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He made a mistake, one which didn't end up being costly btw so I don't see why he needed to retire. Or why he's still retiring now. The fans will get over it, and it'll blow over eventually. No need to give it all up.

The signing bonus is why it's being done. And of course the new rule about being able to buy out their contract and basically become a free transfer. Isn't that what Flamini is planning on doing btw?

Name is actually pronounced with a 'Y', so it's 'Yokdeniz' with a Turkish accent of course. He's alright, I used to watch highlights of the Turkish league with one of my mates and he's decent. Versatile, has some pace but pretty small and his control and technique is only decent. For a £1m though, he'll be good value, no doubt about that.

It's the same thing with Ashley man. He's said all the right things through his 'source' till now but of course, we won't know what he'll actually do when (if?) he gets full power. Anyone who's looking to buy us will essentially be focused on the profit at the end of the line. SJH, Freddy, Ashley, whoever really. And the only way they're gonna get this profit is if we're successful enough.

Chicken flied lice for me.

Voted Ashley but actually interested in the Chinese bloke. Do keep an open mind. We have no idea what his plans for the club are. Who knows? Maybe he's willing to throw more money at the club than Ashley? He already does own one football club so he'll have an idea how to run it as well. Keep your mind open until all this is decided for us because it's not like we can actually do much about it. It'd be a real shame if the new owner bought in and is instantly disliked by the fans for no real reason.

Gerrard was actually decent man, what you on about?! He scored 2 goals and generally did more than just about everyone but Hargreaves. Rooney was only shit because of the injury/being unfit though I'll give you on the Lampard thing because he definitely was atrocious.

He was good before he moved to Bayern but since then he's been in and out of the team (like the rest of the Bayern strikers). Still a good player imo and will accept his squad rotation role.

Just in case anyone has forgotten, it's not like England played well the last time Lampard was 'dropped'. Here's a reminder.. Read from page 9 onwards.. http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=37700.200 Lampard gets too much of the blame for the whole team being ineffective and shit. Joe Cole did fuck all today, and there wasn't any support from the fullbacks either. Lampard and Gerrard don't mix, true, but it's unfair to actually blame only Lampard and conveniently forget that England were pathetic in the last game in which he didn't play and everyone seemingly got their wish.

Agreed.

I don't think it's worth the risk personally. £8m is just too much for someone who hasn't looked interested in football over the past season, especially for someone so young and actually unproven. Where's the drive? Where's the hunger? I refuse to believe that it can actually just disappear because he couldn't complete a move away from the club he made his name at. He's had one good season and that's it. Not worth £8m imo.

The next time he regains his form, the top 4, especially Arsenal, will come sniffing about again and there's nothing to suggest that he'll remain loyal and/or ignore their interest. He was captain of a club man!! And yet let the whole team down because he couldn't complete his £15m move to Arsenal.

Some of Arsenal's player contracts are probably leftovers from when they went undefeated and thus, players like Ljungberg, Campbell, Henry, Pires and all would have been earning quite a lot. The new generation also look like they're going to be demanding a high wage or they'll be fucking off soon enough (such as Fabregas for one).

He's not man. He's just simply stating an obvious fact. The team that went undefeated had players like Vieira, Lauren, Bergkamp etc. experienced heads who stayed cool under pressure. The current team filled with youngsters still has some way to go but they're only going to get better anyway, especially when a few more experienced players arrive this summer.

The joy of seeing a double-negative used incorrectly

this i also think if anyone can get the best out of barton, its big sam You wouldn't trust Wenger, Mourinho or Fergie then?

Possible replacement for him as well? You know, when he starts his 'I'd love to play in Spain one day' 'I think Madrid are a great team' 'I think Barca are a great team' thing. Maybe these two players are just a precaution in case Ronaldo gets his head turned by his agent/Madrid/Barca again.

And their fans will tell you Chelsea try and buy the league... We should do the same

ABola says both transfers are agreed. But it wouldnt really make sense for a club llike united to gamble big money on two foreign, untried youngsters. Hello, Cristiano Ronaldo anyone?

Holy shit. Now that's splashing some dough!

He has a FUCK LOAD of money but whether he's willing to actually splash around remains to be seen. He's a shady character and his reign as PM ended with allegations of corruption, cronyism etc. the usual Thai politics stuff. Saying, you can't tell how he's going to run a football club from his experience of running a freaking country. Tell you what though, he is innovative and will bring new, and different, ideas to running a football club. He did change the economy (for the better imo) and did serve as PM during what was probably our best economic years in quite a while. Anyhow, I actually hope the deal goes through because that'll rule him out of a return to politics for the foreseeable future

Given would make a shit captain, cant even marshal his defense properly nevermind a whole team. But you can't make a decent case for anyone else at the club for the captaincy, Nonsense tbh, mate! I'd have Nobby and Butt ahead of Given in the pecking order. Solano's not even guaranteed to start every game next season tbh. His form fluctuates and he's the technical type of player who'll drift in and out of the game (especially when he's playing in midfield). We shouldn't make him 'undroppable', as Parker sadly was. With Butt, even though he's forgiven for the Cardiff incident, it certainly isn't forgotten. His started off brilliantly (against Boro away I think), but then faded and ended his season on that horrible note which was Cardiff. Then he disappeared on loan for a season. Even though he's arguably our player of the season, that fact is tainted by the more important fact that this was our worst season for fucking ages man!! And who's to say he'll be able to continue to perform like he has? I don't see him as captain material, as well. We don't have any players in the team who are natural leaders, which is why I'm saying Given because I don't want to see another case of a player losing form but yet the manager is afraid to drop him because he's the captain. Given's consistent, has actually saved us on numerous occasions, shown his loyalty to the club, practically undroppable just by himself and not injury-prone. That's why Given's case trumps everybody else's.

Given would make a shit captain, cant even marshal his defense properly nevermind a whole team. That's a myth. And tbh, it's not like he has the best defense in front of him eh? It's not even his job ffs. The only time we've had a decent central defender in our team (Woodgate btw, in case you were wondering), our defence looked and was good (enough). If we had decent defenders, they wouldn't need to be 'marshalled'. Do you see Petr Cech marshalling John Terry? How about Buffon marshalling Cannavaro (when Fab was at Juve)? How about Reina marshalling Carragher? No. Was Shearer the type to shout at his teammates and lift them onto a higher place? No. Did he need to be? Again, no. There is a case against Shay being given the captaincy, that I'll admit. But you can't make a decent case for anyone else at the club for the captaincy, which is why Shay deserves it. No i cant. Erm.. that was what I said..

Given would make a shit captain, cant even marshal his defense properly nevermind a whole team. That's a myth. And tbh, it's not like he has the best defense in front of him eh? It's not even his job ffs. The only time we've had a decent central defender in our team (Woodgate btw, in case you were wondering), our defence looked and was good (enough). If we had decent defenders, they wouldn't need to be 'marshalled'. Do you see Petr Cech marshalling John Terry? How about Buffon marshalling Cannavaro (when Fab was at Juve)? How about Reina marshalling Carragher? No. Was Shearer the type to shout at his teammates and lift them onto a higher place? No. Did he need to be? Again, no. There is a case against Shay being given the captaincy, that I'll admit. But you can't make a decent case for anyone else at the club for the captaincy, which is why Shay deserves it.

Given for captain ffs. He's the most logical and worthy. Butt can fuck off (not literally, just away from the armband). He's alright and he's redeemed himself after the pathetic performance in Cardiff, but captain material? Fuck off.