Parky

But is he faster than the bullet?

true but if a plethora of clubs are after a certain player (assuming the wages are the same) that player will undoubtedly pick a more successful team. I haven't noticed Man City have any problems. There are lots of factors but using Parky's example if I was a player and had the choice of Bolton or Man City (pre season, even before Sven arrived) I would say joining Bolton would be the wrong move, even though they had european football. This would be due to the size of crowd, potential, history etc at City outweighing a few games against some Estonians at Bolton I think a high profile manager also makes a big differance. not quite fair.. in order to carry out an experiment all variables bar one have to be fixed. nobody's talking about club prestige, history etc. Here's a hypothetical example: two teams completely alike except one has european football.. who does the player choose? now thats an experiment.. As in all other warks of business you have to sell the business to prospective partners/associates ie players. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules. Of course CL football makes a differance but I don't think Uefa cup footie is really a decider. It comes down to the manager/ambition and how the club and area are perceived by the incoming player. obviously there are other greater allures than uefa.. but to dissmiss european football alltogether as one, is just silly. The higher in the league we come this year the better the talent we can attract. Can you see I'm taking great and unwieldy pains to distinguish between uefa cup and champions league? yes i can see that, but painstakingly describing the distinction is totally unnecessary. nobody is going to say that the attraction of CL football is anywhere near the attraction of uefa cup football.. but teams in like newcastle wherein CL football is out of reach, it definitely plays its role; sure managers, stadia, history,fanbase and money are waaay ahead of european footie in terms of attracting talent - but it's outlandish to say that players don't hold a place in the uefa cup with high regard- afterall its an indication of a teams position in their respective league. Won't a team be a more attractive prospect if it's higher in its league? - thats all i'm saying, its not as if AZ allkmaar has more allure than us just because it plays in europe. No.

true but if a plethora of clubs are after a certain player (assuming the wages are the same) that player will undoubtedly pick a more successful team. I haven't noticed Man City have any problems. There are lots of factors but using Parky's example if I was a player and had the choice of Bolton or Man City (pre season, even before Sven arrived) I would say joining Bolton would be the wrong move, even though they had european football. This would be due to the size of crowd, potential, history etc at City outweighing a few games against some Estonians at Bolton I think a high profile manager also makes a big differance. not quite fair.. in order to carry out an experiment all variables bar one have to be fixed. nobody's talking about club prestige, history etc. Here's a hypothetical example: two teams completely alike except one has european football.. who does the player choose? now thats an experiment.. As in all other warks of business you have to sell the business to prospective partners/associates ie players. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules. Of course CL football makes a differance but I don't think Uefa cup footie is really a decider. It comes down to the manager/ambition and how the club and area are perceived by the incoming player. obviously there are other greater allures than uefa.. but to dissmiss european football alltogether as one, is just silly. The higher in the league we come this year the better the talent we can attract. Can you see I'm taking great and unwieldy pains to distinguish between uefa cup and champions league?

true but if a plethora of clubs are after a certain player (assuming the wages are the same) that player will undoubtedly pick a more successful team. I haven't noticed Man City have any problems. There are lots of factors but using Parky's example if I was a player and had the choice of Bolton or Man City (pre season, even before Sven arrived) I would say joining Bolton would be the wrong move, even though they had european football. This would be due to the size of crowd, potential, history etc at City outweighing a few games against some Estonians at Bolton I think a high profile manager also makes a big differance. not quite fair.. in order to carry out an experiment all variables bar one have to be fixed. nobody's talking about club prestige, history etc. Here's a hypothetical example: two teams completely alike except one has european football.. who does the player choose? now thats an experiment.. As in all other warks of business you have to sell the business to prospective partners/associates ie players. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules. Of course CL football makes a differance but I don't think Uefa cup footie is really a decider. It comes down to the manager/ambition and how the club and area are perceived by the incoming player.

true but if a plethora of clubs are after a certain player (assuming the wages are the same) that player will undoubtedly pick a more successful team. I haven't noticed Man City have any problems. There are lots of factors but using Parky's example if I was a player and had the choice of Bolton or Man City (pre season, even before Sven arrived) I would say joining Bolton would be the wrong move, even though they had european football. This would be due to the size of crowd, potential, history etc at City outweighing a few games against some Estonians at Bolton I think a high profile manager also makes a big differance.

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He simply will not let the Heinze affair go. http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2155803,00.html When asked whether he suspected there had been some 'tapping up', Ferguson fumed: "We will see." Chief among United's concerns is how solicitor Richard Green, who advises Liverpool on much of their legal work, came to be act for Heinze in his attempt to prove that a letter - signed by Gill and stating a fee that would be acceptable for the player - was an agreement to sell. A three-man Premier League tribunal rejected the claim on Tuesday but, with Liverpool supposedly having no direct involvement in the case, United want to know how Heinze secured Green's services. Ferguson's unhappiness with Liverpool has only increased following Rafael Benítez's outburst in which he effectively claimed United enjoyed preferential treatment, not just over Heinze but also in the drafting of fixtures and the 'smooth' move of Carlos Tevez from West Ham compared to the deal which saw Javier Mascherano join Liverpool in January." Nice bit of points deduction would be cool.

