James

Perhaps, but they had better players behind them, whereas Shearer and Bellamy were carrying a gifted but flawed team.

Bugger. At least Gemmill looked more stupid.

Hey, you're right! Only we do need another forward

*Checks thread for embarrassing posts. *Breathes sigh of relief.

There is a sell on clause of 10%, but that is totally independent of the 20% financial rights which mean that Barca part own dos Santos for the next two years and therefore have some say over the dealings for that playerin a manner which is not likely to be made public. Same with Modric. I'm sorry, but I don't buy that - 3rd party influence over transfers is not allowed under Premiership rules (as with the West Ham case), and I can't see even Spurs being stupid enough to sign a deal which breaks these rules after the West Ham affair. The bolded Barca statement reads to me as a 20% sell-on clause in his first 2 years, going down to a 10% clause after that. (Btw, that's also how the BBC sees it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tottenham_hotspur/7440216.stm) I think your opinions on these two deals are both based on the hope that one of our main current Premiership rivals haven't done two good deals rather than whatever the underlying truth might be. See, im convinced that there was something in the Spurs Modric deal which made it more appelaing to the mamic brothers- the transfer just doesnt make sense otherwise and as it seems that spurs ARE actualy willing to include sell on clauses etc (despite what our spurs ITK posters say) it would sugest to me that James isnt too far from the truth although im not sure where he's plucked the 'forced acceptance' bit from. Im so curious to know what the actual deal was here, even if the truth is as mundane and unrealisitic as the Mamic brothers choosing the best career choice for Modric at the expense of more money for them... He choose them because they have European football and are based in London, also maybe Eduardo being in London had an influence. I don't think there is anything else to the transfer. He had no choice. The Mamic brothers told him where to go and he went. They owned him. Modric played no part in the negotiations.

Well can you ever remember him being beaten at the near post in his ten years here?

Shearer was world class at defending set pieces on the near post as well. Who does that these days?

One of the successes of the Sir Bobby era was the Shearer and Bellamy partnership. We could dwell on their attacking ability, but there was another side of their game that was much less attractive but just as important to our relative success. In Bellamy, we had a player who would work his socks off chasing lost causes and not allowing the opposition to dwell on the ball. This would affect our opponents causing them problems in retaining possession, and pressure would therefore be taken off our defenders as a lot of their time would be spent mopping up loose balls, rather than have to defend raggedly against precision playing opposition. Meanwhile, in Shearer we had a cynical player. There is no doubt that the cynical side of his game affected the concentration of many defenders, and he knew perfectly well that when he loses the ball (which happens to all strikers a fair deal) a little push or nudge would force the ref to blow, allowing the team to regroup. Interestingly, we were difficult to play against for most teams, although a few of the better teams were able to brush us aside much like they still do now. The reason of course was more composed and focused defenders, and in reality we always had the same team weaknesses, only Shearer and Bellamy could do a job at covering up against the majority of opponents. We aren't going to get another Shearer, although perhaps we could find someone a little more cynical to play up top. There are a few Bellamys out there, but they've been mopped up by other clubs. If we got enough cutting edge in other areas, Dirk Kuyt would certainly interest me if he became available.

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Gerrard and Rooney are better at the defensive stuff compared to others in their position to be fair.

I'm less worried about chairmen doing the conga, and more worried about chairmen offering to carry star players to other clubs.

If the coach is going through Leeds, I think I will definitely try and use it a few times next season.

sorry to bring this up again but i can se this being something that put Spurs in a better position than us to sign modric. Aye, my understanding was that there was a sell on clause, and if a bid of so much was made within the first few seasons, Spurs have to accept it with Dinamo/Barcelona keeping a larger percentage of the profits. For example: Modric, Spurs sign for £16m. Club X bid £20m. Spurs have to accept. Spurs recoup £16m, Dinamo get £4m. Therefore Dinamo get £20m which is more than our £18m bid. dos Santos,Spurs sign for £6m. Club X bid £10m. Spurs have to accept. Spurs recoup £8m, Barcelona get £2m. Except you seem to have pulled the bit where Spurs have to accept a bid of a certain amount out of thin air. The sell-on clauses with the Barca deal are documented on their site, but there's no mention of a minimum clause in his Spurs contract. Spot on. James you said something about a minimum release clause before, NOT a sell on clause. I've said both before. Unless Modric and dos Santos choose to stay for X number of years, you don't own them and are pretty much a shop window club.

