Parky

He'd implode. I've witnessed an anti-Duff rant in person, he kind of spits when he talks about him. He did appear a bit nippier yesterday, actually went past a couple of players.

Hope it all goes through now without any hitches. Very. very important signing. Fingers crossed.

Really? I confess to having seen none of pre-season thus far, but i've heard that Guthrie can pass the ball. ... Butt spreads the play more effectively and accurately than any other player in our side. Sorry man, but i just disagree entirely there. Spreading the play is what he simply cannot do in my eyes. The only time he became possible of linking play and/or suppying a bit of a throughball - was when Geremi was close by to his right, or Martins/Owen were floating around everywhere, again close by. All in that magical 4-3-3 period. I lost count of the amount of times i went mental at Butt 'spreading the play' by playing a shite, over/under-hit, inaccurate chip towards the corner flags. It looked like his only manoevre at one point. Butt shouldn't really still be first choice. I hope there is another Cm coming in.

still created our best opening though Who? milner at the end, unfortunately he only had smith in the box though Unfortunately it's typical Milner though. Looks great until it's time to deliver the final pass or strike on goal. He must have hit 20 crosses today, and I don't think he found a Newcastle player with one. The final one which he ballooned high and slow sums him up really. Milner:11 crosses 0 found one of our players.

We need 2 good midfielders for the middle of the park, even in the spells where we dominted there was no-one there to give a telling ball. Knocking it wide to Milner is just a waste of time. Butt is way past it and Geremi and Cacapa just look old and tired. Guti and Ricky looked good. Duff one or two good moments. Guthrie sprightly first half.

Still the same issues in the middle of the park. Something one good midfielder of suffiecent class would go a long way to addressing.

Gutherie hitting some raking passes down the right, generally wasted by Milner. Guti looks our best player so far. Moving around the forward line to find space. Smith, Ameoba,Geremi pure shit.

Still think he might leave.

IMO it isn't Bassong or Spear. I feel something bigger. I don't either, just trying to have a dig at some of those on here being pessimistic and preparing themselves for something underwhelming. Righto.

...forming a circle and chanting to craven images...

IMO it isn't Bassong or Spear. I feel something bigger.

can't see a story like that arising for a 15 year old (or however old he is) who's going to go into the youth team, nor not name the player when Spear agreed to join us a while ago and we're just sorting out a compensation package. aye. i was thinking the same thing. hope that its COLO. His haircut would become legendary... :joker: Betting wise I would have Colo at the top. Colo Warnock Turan Lennon A.N. Other.

You'd not be happy with Arshavin either then I take it? arshavin? i wouldn't judge him like i've not judged spiderman yet because all i've seen of him was the euros - the fact that he'd cost 24m or something doesn't make him good in my opinion arshavin is a player of the moment due to the euro's, i think for the money being talked about you could go and convince werder to sell diego (and the player to come with wages) or any number of other players who have scored goals and made assists consistently at the top level arshavin is a gamble at that price, a huge one Fair enough. I just don't think anyone would be complaining if we got him, for the very reasons I've mentioned (huge fee, current popular name etc). Nobody would give a monkeys about your perfectly valid concerns. The point is I believe we have a major struggle on to buy players who we can attract here, who are not demanding ridiculous fees and wages, will fit into the current and planned team/system without a problem and yet can satisfy the fans' desire to see the best footballers in the world lighting up SJP. It's just not that easy, because we're not the draw we were. If it's right that the club is seeking to get things back on a more even keel then I find that admirable, especially considering we're in this position exactly because we've thrown large money at shite and got nothing in return. Put it this way, if we could bin Smith and Duff from the wage bill I'm sure that would free up money for a really good player (one who we could trust Keegan to find, unlike Souness, Roeder and Allardyce). Sadly I don't think anybody wants them so we're stuck. you're probably right about a lot of things there - i for one am very, very disappointed that we'll be seeing duff & smith again next season (although i guess we'll see an improvement in both) as it would have cleared some wage bill room yeah, assuming that IS a problem dave, i just don't believe that had we rated turan (as an example) before or even after the euros he wouldn't have come - even if we had to pay 15m for him as long as he's not on owen style wages (how much can a 21 year old be on at a financially crippled turkish club?) there's no issue for me...you have to pay for players sometimes the stuff with spiderman & coloccini lend credence to this - they want to come to us for the "deal of their lives", that doesn't have to be 70k a week in a lot of cases but we're gonna have to be willing to pay the fees where we need to if coloccini is willing to come to us given the clubs he's played for & and his international pedigree what makes you so sure others WON'T? Turan is probably the best example you could have named, so I can't disagree there. We were linked before the Euros (might be total bollocks though, who knows) and I think we could have got him. But a good tournament and your agent suddely decides Newcastle aren't big enough, aiming higher and wanting more cash. Same for the selling club. So if we wanted him we certainly should have got it tied up. Then again, would his club have entertained a deal, hoping he had a storming Euros? Who knows. As regards your final question, given that the transfer window is still open, I'd like to ask you the same. see no reason we couldn't go back for turan, his euros weren't THAT good and there doesn't appear to be a path getting beaten to sign him.... as for your question back to me it doesn't quite work dave, i've just been saying the players would come if we agree fees with clubs and offer them decent/good wages...you're saying our stock has fallen so far they wouldn't come unless we pay them mega wages aren't you? coloccini & spiderman blow this theory out of the water - spain, turkey & italy all allegedly pay a lot less than the EPL these days so i see no foundation for the belief they'd only come for crazy money my problem is we haven't yet managed to combine reaching a fee with a club and an agreement with a player that's of PROVEN quality My feeling is the likes of Turan are still in the frame.

