Delima

I don't know about Frank Pingel, but Andreas Andersson wasn't unknown and he wasn't cheap and youngish young ? If you like what you saw about Beckford last night and you are confident about his ability then fair enough. I was just worried that league 1 to premiership step up is too massive - even top championship strikers have high failure rate in Premiership unless they are trully "special".

I wouldn't say that Andy Cole was excellent in finishing - his positioning is great however. I wouldn't say that Teddy Sherringham's finishing is outstanding either, but his vision. Robbie Keane's premiership quality is massive and obvious. Kevin Phillips works hard for the team.

If that's true than it is positive !

I don't know much about Beckford if I am honest, but if finishin is his best forte then I seriously don't think he will be good in the Premiership. I would personally have preferred an unknown foreigner - he is possibly cheaper, younger, and perhaps has higher potential (provided we scout properly). Bellamy was excellent but he is great at being direct and running at defenders.

Should be obvious that I am not talking about the scoring, when I said top scoring Championship strikers don't typically succeed in the Premiership ?

I disagree. From my experience (purely guts, not done the statistics) - top Championship strikers have much higher failure rate than top Championship defenders in the Premiership. A lower league striker would only succeed in the Premiership if he has an outstanding attribute. I don't see how Jermain Beckford is outstanding in any particular attribute (apart from scoring), it is simply too much an ask/expectation for him to score regularly in Premiership in my opinion. We need Beckford to replace Harewood, but I am worried that we would spend too much on him for essentially half season of productive work.

Sorry Yorkie - I meant summer

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1239839/The-free-XI-Joe-Cole-Ruud-van-Nistelrooy-Martin-Petrov-head-list-contract-stars.html Maxi Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid, 28) David James (Portsmouth, 39) Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid, 29) Juliano Belletti (Chelsea, 33) Philippe Senderos (Arsenal, 24) Fabio Aurelio (Liverpool, 30) Martin Petrov (Manchester City, 30) Michael Ballack (Chelsea, 33) Joe Cole (Chelsea, 28) Adam Johnson (Middlesbrough, 23) Marouane Chamakh (Bordeaux, 25) Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid, 33) Joe Ledley (Cardiff, 22) Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal, 29) Jermaine Beckford (Leeds, 26) Morten Gamst Pedersen (Blackburn, 28) Paul Scharner (Wigan, 29) Louis Saha (Everton, 31) Adriano (Flamengo, 27) Can we at least try to get Adriano, Paul Scharner, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Louis Saha, Joe Ledley, Marouane Chamakh, Adam Johnson ? How about Christoph Metzelder, Michael Ballack ?

I was on about the defensive part. My fault I didn't make it clear.

They signed him for less than 65k, let alone 650k. Yeah, it was mentioned on MOTD recently. How can you say Zat Knight is a solid buy for £4m but for the same price their most talented player (M.Taylor) is overpriced? I stand corrected on Cohen's transfer figure. And you are right, Knight I should have said overpriced.

Apart that Cahill is a better defender than Taylor - can you please explain how different is Cahill from Taylor ?

Gary Megson should be sacked long time ago. He has an unimpressive track record, his football tactic is nothing, his transfer history is so-so. In short, he is an impressive nothing manager. Gary Cahill - £5M - Good long term business no doubt, but I don't rate him as high as others. I think he is one of those hardman-looking-but-that's-it defender in Dawson / Taylor mould. Fabrice Muamba - £5M - Good long term business no doubt, but he is not the immediate solution Bolton needs. Matthew Taylor - £4M - overpriced. Johan Almander - £8M - unfortunately things did not work out Riga Mustapha - unknown - he is an established top flight player from La Liga - why is him not playing for Bolton ? Zat Knight - £4M - solid buy, not a bargain Grétar Steinsson - £3.5M - solid buy, not a bargain Mark Davies - unknown - good buy, but not an instant solution Ivan Klasnić - Excellent loan deal Tamir Cohen - £650k - excellent buy Sean Davies - unknown - solid player Danny Shittu - £2M - I thought he would be a good buy, but I was wrong as much as Megson £32M minimum for 2 summers & 2 winters. Many of his buys are good for long term, but they are not thrift. Bolton can't afford to invest on long term when their immediate survival is at serious threat. He was the wrong selection to begin with.

I think all of the following are attainable, in the sense of them willing to manage Newcaslte, not necessarily Ashley would appoint them. In my preference order : Marcellino - multiple miguel munez trophy winner. Still young, an excellent long term solution with a nice blend of impressive proven track record and obvious potential. Mark Hughes - have an eye for transfers. Worked wonder with Blakcburn. Still youngish, a very good long candidate. Co Adriaanse - has worked in different countries, so shouldn't have any problem with cultural adaptation. Track record is quite decent. Alan Shearer - sentimental reason. Chris Hughton - I would rather stick with Hughton than getting others. Hughton has earnt his right, and I don't see others being able to perform meaningfully better than Hughton.

Tough choice, very tough choice. Beckford, perhaps, because that's what Hughton prefers.

But Jenas, mental toughness ?

Ta ta Nixon, I like your squad. Good selection and blend of reality / quality.

So Nixon did you list Muamba because you thought he is of solid mid table premiership quality or is it because you think he is realistically attainable. No catch, genuine question, just purely interested to hear views from different people / perspectives.

A genuine question - do you reckon Muamba is proper midtable Premiership quality ?

Out of interest why Moyes ?

If you think Mancini is better than Hughes - isn't it a valid reason enough to sack Hughes ? Like you, I rate both Hughes and Mancini. I think the sacking of Hughes is not really justified, if we are only focussing on the Hughes and the team. However, all credits to Cook, he did secure a quality replacement, whom I rate higher than Hughes. So, from the grand scheme of things, it is justified to dismiss Hughes. Purely from business point of view, I would take Hughes over Hughton. However, it would be very harsh to part with Hughton given his works this season.

How about Zamil Kayatte ? If Michael Turner only costed 4M as speculated, then perhaps 3M and we can get Kayatte, and it is a very good business ?

Just that I am generally in agreement with Bruce regarding his transfer strategies and signings. I don't really rate Turner, but I know Bruce needs a stereotypical tough, no-nonsense English defender as his defensive mainstay. For the money quoted (~4M iirc ?) Turner was a good deal, he is just not very good. But then I don't think others were available.

There is where I differ from Steve Bruce. Michael Turner is the undroppable for Steve, despite him being the achilles heel. Da Silva doesn't work out with Turner - so Steve rotated him.

http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog/2009/03/02/top-50-most-expensive-footballers-adjusted-for-inflation/ Very interesting piece. Beware of the massive imperfection though : "A couple of words about our data: we got our figures from Soccerbase.com - a UK-based site which, while very comprehensive, still managed to throw up a couple of inaccuracies - which our wily sports team spotted. Anelka’s transfer from Real Madrid to Paris St Germain isn’t listed. Nor are Veron’s from Estudiantes to Boca Juniors, and to Sampdoria, nor Zidane’s from Bordeaux to Juventus. The reason, Chris Mann from Soccerbase explained, is that his site is focused on players transferring to and from English clubs - and therefore doesn’t list all world transfers. (We couldn’t find a site that does.) So we publish our graph with that important caveat."

Da Silva has been really decent. Mensah not sure. But Turner has been rubbish.