Mowen

<snipped before to not create a huge pyramid> They have backed their manager I agree, but personally I'd be gutted if we'd spent that much on AJ. However if the rumoured fee for Coloccini is true (£10.3m I read...could vary elsewhere) he'd be our 4th most expensive signing ever by my reckoning, seems like a decent effort. If we get him in we'll be a class CM and a good 4th choice striker (better than Smith or Shola) away from looking very decent imo. edit: put in NE5's quote just so it was clear what I was replying to.

Read Coxaux's post and compare it to the article above. I can guarantee you'll chuckle. Can't actually answer your question though.

Well, the go ahead progressive club Everton, with a good board and a progressive manager, are about to replace him with 2m quid or so Alan Smith ? mackems.gif "good business" AJ went for stupid money imo, wouldn't pay more than about £4m for him. That sale was a great bit of business for Everton, but if they replace him with Smithy then they've fucked up as far as I'm concerned. thats your opinion. Its not the opinion of Roy Hodsgon. Thats the point, and the club have backed their manager to get a player he wants Replacing him with a player for that amount of money, well, some people have wished we were like Everton [fukc knows why] but they may be about to have their wish. Time will tell. It is my opinion, I agree, but I'm not sure that is the point, given that we didn't want him. It's probablyt a good signing for Fulham though, given that I didn't expect them to sign a player of his stature. In the very recent past I can see why people would have wanted us to be like Everton (purely because they've been much better than us for the last two years) but this transfer window we seem to have been more ambitious than them and improved the squad more (disclaimer: this assumes the transfer of Coloccini goes through).

They're both average, both no better than Barton either. Barton is a psychopath with a current market value of 0, though, that's the problem, regardless of how good a footballer he is (or was, at least). Last summer, NRC, Sidwell and Barton were the three English midfielders on the move, and of those three, Barton must be the worst signing of the three, surely? As for taking Coloccini, he doesn't play for you yet, does he? Would I take Martins? I think he's a good player, but would I replace a striker we have already with him? I'm not too sure. Possibly, I'd give you that. Owen I wouldn't take, no. Not because he's not a good player - he is - but because he's a huge injury risk and would cost a fortune in wages. Put it like this. I can think of lots more Portsmouth, Everton and Spurs players I'd take than Newcastle players right now. That's not me on a wind up or owt (I;'d like to think you'd take my word on that), just honest opinion. I'd agree at the moment. We've potentially got a good team imo (perennial optimist) but a lot of that relies on Keegan getting us to work together as we did towards the end of last season. We still could do with a class CM and a 4th choice striker who's noticably better than Smudger or Shola before I could really start to get excited though.

Best starting XI still goes to Everton to me. Fantastic defence, two of the best midfielders in the prem in Cahill and Arteta, and I really rate the Yak. Spurs are far too lightweight for me, still, but a couple of good signings could leave them with an excellent first team.

Well, the go ahead progressive club Everton, with a good board and a progressive manager, are about to replace him with 2m quid or so Alan Smith ? mackems.gif "good business" AJ went for stupid money imo, wouldn't pay more than about £4m for him. That sale was a great bit of business for Everton, but if they replace him with Smithy then they've fucked up as far as I'm concerned.

BBC Sport are reporting that Chelsea have made a £19.7m bid for Robinho.

Hello? Newsflash. Nicko doesn't get stuff wrong.

I'm amazed no-one has mentioned Keith fucking Curle yet. Absolute prick against us in the past, had run ins with both Cole and Tino.

So saddening. I can't imagine anyone ever having a bad word to say about him. Has anyone got the photo of him the day he took us to Wembley? One of my favourite all time photos, never seen a man look so proud.

Looks a good bit of business at that price. Him and Guthrie for under £5m (or one Fabrice Muamba, much less than Zamora + Pantsil) is excellent work indeed.

I'd say Barry is your best player in the same way that Owen is our best player, Ashton is West Ham's, Downing is Middlesboro's etc. as in they're the highest profile player at the club because they've played for England the most, and are rated highest in the eyes of other fans. Actually being the best doesn't necessarily come in to it.

Is there any idea of how much roughly we did spend on him? I was on holiday when the deal went through, and I'm not reading 40 odd pages.

Disagree on Pompey, I think Crouch will do well for them, but they've lost their best midfielder.

Any news or ideas on why N'Zog might be absent?

So am I. I could do with him being unveiled just to rid me of this blind optimism tbh!

Honestly, if I had to kiss a man, and I mean HAD to kiss him, well, we'll see. Ménage à trois? Whatever would make him happy.

Maybe you should. Then we'd both have had good summers, and everyone would be a winner!

I've had this to say about Habib in the past, and I stand by it: Honestly, if I had to kiss a man, and I mean HAD to kiss him, well, we'll see.

Can't Bassong play left back?

I agree with both of those, especially Malbranque. Good player and will be a good signing for them, I fear.

Yours look horrid atm. Captain going, signed 2 yank GK's & picked up ginger cockney. I'm happy with the keepers, very. And Sidwell. The problem is that we still need another 5 or 6 decent players to stand still, and it just isn't happening. We've got 2 fit defenders at the club, and one of those is Zat Knight. And Stephen Carr is still unattached. Fuck Barry, the sooner the fat arsed cunt gets out of the club, the better. In fantasy football Villa's squad does look a bit worrying like, in some games they only have about 3 defenders listed. Total num defenders at club = 4. Num CBs fit = 2 Num CBs fit and NOT Zat Knight = 1 Num CBs on way back from long term injury = 1 Num FBs at club (excluding kids) = 1 Num FBs at club who have both feet currently pointing the right way = 0 Shorey is apparently coming, which is a decent LB signing, but we need a RB and we need him NOW. Which CB is unfit? If it's Davies, he's in my fantasy team.... don't suppose you know how long he'll be out for?

Zuberbuhler's own goal against England in Euro 2004 was class. Did it hit the post and come back off his head and go in? Also (and I'm pretty sure I must be remembering this wrongly) wasn't he about 36 in Euro 2004?