wspence_uk

Cant say I expected a big spend from us, but a lot of clubs in this league have taken advantage of the pandemic and the ease of which the Premier League clubs have been able to do deals since lots of the other European teams have tightened the belt. Arguably the talent level across all squads is at an all time high and we may have missed a decent opportunity to buy 2/3 really talented younger player like Wolves and Leicester have.

The problem is, at this basket case of a club hes held to a different standard than other managers, at the other 19 Premier League clubs some of the performances over the past 12 months would be completely unacceptable and warrant the sack, it feels like he can perform to such a low standard and only feel pressure from the fans, even the press up here seem to give him a much easier time than he warrants.

Its nothing short of negligence that we don't even seem to be looking to strengthen certain areas today, nearly every other club in the league are buzzing with activity and we are still peddling the line about how we did our business in January (after we had failed to strengthen in last years summer window). As much as I think we have a decent squad and our main issue is actually the manager and how is using the players - there's no doubt we need a striker and have done since January, a winger would be a bonus but that depends how we are going to set up with Remy in the team. The fact Shola Ameobi is currently a starter speaks volumes and bodes badly for the rest of the season or at least until January.

I know this is us we are talking about, but do clubs bid these days without first having got the go-ahead from the agent or player? of course we could be used like the Rooney situation to smoke out other bids, but you would assume we have had some positive feedback causing us to make the offer.

What guides you to that things will improve considering its getting worse not better? Come on, all teams go through bad spells in a season. Granted we are playing poorly but with a squad as piss thin as ours just one injury to one of our better players is major, but with Colo, HBA and Cabaye out we are as average as most teams in the league. Add that with others badly out of form and you get performances like the last few weeks. Sacking the manager is not the answer - Better summer recruitment was.

I mean, this thread is madness. right? Nowhere near as good as last season, but also nowhere near as bad as being portrayed on here. We are having a very poor spell right now, but it WILL turn around.

If I didn't know any better its almost like we purposely wasted a load of time on deals we knew wouldn't come off. Like I say, IF I didn't know any better that is.

So Carroll was the "look we are trying to sign somebody" of this window eh. Done a day early too, Mike's chopper pilot can have the day off tomorrow.

We got relegated cos we were a big shite trainwreck of a club, given or lev yashin in goal - we were going down. Good luck to the guy, saved our asses on many a day. Best keeper i have seen at the club by far.

Seems like it still aint sunk if with a few on here that we are a Championship club, sure we are a big fish in a little pond. Still gotta cut your cloth accordingly. This is the shrewdest transfer window ive seen us take part in for a while. Young, Hungry players who WANT to play for this club. Best is highly rated, and by all accounts its been a matter of him putting it all together over the past few years and he is doing that this season. If it dont work out i am pretty sure we could get out money back on him. So heads out of arse's please, its another body on board to push the strikers for a place, now we just need that creative mid and this is as good a transfer window we could have hoped for imo.

Say it is fact that we have no relegation clauses, did this translate onto the pitch with the pathetic final day performance/nail in coffin? Sure they are poor players, but if faced with the possibility of picking up 50% less pay next month - maybe would have eeked out an extra sense of urgency? I just get the feeling that with the ammount of mercenaries we had on the pitch, Money talks. Hopefully if and when we do come back it is as a leaner and more forward looking club

Time for a few so called senior players to stop the talking and start playing, shudnt matter who the manager or owner is - HAVE SOME PRIDE IN YOUR PERFORMANCE FOR GODS SAKE! Its sickening that our recent form is being blamed on the current state of the club. Players have a lot to answer for even with injuries and thin squad, the 11 on the pitch are cheating us at the minute

Have we not been living beyond our means in recent years? Its not how much you spend, its how well you spend it. had we got 1 or 2 more squad players in i think we had a really good window, as is we had a good one. If we belive what we read we are still paying £20+ million in payments from players we have bought over the last few years. I love Keegan, but if it was found out to be true he wanted to buy Beckham, Henry, Lampard etc i would think we are better off without him. We need to look forward not be buying players over 30 on 100K a week

Its classic Keegan, he's acted with dignity so far with who knows what going on behind the scenes. He's the type of guy after making assurances to the fans over transfers and the Milner deal that when things didnt work out he will take the ultimate decision. However - he knows exactly how popular he is, and if things dont go how he wants, the threat of him leaving is his greatest weapon the current board maybe didnt realise till today. They do now, and if he does stay as manager, he will have a stronger hand than ever before, its maybe exactly what Ashley etc need to get them all pulling in the same direction

Did Keegan leave? They dont say hes still the manager do they?

Zidane?

