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Wouldn't mind this at all. Getting something from the Reebok has to be a must. We havne't done anything there since the SBR days.

A draw will suffice though I think this is the perfect time to pounce on Bolton. Their squad isn't any better than it was last season (which means Sam will know exactly what to do), and I reckon there's still uncertainty about Sammy Lee and all. 1-0 to us? Or is this the 'start of new season' syndrome when everything's still golden in my eyes?

definitely, Parky. Scanning through this thread I can't believe people have mentioned names like Miguel, Kallstrom (note - we should never sign someone with a girl's name) etc.

Hopefully our away record will not be as bas as Sparks' prediction. Sam should be able to improve it significantly from the Souness and Roeder days.

Diego or Deco. We need to buy quality, no reason to buy potential. VDV is the typical show up on some days, not on other day player. Sneijder is more of a winger who would be a luxury in Sam's system. We need someone to dictate the pace of the game from the center of the park, someone who has the ability to open up the other team with incisive passes, has a good shot on him and isn't afraid to dribble with the ball - only two fill those critiria well enough. Diego or Deco.

5th.

Given and his groin has been an ongoing problem for quite a while now. Lets hope it clears up once and for all.

Good stuff.

Whos that girl in your av Decky? Should be illegal to have those kind of pictures on a sunday when im hungover Megan Fox.

Eh? 02/03 - VRoy scored 25, Henry had 24 and Beattie had 23. Manyoo won the title, Arsenal came second and Southampton finished 8th. 03/04 - Only player who scored more than 25 goals was Thierry Henry (30). Pretty sure he guaranteed Arsenal a top half finish. Well, actually, they won the title. 04/05 - Same shit. Henry scored 25, second was Andy Johnson with 21. No one else got more than 14. Arsenal came second. The only anomaly in all the cases is Johnson's Palace who got relegated even though he scored 21 goals. 05/06 - Henry scored 27, VRoy scored 21, no one else had more than 18. Pretty sure Henry really helped Arsenal in that season as well. 06/07 - Drogba finishes top scorer with a measley (relatively speaking) 21 goals, Chelsea come second. If you have a striker who'll get you 20 league goals in a season, you're almost guaranteed a top half finish, let alone a striker who can get you 25, who'll, historically speaking, guarantee you a top 2 finish. In regards to Sven, people still think too much of his time with England. Comparing clubs and countries is like comparing fruits and vegetables - the two things are just different, they cannot be compared. Sven's job as manager of City will mean he'll be in control of many more factors that will affect a player's performance than when he was manager of England. Bear in mind that. And also bear in mind his exemplary record as a club manager. City will be a force to be reckoned with, especially if Thaksin keeps the money flowing. I said early 90s... And I was referring to your comment 'Today such a player won't even guarantee you a top half finish'. Such a player being a 25-goal striker I'm assuming? That's why I've shown you that 'today' (ie. in the last 5 years), any team that has a striker who scores 20+ goals is guaranteed a top half finish, and furthermore, is probably actually guaranteed a European place. The only anomaly was Andy Johnson and that, to an extent, can be explained by the fact that he scored something like 10 penalties.

I fell asleep during that match in a bar at Dublin for a brief spell, that's how much I was enjoying it. This match has to be better than that one. There is no way two good teams can cancel each other out in such a way again. blueyes.gif Well, at least I'm hoping so.

Don't really care who wins, just hope it's a better game of football than the disaster that was the FA Cup.

Was Tevez not signed yesterday? Beattie as well. There's nothing significant that will stop a transfer on the weekend if it is immenent enough. A medical doesn't take long, most contracts would have been drawn up before a medical is allowed to take place and the signing only really involves two people (the chairman and the player).

Don't think that's the case. I can't recall a transfer stalling because the weekend arrived. The only possible issue is to do with the LSE but that's irrelevant in our case.

