Colos Short and Curlies

Look at these two statements - (1) we used to throw money at players in order to get them to the club - outcome was a continuing decline in the level of performance on the field (2) Unless we start throwing money at players we won't get anywhere. My point is that throwing money at 'top quality' players in order to get them to sign will not lead to success and in many ways leads to a problem where you have a group of players content to put in the minimum effort to get by knwing that they are set for life. What we should be doing is targetting young hungry players who may well see us as a stepping stone, but who have an incentive to perform well in order to get that big move. Get enough of these (and lets be honest £50k a week should be enough to achieve this) and the club will move forward, challenge for Europe and hopefully get us into a position where we can get a higher quality of player without needing to pay vast sums of money to get them here

Don't let that cloud the view of the lad. He's got loads of potential and more than held his own towards the back end of the Championship season. I'd worry that throwing him straight into a Premier League season might be a step too far (could be worng mind!) but he is potentially a very sound full back in a couple of years

Shola really suits that look

When we get to 300 pages and then an official NUFC press conference will be announced. Didn't think we did press conferences these days. More likely a club statement

Just one minor problem - Sturridge isn't actually on the market. He wants to stay at Chelsea. He said he would move elsewhere if he can't get first-team football. Can see Sturridge staying at Chelsea unless Torres bags 3 or 4 before the end of August. Will be a deadline day move if it happens at all (to any club)

One thing about the owner/MD is that I doubt they pay too much attention to agents spouting off in the press due to them using similar tactics themselves. Say what you like about Mike, he does have the skin of a Rhino

We have had a shockingly small squad this year which I'm sure contributed towards the injury problems. Without wanting to get into a 'pampered footballers playing 90 minutes a week argument', Hughton had a fresh squad playing in decent weather on good pitches. Pardew has had one of the harshest winters in recent times with a squad that is playing more minutes per man on average then most squads in the Premier League (I'll admit I don't have the stats to back this up, but the gut feeling is that this is the case). There are some injuries you can't legislate for either when they happen in game (Smith) or a freak fall in training (Williamson). Not saying that the training methods don't have any blame attached - I suppose you could say at the very least Pardew should/could have altered the approach to training to fit the small squad/bad weather factors

I'm sure I've seen something about PVA saying 'Newcastle? Why Not if Enrique leaves'

There's someone missing from these line ups. Nolan will be a mainstay of the team next year like it or not, as much as I'd love to see Jonas, Ben Arfa and Zoggy roaming behind a lone striker I can't see a system to fit them all in with Nolan

Wasn't Shola's debut against Chelsea as well?

No great surprise though, busines end of the season and a potential Championship to play for

Lets just hope Larry isn't Jonas' nickname for Enrique

Messing around on Pro Evo last night :-) Zog - HBA - Jonas Huntelaar Was absolute dynamite

More to the point, the time will come where Lousie goes to bed with Jamie and wakes up with Harry.

Uefa rules. Wembley needs to be unused for 2 weeks prior to the champ league final

How much are tickets on average for MLS games? Fancy taking in a couple of New England games if I'm sent to Boston in June/July.

He wouldn't look out of place in a top 4 team, but he probably has more freedom in a team in our position to get forward at times and maybe take risks at the back that make him look good

Excuse my lack of knowledge of the geography of the US, but if I were to be staying in Boston, how accessible would any of the games be for me to get to? Would it be possible to do any with travel there and back same day?

Regardless of the scoreline and who's playing, midday on a Sunday is a shit time for a game.

Say you're a defender, would you panic if Nile Ranger was through on to your goal? Aye, would hate to be the first Prem defence he scores past

Didn't they recently test a few possible solutions and none of them were 100% reliable? If you are going to have technology it has to be 100% relaible (otherwise what's the point and could lead to manufacturers getting sued etc) and you need to know where to draw the line - is it goals only? Incidents in the penalty box? Would you still have post match trial by TV? Why should the decision for a penalty be any more important than a free kick on the edge of the box or a corner (hell even a throw in if you are Stoke)? I'm personally against it - daft decisions are part of football, if you want a sterile clinical result go and put the playstation on.

Go to the football 365 home page, ignore the Shola story but check out the headline about Man City and the Munich chants

On my river 'They're saying something about him being greedy' Way to sugar-coat it commentator man

And Giggs doesn't score