Dual nationality, but no two ways about it when football is concerned blueyes.gif Spy.

I'm going to throw a 'wobbly' if we don't sign a creative midfielder.

Lord have mercy! Still give Owen a reason to stay fit.

What are you some kind of witch?

He is going back to Arg.

true but if a plethora of clubs are after a certain player (assuming the wages are the same) that player will undoubtedly pick a more successful team. I haven't noticed Man City have any problems.

I think BB wants to dissasociate the overall spend with the transfer spend. Buying a business is one thing and will cost money. Investing in players to drive the business forward is a different matter. As I said earlier it is really the thread title that has caused the kerfuffle.

Look CL IS important, Euro football in general isn't. Players are attracted to a club if they have faith in the manager and can see the ambition...Something being built with a purpose. A few Uefa cup games here and there aren't really an issue. If you can't attract players if you're not in the Uefa Cup then you shouldn't really be running a football club or managing it.

You're ignoring the fact he says this season is a write-off already then? Wish he'd told me like, I'd have saved £250. I'd also like BD to explain how pointing out when someone is over £163m out in their estimation of what Ashley has spent and implying they hadnt even thought about what they posted makes me a 'hateful little cunt'. Thats abusive imo. Can BD also point out where i was abusive to anyone in this thread? I'm not going to stoop to his level on this. And nor should you. Thick, lacking in brains and fucking stupid cropped up in your attacks on peoples arguments. Abusive? I can't speak for those on the receiving end. Aggressively and unnecessarily over the top when there were pretty fair opinions being aired? Imho, yes. I reacted in a similar over the top way, and while I did change it almost immediately, no excuses, I have the unfortunate mouth of a sloshed navvy and apologise for that. I think the misunderstanding herein lies in the thread title. I would have some sympathy with the miscreant if he said he would have liked to see one or two more 'creative' or 'ambitious' signings to give us more options, especially at home....But to say the whole season is wasted is what has freaked people out. If I had my sensible hat on (and I rarely do) I'd say we are a couple of seasons behind the top 4 clubs with reg to development and the level of our signings, certainly Spurs squad is still ahead of us and probably Man City have closed the gap. But I am happy to build from a core of strength and become a more stable and hard to beat side and start adding the frills later.

This is the old catch 22 and on a lot of levels it is bogus. That is all.

Getting rid of him saves us about £2.5m a year.

At his age his market value is aroung £5-£6m.

Looks like he's lost the dressing room already.

Rumours are circulating that Spurs reps met with Capello at the Hilton at Heathrow yesterday. Spurs issue full denial.

Would like you to expand on that if poss. I would have said that if anything we have smaller numbers than even last years swiss cheese squad by my reckoning, and that didn't hold up to much scrutiny once the inevitable (yes, even for the magic healing hands of Sam) injuries kick in. Maybe an increase in general quality and the ability of a few players to 'do a job' in a few positions counts for something, but the paucity of numbers should not be ignored. So far, not counting the (it seems) inevitable departure of Luque, we are 4 players down on last season available to us in terms of experienced players, and 6 if you include the likes of Gate and Shanks. That rwill emain a concern (and that is all it is) until some bright spark fromn the academy hits the first team, or the shortfalls are addressed. That, is the point I take fromm BB's post. Hardly something to get hot under the collar about, or in the case of Chez and others to become hateful little trolls about. Supporters will always want more quality/quantity or whatever. At the same time it is a bit lax not taking into consideration the advances we are clearly beginning to make and are planning to make all over the club.

...what is this some new elaborate hoax?

It's actually subliminal identification. It's a defence mechanism that shows a sign of anxiety. ie Look I'm talking about 'the football club'...I'm not here don't look at me or blame me....etc... but he was talking about the club,is he supposed to talk about it without mentioning it ? I thought the idea of what Brummie was saying was repitition. No? was it ? thought it was the use of the term football club instead of just club "I always considered Stuart Pearce to be the worst (although both MON and SA are occasional offenders), but today I've seen two interviews with Sammy 'Championship' Lee, where he uses the term about 12 times." Brummie. I think his point is not so much that Little Sammy says it a lot, but that the word "football" is, in this instance, entirely unnecessary. But why does he? Why does he what? Say it a lot? It's clearly displacement. Here look at this big thing the club....Not me don't look at me....etc...Managers do it more under stress, Stuart Pierce started doing it a lot at the end... Just an observation.