James

I was never convinced by Bassong, he made a lot of costly mistakes that contributed to our relegation.

All the teams we are rivalling to lose. If two rivalling teams are playing each other a draw. If not rivalling don't mind.

I suspect that will happen regardless. A couple minutes here and there should be OK, but we have to remember that even though his bone would be fully healed and he has no other problems, players are statistically more likely to suffer serious muscle injuries in the first few months after a long injury. See Michael Owen 2006. It would be more advisable to just give him those couple of extra months and then build him up over preseason. I bet he trains more than any other player over the summer and comes back flying.

I think he is best off sitting the season out now though as bringing him back for the sake of a couple unimportant games could pose a future injury risk. Let him train, have a proper break, then give him a proper preseason ready for next year.

I can't believe people still want him out of the team. Next season we should still be built around Nolan, Tiote and Barton as we are now. Anything else is unrealistic or a helpless stab in the dark.

I think this weekend has probably been crucial in creating gaps, and we've come out on the right side. All things considered this has been a very pleasing season on the pitch.

Tiote gets it for me. However him, Coloccini, Barton, Nolan, Enrique, Carroll would have all won it had they been playing in any season since 04/05. Also Simpson, Best, Shola all deserve mentions. I haven't been overly dissatisfied with Williamson, Harper, Krul or Jonas. Guthrie, Saylor and Lovenkradns have been good value backup players for a newly promoted side.

Only bother playing him if we are in threat of relegation. An extra couple months off plus a good preseason would be more beneficial for his long term fitness. Same goes for Gosling.

Does Tiote have some sort of psychic ability to be able to detect where people are?

I reckon he'll come back to us one day.

At least with this policy players have to keep performing to move on. I think we've had a problem of players coming here, thinking they've reached the top and get complacent and this was certainly a factor in our decline and relegation. It probably wont bring much success beyond the UEFA Cup but at least we'd be stable if we keep the cycle going.

Aye I could only name two Georgian players past and present yet could name many more of the others.

Probably because we coul replace him with two players. Which would be the equivalent of three players.

Ruud van Nistelrooy has said he would take some sort of inferior deal to return to England. He's talking about being a backup for a larger club, but could he do something a bit more for us if he isn't asking for much?

They won't mind that.

For a development that size that is not unusual. Applicants are generally encouraged to consult the key planning stakeholders and get their approval where possible before formally submitting an application. Chances are the the City Council, the Environment Agency and so on all know about it but are bound by confidentiality.

Ah well you know what they say, a good idea was spawned from a million bad ones. Only 250,000 to go.

What if it was a similar format but spiced up a bit, for example teams from England, Spain, Italy, France only playing players of those nationalities?

Never but it does add to the competitiveness.

Would people be interested in the introduction of some sort of British Club Cup? The idea would be that this would be enforced rigorously, any team refusing to participate or play strong teams would get point deductions in their domestic leagues. This could be played midweek in the second half of the season on non-CL weeks. Or if this is infeasible bi-annually in the summer. Tournament features 10 teams, and the winner/finalist plays 5 or 6 games: Preliminary Round Highest Welsh Team in English League vs 2nd Welsh League 2nd Welsh Team in English League vs 1st Welsh League 1st N.Ireland League vs 2nd Irish League 2nd N.Ireland League vs 1st Irish League Round 1 1 legged match, Irish/Welsh sides play at national team stadiums Away sides are 2 best Scottish teams and 2 best English sides (if you haven't been knocked out of Europe by this stage the next lower team can play) Round 2 Two legged match. Final 1 match played at neutral country national team stadium. What makes this tournament different is that only British and Irish players can play in it. Additionally, the organising body can direct that certain players have to play if fit. For example if we were the English qualifier, we'd be told that Nolan, Barton and Simpson had to play. Point of this is that it allows young British players to play in a more competitive environment and hone their skills or stake a place for the first team. Clubs don't receive TV money/gate receipts/prize money. Instead a share based on how well the club did gets put in a trust fund that can only be invested on British youth. Any money not taken for this purpose goes to national academies.

Portsmouth who are now financially secure and in a comfortable position in the Championship? Back on their feet in less than a season, despite having a third of our gate. They got relegated having won an FA Cup and come within a missed penalty of winning another. We got relegated having won fuck all. I'd swap. You realise Portsmouth only own about three of their players?

Hahaha. I like that kind of humor. Probably the only team taxfree would settle for tbh.

Next season: Casillas Alves Vidic Luiz Enrique Tiote Tiote Tiote Messi Olivier Bernard with robotic legs Carroll

Probably just a bollocks rumour but I'll put it out there. Barton wants three years, we were only willing to give two. Barton happy to compromise says two years but he gets an automatic one season extension if he plays a certain number of times in the 12/13 season but we are unwilling to do that because of what Nicky Butt did.

I think the problem was that we had people at the club who still expected Shearer to do it all when clearly he needed others to get their own share of the goals by that point. shearer's return was excellent for someone of his age who had intended to retire the season before.