Eh? 02/03 - VRoy scored 25, Henry had 24 and Beattie had 23. Manyoo won the title, Arsenal came second and Southampton finished 8th. 03/04 - Only player who scored more than 25 goals was Thierry Henry (30). Pretty sure he guaranteed Arsenal a top half finish. Well, actually, they won the title. 04/05 - Same shit. Henry scored 25, second was Andy Johnson with 21. No one else got more than 14. Arsenal came second. The only anomaly in all the cases is Johnson's Palace who got relegated even though he scored 21 goals. 05/06 - Henry scored 27, VRoy scored 21, no one else had more than 18. Pretty sure Henry really helped Arsenal in that season as well. 06/07 - Drogba finishes top scorer with a measley (relatively speaking) 21 goals, Chelsea come second. If you have a striker who'll get you 20 league goals in a season, you're almost guaranteed a top half finish, let alone a striker who can get you 25, who'll, historically speaking, guarantee you a top 2 finish. In regards to Sven, people still think too much of his time with England. Comparing clubs and countries is like comparing fruits and vegetables - the two things are just different, they cannot be compared. Sven's job as manager of City will mean he'll be in control of many more factors that will affect a player's performance than when he was manager of England. Bear in mind that. And also bear in mind his exemplary record as a club manager. City will be a force to be reckoned with, especially if Thaksin keeps the money flowing.

Don't think he's even in Newcastle atm.

An article from The Chronicle states that we've now raised the asking price to £8m and WH have backed out. Wonder why? Simply trying to squeeze more money out of them? Or are we desperate for funds?

:lol: some fantastic bits in there!

Vic has a point.

We're better off signing a proper midfielder for £6m. Smith's a striker, he's said so on many occasions and hasn't played in midfield for how long? A year and something? We wouldn't get value for money considering the fact that our strikeforce already seems complete as it is. Even if Gudjohnsen signed it'd be an underwhelming signing unless one of our strikers left. Surely there's an actual midfielder out there who's available for six fucking million pounds ? None of this signing a striker to play midfield nonsense.

If it's Smith it'd really be an underwhelming signing. He hasn't had a stretch of competitive football in how long..??! His finishing ability is overrated. If he was really that good of a striker surely he would have played more for Manyoo and/or his career goalscoring record would be much better than it currently is. Comparing him to Shearer is an insult to Shearer. Smith is a grafter. Works hard, runs alot but no real end product. He isn't the striker to get you many goals, he's there for the hold-up play but honestly how many games will he be getting in that position? Does anyone prefer him over Owen, Martins and Viduka? Some may even prefer Ameobi over him. So is he worth £6m then? Especially in our situation of need. Further, his attributes don't make him the best of midfielders as well. Does he have an eye for a pass? Not that I've seen. Does he have the dribbling skills to drive a team forward or launch counter-attacks (in the way Dyer can)? Again, haven't seen any evidence of that. He's versatile, I'll give you that. But he's not one who'll impact the game and as we've seen over the past couple of years, we seriously need someone to dominate the game from the center of the park (in the way Butt, Barton etc. can do). He's very limited as a midfielder. Not agile or creative enough to dictate the flow of the game, which means the only thing he can do is be the defensive 'stopper', which I would think is what Butt is there for. Is a substitute DM worth £6m?

Could it be possible that Ashely and his team knew all about the debt and the original plan was to actually try to reduce it first? It'd be quite naive to assume that they didn't know about the debt beforehand (since we all seem to know about it) but that does not exclude the possibility that their original plan was to withhold the club's expenditure and then find ways to reduce the debt, which is obviously (along with finding ways to increase revenue) what the review is about. Does it really matter what is done first though? Long term the only thing that'll be matter is the amount of £ that Ashley invests in the club. Like Chez mentioned, if he wipes out the debt that's essentially giving £80m to the club. Short-term we'll be fine with a couple of makeshift defenders. Sam and Owen will be worth more than a few points for us I expect so we'll have a decent chance of Europe and then push on in the next season. There's really no rush considering we seriously haven't been going anywhere in the past few years. Edit - Expectations need to be lower, for Sam's benefit and the club's future.

Tbf, Vic was the first person who mentioned the term 'real' fan. Can't blame the kid for trying to argue his case, which is quite a decent one.

Touche. Kinda forgot about that.

Tbf to .com, when Bramble was sent packing, they merely asked whether Allardyce was sticking to his word when he said 'everyone gets a clean slate', a perfectly legitimate question since Allardyce did mention those words (or words to that efffect) in his first press conference.