Dr Spectrum

Shrewsbury 0-2 Manchester City Played the proper team in the first half and we absolutely battered them 0-0. All the new signings so far got a game. Listened to the game on BBC Radio Shropshire, they were proper knocking one out over Petrov which was good to hear. Made 11 changes in the 2nd half, put all the muppets we're trying to replace on and they were a bit wank but Corradi and Dickov managed to score late on (Wrap up warm tonight, hell just froze over). Bit of a laugh listening to the small town comentators, its like another world down there. Not just the rediculously amateurish shite they talk (Such as Bernardo Corradi being a world cup winner and Didi Hamann having plenty of petrol left in the tank) and being more interested in their cup of tea than the game, but their whole attitude...slating Sven for not effing and jeffing on the touchline like Stuart Pearce During the game BBC Radio Manchester reported that we've got 4 signings coming in tomorrow and Vassell is off to Turkey.

Cool. Reading the reports floating around the interweb he's gonna cost 5 point something, apparently a pretty cheap contract too (Less than 20k/w). Seems like a good deal. And now more dodgy translations, this time from a player I've actually seen, Elano. "Before accepting their offer I asked if they would be buying more players and if the idea was to build a team capable of challenging for top spots (over the coming seasons). When they said yes, I accepted the offer. Sven is a great man, with personality. I look forward to working with him and play in the Premier League. The management team also said they would try to get other brazilian players in, but I'm afraid I cant give you their names." (Blatantly Kaka) http://globoesporte.globo.com/ESP/Noticia/0,,MUL80776-4843,00.html Manchester Evening News expect him to be a City player within the week. link They are assembling a handy squad, but how many Serie A players have adapted well and made it in the Prem? Risky strategy IMO. How many of them have been managed by someone with Serie A experience who can speak a bajillion different languages? I have faith in Sven. Especially given his apparent buying in pairs strategy. Two Bulgarians, Two Brazillians, Two Italians...should help these guys settle in.

Dodgy web translations ahoy: Valeri Bojinov: "I have just talked with (Martin) Petrov, I'm very happy to play with him. I have to thank Eriksson that has insisted to take me: that's a great chance for me. thanks also to Lecce, Fiorentina and Juventus fans and managers: after all this time spent in italy i needed to go abroad" http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/index.php?action=read&id=69832 Is he any good? Looks great on youtube obviously but...anyone actually seen him play?

Javi Garrido. 22yo spanish left back. Sociedad boss Chris Coleman (How weird does that sound?) says ""He is a good player, but Manchester City has an interest in him and it is the decision of the player to go to England". Obviously a pretty ropey translation of a spanish quote but there you go. Various reports/rumours also suggest we're going to buy a (right-sided) defender from Croatia, so I don't think we'll be interested in Ivan Drago anymore. Made a bid, wasn't enough, moved on. He's all yours by the looks of things.

Well they didn't win it last season, Dynamo Kiev did. And they want to make an impact in the Champions League. Why would he go there? Their paying him 4 times what he was earning at Olympiakos (Double what they offered him to stay). Still, City or any other Premiership club - even Spurs! - could have beaten their wage offer and got him here if they weren't blown out of the water by Shaktar's transfer fee.

Vedran Coluka...I heard he's coming to City. (Here's a link from a croatian site...bit better than message board musings...). Never heard of him before a couple of days ago...but on Dinamo Zagreb's official site they have little Q&A's on the squad profiles. One of the questions they asked all the players is what foriegn club they would like to play for. Most say Milan, Barcelona etc...he said Manchester City

Juve reject City bid for Chiellini. El presidente: “Juve’s position is to refuse Manchester City’s offer for Chiellini” We could go back with more money I guess, but I doubt we will. Plenty more fish in the sea. In other news the awful Wigan sign the awful City reject Michael Brown.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/6744243.stm "Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's bid to take over Manchester City is on the verge of collapse, BBC Sport understands."

The magic of the interweb. Juande Branches.

City reject Thaksin doubts Revealed: the questions the Premier League will ask Thaksin

Bojinov...looks great on YouTube! Nah...not paying too much attention to all these now. We're gonna end up playing the little used 11-17-14 formation if half these rumours are true. Altho I have to admit to being a sucker for the message board chinese whispers. Manuel Fernandes, Giorgio Chiellini, Vedran Corluka, Elano...where are you...? :-[

Nery Castillo signs for Shaktar http://shakhtar.com/icons/shakhtar/foto/news/9888_31-07-07_n_full.jpg 20m Euros

He played on the right wing in that game. He isn't a wide man Where does he play then...?

He played on the right wing in that game.

http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=28852.msg544062#msg544062 Mystic fucking Meg.

Does anyone remember the Argentina vs Brazil game at Arsenal a little while ago? Elano scored twice, and I posted then that he could be Sinclair's replacement (I might dig that post up!). Would have walked over broken glass to get him here that day, but I was being ironic cos there was absolutely no chance that City would try to buy him nor any chance of him coming. But here we are. Same as Nery Castillo, watching the Copa he was a class apart, amazing to have all these stories in the papers about how we want him (Altho unfortunately it looks like he's going to Shaktar). Just being mentioned in the same paragraph as all these quality guys from all corners of the world while shysters like Harewood and Konchesky sign for some other mugs...I am a happy bunny.

No you bloody well shouldn't.

Anyone know if Giorgio Chiellini is in the Juve side...?

We better be quick about it. Managers of the calibre of Neil Warnock (Who was always my #1 choice) aren't going to be available for long!

We just lost 2-0 to Charleroi. Weakened side tho.

I'd guess Andrade and Grygera

They've played Mezzocorona(5-0, 18/7) and the Chinese Olympic team (4-0, 22/7). Fielded seperate teams in both halves in both games. Giorgio Chiellini partnered Jorge Andrade in central defence in both games...I'll be interested to see if he's involved in this game...any squads announced yet

Michael Dawson? :parky:

I can't see anything about Coco on the Gazetta website. However they are reporting that the rags want Juve to sell Chiellini to City so they can sell Heinze to Juve and the dippers end up with neither Also linking the "deeply disappointing" Boumsong with Valencia. And for anyone who doubts the Sven factor, one of their lead stories is about Sven tipping a waiter £100.