Martin Lol

I think the jury is still out tbh. There are good players within the squad still (though is dross as well), it depends on how the squad is reshaped and how well Ramos gets them to perform. He did achieve success against Arse and Chelsea in cup competition, something that MJ never achieved. Right now I'm not saying just how good Ramos is because I really don't know.

Scored more goals than anyone except Man United this season. Not dull. A traditional, quality winger in Ashley Young? Not dull. The pace of Agbonlahor? Not dull. Combined with the power of Carew? Not dull. The passing of Barry? Not dull. Currently in with a very good chance of finishing 5th, two years after having looked odds on for relegation, and not even having started spending properly yet? Not dull. I admire your optimism, but you're just pretending other teams don't exist and not really providing any arguments to back up your theory. It was indeed a great result at WHL but by that measure, West Ham have beaten Man U the last three times they've played. All hail next year's champions from East London. Everton dull and workmanlike? And fifth in the league. It is a very competitive league and will get more so. If you read my post again, you'll see that I didn't say Villa, the team or the players, were dull. CentrePaddock said Villa were dull, I was conceding that he could possibly view Villa as such, but I refuted everything else he said. For the record, I don't think Villa are in any way shape of form dull, nor is MON an uninspiring manager. You said you I admire my optimism (for Spurs presumably), I hadn't realised I had. My predictions for 08/09 were: 5. Aston Villa 6. Everton 7. Tottenham Hotspur 8. Portsmouth 9. Newcastle United 10. Blackburn with the proviso that Pompey could easily go above Spurs and take 7th. If you'd like to explain where my optimism stems from, I'll be happy to be enlightened. BTW, my comments to CentrePaddock regarding the away score at Villa referred to Newcastle's match, not Spurs'. I don't think CP would have been too bothered how Spurs got on there tbh.

As it's a Bosman, decide the transfer fee that would have been paid, divide by the number of years on the contract,, add that annual figure to the annual wages, could easily make £144k pw if Milan wanted to pay it.

Don't think he would quite fit into the Spurs salary structure!

Other clubs won't stand still while we're out and about in the transfer market- they'll look to improve as well. Man City, are really improving, with a Psychopathic Chairman, Liverpool, Will definately suffer, with thier boardroom carry on, Chelsea, have a good chance of sacking their manager, Arsenal, got problems at board level, There is plenty oportunity for us to progress, i'm talking about our immediate rivals,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, the one's challenging us for the uefa cup spot next year (spurs, villa, everton, portsmouth and fair enough you've mentioned man city). 4th is a bit out of our reach at the moment, i'd be ecstatic if we finished 5th next season. OK then, Spurs.... what was the score at Whitehart Lane? villa.... Dull, uninspired, will never break top 4 everton....Workmanlike, will do enough to stay in top half, no match,for Keegans Toon portsmouth......1 good season dosent make you a great club Man Shitty......see above, We simply must have ambitions beyond mediocrity Spurs - one result doesn't make a season. That was Spurs' worst performance of the season by far. Villa - Dull, possibly. Unspired? With MON in charge? The score away to Villa? They are a difficult team to beat. Everton - This isn't their first good season, it has been building up. Pompey - another progressive season with a very astute manager in charge. I don't think they will fall away readily. Man City - a club soon to be in turmoil. No threat to challenge the top 6 imo. Newcastle under KK in the 90's had a stronger squad, a more talented squad and a much stronger first team. If Ashley throws a lot of money at the problem KK still has to convince the player to join Newcastle and not go elsewhere and with the squad he does recruit he has to bind them quickly into team playing for each other. It takes time. Your final comment, we simply must have ambitions beyond mediocrity, could have been said by every fan in the land. For some, mediocrity is the Championship, so retaining their Premier League status is their ambition fulfilled. But for a lot of others, their clubs ambitions will match, or even surpass, Newcastle's at this point in time.

Always thought he'd end up at Man Utd but that'll not happen with them having Hargreaves now. Spurs? Might offset the attacking instincts of Modric. Although, thinking about it, we might not be that unattractivon his waye to him as his Mrs is from Glasgow. I would love to think so, but with Flamini presumably on his way, he would be ideal for Whinger, irrespective of his age. Spurs are interested in Makoun but Gattuso is a step up in class imho.

