Rich

There must be some sort of unwritten rule, people have been banging on about it for years now!

Birmingham eh? Bit of a dodgy one, but can't complain too much. Mystic meg says tight win.

Keegan was a trophy signing. Big player, past his best, designed to make the fans think you are a big club, when you are in the 2nd division and have no intention of living up to your potential. However, a premiership club playing in europe don't make trophy signings, they make quality signings designed to go higher and win the trophies. These are players that the clubs above you want, because its the only way you will catch them and beat them. Understand ? Was Owen a trophy signing? A quality signing. Were Gazza, Waddle and Beardsley trophy signings by Spurs and Liverpool ? As you are against signing big money players, you should be happy we bought Carr instead of Miguel. So I hope in future you will praise the board for not making big money "trophy" signings, as you call them. Why don't you answer questions ie the league positions that have been posted, and stick to the points discussed At an absolutely critical time in our history (Shearer retiring and a replacement being needed) how can you possibly justify £17m for 11 games and 7 goals in the period of almost 17 months a "quality" signing? In theory perhaps, but not so in practice. To me it qualifies as a "trophy signing" because he was bought for his name value, whether he'd ever be fit seemed to be a complete afterthought (and he certainly had a dodgy record when it comes to injury.) Before you start with "Owen kept us up last season", which he certainly did help to do when he was fit, I can't help but feel that the chances of avoiding relegation, or finishing 7th, would have been equal (if not greater) with a player like Anelka coming in to play the vast majority of games - with the other £9m or so being used to strengthen other desperate areas of the squad. Like everything it's open to debate, and I agree with some of your points, I can't agree with this particular comment though.

Porto for Seitaridis, and the situation with us was a complete farce IIRC.

Spurs and Everton mainly.

£7m?! Who are they kidding? I'd be f*ckin livid, we sold that bag of sh*te Jenas for more and if the spuds can get £18m for Carrick I'd want considerably more than £7m for Zoggy! :wullie: 7m will be a good deal if that contract - ie. the one currently on the table - does remain unsigned. I'd say cash-in now, if we do face the prospect of losing him on a Bosman next Summer. I have to say i'm disappointed with Roeder's handling of N'Zogbia this season, purely because i felt that Roeder has underutilised Duff's versatility by not taking advantage of the said player's ability to slot in at either RW or upfront. Martins and Duff, as a forward pairing, would've provided a dual-counterattacking threat making us more effective as a hit&run team away from home, and more capable of building on a 1 goal lead at home. Zoggy's progress, his development, has stagnated as a result. I'd say he's gone backwards rather than just stagnated and while the media has blamed external reasons for it, perhaps it's because Roeder is moulding N'Zogbia in the wrong way? He certainly doesn't have the same self-belief as he did last season and his end product has been shocking - while last term he scored a few goals, got a good number of direct assists and generally was involved in a hell of a lot of our best moments via his direct running/good crossing. I can't help but feel he's suffering because he's not really being allowed to play "his way" anymore and might be being made to be more of a team player - God forbid anyone has flair players anymore, it seems people believe that to be successful everyone must be geared towards teamwork rather than just going out to "play", but right now I reckon we'd benefit more from last season's more unpredictable/exciting N'Zogbia. Is it really such an issue if he loses the ball a few times in the opponent's third if his unrelenting running earns us a goal or two? N'Zogbia is quite probably the player with the most flair in the squad and the most ability to change a game in a moment, much like Robert was when Souness was here (and we all know what happened there), I just hope the outcome isn't the same and that Charlie's problems are simply "second season blues" or short-term because of Boumsong/Duff/Faye.

Bramble's right-footed naturally but he's got a fairly good left peg as well, Ramage is definitely a righty too but has been doing extensive work with his left to the point where improvement can be seen (still just his glorified swinger). As for whoever asked about Given just "doing it", he's regularly used his left foot for a long time now from open play, I'm sure I remember him saying once he was practicing being two-footed in order to deal with back-passes better. I got the impression Shay was giving it a whirl tonight because it wasn't such an important game - to practice it in a real match - but he might have thought it a better bet than his right after his God-awful kicking against Portsmouth.

The "Jocks" who are involved in Europe are Celtic in the Champions League and Rangers in the Uefa who both like us have qualified and are top of their respective groups, not bad for "mickey mouse" clubs Even Scotland are top of their European group in the European Championships, Scottish football isn't as big a shambles at the moment as many on here would have you believe. Back into your hole, you skirt-wearing sissy :wink:

And another important factor people seem to miss is that we'd probably pay him a hell of a lot more as well. Still can't see it happening, could Huntelaar even partner Martins/Owen anyway? And if Owen is to ever get fit, how the bollocks can a club our size attempt to keep three £10M+ (similar-style) strikers happy?

