Teasy

Being interested in signing a player for money and for free are two different things, IMO nobody would pay a fee for either of them knowing the kind of wages they're going to ask for. We don't know that they wouldn't be replaced and this is hyphothetical anyway. What I'm saying is that if I was in Ashley's position I'd give those two away if I had too if it meant freeing up the wage bill to bring in a few useful players. IMO Smith isn't a useful squad player in the Premiership, he'll once again be much like Nicky Butt, a liability.

Why would we be stupid enough to offer players we could get £ for away for free? IMO we can't and won't get any money for them, you realise that every month they're here being useless they cost us hundreds of thousands of pounds? Obviously if they have a real reason to believe they'll get a few million for them then fine, but if its a case of nobody being prepared to buy them then IMO Ashley would be wise to look at ways of giving the fuckers away.

Possibly, but they might be prepared to take a bit of a wage cut in order to play some games. Also for someone like Smith, who is months from being 30, it might be wise to move now and try to get a longer contract if we're looking like we don't want him. Its definitely something I'd be looking into if I was Ashley.

Well yeah of course it would if it was against their wishes. I meant offer them to clubs for free/get consent from them to be released for free. I mean surely if we offered those players for free someone would be stupid enough to take them off our hands?

I'm, sure its bollocks but I'll take any positive rumour I can find. Link?

Release Smith and Xisco, problem solved

I think they'd do a pretty good job of filling the stadium on account of the number of people who simply can't get tickets for the more desirable games. Obviously, under most circumstances they'd make more money in the CL, but the EC is not necessarily *that* far behind in potential revenue. I bet they'd get somewhere around League Cup kind if attendances, which were around 35-40k last season for Manure.

One question, does it have a stuck on felt box on the front?

I wasn't aware that the Europa League had increased the prize money over the Uefa cup, that's interesting. But TV money is still going to be one of, it not the biggest, factors. Per match prize money, as you say, would be lower, TV money would be lower and crowds would be lower (those prawn sandwich eaters aren't going to turn up for the Europa League, leaving only the 35-40,000 true fans buying tickets). I just don't believe Manure would make more money from being in the Europa League then in the Champions League. It might be different for a club that can't get past the group stages of the Champs League but can get far in the Europa League, I wouldn't say either way unless I saw more evidence, but not for a team that consistently reaches the later stages of the competition.

Actually, that's likely wrong. There are more games in the Europa League, and in Man Utd's case, the additional gate receipts would likely outweigh the higher prize money. You must be joking, a few extra games isn't going to make up for Champions League prize/TV money. Not to mention I seriously doubt they'd regularly fill their stadium for Europa League games.

Exactly. What is everyone expecting? We arnt a powerhouse club striving for top 4 and champions league anymore. We are going to be in a relegation battle and with this no capital outlay crap, we are in no position to sign top class players. I dont expect us to get any strikers far better than Lovenkrands, IF we do get another striker in im expecting him to be on par with Lovenkrands or slightly better. Its not as if we'd need to go for a top class player to get someone a lot better then Peter Lovenkrands. But sadly I agree that we probably won't be signing anyone much better.

I assume you mean at the moment considering our current financial contraints, in which case you might be right. IMO Lovenkrands is a below average Premiership striker, having said that if he's up for it and raring to prove himself he could do ok. I'd still be disapointed if the transfer window closes and he's one of our first choice front two though.

Lovenkrands is quicker off the mark, Gutierrez and Enrique are faster once they hit top speed IMO. Half his games on the left wing? Bollocks. You realise he means season 2008-2009 don't you?

I doubt he meant to include the Spuds in that line otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned them in the line below. I'm wondering just how much we're still paying each year for past transfers. When you look at our outgoings from the last couple of financial reports its something like £72m on wages and £50m other costs, despite breaking even those years on transfer dealings. £50m + wages is a pretty massive running cost even for a Premiership club.

We should definitely be looking to remove and replace more of the big earners, for instance Smith, Nolan, Barton, Coloccini and Xisco. We're paying roughly £15m+ a year to those five, two of them aren't anywhere near Premiership quality and won't be first team players, and out of the other three one is injured almost permanently. That's an average wage of almost £60k a week each, that kind of wage should only be given to quality players, not shit like Smith and Xisco or even just decent players like Nolan and Barton. neesy, just of out interest where are you getting £86k a week for Coloccini?? It just seems that his wage goes up every few months on this forum I like Coloccini, I think he can be a very good player for us even in the Premiership. But IMO we should only be paying very special players anywhere near that kind of money, even £70k is too much for him IMO.

Things were never going to improve over night just because we got back into the Premiership. Also how is it clear that any signings will be last minute?

Media talk does not equal a signing though does it. I mean we're closing in on the likes of Onuoha if the papers are to be believed.. But until either club actually signs a player both are standing still.

They already try to do that at every opportunity.

He wasn't talking about how well players from Scotland adapt when transfering to the Premiership, he was talking about the current quality of Celtic and Rangers and how well they'd do if they were in the Premiership.

Fantastic

lol most of the Premier League are better than Celtic I hope that's sarcasm. You think Celtic would be one of the top teams in the Premiership?

Better than I thought

What's his record last season?

Yeah you probably only have to add another zero on to get Xisco's record last season.

Nicky Butt MkII.