5. Aston Villa 6. Everton 7. Tottenham Hotspur 8. Portsmouth 9. Newcastle United 10. Blackburn Very much depends on what goes in the summer window but that's how I see it. Villa are very much on the up and will have 1 or 2 changes to the perceived 1st team, not wholesale changes. Quality manger will push them forward. Everton - similar to Villa, settled team and proven credentials. Just don't rate Moyes as high as MON. Spurs - Money to spend, good manager, but there will be a lot of changes to build the team as Ramos wants it. Transitional season, better the season after. Absolutely staggered that so many people here think Spurs are 4th or 5th place material. At the present time I don't see that at all, nor do most Spurs fans. Pompey - the development work has been completed, very astute manager. I think 8th, but could easily go above Spurs. Newcastle - Money to spend but starting from a lower base, probably 2 years behind Villa Everton and Pompey. Season for stability to set in. Blackburn - could be a lot higher but lack of ambition on the Board's part, poor crowds etc hold them back. Discounted City. SGE is certain to go, Big Phil to come in, I foresee a lot of turmoil up there. Also, a rock solid ITK has said today the Board have agreed the proposed new stadium will be built adjacent to WHL, turned around 90 degrees, no need to move out of WHL. Capacity 50k styled to take an easy conversion to 60k. That has been mooted before, but not by anyone with a track record of getting information correct. Announcement sometime between June and September.

Villa at spurs might just send me over the edge, surely we should be having a go. It's still generally agreed by the ITK's that Eto'o is the preferred replacement for Berbatov with Villa being the next best thing. Still scary to think that Villa would cost very little more than Bent. Also seems like Aston Villa want Robinson, Kameni apparently at the medical and work permit stage.

Agreed, and for Spurs too. Two clubs who don't have regular CL income, Spurs with a small ground still as well, yet both rubbing shoulders with Inter and Lyon.

Slipped in by mistake, not done it before.

Who are these people? Sounds like a script from a cheap Russian porno. Stan Kroenke - American billionaire who bought a large wedge of shares. Alisher Usmanov - Russian billionaire oligarch, poor man's Abramovich, bought all of David Dein's shares plus others to make up a sizeable wedge as well. David Dein - Former CEO of the club, now chairman of one of Usmanov's companies, Red and White Holdings.

Easy to see why Valencia are looking to sell Villa/Silva etc. They look seriously in the mire.

(In $) Value/Debt%/1 Yr Value change %/Revenue/Operating Income 1 Manchester United England 1,800 60 24 394 111 2 Real Madrid Spain 1,285 27 24 474 112 3 Arsenal England 1,200 43 31 329 77 4 Liverpool England 1,050 65 131 269 60 5 Bayern Munich Germany 917 0 9 302 72 6 AC Milan Italy 798 0 -3 307 54 7 Barcelona Spain 784 7 47 392 92 8 Chelsea England 764 0 42 382 -5 9 Juventus Italy 510 5 -10 196 35 10 Schalke 04 Germany 470 48 0 154 36 11 AS Roma Italy 434 12 94 213 48 12 Tottenham Hotspur England 414 15 70 207 64 13 Olympique Lyonnais France 408 7 19 190 15 14 Inter Milan Italy 403 0 -27 207 21 15 Borussia Dortmund Germany 323 57 63 122 31 16 Newcastle United England 300 43 16 175 12 17 Hamburg SV Germany 293 0 32 163 41 18 Werder Bremen Germany 262 0 NA 131 11 19 Valencia Spain 254 159 31 145 -49 20 Celtic Scotland 227 11 23 151 48 21 Everton England 197 30 24 103 -1 22 West Ham United England 195 23 25 115 -22 23 Manchester City England 191 63 -8 114 27 24 Aston Villa England 190 12 36 106 -40 25 Olympique Marseille France 187 0 19 134 13 http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/34/biz_soccer08_Soccer-Team-Valuations_Rank.html

Keith Edelman was the main man who resisted the buyout offers from Kroenke and Usmanov/Dein. After having won nothing for 3 years, maybe the Board have decided it's time to get the Russian money involved so Edelman has walked. Reputedly KE is a man of high principles.

Sense nothing good is going to come out of this......................

Murmurs of him heading to Arsenal. Theres a rumour of every good young french player and arsenal. Well, he has been linked with you for about a year now. Another quality young Frenchie is Yoann Gourcuff who doesn't get a look-in at Milan because of Kaka, is unsettled and now subject to a bid from Ajax. Remember seeing him play in the u20's Euro tournament, best player in the competition by quite a distance, haven't seen much of him for a while now though.

