Delima

Fine if you don't rate Southgate - who do you rate ?

Interesting indeed. Made a mistake during copy and past

Look at the managers in the Championship Simon Davey, Chris Coleman, Roy Keane, Gareth Southgate, Darren Ferguson, Jim Magilton, Brendan Rodgers, Roberto Di Matteo All 40 and below, and backed by very decent track records (by Championship standard) Brendan Rodgers, Paulo Sousa, Malky Mackay - relatively new and untried, all seem bright nonetheless Is this Championship the youngest ever (managerial terms) ? Who do you back to shine in the long run? Who would flatter to deceive ? Will this championsihp be the most refreshing or would it be the weakest in recent years ? My money is on Roy Keane, Ferguson and Southgate. ---------------------------------------------- Barnsley Simon Davey -38 years old, very young Blackpool Ian Holloway - 46 years old, proven Bristol City Gary Johnson - 52 years old Cardiff City Dave Jones - 53 years old, proven Coventry City Chris Coleman - 39 years old, very young, proven Crystal Palace Neil Warnock - 60 years old, proven Derby County Nigel Clough - 43 years old Doncaster Rovers Sean O'Driscoll - 52 years old Ipswich Town Roy Keane - 37 years old, very young, proven Leicester City Nigel Pearson - 45 years old Middlesborough Gareth Southgate - 37 years old, very young, proven Newcastle United Chris Hughton - 50 years old Nottingham Forest Billy Davies - 45 years old, very young, proven Peterborough United Darren Ferguson - 37 years old, very young, proven Plymouth Argyle Paul Sturrock - 52 years old Preston North End Alan Irvine - 51 years old Queen's Park Rangers Jim Magilton - 40 years old, young, proven Reading Brendan Rodgers - 36 years old, very young Scunthorpe United Nigel Adkins - 44 years old, young Sheffield United Kevin Blackwell - 50 years old Sheffield Wednesday Brian Laws - 47 years old Swansea City Paulo Sousa - 38 years old Watford Malky Mackay - 37 years old West Bromwich Albion Roberto Di Matteo - 39 years old

Be honest here, just because you don't like something Ashley/Shepherd has done, doesn't mean you wouldn't do it if you had the power. 1) How much money would you need to have in the bank before you were willing to buy the club in the first place? (assume club can be purchased for £100m) £150m 2) Who do you appoint as manager? Roberto Mancini, Guus Hiddink, Louis Van Gaal, Mark Hughes, Roberto Martinez 3) Do you take a hands on approach with the clubs operations, or do you appoint a chief executive? Hands on 4) Do you appoint a director of football? Yes, but making it clear that I am an intevenist 5) How much money per season on transfers? Depending on cash flow etc. My club will be more like Everton, Arsenal than Chelsea, Man City, Villa in terms of transfer spending 6) Who controls how transfer budget is spent? Me, DOF, manager discussing together with me making the final decision 7) Do losses (excluding transfer fees) come out of the transfer budget or out of your wallet? Transfer budget 8) What is your overall business plan? Best facility, best academy, best coach, best manager, best stadium ..... with no particular order 9) Would you ever intervene on any issue? Where do you draw the line on intervention? Yes. I don't micromanage, I don't intervene on who to buy, who to play, but I dictate the macro picture, eg attacking team, buy young prospects etc 10) Where do you sit on match days? Director box 11) Would you maintain a high or low-profile? High 12) How do you respond to the press? Tell it as it is 13) How would you make future managerial decisions? Roberto Mancini, Guus Hiddink, Louis Van Gaal, Mark Hughes, Roberto Martinez 14) Would there be fan representation on the board? Yes 15) Anything else you'd do? I want to build a lasting legacy

It is benefitial to the player - he is paid to leave What benefits does it bring to a club ?

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11827_5472045,00.html "Salgado must now decide whether he would prefer to have the final year of that deal paid off or accept the offer of a testimonial." I don't understand - why would any club pay off someone last year's deal in order to release a player immediately? Unless the player is seriously disruptive to the squad ? (of whom Salgaldo isn't)

I disagree. Mark Hughes hasn't gone for galacticos (Robinho being the exception). True to his own tradition, he has bought many pratical, good, hardworking players. If they fail to challenge for titles, they won't be far off. Given - proven to be good Zabaleta - proven to be good Bridge - proven to be decent Kompany - proven to be good De Jong - so so Robinho - proven to be good Bellamy - proven to be decent Who can better his record ? Taylor ..... bad player, but just a substitute keeper Toure .... had a not so good season, but was partnering Gallas who he apparently dislikes. Athletic, and had very good track record in Arsenal Lescott .... Great player, should have been England regular but for Ferdinand, Terry, Cole Barry .... Proven to be good Adebayor .... Tall, athletic, good track record, brings a lot to the game apart from goals. Santa Cruz .... Tall, clinical, good track record, proven to work well with Hughes Tevez .... proven track record, brings alot to the game I see Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal challenging for top 3. Chelsea and Everton 4th (provided Everton purchase a few more players. I trust Moyes' transfer nous) Liverpool top 6

Almunia Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Clichy Denilson-Song Fabregas RvP Eduardo Arshavin Fabianski Eboue - Djourou-New Guy-Traore/Gibbs Diaby-New Guy Ramsey Nasri/Walcott- Bendtner - Rosicky/Vela I'm very excited for the new season, and would expect to see a new midfielder and centre back (minimum) coming in. Centre back as 3rd choice, centre mid as an automatic starter! Why is everyone writing off Denilson ? A player with trully great potential, to be as good as, if not better than Gilberto Silva.

