Cronky

Yeah, really we've got no choice, at least in the longer term. Same side, same issues. We're not good at playing it through the midfield, and we're reliant on flashes of individual class.

'It is a big ask but if all of these things come off they could be good enough.' Now that's sticking your neck out.

One good thing about a perceived lack of squad depth is that it gives the youngsters the chance to shine (or more accurately, to develop into fully fledged Premiership standard footballers) when a few first teamers are injured. I think it's often all too easy to moan about a lack of squad depth and overlook a supposedly limited youngster as a backup option, forgetting that sometimes an average youngster doing nothing noteworthy in the reserves can turn into a good player if put into the right team at the right time for a long enough period. Carroll (post relegation exodus + nil spending during the summer of 2009), Krul (departure of Given + lengthy injury to Harper), N'Zogbia (ousting of Robert + no replacement), S.Taylor (injuries to first team fullbacks + centrebacks iirc) are prime examples of players developing at a very fast rate primarily due to being thrown in at the deep end, as opposed to developing slowly and only being used regularly once they were "ready". Yeah, good point. Pitching in youngsters can be frustrating when they struggle, but we have to bear in mind that it's all part of the process of improving in the long-term. Sammy and Shane are raw but can cope with the first team. Pardew should look for opportunities to play them. I'm intrigued to see this Campbell lad. He could also come into the same category. This may come back to haunt me, but I don't think Tavernier will make the grade at this level. Not as a defender.

Look, I didn't make these comments because I'm desperate for Anita to sign. Nor do I think that his comments will necessarily sabotage the deal. However, I don't think it's appropriate for a player's father to be blabbing to the media about what's going on in this situation. If I had a son who was a professional footballer, I would not be revealing inside information like that.

Meet them half way, 500k The rumour is that the club doesn't want to budge because they thought they had an agreement with Lille, only for them to demand more.

This is one of the reasons I tend to avoid the Football forum as much as I can during the summer, people just turn mental. Overthinking transfer speculation will be the death of your sanity, go to the bathroom mirror, take a few deep breaths and have a word with yourself Are you sure it's not you that needs to lie down for a while? It was just a simple query about why the lad's father is apparently acting as a spokesman. Nothing to get worked up about.

especially when he seems more concerned about the football than the millions. the t*** eh ? Exactly the lack of transfer activity has made some people on here go completely nuts and jump to conclusions. Sorry if there's been some confusion. I earlier posted 'Involvement of player's Dad = problem IMO', and I assumed that the above were responses. I'm not sure what involvement his father has. As I said, I don't think having family as your agent is a good idea. If his Dad isn't professional involved, I can't see why he's piping up.

If his Dad is his agent, that raises issues with professional boundaries and competence. If he's not his agent, what is he doing talking to the media about his son's future? He should be passing queries on to his son.

Involvement of player's Dad = problem IMO.

Rodwell is at a point when he needs to be playing regular first-team football. No matter how big a club he's signed for, if he's on the bench it's a step backwards. De Jong, Barry, Milner and Yaya Toure all beat him on experience. Man City have no record of developing young players - it's all about the here and now, and the first team with them. Presumably money has talked here.

That's interesting. There was a report in the paper over the weekend about which clubs had bought which players, and the lack of movement in the market was striking. The only ones who had pushed the boat out were Chelsea, QPR and Liverpool, who have been prone to over-spending anyway. I wonder if FFP has become a reality in most clubs' minds, and they're having a rethink on transfer fees and wages. In that environment, it's important that you don't have clubs breaking ranks and upsetting the market by continuing to over-spend. There was a report a few days ago about Premiership clubs considering their own FFP regulations. It could be to make sure that they're all playing by the same rules, because it would only take one or two clubs to mess things up for everyone.