Go here... http://img-pcdn.adtech.de/apps/336/Ad1212240St3Sz16Sq401036V0Id1/New-E-Cat-HPTO.jpg Sorry :oops: (What a shite photoshop jobby that advert is.)

Since when does he have a proposed move to Newcastle to think twice over?.. Been on the cards for weeks now.

David Kitson is also a decent striker. Of all 3 of them, Kevin Doyle is the best and perhaps is most complimental of our strikers So speaks the authority on all things football.

If Belgravia also owned the club, nothing whatsoever. As outside sponsorship, naming rights run into millions, but we'd be more likely to get a Bolton kind of amount than an Arsenal kind of amount. Understood that about Belgravia, was more thinking along the lines of Northern Rock (they'd most likely get first dibs.) £5m isn't as much as I expected and perhaps isn't a sum worthy of the proposal... unless you believe that every little helps. I'd just rather someone proper rich bought us without altering much of our tradition, ala Chelsea.

Any ideas how much stadium sponsorship brings in, anyway? In reality, how much would changing the name make us per season?

Not at all, because everyone would still call the place St. James'. Small price to pay.

If they pay his wages from January to June it would save us over/around £1.5m (if he's on between 50 and 80k a week) and then give him a stage to increase his value before a potential sale in the Summer. We're going to get nowt for him at the current time so it might make sense to try and put him in the shop window, while saving money in the process. Surely a loan couldn't decrease his value further... or further reduce the number of clubs who are interested in him for a fee, so it might be the best option available. It has got to be better than him playing the odd reserve game and making the odd first team appearance for us.

Sarnie, that lass in the Toon top in your avatar is Alex off that Beauty & the Geek thingy, innit? PHWOARRRRRRRR!!! As for Nobby, he is mint, that video is class.

Probably one of about fifty decisions of a similar nature during that period in MUFC's history... though there'd undoubtedly be a lot of people who would say the same about us. David Ellery definitely loved them, though.

Emre's suspended, unfortunately. :wullie: And the vast majority of those "offensive" players selected take about one chance in every 5 that comes their way... they cannot hit a cow's backside with a banjo is basically the idea I'm trying to get across. It would be novel - could be the highest scoring Premiership game ever if we went in with a team like that.

Aye, and surely even if VP played right playing a right-footer against a left-footer playing there would be good sense an' all, rather than the other way around!? 4-5-1 is a certainty, pace up front and on the flanks will be vital. Dyer - Parker - Butt - Emre - N'Zogbia would have been my preferred midfield, but I suppose you can move the Zog inside and stick Duff on the left flank, if Parker doesn't make it then you move Dyer inside and stick Nobby on the right flank. So either: Dyer - Parker - Butt - N'Zogbia - Duff or Solano - Dyer - Butt - N'Zogbia - Duff for the midfield. Defence, again if all fit, would have been for me: Taylor - Bramble - Moore - Ramage, simply for the extra height it would give us for set-plays both in an attacking and defensive sense, pace would be a worry though. No idea what the defence is going to be with the mooted injuries. Given in goal and Martins up front, if possible. PS: I seem to have forgotten that James Milner exists.

We played a lot of long balls under Robson, thing was that we actually had Shearer to win the lion's share of them and Bellamy to chase the knock-downs so it was a tactic that was actually exciting to watch.

N'Zogbia, only player we have capable of bringing the crowd up by simply winning/receiving the ball.

Just been on Revista de la Liga (sky sports) with Guillem Balague about this, here's what he said... - There is a 5 million Euros offer on the table from Newcastle for Navarro right now (£3.5m-ish). - While Valencia have injuries he may get more game time, so that might keep him there. - The money being offered to him by NUFC far, far outstrips what he's getting at Valencia and he would "jump" at the move from a purely financial perspective. - However, there are players dissuading Navarro from moving here and he himself "knows little" about the Toon, people are telling him Newcastle is a very difficult place to play and would be a bad move. (Luque?) Basically, if Balague is correct then it looks like another instance where the player only comes for the pay if indeed he does come at all. I know nothing much about him myself, but there's not much shame in being a squad player in a team as good as Valencia. Bit of a gamble though, surely?

Totally undermines the manager, and from someone who was sat in Mallorca at the weekend while the players played their second game in 48 hours at his behest, it totally takes the piss. Spot on, but unfortunately all the ingrates will see is the fatman riding in to save the day on his trusty (giant) steed. Like the clowns at the match having a go at the people chanting against Shepherd. SEE MAN! HE DUZ FKN CARE LYK!

So THAT's the reason he's went downhill. Of course! Nowt to do with him being shunted between team and bench, flitting between positions in a God-awful team and seeing an underperforming Irishman taking away his first-team slot mind. If Boumsong was still here he would be MINT.