be made, more money spent, bigger squad to challenge on all fronts, although i cant see any major £30m transfers, i expect a few bodies in. (Stronger) Manu - SAF wont rest on his laurels since manu have Chelsea on the backfoot, expect two or three quality signings to bolster his squad. (Stronger) Liverpool - New owners out to make their mark, could win the CL without spending a penny of players, but expect a good £50m+ to be splashed out to move them closer to the title (Stronger) Arsenal - Club one year older, one year closer to transition, but with money tied up in the stadium, Dein leaving and reportedly Henry & Wenger to do the same, this is one top 4 club who could be weaker next season. (Weaker) Tottenham - Will keep on doing what they are doing, some will leave, some will go - (Same) Newcastle - New era we all hope, much improved from this season (Much Stronger) Everton - Can't see any big leaps, a slight improvement, but yoyo Everton in the league, standing still could mean going backwards (Same) West Ham - Escaped, expect a lot to leave, but a lot to come in, a club with Euro ambitions next season (Stronger) Aston Villa - The owner yet to stamp his mark, doing it slowly it seems but improvements are a dead cert (Stronger) Bolton - Their manager has left, and with talk of money being an issue, i cannot see Bolton maintaining what they did under previous (Weaker) Portsmouth - Good season built on a great start, Harry begging for funds, if he gets them he could turn a fluke into a norm (Same) Man City - Up in the air ATM with takeover talk, but with so much going on hard to make an assumption (Slight Improvement) Blackburn - Inconsistent and can't see the funds to make that stop (Same) Reading - Being picked off already, their main man gone, will find it hard to replace (Weaker) Boro - No direction apart from signing Woody, i can see Viduka leaving and them already blowing their main funds on Woody who is one injury away from a long layoff (Same) Sunderland - New arrival, will sign some good players and stay, mark em up against Sheff Utd to form the opinion that they are stronger (Stronger) Wigan - Lucky, too many average players and now a good manager has departed i expect them to depart from the league as well (Weaker) Fulham - A non entity, cant see the funds coming in for the new manager to spend, a struggle of a season again imo (Same) Birmingham - New arrival, will look for bargains but with Bruce has no real plan, against Charlton i see them being the same (Same) WBA/Derby - Whichever both have about the same level of team, the same probably as Watford, and i see them finishing bottom as well (Same)

------------------Given------------------- Taylor-Campbell-Ben Haim--Baines Milner---Butt---Arteta---N'Zogbia ---------Viduka---Martins----------- Campbell - £1m Ben Haim - Free Baines - £5m Arteta - £8m Viduka - Free

It would be great to bring in Ben Haim, Campbell, Sidwell & Viduka for next to nowt, and at the same time sell Duff, Parker, Emre, Dyer & Owen for some good money. Even with Owen valued at £9m is the rumours are true, that's a good £35m+ back into the club and probably our wage bill cut in half!

Hold on - you saying the reason people were on Brambles back was because he was Black and/or a southerner? Nowt to do with the 5 error strewn years he spent here, and failure to improve? As for the southern thing, yeah - we do struggle to get behind/back non-geordie players, don't we?? - tell that to the likes of Rob Lee or Les Ferdinand! No, i'm saying he gets away with the same amount of shite that Bramble has but is left alone because he is the local lad made good. But what has colour got to do with that? Black people can and are born in and around Newcastle, and it wouldn't make a difference to 99.999999999999999999% of Newcastle fans what colour their skin was, but i agree about the local thing, gets away with a lot, but also he is very young, just turned 21, and for a defender he's still in nappies.

All very true, and show he's got the balance right this time, even more so if your thinking from your angle as well.

Media forced him out imo. Fell out of love with the game. Romance has gone, too much money at the top end, everyone is so cynical/defensive... Again i think the media played its part in robbing it off him.

If all that happened i think i'd be celebrating with a bottle of Champagne tbh, am not the biggest Viduka fan, but i'm warming to the idea under SA rather than GR's hopeless football.

For 4m i would take him but i think Marseille would want at least 6m for him. Which is good of them, but am sure Liverpool will need paying since he is owned by them.

His record is about a goal every 2 games in England but his injuries may have taken it out of him. Headless chicken but maybe worth a punt if cheap. Also hit his pregnant wife. Nice guy. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006040599,00.html Link added: Just in case the mods have a cardiac.

His legs are shot, would take him on a free and on a very low wage but that is all he is worth. 14 (5) 7 goals, not very good since the French top divison is as weak as the bottom of our Championship, bar one or two teams.

Best defender we have by a mile, deserves an extension, but i doubt a rise in wages is in order, not for this season, we should not be rewarding averageness just because he's a local lad.

Media forced him out imo.

AM in agreement here mate, but its signaling that he's obviously got someone else to replace him who he thinks is better, if its his own freebie of Ben Haim then Bramble had to go.

Pav, Gooch, Bramble, Bernard & Moore.

I dont think so this time, i think he's genuinely pissed at the cunt for disrespecting the club and is letting him know he's on thin ice. With no manager in charge Zoggy thinks he's not accountable for his actions, but FS is dealing with it by blasting him, then SA can take if from there afterwards. Makes good sense to me. I see what you're saying, I just think that it is the manager's job to deal with this sort of thing - and either way it should be done in private. I know this isn't an ideal world though, and I can certainly see why Fred is pissed off. What we don't want to do is spite ourselves by making relations with Zog irreparable just as a new manager is coming in who might have been able to salvage the situation. But we had no manager when this happened, and Zoggy was taking a liberty, it got out into the press, and FS has dealt with the press about it, Zoggy has been left in no uncertain terms that the club are officially being seen to be pissed off with his actions. ATM Zoggy thinks he's bigger than the club, the club have just reminded him publicly he is nothing special yet, and should take note of that. Sam can come in and give him a cuddle when he gets back, good cop bad cop etc, i think it was a good move by freddy for once.

I dont think so this time, i think he's genuinely pissed at the cunt for disrespecting the club and is letting him know he's on thin ice. With no manager in charge Zoggy thinks he's not accountable for his actions, but FS is dealing with it by blasting him, then SA can take if from there afterwards. Makes good sense to me.

Warnock has shot himself in the foot there imo, i like the guy simply for comical value, but he isn't a great choice as manager and could find it difficult to get another job offering £500k a year, he certainly wont get a EPL job unless he's very fuking lucky.

Phil Brown could be the new assistant of NUFC. Out of contract at Hull and could possibly leave.

Yeah, if we could get Sidwell as a replacement for free then it could be a good bit of business. Anyone know the situation regarding Sidwell, I thought he was set to sign for Chelsea on monday? Strange he was going to sign for GR of all people and now he's gone the club are not going for him, surely it would take two mins for us to get SA on the phone saying the deal stands and we want him? Guess SA doesn't and has other plans then.

Good on FS coming out and calling him, someone at the club had too, at least this way when SA comes back he can either pick him up and get his career back on track and Zoggy might have come to his senses. Texting in a teamtalk FFS, the lads wants a 4 week fine for that, i couldn't of resisted kocking the cheeky French cunt out if he showed me and my club that kind of lack of respect. ATM Zoggy is a total fuking tosser and going from one of my high hopes for this club, am at the point where the lad can sulk of somewhere else as long as we get a nice fee for the useless cunt.

Been saying we'll get £9m for Parker all day for some time, WHU will pay the cash for him no doubt about it. Dyer, Duff & Emre will all fetch nice prices, i'd like to see the lot leave along with Owen.

Jesus

Big Sam will have done his homework before the dual, and would of used his superior planning and would bring along the winner of Crufts 2007 as a distraction. Big Sam wins.