TRon

I'm surprised Liverpool haven't shown their hand yet. Considering they were ready to swoop for Taylor a while back.

You forgot to add they are points-wise not much better than us in any case currently.

Old threads being bumped...isn't hindsight a wonderful thing. Bringing this thread up to date, I think Spurs look like they mean business. They are spending big and already have quality players and a well rated manager.

I've always thought if N'Zogbia's playing regularly he's happy. With Tottenham's interest now dead and a possible first team shirt there for the taking, he might fancy being here after all. Knowing him, he's the type who wants no competition for the left wing spot whatsoever. Not very healthy from a club point of view but that's how I read his "let's see who we sign comments".

I'm dubious if he'll still be here next season but a good bit of man-management from KK would be to sit the lad down and tell him: "Look son, even if you break your left leg I'll still pick you ahead of Damien The Duff. You have my word on that"

If Duff and Smith hadn't been booted out of the first team we would have been relegated. That's the god's honest truth. That's how low I rate him now.

Why? He would be a great second choice. We should never have sold Parker and we should never have bought Smith. Parker and Barton would be a great centre midfield partnership in my opinion. No doubt Man U and Chelsea are battling for their signatures right now...

A seperate thread for each potential transfer in or out sounds good to me. We don't need a seperate forum.

Some great posts in this thread, Baggio, CToon and afar in particular. I don't think Ashley is afraid to splash the cash given the right team in place who will spend it wisely. Modric is a hint of what we are looking at potentially. Spending other people's money is always easier of course, hence the big show pony signings under Shepherd, and Keegan's impatience recently. We have been amongst the biggest spenders on signing fees and wages for the past few seasons. Has this been reflected in results? Have we had value for money? If the answer is no (obviously) then something has to change somewhere, at least short term until we are in a position to punch our weight again.

Cup football is becoming more and more defensive these days. Liverpool and Rangers are well suited because they are set up to be difficult to break down. Even teams like Man U are playing with 8 men behind the ball over two legs in the CL semi finals.

Oliver trawling the pig swill for non-stories again I see. Good to see his standards are as low as ever

Are any of those clubs going to pay Owen £6m a season which he is currently getting at Newcastle? I'd be surprised if that was the case. Of course they're not, but they might match the £80k we're alledgedly trying to reduce his wages to, in which case, does he stay here, or go to someone a couple of years ahead of us like Everton and play European football again. If the only way to keep Owen here is to pay him more than anyone else is willing to, then something is wrong. Personally speaking, I think some sort of compromise will be reached, but I wouldn't say it's an absolute necessity to tie Owen down at stupidly high wages. He is injury record isn't great and life without Owen doesn't seem impossible for other clubs above us in the table.

Are any of those clubs going to pay Owen £6m a season which he is currently getting at Newcastle? I'd be surprised if that was the case.

Beye by a mile, after that Harper is the only one I would consider.

Isn't Shaun Custis that mackem cunt who got a job with the Sun by pretending to be a Newcastle fan?

Obviously Mort wasn't as good at counting beans as NE5 imagined.

Which one are Sunderland or Middlesborough more likely to sign? I'll vote for the other one.

I don't think that's a great approach to be honest. KK's best assets have always been man-management and loyalty. Great attributes in themselves, but it means you can become blinded to deficencies. Probably why Duff and Smith got picked far longer than they should have been. If Owen can get better than£4-5m a year somewhere else then maybe we should let him go so he can better himself?

Agreed. We could sign Riise as 3rd choice if both are injured the kid's got a super attitude btw.

We bought Smith before selling Dyer. We could just as easily have bought Elano instead of Smith at that time if Allardyce seriously wanted him. My knowledge of Allardyce suggests that he would be looking for a Nolan rather than an Elano for midfield to fit his defensive, high ball strategy.

Martin Jol will be furiously texting his sister in law right now...

Well, after his agents have been told to fuck off by Man U and Liverpool, now Everton, that other famous Welsh club are being touted. I can't see them paying £80k/week either so looks like he'll have to keep landing on Tyneside by alleged helicopter instead.

This. and other midfielders as well, generally were all crap in 442 Exactly, the reason the 4-3-3 worked is because we had more outlets on the pitch... Viduka able to hold up the ball and knock it to Oba or Owen. Owen coming deep to collect. Oba's pace. The odd driving run from Barton. In the 4-4-2 the strikers were isolated and no one in midfield is a strong enough player to create anything going forward. I'd agree with that. We saw the result when key elements were missing yesterday.

80k a week on a longer contract is still a decent wage for a player not in demand at the top clubs. I'm not saying he hasn't done well for us recently, but if he's still commuting from Wales, he might be hoping Liverpool will offer him £75k...although they probably won't.

He would have been a good signing when we had him on loan under our previous chairman when we could have had him for peanuts. We declined, he went to Fulham to become a £12m striker for Man U, and the rest is history. Now? No thanks.