Mick

I'm sure you'll have taken it the way that it was meant to be taken.

I think Keefaz is very good at it, praise where praise is due.

Good point, shall we start one off?

Oxfamtastic based on performances.

How stupid can stupid be? If you can answer that then you've answered your own question.

If we've kept them happy so far then I'd like to see the benefits of that.

In most jobs you can't sack somebody because they've gone to prison if you can get in a replacement until they are out again. A school teacher, a police officer, a doctor and jobs along those lines are different. I don't know how that would fit in with being a footballer as the club could probably argue that he's setting a bad example which kids may follow. I tried to sack somebody who got sent to prison for sticking a glass in another person’s face, I couldn't sack him and had to keep his job open until he returned. If Barton has lied to the club about the Darbo case and claimed innocence then that may be grounds for sacking him if he’s found guilty.

We'll just have to wait and see.

The Dabo incident wasn't a one off, he was always likely to re-offend, that would probably be his defence.

I think he could and would, I also think he'd have a good chance of winning his case.

If I was Barton I wouldn't take a pay cut, we knew what we were buying and by that we accepted that he could go to prison at some stage, we got what we deserved.

I'll let you off with the quote. Back to Butt, it wasn't just the balls over the top, it was also the passes that were meant for players in space to the side of Butt which went to the opposition players who were yards away from ours but ended up gaining possession and running in on our goal. It happened fat too often throughout last season and I can only see it becoming more frequent.

I'd live with that.

I hope that quote in the first paragraph wasn't meant to be my quote, I don't remember saying "We can't buy a first-team centre-half because the whole midfield will be different." As for Butt, if he's playing and wins the ball, he'll then have to find one of our players and that's where he falls down far too often and I expect it will get worse with every season.

I think we need to win something to get rid of the stigma that we've won nothing since 1969.

I can't disagree with that either except to say that Butt being one of the first names on the teamsheet doesn't fill me with confidence at all. His distribution is shocking at times, no point winning the ball if we're giving it straight back. He did that far too often and I can only see the problem becoming worse, a bit like when Rob Lee was getting on and doing the same. He might do better if he's got better players around him although I can't see that happening as you can just as easily find a bad player in space as you can find a good player in space. I am saying what I would like to see happen, we all do that.

I'd love to have a player as good as Woodgate was when here and fit but I don't think it's a priority. Once Keegan got the players believing in themselves we were OK. Most of the teams we played towards the end of the season were beatable but we showed against Spurs that when we are attacking teams our defenders can defend. We also showed that we could defend in the first half against Chelsea. We slackened off in the last game and a half when we seemed to go on holiday early but I don't think we would have done that if something was at stake. I think we need an entire midfield who will need time to settle and work together, putting a defence beind that who have not worked together could cause us problems.

Again, that depends on how much protection they are given.

Kids need to gain experience and as long as we have a set of players that can maintain a reasonable level of fitness then the number of starts they get should be limited. The last thing we should want for next season is another transitional period while we allow players to fit in with each other. It’s going to be bad enough as we’ll probably need a new midfield as the one we had last season was nowhere near good enough.

Taylor and Faye will be OK if we have the right players in front of them.

If they get the next 2 right then it will be 3 in a row.

We don't need defenders who need to come in and play all season, I would have no problem bringing in kids for the odd game to cover injuries and suspensions.

You should take your own advice and consider hibernation.

We need 4 players to replace the ones I've highlighted from the team that played most of the games at the end of last season. If we go back to 4-4-2 then N'Zogbia would be a replacement for one of them. Harper Beye Faye Taylor Enrique Geremi Butt Barton Owen Viduka Martins