James

I still think Edgar is potentially the most talented centre-half to have come through our ranks in recent years. I'm very suprised that Huntington has been picked more regularly.

HTL - what happenned to your uberposts? I enjoyed reading them even though I'm often in disagreement.

Apparently so, according to the man himself in the Chronicle. Only sidefooting though.

Running, twisting and turning, and now Owen's even striking the ball. Which poses the question: If Souness was manager, how much closer would Owen be to a comeback? And by asking that question, you realise that things at the club could be so much worse.

Owen isn't world class he's just an excellent player who is injured most of the time. Taylor is probably only our third best centre back, possibly even only fourth best.

So Gemmill, it is clear that you disagree with selling most of our squad for three players. What about the notion of selling a portion of the squad for either 1 or 2 players? Would you, or would you not, and why/why not?

Would it though? We'd be short of Given, who I'd sell last in case I could buy the other three necessary players without needing to sell him. That would be a shot in the leg. Would the defence be any worse or weaker? Probably not, David Edgar is better than Taylor in my opinion, and yet hasn't been playing, so he would be stepping up. Meanwhile, the only other departed player is Carr, who makes the team worse. Therefore in defence, we would be no worse than we were at the start of this season, probably better as each player has more premiership experience. Midfield looks a hell of a lot weaker, that cannot be denied. However, Butt would be a decent spine, and we'd have some quick player down the left from our youth team. Up front, only Dyer is missing compared to this season. Therefore once more, we arent much worse in that department. Now the option of up to three players come in. Looking at the weak positions, I would say that there is a weakness in 1 or 2 striker positions (same as this season), the full back positions (same as this season), central midfield, and left wing. Would therefore need to sign in my opinion a left winger (Ronaldinho would be appealling in this fantasy universe), a striker (Villa, Huntelaar or Klose), and a central midfielder (Gerrard). The players I'd choose are players who aside from their excellency, complement the existing players well, and have a superb fitness record. However, just like this season, we'd be a striker short, we'd be weak in the full back positions again, and have problems in depth in central midfield, although I'd feel that the squad is just as good as what we've got, and even better if we were lucky with injuries. However, the option to retain £25m worth of playes would be more appealling to me. Staying on would be Dyer, Milner and N'Zogbia, with Solano reverting back to right back. I'd still get the additional world-class striker (one of Villa, Huntelaar or Klose) and I'd again plump for Gerrard in central midfield. Therefore, the squad would be: Harper Krul Srnicek Bramble Onyewu Solano Edgar Huntington Ramage Babayaro Gerrard Milner N'Zogbia Kazenga LuaLua Troisi Patisson Butt O'Brien Villa Martins Sibierski Dyer Carroll Godsmark Doninger Which in my opinion is a much better squad than what we currently have.

It's all make believe fantasy nonsense which I have made perfectly clear, you dont have to contribute if you dont want to. The real question is whether you'd be willing to forego a large proportion of our current first team squad to replace with a quality player. Fact is, we've done rather well when certain youngsters have been playing while certain veterans have been out injured, and it does make you wonder, could many of these players be shipped off and replaced with real quality?

Say that the club could sell on the majority of first-teamers for a decent price, and we could use this money to buy three world class players (assume anyone would want to sign, and no transfer is more than £30m), while at the same time, we'd have to take risks and promote a few youngsters very early. That is to say that in addition to three world-class players (of your choice), we'd have the following squad: Harper Krul Srnicek Bramble Onyewu Edgar Huntington Ramage Babayaro Kazenga LuaLua Troisi Patisson Butt Solano O'Brien Martins Sibierski Carroll Godsmark Doninger So in other words, we are selling on all our over 20's who could raise over £2m each, excluding Martins, and renewing the contracts of Bramble, Solano, Srnicek and Sibierski who would all leave for free if we didn't. Therfore, gone would be (using very optimistic sales here:) Owen - £14m Shola - £6m Dyer - £7m Emre - £8m Parker - £10m Taylor - £5m N'Zogbia - £10m Duff - £7m Milner - £7m Carr - £2m Given - £8m Luque - £2m That makes £84m which would pretty much give us the cast to buy three world class players. Would you be willing to sacrifice those players for three world class players? Who would you choose? Alternatively you could choose to keep upto £25m worth of our current staff and only buy two players, or keep upto £50m worth and buy one player. Would either of those option be better? What would the outcome of each scenario be in your opinion? Are any of these options better than having a £10m budget to spend on non-Hollywood players this summer? (NB: My player valuations are non-negotiable, this is just some fantasy world, and you have to make do with these valuations)

Nobby is.

Get him signed up in the summer!! Still has a few good years left in him and he is the best full back in the league. no thanks No thanks, what do you mean no thanks? I HATE him, but I'd bit ManU's hands off if they offered him he's a cock, just like Bellamy Has he thrown a chair at the assistant manager, called his manager a liar on TV, feigned injury, or hit a team mate with a golf club?

On one hand, Neville is an excellent player, but on the other hand, you have to worry about a Nicky Butt scenario, although Neville has great mental strength. To be honest, can't see him playing for another Premiership club. Reckon we'd be third favourites to sign him after LA Galaxy and Everton if he ever did become available though...

I remember last year when mate Souness was manager he was always tipping us to turn the corner, and after Souness was sacked, he kept blabberring on about how they should have kept with souness as he was right to say that the team was going to turn the corner.

Dont know where all this talk about Roeder insisting on playing all of Taylor, Bramble and Gooch is coming from. Did I imagine Taylor being on the bench vs Liverpool?

I think we play better against the better teams. Some of our individuals are very complacent in some matches when playing substandard opposition this season.

Just woken up, what was the score?

Actually, the person he spoke to was Optimistic Nut, and there was no mention of Arsenal, just a shared joke (in french) about him being better than Duff. Conversation took place in the player's bar.

Pretty impressive for a team that never got into the 2nd round of a World Cup: http://www.ufwc.co.uk/

There is a website recording the unofficial World Champions based on a club retaining the crown until they lose, and the crown then goes to the team that won (much like the boxing system). Wonder if anyone has done this for club football.

Southampton beat Birmingham though, so could be said that I live in the best footballing city in the world.

Given recent results: Newcastle > Liverpool > Barcelona

Ameobi and Babayaro. Ameobi is a decent, no-frills back-up striker, while Babayaro is our only natural left back,and even if we get someone else in, he's worth having as backup.

Yes, but not with Brian Blessed who turns the idea from being absolutely shit to absolutely phenomenal.

We need to install top of the range sound systems around St. James Park - several speakers at the back of the stand, and speakers also towards the front of the pitch, facing the pitch. Then from a remote control at the front of the pitch, a member of the coaching staff (lets Give Terry Mac something to do) makes the speakers make different noises. These noises are made by famed thespian Brian Blessed, who would perform several chants at high volume, including "Black n' White army", "Toon! Toon!", all the individual player songs, "the referee is a wanker" "Lord and King Richard!" etc, and Blessed will perform multiple takes so mashed up it sounds like a group of people are chanting together. These chants would then be played at the back of each stand to encourage others to join in if they want. The individual speakers will issue instructions such as "man-on", which will be easy for the players to hear. Speakers in the away end could create the illusion that the away support are booing their own players, giving us huge benefit. Do all this, and we could win all our home games every season.

Is LuaLua ineligible for Europe? Its just that Roeder has picked Troisi for bench duty in European games, whereas LuaLua has been selected for bench duty in domestic games only despite their being more spaces on the European bench.