Definitely are very virulent strain of Spursitis sweeping these here boards.

Haha, as if that would placate the forum. Should hold em off for a bit...

Thought Warnock was s***? Solid PL player imo.

Hope it's one of these three: Coluccini, Warnock or Turan.

You think we may have had a target that was more number 1 than Modric!!!! Amazing please let me know who you think that may of been? Why would Jimenez be focusing on youth? He is a deal maker & contract broker & has nothing to do with spotting players at all. Vetre is a scout man we have had scouts before, why does this bloke get such a good write up? Is he the Simon Cowell of football, have I missed something about this fella? HE WORKED FOR REAL MADRID, SO DID JOHN TOSHACK FFS!!!! For the last time he was at Real Madrid for about 6 months. 6 months...6 months.

Agree. It will be the end of the transfer windows when people finally realise these recruitment men are as useless as their experience in the position suggests. I wouldn't go so far as to say that they're all useless. In fact I wouldn't describe any of them as such, there's a big difference between between being inexperienced in a role and being useless. People with connections at Charlton say there was real disappointment went to Real, and Real wouldn't have settled for an average performer tbh. Wise, as Sporting Director or whatever his official title is, knows more than enough to agree with KK what positions need dealing with and what sort of player is required. IMHO it's the next stage, convincing the player to move to Newcastle and getting the contract signed, is where it's going wrong. Coloccini reputedly agreed terms, then wanted more time and in the meantime, there's a question mark whether the transfer fee is to be renegotiated. My gut feeling is that it just needs to be a bit sharper to get the deal finalised. FWIW, I don't believe finances have anything to do with it. There have been numerous examples of Levy refusing to increase a bid to get a player or standing steadfastly behind the salary scale and losing players as a result. If Levy can't get a transfer completed as a package that he thinks is ok, the deal won't get done, it's as simple as that. And that, omongst other things is why Spurs always have a list of 4 or 5 potential players for a position, sometimes you can't get your first 2 or 3 preferred options. Would you say they've got most of their first and second choices so far? would you say you knew who the 1st or 2nd choices were ? It was more a query about the Spuds targets.....

Well if we knew all about it there would be nowt to discuss would there? Who's that track 'Higher Ground' by any ideas?

Agree. It will be the end of the transfer windows when people finally realise these recruitment men are as useless as their experience in the position suggests. I wouldn't go so far as to say that they're all useless. In fact I wouldn't describe any of them as such, there's a big difference between between being inexperienced in a role and being useless. People with connections at Charlton say there was real disappointment went to Real, and Real wouldn't have settled for an average performer tbh. Wise, as Sporting Director or whatever his official title is, knows more than enough to agree with KK what positions need dealing with and what sort of player is required. IMHO it's the next stage, convincing the player to move to Newcastle and getting the contract signed, is where it's going wrong. Coloccini reputedly agreed terms, then wanted more time and in the meantime, there's a question mark whether the transfer fee is to be renegotiated. My gut feeling is that it just needs to be a bit sharper to get the deal finalised. FWIW, I don't believe finances have anything to do with it. There have been numerous examples of Levy refusing to increase a bid to get a player or standing steadfastly behind the salary scale and losing players as a result. If Levy can't get a transfer completed as a package that he thinks is ok, the deal won't get done, it's as simple as that. And that, omongst other things is why Spurs always have a list of 4 or 5 potential players for a position, sometimes you can't get your first 2 or 3 preferred options. Would you say they've got most of their first and second choices so far?

Agree. It will be the end of the transfer windows when people finally realise these recruitment men are as useless as their experience in the position suggests. You're so sure its not the finances? Of course it's the fucking finances. Spurs are flush and easier for them to go the extra mile. Identifying and dealing with targets is farily comparible, although I will say Comolli is very good...Apart from the Bent fiasco of course.

About 6 months iirc.

That was the asking price. It's not rocket science mate. An asking price we won't pay.. Skirge, i'll simplify this for you. We bid, they accepted, we were about to tie up the deal when they raised the amount they wanted. I don't think it's a case of penny pinching, it's a matter of principal. I'd rather lose face and get the player in. I can understand why people are annoyed about it but the alternative is to look strong and miss out on the player. That's what it comes down to. Agreed. Our negotiating position is clearly not strong enough this window to turn our back on a deal like this...Time is getting on.