toontownman

He will be an excellent signing for whomever he ends up at. Its just a stupid price, from Charltons point of view they know each premiership team got the huge tv cash windfall, alot of clubs have been taken over and one club is already willing to bid 17m for him. He will fire the goals to get them back to the premiership if he stays. They did kinda piss on their own chips by already signing two replacements though!

Bizzare. Replacement for Forster though who has gone to Brighton.

Nice, bring in the baines, bring in the baines...

Yeah well then there is the downside to the Bent deal, its finalised, they got him for considerably less than 17m, but its Marcus not Darren. To be fair I did get the nod you are in advanced discussions with Dyer, downside again though its not Bruce its Keiron.

Its not a huge pull, especially if the team has the potential to be in it the year after. But its certainly an extra pull if it were down to choosing between two similar clubs one in Europe and one not. Its just another card to play.

More so it tells you how s*** Boro were every that year.

Dont think anyone other than the Spanners and Spuds are in for him, having ruled out the former its only a matter of time before the nodding dog is right. If he posts everyday he has to get it right one day, surely?

Reading way too much into it, and having an OMG moment, but .com have now changed the wording from reported to be at the training ground to was at the training ground today. For those of us gimps that hang on every word, its encouraging news for us to wet our pants over for another nine hours until Anal says the reports are wide of the mark and news to the SJP heirachy. http://www.nufc.com

Anal thought so too. Geremi is good for lots of positions really. I dont think it should effect us going for Beye. Beye could play RB/WB or CB in either prospective formations for home and away. We would have a RB pool of Beye, Geremi and Solano. All of which can slot in elsewhere. Rozehnal has also been playing DM, Id think he would buy a specialist DM if we want another, but we shall see.

You said it was done a week or two ago, and wasnt going to be released until july 1st? But thanks for resurrecting the thread rather than starting a new one.

Although giving it to the Mackems academy would be more beneficial, although pointless.

A report worthy to be a Gordon Strachan quote.

Ashley has been to WHL on numerous occasons as a guest of Paul Kemsley, I said that on the day it was announced Ashley had bought Sir John Hall's shares. I was subsequently told that Ashley went to the first match at the Al Jazeera as Dein's guest. Levy and Kemsley were similarly invited but declined. As I said before, they are thick as thieves, but Dein is as much Arsenal as Shearer is Newcastle. Hill-Wood (maybe only temporarily) made one half of North London very happy when he got shot of Dein. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! The master plan is revealed Newcastle will soon announce they are to become Spurs B. Levy has got his mate to buy Newcastle so you can finally sign Damien Duff. Your right its only a matter of time before Dein returns to the Arsenal fold. They board will have no choice but to sell before too long, the likes of Ourselves, West Ham, Villa, Man City, now Birmingham and Spuds aswell will all be better financed before too long, every club will have a billionaire backer. Kroenke and Dein know this. As for Spuds next season, your prediction should be accurate enough, although you can never tell with your lot, consistency is improving the past few years. The key is moving all the youth to the next step, something we failed to achieve. Youth is all important but you need the right mix. Too many clubs are looking too much into the future now without keeping a firm grip on the present. Spurs arent far off, providing you dont screw it up by selling Berbatov and add to his talents you shouldnt do too bad.

Its like we are shopping at ford garage and getting a bmw for the same price, would never imagine rodent ever doing this sort of business. Thankfully you never need imagine it again. Thankfully if you do, imagination is all it is!

Thats what the summer is all about, thats why we post endless speculative teams and scenarios of players we want to sign that changes every week. People complain of too many rumors, but they would complain if there werent enough either. I know which I would prefer As for the money thing, regardless of if we have it. Does it make a difference if its quoted or not? If teams are going to hold us to ransom for a player its not going to make much difference if they know how much we have to spend or not. We have just been taken over by a billionare. Clubs know the money will be there, Ashley has hardly hidden his ambitions.

What makes people say they would prefer Shorey out of interest? Personally Id much prefer Baines, I think he is already a better player than Shorey, although the latter is slightly better defensively Baines is alot younger and has bags of potential to improve. Im not convinced id want bridge anymore, whilst he is better than the previous two, you would have the leaving Chelsea syndrome to contend with, he is a little injury prone and is getting on in years. Would love him here, dont get me wrong but I think Baines would be a better choice, id rather be getting players on the up then on the down now.

Outstanding for a Right Winger playing Right Back yes. Will make good back up if needed. But had we had a first choice RB available (that wasnt Carr) I would have had no hesitation dropping Solano. will also say as the season went on his distribution got worse aswell Like most of the team, distribution was a problem, basic passes went to the opposition instead of our men. Communication and general brains were lacking at times last season. Nobby was equally frustrating with wasting a pass, like you say might have been more towards the end of the season in his case. Can remember cursing him but then feeling guilty because of the good job he was doing!