Premiership Winners: Man Utd Runners Up: Man City 3rd-6th: Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle, Liverpool Relegation: Reading, Swansea, Southampton Overachievers: Aston Villa Underperformers: Spurs Top Goal Scorer: Aguero Break Out Year: Ross Barkley Season to Forget: Sigurdsson PFA Player of the Year: Rooney PFA Young Player of the Year: Oxlade-Chamberlain Manager of the Year: Sir Alex First manager to quite/be sacked/'mutual consent': Villas-Boas Newcastle United Where will we finish?: 5th Top Goalscorer?: Cisse How will we do in the cup competitions?: QF League Cup and FA Cup Domestic Championship Promotion: Cardiff, Bolton, Boro Championship Relegation: Barnsley, Peterborough, Huddersfield League One Promotion: League One Relegation: League Two Promotion: League Two Relegation: FA Cup: Man City League Cup: Arsenal Johnstone's Paint Trophy: Europe La Liga winner: Real Madrid Serie A winner: Bundesliga winner: Champions League winner: Real Madrid Europa League winner: Newcastle (Yey!) World Player of the Year: Iniesta Other Will Stewart Downing finally get a league assist/goal for Liverplol? Yes Will Fernando Torres score 15+ goals? Yes How many points will Rangers win Scots Div 3 by? 7 On what date will Fat Sam get that top job he deserves? Tiote or Cattermole? Mario Balotelli - what insane stuff will he do? Punch a reporter

Isn't this just a smart business move by a man who's built his fortune on smart business moves? We need to get out of the mentality that anything that's good for Ashley has to be bad for us.

... is good news.

Interesting. His whole career has been blighted by a struggle for fitness, so I hope he gets the chance to really give of his best in his final seasons.

The main problem is that UEFA have destroyed the credibility of the regulations by saying that providing a club is on the right lines or appears to be trying to get spending under control, then they might not face a sanction, even if technically they are in breach. Regulations that would be difficult to enforce then become impossible. Clubs can then say that if one club has been granted some leniency, the same should apply all around. The lawyers would demolish any decision that came to Court. UEFA are effectively putting themselves in the position of advisers rather than enforcers. TBH, European institutions seem to have a habit of putting out regulations that they then don’t bother to enforce. Hence the mess that is the Euro. You can’t have a situation where some clubs are taking the regs seriously while the richer ones, with legal and financial muscle, decide they don’t need to. That will only widen the gap between rich and poor, and is worse than no regulation at all. It really is vital that the Premiership tries to take a stand here.

It's not been widely reported, but there was an article in the Times, saying that the Premier League are thinking of bringing in their own Financial Fair Play rules, seeing that so many clubs seem to be ignoring the UEFA rules, which look quite toothless. Platini's enthusiasm for FFP seems to have declined following the takeover of PSG by the Qataris - a step that also seemed to coincide with his voting for Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, despite his belief that the timing needed to be changed to the winter. From the point of view of our club's future prospects, it's vital that some kind of financial control is exercised by the powers that be. Let's hope this story has some substance.

He has a history of buying well-known companies at a cheap price when they've fallen on hard times. (eg Slazenger, Lonsdale)

His close control and passing looks brilliant. I'm concerned that he might get bullied out of games in the Premiership, but there's only one way to find out.

Nah it's not risky. He's looked exceptional to me. Anyone that young is a risk, but he looks a risk worth taking.

Sturridge isn't as good a player as he thinks, and he was trying to be a smartass with that penalty.

I'm scottish Cronky, but even I know the welsh can't play for england! Bloody hell, and I worded it so carefully. 'Similar set-up' doesn't mean 'same players.' I meant an energetic midfield three who were all comfortable on the ball.

That midfield trio of Cleverley, Ramsey and Allen worked very well. We need to try and get a similar set up in the England team.

I was looking after these two lads once. They were aged about 6 and 5, and we'd decided on a game of football. They were arguing about who should kick off, and one of them said, 'Bob must kick off, because he's from Newcastle and the King and Queen live there'.

I lived in Australia for four years as a kid in the sixties. We used to play football, but were very confused about the rules, and some of them got drafted in from Rugby and Aussie Rules Football. Throw-ins were taken with one's back to the pitch and the ball hoisted overhead. The 'goal' consisted of the entire length of the goal-line. Free kicks were punted from hand, and a goal didn't count if the keeper touched it on its way in.