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2-0 baby!!! Pipat Thonkanya!! What a finish for the second goal!

Does it matter what the answer is? If there's one vote for yes, that'd be enough of a reason to set up a donate link on the site. Just set it up lads (and then alert the masses) and hopefully the contributions will be big enough to be able to get a new and better server.

Yea I agree we're not as good as before but 'Leesaw' (Teerathep Winothai) will hopefully progress well and fast enough as he is really the future of our team atm. Kiatisuk's still playing btw I've forgotten how old he is but I remember seeing him for the first time when I was like 7 or 8 and he's still there, the tit!

If we're going that route then Stig Inge Bjornebye is a must for the LB position.

Indonesia as good as Thailand?

Will be going to watch the Thailand vs Australia game next Monday. Hopefully will see Viduka, Kewell and the other Premiership-based Aussies lose

It's good although you do have to wonder about the the margin of error in this type of thing. Watching Wimbledon today, there was one point which I thought was out (and the replay seems to confirm it) yet Hawk-Eye ruled it in by probably less than a millimetre. I think it was the point that really rattled Federer, didn't he say 'there's no way in the world that ball was in' or something? Anyhow, when it's that close, surely the ref should have final say?

What I've not seen mentioned is that we'll get a motivated Owen either way. If he wants to stay and help the club, that'll be his motivation. If he wants to go, he'll be motivated to prove to the top 4 that he's still a world-class striker. You think a club like Arsenal or whoever will spend £9m (or whatever) next summer if Owen has another injury-filled or sub-par season? No fucking chance. He'll be motivated and a motivated Michael Owen will push us up the table. Ideally I'd like him to stay. I'll write something here that I'll expand on but basically Owen is taking care of himself, as every other person on this board would. He's making sure he comes first, and rightly so as well. Edit - When has Owen ever looked like he wasn't 'in it' per se? We all know that he cares about England first and foremost but if he's shit for the club, he'll eventually lose his England place. He'll be up for it this season, like he's always been.

What a cunt. Sam's spent a net of what? £2.8m? Roeder spent £15m last year. What a fucking cunt. Wish I hadn't read the article, Roeder just pisses me off all the time now.

Riquelme is a fantastic player. I don't understand the sentiment that he would fail in the Premiership. Honestly his care of the ball is as good as Zidane's (was). His technique is fantastic and that'd be the reason he would succeed if given the time to adapt. His lack of pace wouldn't be a problem, as it's certainly not on the international stage and in La Liga because his control makes up for it. Just look at the way he shields the ball whenever he gets it, the technique and control is sublime. He'll be a hit here if a team is willing to take the risk with a player with such a fragile psyche. The only reason he would fail would be because his confidence would be shattered (as it easily is) by all the criticism he receives from his first mis-placed pass.

An attacking center midfielder. Honestly if we get this position sorted, get someone who will drive the team forward, can see a magical pass and can control the tempo of the game, we'd be set. Him and Barton would make a brilliant partnership and we'd rocket up the league even if we don't make any more signings.

Interesting thought, if we make it into Europe next season, can the clause be 'de-activated'? Since this £9m clause was only activated because we missed Europe, does it become de-activated if we make it into Europe at the end of next season? That would be logical, no?

End of an era. He was the best Premiership player of his generation (imo obviously). Thanks for the memories.

Can't believe this thread has gone on for so long.

£17m for a striker who's had one or two good seasons in the Premierleague? No thanks. I seriously cannot believe THIERRY FUCKING HENRY is leaving for £16m and Bent will be signed by some dumb club for £17m. He's really one-dimentional and needs a partner to create things for him (or for the whole team to go through him ie. play 4-5-1). That's why it's understandable Spurs are going for him (Berbatov to be the creator), but I'd be seriously annoyed if we went for him. We'd have two or three pretty much selfish strikers.

This should be expanded to clubs outside the Premiership. Consider clubs like Forest or Leeds and you'll see that they meet criterion numbers 1, 4 and 5 pretty well. This way you can include all the 'sleeping giants' that exist in English football. Would be quite interesting to see where teams like Wolves, Sunderland etc. stack up against the rest.

Does anyone remember when Spurs offered us Kanoute in exchange for Shola and basically most of us told them to 'fuck off'?

Jesus, Arsenal are fucked. Wow. End of an era there if Wenger really leaves. What an era as well.

You won't be whooshed mate. I'm quite certain that Anelka has a clause in his contract as well.

Regarding the crazy buy-out clauses (like £50m+), that only happens in La Liga because it's the law. Every contract signed in La Liga has to have a buy-out clause and that's why some players have ridiculous clauses like £89m etc. etc.

[Parky-ism] Martins out for £13m and Anelka in for £8m [/Parky-ism] Honestly though, that wouldn't be bad. And Anelka does have that clause in his contract.

No idea about Reina mate, but I'm pretty sure Gerrard's contract could have been bought out for £5.5m after the end of next season, so I'm pretty sure that's why they had to resign him asap. It is certainly a good thing watching them implode in a way. If Rafa leaves, it'll set back the club by 2 or 3 years since a few of the players aren't good enough but it's only Rafa who's making it work somehow. Good times

His love for football will be a factor considering he doesn't own any more shares in Arsenal (sold to the Stan bloke, innit?) and isn't exactly loved by the Arsenal board.

They had to sign those players because of the new FIFA ruling that meant they could 'cancel' their contract if it has two years left or something like that. Totally understandable why they would want to sort that out now, especially since they probably promised the players something like 'we'll sign him and him, and yea him too'. Imagine what would happen if they tried the other way around and not gotten the big signings? Gerrard, Carragher etc. surely would have second thoughts of whether to re-sign or not. Anyhow, saying that, I'm still hoping that they'll be relegated next season

FWIW, Michael Owen is clearly our 'best' player. But, he's not our 'most valuable' (value to team, not in terms of £) because he's hardly played in the past 2 seasons. Do you see my point about a criterion?