Great news for him, good up and coming manager, things got stale for him at Fulham. Could be the new Toshack mind.

No, Solano's an average right back that looked better because he was compared to Carr. Jugding Solano last season *purley on his own performance, forgetting Carr*, to say he was average is harsh to say the least. He read the play brilliantly, and defended with intelligence, winning his tackles too. When going forward, to have a base to start from at the back, quality on the ball, is massive. We're lucky to have someone of his quality to be backing up the play at RB. I agree with Baggio, Solano's positional sense was s***. rubbish. solano's reading of the game is fantastic, it's his ability to track back and his overall stamina that is s***, and why he was sometimes behind the play after moving upfield. Im not so sure, his awareness is excellent, he tried to keep things simple and smart with regards to his positioning, but he was quickly found out by opposition wingers and regularly torn apart by anyone with pace. Where marking was concerned he was all over the place at times, very bramble-esque letting players run free on corners and free kicks. His footballing brain kept him afloat, id agree his stamina is a downfall aswell your right. What was refreshing with Solano, was having a RB that could use a ball creatively, rather than hoofing the ball down the field. Regardless of his obvious flaws he was by far the most composed RB ive ever seen in a toon shirt!

Like your thinking. Lahm would be very hard to prize away from Bayern though. If we indeed sign Geremi defensively here is my changing weekly, like us to get, wish list: Baines - LB - Really good tournament with the U21's great coming forward, suprisingly solid in defence, will need to work on his defensive side for the full level and premiership, but young with bags of potential. Heinze - CB/LB not sure that he would be thrilled at the prospect of joining us, especially with the interest of Real apparently in the offing. Would be great cover/competition/guidance for Baines at LB or a staple in the centre. Despite having a dodgy end of last season a run in the team will do him wonders. Was imense in his first year at Manure. Andrade - CB - The trophy signing defender I guess, excellent all round defensive package, and available. Beye - RB/CB - Experienced, Club Captain, tall, quick and happy at RB and in the Centre would round of our defensive group emphatically. Midfield Have to echo hoppaz wishes, whilst Diarra sounds like a great bet and very interested, the number one guy for me would be Appiah all round game is superb, never stops running is strong, has great distribution and organizes and motivates the Ghana team throughout matches. Would cost roughly the same as Diarra but I think would be twice the player. With the additions of Barton and hopefully Geremi our midfield would be generally covered, I dont believe we will need anything further this summer. Up front: As long as everyone is still on board this season we dont need to tinker. Although with the uncertainty of Owen/Martins and Viduka missing the start of the season, It wouldnt suprise me to see us getting another player in,be it a player on loan, freebie/budget signing or a player that is versatile and could fit in elsewhere in the team. Ritgers has been mentioned, although its more than likely just agent talk to push Celtic into a deal. The vesatility option would apply to the likes of Giuly, Babel, Diouf etc.. Diouf would be my choice, he knows Sam inside out and vice versa, would be at home on the wings or upfront, can be used as a target man and would give us some real bite upfront. Obviously should Martins or Owen leave that would put a different spin on things and completely different players would come into the equation, but as it stands (this week) those are me picks.

Just don't think we're going to spend £50m on top of sales mate. I could be wrong. Seems like anybody who questions the budget or the way it's spent is accused of wanting trophy signings immediately. Makes it easier to put down people's suggestions I suppose. Why do we need to spend it? 50m might well be available for him to spend. Doesnt mean we have to go splurge it all. If we can get decent players in for decent prices to get the squad where the big man wants it, the rest can either be spent on one or two luxury players at the end of the window (when the squad is where he wants it) or save it for the next window. Sams just doing the job he was brought here to do and what he is good at, getting good deals on players and bringing the best out of them.

Seems an ideal signing, good calibre, versatile and club captain. Coupled with Geremi will surely spell the end of the Troll. Heinze and Baines would do me to complete our backline...ok go on, throw Sol Campbell in aswell.

Bit different to .com confirming Rozehnal, they are confirming reports rather than information at the moment, either way hopefully its true. Bring on the Baines!

SACK ALLARDYCE, USELESS, KNEW HE WAS LIKE ROEDER!!!11

Arteta is a fantastic player, i have wanted him here for years. Sadly if he leaves Everton it wont be to come here no matter how much money we throw at him. For a statement of intent, Micah Richards or Tevez would be huge buying from within the league. Like Arteta though both players are likely only to move to the top four or much bigger clubs abroad than ourselves. To the point in hand, a trophy signing would be best waiting a year until we have more to offer: A settled staff/team, Europe (fingers crossed) etc.. Any money released now should be to shape the side to get to the above and a position where offering money isnt the only thing we can give to a player. To cut a long story short, use all the money to build a solid side and squad then come January or next summer we can add to that to give us further impetus to get to where we want to be.