Spurs, Everton and an unnamed Premiership club are after Alexander Madlung, the German international CD. Has a clause in his contract which says he can go for £2m. http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/04/30/Bundesliga-Madlung-set-for-England/

So do I. For every high quality foreign player coming in, there is a distinctly average one coming in as well. Taking Spurs as an example, players like Berbatov and Modric should always be welcome, players like Ghaly and Stalteri less so. But Blatter is not fully addressing the problem when he says the clubs are not putting enough effort into developing their own players. Arsenal put a lot of time and effort into developing young players, the problem is that Fabregas, Flamini, Lupoli, Quincy, Aliadiere, Benttner, Larsson et al are not English. Until there is a system in place, voluntary or not, whereby all (or a very high percentage) of Academy players are English/British, the problem cannot be properly addressed imho.

No need to look so glum, I'm quite heartened at the prospect of Flamini's impending departure. Should Hleb join him on the way out, so much the better. I think Flamini's departure, if it happens, might hit your team hard. I think he's one of the most underrated players in the premiership, it's Flamini's hard work that gives Fabregas the freedom to play. Think he'll be a tough act to replace.

Not sure which mugs going to pay £5 million for Robinson, but the rest seems plausible. Having said that, you'll then have sold/loaned out 13 players in one go, how many do you expect to come in? Boro On to the second part of your post, think we'll have 5 new players in the first team next season including Modric....... --------------------------------------New goalkeeper------------------------------ Hutton---------------Woodgate------------------New Cb (King)----------Bale -----------------------New dm---------------------Jenas--------------------------- Lennon-----------------------------------------------------------------------Modric -----------------------New striker-------------------Keane----------------------- Not to mention we'll need a back up goalkeeper, Midfield Squad player and 4th choice striker. JJ isnt even guaranteed his place so thats 8-9 new signings including Modric that i think we'll make. Edit : Looks like Kaboul will be off permanantly after todays comments, so thats £6 mill added to the kitty... I don't see Modric as a winger tbh. Nor do I, limiting his creativity by shoving him out wide left. I think the preferred first choice team may look something more like: --------------------------------------New goalkeeper (Kameni?)------------------------------ Hutton---------------Woodgate------------------New Cb (Jarque?)/ King----------Bale ----------------------------New solid dm (Makoun/Poulsen?)---------------------------------- Lennon-----------------------------------------------------------------------Diego Capel? -------------------Modric-------------------------- -----------------------New striker(Villa/Fabiano?)-------------------Keane----------------------- The ITK's seem to be agreed that there will be 4 more quality names coming in, KD's guess that there may be 8 or 9 signings I think is a bit optimistic tbh. BTW, I know Balague has said on SSN that Villa will never sign for Spurs, he also said that Ramos would never make the move to WHL either. What I've been told is that Villa's agent gave some encouragement, not an outright yes but not an outright no either.

He is talking to Spurs. Unfortunately, he is also talking to the scum up the road as well. If Flamini goes to Italy I think they will be his destination. If not, then perhaps we are in with a shout. Any idea if he is any good? Don't really much about him tbh, midget who is said to be a very respectable defensive MF with ability for accurate shortish passes. Haven't heard many people say he's s*** and if the scum are looking to sign him to replace Flamini, he should have something about him.

He is talking to Spurs. Unfortunately, he is also talking to the scum up the road as well. If Flamini goes to Italy I think they will be his destination. If not, then perhaps we are in with a shout.

Now that the medical has been completed and ok, Spurs have reported to the Stock Exchange Modric's deal. Total of €21m payable over 4 years. Player signed a 6 year contract conditional upon a work permit being granted. http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/playertransferlukamodric290408.html

Levy's put £9m on Chimbo's head and £40m on Berba's. He won't get those figures but I can't see him dropping by much, particularly down to £27m. Levy wants to sell Berba on the continent, Barca, Real and Milan have all declared an interest, hence there's now all the talk about p/exchanges, Eto'o, Granero, etc. Comolli is talking to Valencia about Villa but I think that might fall by the wayside if Eto'o does agree to move, which tbh is a big if. There is also the young Uruaguayan being sounded out but probably won't happen. I don't think there is anything there that is mindblowingly new but that's as much as I've heard. The only other thing I've heard is that Ramos doesn't rate Kaboul at all and wants him jogged on, not loaned out. Disappointed about that, I think there will be a good defender there who just needs experience. I agree with you, I think a loan deal could be perfect for him and Spurs but it sounds like that won't happen.

Most over-rated player i've ever seen. Alot of people say that, but i really like him. His passing ability is second to none(not literally) Suppose he would be a good option to replace Flamini........................................