sorry to bring this up again but i can se this being something that put Spurs in a better position than us to sign modric. Aye, my understanding was that there was a sell on clause, and if a bid of so much was made within the first few seasons, Spurs have to accept it with Dinamo/Barcelona keeping a larger percentage of the profits. For example: Modric, Spurs sign for £16m. Club X bid £20m. Spurs have to accept. Spurs recoup £16m, Dinamo get £4m. Therefore Dinamo get £20m which is more than our £18m bid. dos Santos,Spurs sign for £6m. Club X bid £10m. Spurs have to accept. Spurs recoup £8m, Barcelona get £2m. Except you seem to have pulled the bit where Spurs have to accept a bid of a certain amount out of thin air. The sell-on clauses with the Barca deal are documented on their site, but there's no mention of a minimum clause in his Spurs contract. Exact clauses will be kept confidential, but fact is that the pargraph in bold points out that Spurs do not fully own dos Santos, and bears similarities to the Modric deal where there is very strong suggestion that Dinamo retained control of future transfer dealings. "Spurs do not fully own dos Santos" - yeah, it's called a sell-on clause, and it's not like Spurs are the first team in England (or the Premiership, or anywhere else for that matter) to have one of those in their players' contracts. I'd bet that a few of our squad have them from their previous clubs. And I bet some people we sell (Shola perhaps?) have sell-on clauses that will benefit NUFC. It's not uncommon, and it's not worth stating it in a melodramatic fashion that Spurs don't own his full transfer rights - that's correct, but it's just a common sell-on clause. The point I was making is that you suggested that Barca would put a minimum fee release clause into GdS's Spurs contract: now while contract clauses are often kept confidential and we don't know if there is or there isn't one, to say that it's your "understanding" that he does have a minimum fee release clause is just pulling it out of thin air... unlesss you are privy to some inside info, how the hell do you get to that conclusion? There is a sell on clause of 10%, but that is totally independent of the 20% financial rights which mean that Barca part own dos Santos for the next two years and therefore have some say over the dealings for that playerin a manner which is not likely to be made public. Same with Modric.

sorry to bring this up again but i can se this being something that put Spurs in a better position than us to sign modric. Aye, my understanding was that there was a sell on clause, and if a bid of so much was made within the first few seasons, Spurs have to accept it with Dinamo/Barcelona keeping a larger percentage of the profits. For example: Modric, Spurs sign for £16m. Club X bid £20m. Spurs have to accept. Spurs recoup £16m, Dinamo get £4m. Therefore Dinamo get £20m which is more than our £18m bid. dos Santos,Spurs sign for £6m. Club X bid £10m. Spurs have to accept. Spurs recoup £8m, Barcelona get £2m. Except you seem to have pulled the bit where Spurs have to accept a bid of a certain amount out of thin air. The sell-on clauses with the Barca deal are documented on their site, but there's no mention of a minimum clause in his Spurs contract. Exact clauses will be kept confidential, but fact is that the pargraph in bold points out that Spurs do not fully own dos Santos, and bears similarities to the Modric deal where there is very strong suggestion that Dinamo retained control of future transfer dealings.

Harsh on Huddlestone, he is much better in his position than Milner.

sorry to bring this up again but i can se this being something that put Spurs in a better position than us to sign modric. Aye, my understanding was that there was a sell on clause, and if a bid of so much was made within the first few seasons, Spurs have to accept it with Dinamo/Barcelona keeping a larger percentage of the profits. For example: Modric, Spurs sign for £16m. Club X bid £20m. Spurs have to accept. Spurs recoup £16m, Dinamo get £4m. Therefore Dinamo get £20m which is more than our £18m bid. dos Santos,Spurs sign for £6m. Club X bid £10m. Spurs have to accept. Spurs recoup £8m, Barcelona get £2m.

Very difficult because Police request no NUFC derby on Boxing Day, while other clubs state that they don't want their fans to have to travel to us on that date.

Grammatical I think. I think it refers to Gudjohnsen.

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Thuram usually starts at CB. De Rossi was a disaster for those who had him in their World Cup Fantasy Football teams.

Not going to disclose my team as it is better than all the teams I have seen so far

NUFC player tips: Owen: France or Spain or Spain or France Butt: Spain or Portugal Keegan: I say Holland every tournament Terry Mac: I don't know who's playing only that England aren't in it. Edgar: Holland Harper: Italy Beye: France

Stoke (h) x 38 would be my preference.

Probably a gift for some businessman or other we want to woo, or otherwise some kind of charity or special recognition event. I'd doubt it would have anything to do with our transfer dealings.