Rich

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?

Actually, thinking about it, the joke works either way. Since '73 just means that Mackems all have kids when they're 11. Even more accurate, in fact. It stands either way.

I'm fully aware of the fact that they've won stuff more recently than us, I never fucking hear the end of it man!

Apart from '73 you mean? No no. Thanks for ruining the attempted joke though, you mong. It was a daft insinuation that Mackems all have kids when they're 12... so if we were Sunderland then it would be THREE generations of our support since '69, not just TWO.

So two generations of our support have never seen a trophy, then. Very depressing fact. Could be worse though... could be 3 generations if we were Sunderland.

1. Someone to replace Viduka... Kenwyne Jones. 2. Stick with Owen, if he goes then Beye would be my pick. He's handsome, articulate, built like a brick shithouse... I could go on... 3. Martins 4. Still think Edgar is the best of the Academy graduates. 5. Faye 6. 4-3-3 7. Smith, Rozehnal, Ameobi - none of these need explaining - all too far gone. 8. 6th

Those are fucking mint. Grant steals the show in the second one too.

He'll be very good for them if it's true. They're building quite a team, unfortunately.

What you studying mate? British Politics and Legislative Studies. Nice! Hope it goes well. Might see you about.

No. Seconded. Joaquin has looked overweight to me when I've seen him recently, he's been pretty appalling for Valencia on the whole. Bet he'd want massive money as well.

I had a bunch of Cockneys (Arsenal/Liverpool fans) at Uni telling me Beye was shit and that Taylor was our best defender on the last day. They hadn't heard of Faye or Enrique... You have to laugh.

That's about as realistic as it gets, like.

Turned down for Wycombe! FFS Ashley/Mort/Llambias/Wise/Vetere/Jimenez!!! (Money, Money, yeah, yeah...)

He's on holiday I think. All the stories recently have been by Lee Ryder. Chronicle is like a three-legged dog without AO man!