Mick

I don't have a problem if appeasing the fans is a by-product of a signing rather than the desired outcome, if we buy a player because he's going to improve the team then appease away.

I can't see any hypocrisy at all when you compare like for like. I would have thought Beardsley or Nobby coming back or Keegan himself the first time he managed the club, none of those were criticised by our fans, or at least very few, if any.

It's a question, that's enough.

Some did call the Smith signing correctly, I was in two minds, I thought that the Smith who signed for Man U would have been a good signing but the one who left them wouldn't have been. For your benefit, I know it's the same Smith. I've got no problem blaming the manager for Boumsong, in his defence he didn't arrange the fee.

I take it that you think Boumsong did.

I said he was shite before and after he signed, nowt to do with hindsight.

Do you think Boumsong replaced him?

Boumsong was shite and no replacement for Woodgate.

We bought a player who played most of his games coming off the bench from a club who had just bought Baptista and Robinho for something like £35 million, my complete guess would be that they wanted to sell as much as we wanted to buy. You're right though, we don't know what was said and maybe we had to pay £17 million but I doubt it.

Boumsong wasn't a necessary signing, a replacement for Woodgate was necessary, not a player who had only just gone to Rangers on a free transfer and who wasn't very good in a shite league and I said that at the time and got a bit of stick for saying it. £8 million for that clown would have been funny if it was another team shelling that sort of money on him. Did we not rush out and but Owen and Luque after a terrible start to the season when the fans were chanting "sack the board" and "Shepherd out" because we hadn't won a game and the manager kept referring to how he'd given the chairman his list of players? I've no idea if the signings were coincidence or a way of appeasing the fans, it could have been either.

I honestly can't believe that people think paying more than double what our nearest rivals were willing to pay for a player who was desperate to get first team games and could only manage that by leaving a club who were only too willing to let him go was good business.

Liverpool didn't want to go above what they got for him, they weren't going to go above £8 million so doubling that bid was rank stupidity at best.

I'll take my smiley back then.

It's not possible to use words to sum that up and do it any sort of justice.

Don't call me a dick head.

Go for it.

You're not wasting your time, at least you’re burning off calories when typing so don't think all is in vain, every cloud.

They looked too young to be Douglas Hall, I'm sure he's a little bit older than them.

They only responded when we were singing "your support is shit."

I voted 12th which would be an improvement on last season.

I never thought of that but it's another good reason, I like your thinking.

That would just be so typical of him, it makes you wonder how he ever made money.

The ones who don't piss off early anyway.