chicago_shearer

fucking bastard

Ah, sorry. Didn't read it close enough.

Well it did say on the official site that they'd only had an offer accepted....still hope that we could do the same. Although I really couldn't see Spurs putting on their site if Modric hadn't already agreed terms.

Maybe he can score their obligatory consolation next time we embarrass them.

Oh well. If it is true, better it happened in April than August. Plenty of time to work on other targets.

Ideally, I'd like to see a return to the maroon/blue hoops next year. Second choice would be some updated version of the yellow or blue retro kits.

Best effort I've seen from adidas is this one: http://www.subsidesports.com/uk/images/product/xlarge/DjurgardenHSS0809.jpg Hope we don't end up with the Chelsea design.

Guardian isn't it?

f*** em. Seriously, f*** them. Oh good, something else for them to whinge about

I reckon it will be a very quiet summer for everyone in the league actually. Even the billionaires that own most Premiership clubs will be more reluctant to spend if the economy keeps slowing. Besides being a poor financial decision, if we end up spending 40, 50, 60 million or more then I'll seriously wonder what the Wise, Vetere & Jimenez team were brought in to do. If we are spending anywhere near the amount some people think then it will inevitably mean that we are buying FM style from established talent and not rising stars.

Celebration time.

I love Habib Beye. Amazing player.

Reid you fat mackem cunt.

What a fucking ball that was for Martins ....and Jones almost scores. Great save Harper.

You could justify paying him less one of two ways. You either say to his agent "sorry, but Owens a bit past it/not worth it" to which his agent laughs and walks out the room, immediately phoning one of the other billionaires who own a mid table club to offer his client's services. The second option is to explain that the club's performances haven't been good enough to justify the same deal, and that you are asking him to take a 5%, 10% etc wage cut. Owen's agent should then ask if we are reorganizing the wage structure for the other big earners at the club and if that is not the case then he will explain to his client that he is being personally punished/scapegoated for the club's underachievement. Unless the club is really still in a dire financial situation, I don't see any way that you offer a 28 year old England international striker, the captain & top scorer of the club, worse terms unless you want to force him out.

True, but start paying bottom half wages and you'll end up with bottom half players. Big money is one of things that keeps the club able to attract better players than our league finishes should merit. That said, Owen is a good player and I want us to keep him, but I wouldn't be paying much more than he's already on. I can't see why he'd want more money anyway. How can you spend all that?

Are there really any 21 or 22 year old central defenders that are any good? Or that you would have playing regularly in the Premiership? At a minimum, they should have been kept in the reserves or out on loan for 3 or 4 years time. Both are now in the difficult position of thinking they are "it" well before their prime, and probably won't accept a step back down. I can understand how it happened at Newcastle because of 1) injuries and 2) a complete lack of any sort of forward thinking or planning under previous management. But how exactly did a 22 year old defender become a regular at Arsenal? What was Wenger thinking?

Disagree with that like, Milner is ace! I'd start both somehow. Not sure how though, thats why I'm not manager I suppose I've got nothing against Milner (at least his attitude is better than Zoggy), but why would you want him back in a winning team? He's as average as they come. If there's an injury then fair enough. But we really don't need to be bending over backwards to fit in a player as underwhelming as Milner.

I feel the same. Every year there's this talk about which 1 team will "break" the top 4, but what I'd really like to see one year is a run in like they are having in the Championship with 9 teams within 10 points of first place.

I'd be disappointed to hand the title to them, but not enough to regret winning. If it hands them the title, so be it. I hate Man United a lot more than Chelsea and I'd love to see Cristiano Ronaldo blubbing if they lost the title on the last day, but our side comes first whether the fixture is meaningless for our season or not.

Not that I'd be opposed to signing Henry, Deco and all these other big names but I'd be perfectly happy to give the new scouting/recruitment a chance to earn their money and find some new, younger talent who would be excited to play for a big Premiership club. Discovering the next Henry should be our objective in my opinion. This club has more prestige than any outside the top 4, has excellent facilities, spends good money on its players and is very well supported. There's no reason we can't be the ones producing the next big thing instead of the ones paying 20 mil for him when he turns 30. Unless you have Roman Abramovich, that's how titles & trophies are eventually won.

Would sell a lot of shirts and keep the club's name among the elite during another season out of major European competition. Excellent business decision. Don't know how motivated he would be to play for a mid-table English side however. Would be a bad career move for him.

http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/owen%20viduka.jpg Hi-Res of Owen & Viduka, no watermark.

Keegan is God.

After all this optimism and expectation, a bore draw would just be classic Newcastle. Build you up and let you down. But realistically, I think we should carry the momentum forward and win this easily. I'll say 2-0 - Owen & Beye.