Where does Guardiola learn his English ??

Think we should stay away though championship grafters who are liely to be premiership no hopers. If we buy someone we should aim for (young) exciting players with potential to succeed in Premiership - the Wolves / West Brom model. The Swansea dutch midfielder Arsenal kids (loan) Man U kids (loan) Some random foreigners If we spend big I would like to get Kevin Doyle, Roger Johnson, Fabian Delph, Giles Barnes, Brian Howard Give a proper chance to Carrol, Edgar, Lua Lua

In the beginning of the season I genuinely thought Boro would do well this year. Emnes, Digard, Hoyte - all young and have decent pedigree - should have good debut season. Thought Alves + Aliadere + Tuncay would improve. Thought Southgate would improve. Shame none of above happen. I am worried that under Southgate Middlesbrough would struggle to be promoted straight back to Premiership. Best of lucks.

My 2 pennies - 1. Bentdner is very underrated. Yes his finishing is appaling for a professional striker but he always always gets into right position and he is improving gradually. I would love to have him here - a player for now and future. 2. Denilson is a good player with great potential. Whether he either evolves into the next Gilberto, or an aggressive Carrick. 3. It would be wrong to underestimate Wenger, and wrong to think this is the max Wenger can do. Wenger is a proven and with Arshavin, Nasri, RVP, Eduardo, Adebaor, Walcott etc at his disposal, they only need a pair of reliable central defenders to win the league.

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/296197/CARLOS-TEVEZ-EXCLUSIVE.html I hope - somehow we would sign him.

What is your point thouh KD ? GG said that Watford coukd challenge for top 6, and should be in top 10. Assming all your opinions are valid: Bunley Sheffield united WBA 2 Premiership rejects QPR Reading Derby Crystal Palace 9 teams. If Watord are behind all thse teams, then they will be 10th and challening for top 6 - exactly what GG said.

Cheers GG. Thanks for agreeing with me that Chris Eagle is a top player in the championship. Wouldn't disagree with you that a club does not need a team of superstars in the Championship. But better to have some than not. I only realised quite recently that Lee Williamson the ex-Watford player has left for another club. Always thought he is a good player for Watford and a good find for Andy Boothroyd. In my opinion McAnuff is unreliable, Smith a hardworking medicore player, Priskin not sure how to describe him. An enigma ? How is Will Hoskins doing ? Always thought that he has the talent to succeed in the Championship. Yet I have completely lost tracked of him.

I also have a hard on for Scottish reject, Newcastle reserve, Espanyol reserve and Stoke reserve. You single out Chris Eagles - perhaps you are the one sub-conciously obsessed with Manchester United ??

Agree with most of your post except that: 1. Chris Eagles is an outstanding player in the Championship. Martin Paterson is not bad either. Steven Caldwell and Graham Alexander. 2. Swansea - Jason Scotland, Ferrie Bodde, Jordi Gómez

For the past few years we have been desperately needing foreign managers - almost any foreign manager is better than any domestic manager. However the Premiership have improved leaps and bounds - the top 4 have significantly improved the general level - the British managers have learnt a lot, a lot from the likes of Mourinho, Benitez that I don't think any foreign manager will automatically better than a domestic manager. The foreign world is many fold bigger than the British world. We should still try to search and pick from a much larger pool of talent - and just not going foreign for going foreign sake. There are quite a few top foreign managers currently available, whereas none top British manager is available. Would personally love to see Roberto Mancini here. I am and will be happy with Alan Shearer - in today's 0-0 draw (undersired results I know), I think he has demonstrated ingenuity, adventureness, progressive thinking, and ability to chop and change as he see fits. Results didn't go our way - which is unfortunate.

I don't think it would be popular with Newcastle United at all. The fans here call it long ball tactics and the likes of Bolton, Stoke are deemed the black sheeps of Premiership. People have forgotten that a long ball is a long pass. It is a fair game to play and win with long balls and a long ball is completed is a fantastic long pass. When Beckham crosses, you realise that footballs have eyes.

Cant believe people are pciking Essien ? He has been injured most of the season. In order, Lampard Vidic Gerrard Van Der Sar Alonso Anelka Ireland Evans Young Fellaini Agbonlahor Lennons

Stephen Ireland - happy to pay up to 15M £ for him provided we are not relegated and he will not cost too much in wage

Search youtube for this: "Stand Up If You Love Shearer"

Yes, no matter if we stay up or go down

Luis Fellipe Scolari Bernt Schuster Roberto Mancini

Copied and paste from RAWK. Good assesement, especially with the bold bit. However I still think Park on his best is better than Kuyt on his best (as wing forward).