Tisd09

I think Birmingham will invest and I can see them having a decent season. At this moment in time I see Wigan, Fulham and WBA/Derby struggling the most. Bolton being the shock strugglers!

Yeah Bridge has had a really good season to be fair. As others have said he has outplayed Cole this season!

Us fans seem a lot more forgiving for his mistakes than we are for Bramble, though I think he has the potential to be a top defender. He needs to be playing next to the right man though!

I think he needs 1st team experience so I would be tempted to loan him out next season. On the other hand I wouldn't be too upset to see him as Given's back up.

Not too worried about this at the moment, I am sure he will get a new contract on terms that will suit him and the club. I think we would be mad to mess the lad around though!

The only club he has a sniff at, at the moment is Citeh, but they are looking a bit higher profile. Every other manager seems secure until the start of next season.

I think he looks better than he actually is because the rest of the defence are good. Toure and Eboue are two of the better players in the whole league and carry Senderos a bit. Would take him if he were really cheap but wouldn't be too confident in him being one of our stating CB's

I know Big Sam has a good record with older signings but this is just too much. The whole point is to bring players that will improve our squad.

Spot on. He may have good games but he just drops to many clangers he is a risk. What makes you think we can weed out the problems now. 3 Managers of varying skills have failed. We hang on to players too long thinking they will come good, this is the right decision. It will be good for the club and for the lad himself!

When I first stared logging on to the web, they were my first port of call, but I just find their stuff boring now. Whereas they used to be reliable with regards transfers now they just take pot shots like other media. I click on there during the day but here is my first stop now. They bore me!

True, but I suppose we trust Sam more to get the best out of these players. Souness would get him and play him left wing and then question his attitude. Roeder wouldn't know what to do with him. I am not Viduka's biggest fan but he had a good season and Boro and Sam is great at getting the best out of players. Man for Man his Bolton team were not as good as many other Premiership teams but he got consistent high quality performances out of them!

They are good players but I think Barton and Diouf just carry too much baggage. We have one little shit still left at the club in Dyer could you imagine him teamed with these 2. The only think that would give me comfort in having these players in our squad next season is that Allardyce has a good record with controversial characters. I just think there are better alternatives around.

I just think things won't work out for him here. I would not be surprised if Big Sam did give him a chance to prove himself but I think Luque and the Toon are just not meant to be. I hope I am wrong because before he came here he looked a quality player to be fair and if he can get the form back that he showed in La Liga then he would be more than useful, however, it is a very big IF

It must be tough for the lad but it doesn't give him licence to do what he wants, I don't know too much about the sitaution but a few people on here have mentioned he has an attitude problem and this season he hasn't exactly been at his best when he has played. If Sam can sort out the lads attitude I think its worth keeping hold of him because there were time last season when he was awesome, but it would not be the end of the world if he moved on at the moment!

Why would he want a player that doesn't want to be here. I think Sam is doing the right thing, if Owen comes out and says I am staying then Sam can build the team around Owen, if Owen says he is going then Sam knows what he needs to do. Its not letting players walk all over him its taking a sensible approach, and if the 9 million claus is to believed there is no way we can make him stay anyway, so there is no point getting it to a messy dispute with the lad. I will prefer him to stay but I will not break my heart if he goes!

We don't know it would be for the wrong reasons. Maybe Sam has tracked him for a while, maybe he will take a look at our squad of midfielders and decide that we need Barton. I'd prefer not to see him at the club, but just because he is available cheaper than he should be doesn't mean we are buying him for the wrong reasons. Looking back at Sams's transfers dealings his controversial ones haven't turned out too bad!

With the clean slate thing I am happier to see Luque remain at the club now that Sam is in charge, but I really hope that Bramble is not given another chance he has done nothing recently to suggest he deserves a new deal. Sam mentions 4 or 5 quality players, if he is using these figures it must mean thats what he has told Freddy, and I like that he has said replacements for the ones who are sold. As for losing our English/British identity in the short term I don't mind as long as he gets it right but eventually I would like to see us have that English/British core to our team, I think it brings massive benefits to a club, but at the moment we cannot afford to be choosy so if he finds a defensive rock that costs 500k for Dynamo Neverheardofitski I'd take that over and English lad!

The tea lady has out lasted everybody, maybe she is the jinx of the club? One scary part of that is everybody starts with a clean slate. Hope it doesn't mean Bramble gets re-signed??

Flash bastard! Must be paying him too much!

Tevez and Gerrard I wouldn't have picked, as mentioned Tevez only started playing the final 2 months and Gerrard has been below par by his standards!

quality!!!!

He used the money he has to spend very well in the past and if he carries that on with a bigger budget then we have reasons to be optimistic. I have my reservations about the appointment but cannot think of many better options available at the moment. And above all it is an appointment at the right time! Fuck he has a few months to prepare his team for the new season. Never a dull moment at the Toon aye!

But who will arrange the Christmas Party and do the lads bets for them???

In theory sounds okay but Bellamy brings about so much baggage. There would always be stories of discontent. If Owen were to leave I think the best replacements would be Darren Bent or Peter Crouch, talentwise not as good as Owen but stylewise may suit us better. What worries me is that with Big Sam in charge and his past with the long ball tactic the temptation to lump the ball to Crouch would be too much to resist!

The bit at the end about us possible holding back scares the shit out of me to be honest.