Cronky

Bendtner's nowt special, and certainly nowhere near as good as he thinks he is. I can't see him combining well with Ba either. If we're going to spend, I'd rather spend more and get someone a bit better.

When the financial fair play rules kick in, transfer fees will probably start coming down. Whether or not Sturridge is worth £20m as compared to Henderson, it may not be easy to recoup that money in a few years' time.

In Ben Arfa and Marveaux, we have players who would have a similar role to Zoggy. I can't see that we need him now.

Sturridge really needs to start getting regular football in a team that matches his ability. It feels at the moment that Chelsea aren't prepared to use him, but being a big fish in a small pond at Bolton might not be helping him. I felt that in the Under 21's that he was playing too much as an individual at times.

If Nolan is that good, how come he's ended up in the Championship at 28? I just don't think Howey has grasped the bigger picture. There's a strategy in place for building the club, and it doesn't involve giving older players inflated contracts. You can't start making exceptions in a case like Nolan's. I just feel that if Nolan had been given the contract he'd wanted, it would have been out of fear of the consequences of him going, rather than a realistic appraisal of what he's offering. It would have been a negative, pessimistic decision, rather than a positive, optimistic step.

He wouldn't make their first team, and you wouldn't want an ego his size lurking in the wings, potentially causing trouble. He's got the ability to be a useful standby for a team of that standard, but not the mentality.

I'd say Best or Ranger wanting to stay and fight for his place.

TBH it looks like the Sun have taken a very speculative article in the Spanish press and made the rest up.

This. I'm not saying we're doing poor business in this tranfer window. We're buying actually good players for almost nothing. Sadly, by splashing virtually no cash, it seems to me that it's same old Mike Ashley. My thoughts exactly. He's running the club how he runs his other businesses with his market trader mentality. If it works then we've got a strong financial footing and a decent squad that cost very little and is on lower than average wages. If it doesn't work then it's the old case of penny wise, pound foolish. And ultimately football is a very different industry to flogging sportswear. What impresses me about Ashley is he's not afraid to back his judgement and make an unorthodox decision. He doesn't follow the crowd, he thinks things out for himself. At first, he got things wrong, but he's learned. At some stage since he bought the club, he must have asked why he was buying players for x millions when similar players could be available on a free or for fractions of the amount. Simple as that, really.

I agree. I'm a bit surprised that we're not being linked with anyone. It looks like Pardew has faith in the ones we've got.

We believe in equal opps.

For the first time in my life we look like a professionally run outfit with a sensible plan. That's what's attracting the likes of Cabaye and Ba.

Got to admit the same thought occurred to me. He's going to walk into that dressing room and wonder which one he needs to take down a peg first.

My guess is that he didn't actually fail his medical at Liverpool, but they started quibbling about the terms of his contract due to his injury record. We were that bit more bold. Ashley has shown before that he's not afraid to take a gamble on a player's fitness. We gave Ben Arfa a five year deal when he had a broken leg. Not all these signings will come off, but if there's no fee, we may be reasoning that they're good percentage calls.

Maybe Pardew has got fed up with all that banging on his door.

The more players of this quality that we bring in, the easier it'll be to land our other targets. Darn it, I'm feeling good.

For the last four months, he's been talking like someone who's just fallen out of a tree. I can't see any club of similar or greater size to us being willing to take the risk.

Me neither. I thought Birmingham were in the same kind of financial difficulty as us when we went down, and there was no way we were going to be forking out £4m. IIRC Best scored at St Andrews. Brum don't have a Manager at the moment and someone in the boardroom may well be thinking that Best would be a good buy. It looks like we've got Ba, Shola, Best and Ranger chasing what will probably be one space. We'd also need to be developing Phil Airey. Someone has to go and personally I wouldn't be surprised if it's Best.

Every player is for sale at the right price. Don't give a f*** what your ITKs have agreed. If Modric goes Bale and VDV would follow very quickly after. If Modric goes in this window I'll happily give £100 to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, I've done that before but, on this occasion, I don't think I'll be donating anything. I'm very confident. Your confidence is impressive, but Spurs may well face a Berbatov-type situation where they get an over the top offer and the player says he wants to go. What then?

Eh, based on what? I think he means in terms of on-pitch intelligence, rather than off field shenanigans. Both seem to be a bit up themselves. In a team game, especially if you're still a novice, that's not the place to be. I'm disappointed, because I like both players in terms of their innate ability.

Yeah, I reckon Lua Lua. It's disappointing, because the lad has talent. Like Ranger, perhaps not enough between the ears.

Got to say that's interesting. We can be pretty certain that he knew exactly what his options were.

Managers are often judged on where their club has finished in the previous season, and the details of their overall record can get overlooked. That's what those Villa supporters are doing. Villa look like a busted flush to me. They've invested a lot in players and it hasn't come off. McLeish will have a tough job persuading his best players that they're still on the way up.

Looks like he's been given a Premiership-style contract by a Championship club, even though none of the other 19 Premiership clubs seemed to be busting a gut to get him. Presumably West Ham know what they're doing. Or possibly not.

Keep talking, Joey. At this rate, you're more likely to end up in the Championship than the Champions League.