Rich

I don't think Emre has played 75 games for us and he's been here for 3 seasons. You´re right. It was 76. Another myth disspelled.. Aye, but he didn't play an average of 25 games a season and technically Parker scored more goals than him over the two seasons he was here, so it's swings and roundabouts I'm afraid.

I think correct incentives/protection needs to be put in place to support clubs developing young English talent. Your player should have to give something back to Watford and not just a mini-transfer fee or whatever these young players attract. The developing club should have the legal framework to be able to keep the player till they are 19/20, in this way they get some service back and a more realistic fee at that age. Same happens with apprenticeships in all other lines of work an' all, doesn't it? Nature of the beast and all that, I'm afraid. I'm sorry that isn't good enough. Clubs that develop young English talent need to be incentivised and we need to find ways to do this. The way big clubs hoover up young talent from around Europe isn't helping the English game either. Watford and Palace are a case in point where they both have good histories of bringing through English players. Don't see what will be done to stop it, personally. The rich get richer and all that. Do you really think the PL clubs give a toss about their lower league counterparts?

Obviously it doesn't take into account times where he wasn't picked in the squad and was fit (has that ever happened?), but it does tell us when he was an unused substitute, which was 5 times - 1 in 06/07, 4 in 07/08.

Added goals/assists in there as well now. Obviously the data may not be 100% accurate (I'm always sceptical of sources), but Soccernet tends to be pretty accurate for this sort of thing, especially as far as Appearances go.

Emre's Appearance Statistics (All Competitions - Taken from ESPN Soccernet's "Game Log") Season 1: Starts 20, Games Completed 13, Sub Appearances 3, Total Minutes Played 1734 (19.3 games), Goals 2, Assists 4. Season 2: Starts 31, Games Completed 16, Sub Appearances 5, Total Minutes Played 2681 (29.8 games), Goals 2, Assists 3. Season 3: Starts 8, Games Completed 3, Sub Appearances 9, Total Minutes Played 754 (8.4 games), Goals 1, Assists 4. Totals: Starts 59, Games Completed 32, Sub Appearances 17, Total Minutes Played 5169 (57.4 games), Goals 5, Assists 11. Averages: Starts 19.7, Games Completed 10.7, Sub Appearances 5.7, Total Minutes Played 1723 (19.1 games), Goals 1.7, Assists 3.7. Just to clear it up once and for all.

I think correct incentives/protection needs to be put in place to support clubs developing young English talent. Your player should have to give something back to Watford and not just a mini-transfer fee or whatever these young players attract. The developing club should have the legal framework to be able to keep the player till they are 19/20, in this way they get some service back and a more realistic fee at that age. Same happens with apprenticeships in all other lines of work an' all, doesn't it? Nature of the beast and all that, I'm afraid.

So it's all transpired now that this isn't actually "official" then? That Nathan chap said his was a fansite, not the real deal. Could still go a bit Pete Tong.

TT/Unbelievable: Leave it there please fellas. You've both said your piece, you both disagree, no need for it to get personal. It's a lovely day outside by the looks of it (I've just got up like), no need for all this hostility.

A cynical person might say that his cousin has taken the fall for him... The fingerprints will disagree, though. I did consider that, but I'm sure a cynic wouldn't have...

NUFC star Joey Barton cleared of vandalising taxi May 30 2008 Evening Chronicle A cynical person might say that his cousin has taken the fall for him...

Where were all the paper reports on this one, then?

Feel quite sad that he's gone, simply because I liked him as a player. All those who have summed it up nicely already are right though - he's injured far too much for me to be adequately upset by his loss. Good luck to him, have no hard feelings for him at all.

Heneage, I mentioned the Euro thing in my post.

How man, not like that man!

It's right though, a lot of people involved in the game will be away for the next couple of weeks. Things will start kicking off towards mid-June, like they always do, obviously this summer that will mainly be with players who aren't in Austria/Switzerland for the Euro's! Wish I was on holiday again now like last year, it made things a lot more bearable. Seeing Alan Smith in the flesh only enhanced things too!! I got back and we had a new board, a new manager and we'd signed two players!

Spurs seem to manage to pull in the players as well, but i really didn't want to mention them. They've only signed Modric (who we were in for) and Bostock, haven't they?

Also will add that if it gets to September 1st and we find ourselves in another Sibierski/Rossi scenario then I'll be pissing and moaning as much as anybody. I don't think it's asking too much to say "can we please wait and see over the next 3 months?", and it's not like it changes anything whether people complain about it or not! I'm worried that we didn't get Modric, I'll not be pleased if we were actually in for Dunne and we've missed out on him as well, but I'll still be willing to see what our other options are before castigating anyone.

By the way, how many other clubs have made signings so far? About half a dozen? And it's not like there've been many moves that we could/should have been looking to make ourselves/had a chance of doing, bar Modric. Nobody disagrees that it isn't ideal to sign players well before the season starts, but unfortunately like everything else in the world, things very rarely are ideal.

Dave: I like the last line best, personally, when he believes that the WHOLE club are off on holiday. I'm sure Llambias was just at the training ground on Tuesday for that Barry Moat investment thing. Bit of a shite holiday.

By the way, I'd rather "bury my head in the sand" than wind everyone else on the board up by pissing and moaning in May that the club haven't made any signings yet.

We signed 9 players between June and September last season, after we'd been through a boardroom change and a managerial change, and as I recall people were mostly happy with what we had managed to do. It's still May now, there's the EURO 2008 tournament on the horizon, we've made at least one bid for Modric and other rumoured offers for the likes of Veloso, Moutinho, Gomis and now Diane, while we were actively scouting around Europe towards the back end of the season. I'm sure there is a shitload of stuff going on behind the scenes as they try and get a hold of their targets, it'll not be like they're all sitting around smoking pipes with their phones off man.

We hadn't signed anyone at this point last summer, had we?

Not knocking the player, questioning the ambition of the club. Do you honestly think this is a player who will be challenging Owen or Martin's place in the 1st team? How can anyone answer that until we've seen him play?

Replaced by the man who took Helmond Sport to 7th in the Dutch 2nd division.................. A resounding improvement, then!

You'll delete the posts and replies tonight when it's quiet. Clutching at straws now Mick. Past your bedtime?