Sorry, but all of that is absolute nonsense. No, that is an opinion

No it isn't. The entire article can be shot-down on the virtue of the sentence "to allow Milner to leave seems illogical" - - the only thing that would be illogical would be to reject a £12 million bid for him. In fact, no, that wouldn't be illogical, it would be utterly ridiculous. Think they mean in the contex of the boards plan of bring young players through, rather than the players who come here for the cash, Here is a regular in the under-21's, vice captain no-less, maybe our hardest worker and one of our more dignifyed players allowed to leave when an accepteble bid is made. The next time we get an "accepatble bid" for one of our promising players - same again? I'm not saying I agree, but they have a point I'm aware of the context. However, there's a difference between an "acceptable" bid and an "unrejectable" bid. Villa's bid for Milner fits into the latter category. Really? even at a time when we are struggling for players, he was our best player in the last match we played and the boards plan is to go with the young players? As much as its really good deal, i just think its sends out all the wrong signals - Work your ass off, we will pay the bigger names who dont do half as much - twice what you earn, then when a team notice's your hard work we will sell you, and then gamble on a player to replace you. Like i say, I still cant decide who got the best deal - Us or Villa, sure we have £12M in the bank but they have a young english player that will only improve. I am braceing myself for this one to come back and haunt us, O'neill is a shrewd as they come, and milner will thrive under him And when was the last match before that where he was our best player, or even in the top three? I am talking about the here and now, its early in the season - he might have gone from strength to strength after that, now he takes that confidence and momentum to Villa, ive always thought he was a player with good atributtes, just needs it all to come together. I just hope we do have "irons in the fire" because if the deadline passes and the 12M was untouched due to deals breaking down - Like I said, it sends out all the wrong signals

No it isn't. The entire article can be shot-down on the virtue of the sentence "to allow Milner to leave seems illogical" - - the only thing that would be illogical would be to reject a £12 million bid for him. In fact, no, that wouldn't be illogical, it would be utterly ridiculous. Think they mean in the contex of the boards plan of bring young players through, rather than the players who come here for the cash, Here is a regular in the under-21's, vice captain no-less, maybe our hardest worker and one of our more dignifyed players allowed to leave when an accepteble bid is made. The next time we get an "accepatble bid" for one of our promising players - same again? I'm not saying I agree, but they have a point I'm aware of the context. However, there's a difference between an "acceptable" bid and an "unrejectable" bid. Villa's bid for Milner fits into the latter category. Really? even at a time when we are struggling for players, he was our best player in the last match we played and the boards plan is to go with the young players? As much as its really good deal, i just think its sends out all the wrong signals - Work your ass off, we will pay the bigger names who dont do half as much - twice what you earn, then when a team notice's your hard work we will sell you, and then gamble on a player to replace you. Like i say, I still cant decide who got the best deal - Us or Villa, sure we have £12M in the bank but they have a young english player that will only improve. I am braceing myself for this one to come back and haunt us, O'neill is a shrewd as they come, and milner will thrive under him

No it isn't. The entire article can be shot-down on the virtue of the sentence "to allow Milner to leave seems illogical" - - the only thing that would be illogical would be to reject a £12 million bid for him. In fact, no, that wouldn't be illogical, it would be utterly ridiculous. Think they mean in the contex of the boards plan of bring young players through, rather than the players who come here for the cash, Here is a regular in the under-21's, vice captain no-less, maybe our hardest worker and one of our more dignifyed players allowed to leave when an accepteble bid is made. The next time we get an "accepatble bid" for one of our promising players - same again? I'm not saying I agree, but they have a point

As much as its a good deal for us, half decent english players are worth a premium at the moment, with clubs pre-emting Fifa's possible 6+5 rule. If that came into being - Villa may think they got the better deal for the long term? Its no coincidence Keegan, O'neill, Moyes and Benitez seem to rate him when many fans dont

Wouldnt come here, Wouldnt want him here. Everyones a winner

No you cant, however i would have Harpers sorted before Owen for many reasons. I would like Owen signed up - but it has to be worth it to the club long term.

I think everyone would, but it's not as simple as "Hello, Michael. Here's a new deal. Sign here please." To be honest, if your boss took you into the office, said, "OK, here's the deal. We think you're great, you are captain of the club, you are back to scoring ways. The fans are right behind you. We are knocking over 10% off your wages." would you sign the contract. Aye the previous board spent silly money to get him here, but we cannot expect him to say "Aye nae bother." Offer the lad what he wants, get him signed up and bob's you're uncle. This contract malarky is rumbling on, and has been since the end of last season. We will end up losing him for nowt if we are not careful. Or we could sign a decent striker before the deadline, and play hardball with owen and his agent? How many other clubs will pay what we are for owen, and would realistically want him? Not many, if any in my opinion given his track record with injurys

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z36/almightyray/ted-dibiase01.jpg