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They showed some stats in one of the broadsheets yesterday that showed that Chelsea were far more attacking in Europe than they are in the Premiership, and surprisingly, Man Utd are more defensive in Europe than they are in the Premiership. If you're worried about a team playing a defensive-minded game, worry about Man Utd.

Fuck. Can't believe I glanced.

I fancy Turkey to do it actually. Apart from the fact that I just like (and therefore hope) that underdogs do well generally, Turkey's got quite a few quality players. I think the Germans will struggle in defence (having seen their squad) and won't be as strong as they normally are in these tournaments. The Italians just don't seem like the Italians and France still seems to be depending on too many of their old guard (Vieira and Henry immediately come to mind). Out of all the 'favourites', I'd say Portugal have the best chance of living up to their reputation because they've got an absolutely awesome squad of players.

KD's as partial to Spurs as most of us are to Newcastle, imo. Initially, I did think he was here only to wind people up (and to be fair, it worked like a charm, especially against Stevie ) but now he's a canny poster who offers us a different perspective on things, much like 1878 and brummie do. I don't really dislike Spurs at all. They've done fuck all to us while we've given them quite a few beatings over the years. In fact, I think I might actually like them Joking aside, Spurs are alright. Pretty similar club to us, as well.

Spoilsport. I was happily envisaging us making a £2m profit on Owen.

that picture It just has to come up every time Scholes is mentioned, doesn't it?

It's good to see that this generation has spawned not only the armchair pundit, but now we have the armchair scouts.

End of the day, he's a fucking criminal (convicted of one crime and probably will be convicted of another). All this stuff about helping him through it is fine except that he's been in this situation so many times before in the past and every time you hear him say 'it's over, I'm a changed man', he gets himself in some dodgy shit a few months after. I agree that performances shouldn't have an influence on whether we decide to sack him or not but it blatantly will, and still, if you evaluate his performances so far, they're not up to scratch for a £6m player. If we sack him, can we claim insurance? Is it possible that we had our arses covered in case a situation such as this became reality? For me, he's got to go because he's just an utter nutcase who needs help rather than time in jail. And we're not a charity, we're a football club.

If the club win we all win and I'd love to see us sign Bentley tomorrow. Get a room.

I don't think the Dabo thing can be applied here. Ok, the club knew about the Dabo thing but they signed him based on the assumption that whatever he did/whoever he was, was in the past, and that he would be 'better' (for a lack of a better word) now. He hasn't. They won't be hypocrites if they sack him now because they're sacking him for something they couldn't have reasonably predicted. I want him gone.

Going to prison would not be a good reason to sack someone. Committing the crime would be the reason for sacking someone and the fact that he's been proved to be guilty (and thus sent to prison) is why he should be sacked. The prison sentence is just confirmation of the fact that he did actually commit the crime.

Sack him. How many chances has he gotten in his career and how many has he blown? He talks the talks but doesn't walk the walk. There's a pretty big chance, imo, that if he gets out, he'll do something stupid that'll land him in trouble again and thus, we'd be better off just sacking him.

Other 'teams'? The only rival who were relegated were Juventus. Roma, Milan and Lazio were still in Serie A. And Milan had their points deducted last season, not this. The only rival who were at a disadvantage were Juve. And Milan won the CL last season, so if Inter beating them in the league is meaningless then you're nuts.

'This' country means fuck all, though. He won two UEFA Cup titles in a row with Sevilla, that counts for something for the players in Europe. You can only win 2 freaking titles in Europe in a season and Sevilla had a 100% record with him at the helm. I think you're underrating Ramos because you'd never seen his team play/not interested in general football (which normal players would, because, well, they're professional footballers).

Wtf? Did you even read what I said? It's comparable when they were doing that. It ain't obviously comparable now, but you'd have known that if you actually read what I wrote. I bolded the most important part of my argument so you can actually pay attention to it now. Edit: Or the numerous seasons where Arsenal won the league but were shit in Europe. Are their achievements taken 'seriously' by you?

Wtf? So when Man Utd were winning the league in England but dropping out of the CL at the quarter-final stages, winning the Premiership wasn't an achievement that you could 'take seriously'? Ridiculous. What?? Lets clarify what im saying - Inter have done very little of substance in Europe unlike Man U for a start. If Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea were relagted and say Spurs were docked points and Liverpool were a) awarded 1 title then coasted to another with the others at their disadvatage then scraped the 3rd title would you take there achievements seriously? I would be a bit wary. Not so ridiculous. When Man Utd won the league, they did fuck all in Europe. Inter won the league this season fair and square. So unless you're going to argue that the Italian league as a whole has declined in quality then it's pretty much ridiculous to suggest that you shouldn't take their achievements seriously.

A year ago Arsenal were perceived as being on the way down and no top player would have joined them. The perception didn't match reality (because they weren't on their way down) but to say that it doesn't affect whether they're viewed as a good prospect by the higher-quality players would be burying your head in the sand. Right now, we're not perceived as being a club on the way up. Or, if we are, there are other clubs around us who are moving faster/closer to where the top players want to be.

Football's very short-term and it is all about perceptions. There's no way we're perceived as a 'big' club at the moment. On the other hand, Spurs have finished above us for the last few seasons, been in Europe (and did okay) and have a manager who's highly reputable. Spurs aren't a 'big' club but they sure as hell are perceived as being bigger than we are at this moment of time. If you can't see that then you're highly ignorant of the way the footballing world works now.

It's embarassing that some of our fans have to make up ridiculous claims in their head to justify why Modric chose Spurs over us. It's pretty simple, man. They're just a better prospect than we are at the moment and you're living in the clouds if you think that being in Europe and having a reputable manager like Ramos doesn't make a difference. And this is not defeatist of me to admit this as well. In fact, the sooner we all realise this, the sooner we can try to fix our problems (instead of ignoring it) and improve the club as a prospect instead of merely saying 'oh yeah, that player signed for them only because of that clause and this clause'.

Wtf? So when Man Utd were winning the league in England but dropping out of the CL at the quarter-final stages, winning the Premiership wasn't an achievement that you could 'take seriously'? Ridiculous.

load of steaming bollocks imho. Berbs wanted to add this clause when he was negiotiating a new contract and Levy straight away rejected it, so i fail to see why we'd agree one for Modric. because you want to defend Spurs on a Newcastle board? It's hardly like you are an impartial observer here on issues like this one. Not about defending spurs. It's logic.... Where's the logic? It's a completely unsubtantiated claim. Its clear Modric has been told where to go - I'm basing that on the fact that he wasnt here when we were negotiaing with the Mamic brothers then swiftly signed for Spurs. Add to the fact we offered more money to the Mamic brothers and more money to Modric and you still wouldn't be able to see that there were obviously something in the Spurs deal which made them turn a blind eye to immediate extra cash from us....i see the logic in what James said, seems perfectly viable to me. How is the fact that Modric has a sale-on and minimum fee clause a substantiated claim? By who? Source. Mort said we offered more money and more wages, and that was it. Modric himself has come out to say that he picked Spurs because of the manager and because they're in Europe. Why do you believe Mort and not Modric? You're just cherry-picking which quotes to believe in, but if you believe both Mort and and Modric, it still makes perfect sense that he signed for Spurs. And there doesn't need to be any sale-on or minimum fee clause to make him signing for Spurs any more comprehensible.

It is family though...

Why? Just out of interest. That is a good question, tbf. With Chez living in/near Paris and Gomis just having a game in St. Etienne yesterday.

One week after the season's done, the window ain't even open yet and we're 135 pages into this thread.

Should Keegan be the accountant as well so he can manage all the contracts?