afar

wow major clear out at spurs,could all go very wrong for them next year Yep could go very wrong. It really depends on the dm we get in (if infact we do get a dm) and the replacements for Keane and Berbs. they haven't gone yet though , have they ? No but it look like they will (keane didnt even make the squad yesterday despite Ramos picking his strongest line up). The only way they'll stay is if we price them out of moves (more chance of doing that to berbs then keane). Think we'll get around £75 mill for all the players mentioned. Villa have offered £7.5m for Kaboul or £10m + Kaboul and Spurs get Barry. Personally, I would go with the second option but Barry has his heart set on the bindippers apparently. Now that Robbo has gone, Bentley is expected to be completed (subject to medical) tonight or tomorrow. You know this will only generate "ITK bollocks" type response MJ, don't you ? Thanks for sharing though, I do find the ITK stuff entertaining. I'm starting to doubt whether Liverpool will ever reach an agreement with Villa for Barry. It's entirely possible that some club can come in through the back door and pick him up. But whether Spurs have enough to offer him is debatable.

wow major clear out at spurs,could all go very wrong for them next year Yep could go very wrong. It really depends on the dm we get in (if infact we do get a dm) and the replacements for Keane and Berbs. they haven't gone yet though , have they ? No but it look like they will (keane didnt even make the squad yesterday despite Ramos picking his strongest line up). The only way they'll stay is if we price them out of moves (more chance of doing that to berbs then keane). Think we'll get around £75 mill for all the players mentioned. It would be a huge risk IMO to get rid of both of them. Wow, £75 mill would be a fantastic bit of business to be honest.

If ever there was a thread made for the boards resident twat (and I'm not talking about myself before the like of Brummie or Role Model chirp in), this was it. Welcome Shiteam. Let the fun begin.

Hey Heneage, 2 pages, very impressive, didn't think this topic had it in itself. Hope you appreciate me adding to your post count here

wow major clear out at spurs,could all go very wrong for them next year Yep could go very wrong. It really depends on the dm we get in (if infact we do get a dm) and the replacements for Keane and Berbs. they haven't gone yet though , have they ?

Or the proof that you're wrong. What about Pattison, Troisi, Edgar? The time to praise "the new setup" will be when the lads they are bringing in break into the first team. Come on UV, you know damn fine that we've done a terrible job in identifying and developing talent here. I've been miinimal to say the least in my praise for the new setup, but I'm not blind enough to notice that they have made attempts to rectify this area and I applaud them for their efforts, whether they are successful or not is another matter.

That's an oxymoron. Don't let your petty fued with NE5 cloud your view here Ozzie. Highlighting a small part of my text, where I maybe could have added a word like "largely" for clarity does not prove my point wrong. Only a complete idiot would suggest that the old board did not back their managers in the transfer market. Which is probably why our debts were so large.

It's sad though that the perception around the football world is that a player of Anton's quality has turned us down Whether it's true or not.

I don't recall KK having too many problems keeping the squad fit, the last time he was here. Whatever methods he uses, he seems to be effective. He'll need to be with the size of squad he's looking at.

I swear every single one of your posts is made up. what part is made up Well "bided" is not a word for a start !

Where's the money gone ? It's not like you've been spending beyond your means or anything.

This is one thing that encourages me about the new setup, they are geared to looking for emerging talent. We have really neglected this in the past, Zog and Krul are the expections to the rule TBH. It's a global game now and we can't rely solely on wallsend Boys Club to provide our talent pool anymore. Hopefully your friend is just one of many more we invite over, I wish your friend well sounds like he may have a chance of getting a deal.

How have we weakened our squad by 4 players? Diatta came in as a short term replacement for Rozehnal and if you want to include Troisi then surely you should add Frank Dequah who's been handed a professional contract with us as Troisi never made a first team appearance for us as far as I remember. Whatever, if it's 3 or 4, it doesn't matter, my point is we are still weaker, and we were already a thin squad. That's just a waste of your time to write a reply to be honest, and equally a waste of time for me to reply to your reply. It was a waste of my time to point out you were wrong? Then why bother ? Excuse me? Why did you fart or something ?

How have we weakened our squad by 4 players? Diatta came in as a short term replacement for Rozehnal and if you want to include Troisi then surely you should add Frank Dequah who's been handed a professional contract with us as Troisi never made a first team appearance for us as far as I remember. Whatever, if it's 3 or 4, it doesn't matter, my point is we are still weaker, and we were already a thin squad. That's just a waste of your time to write a reply to be honest, and equally a waste of time for me to reply to your reply. It was a waste of my time to point out you were wrong? Then why bother ?

How have we weakened our squad by 4 players? Diatta came in as a short term replacement for Rozehnal and if you want to include Troisi then surely you should add Frank Dequah who's been handed a professional contract with us as Troisi never made a first team appearance for us as far as I remember. Whatever, if it's 3 or 4, it doesn't matter, my point is we are still weaker, and we were already a thin squad. That's just a waste of your time to write a reply to be honest, and equally a waste of time for me to reply to your reply. Not weaker really when the contribution of the departing players last season was practically nil. James, as I said in my first post, the quality of those we let go is questionable to say the least but come mid winter when injuries mount up and if we still have this paper thin squad, we are forced to dip into a reserve team that opened up pre-season with a 6-2 loss to Newcastle Benefield and a lucky 1-1 draw with Gateshead. Then we are most certainly weaker. You can't just judge strength by the quality of your first 11, you have to judge it by your best 17 or 18 players, and to be honest I'm struggling to find 17 or 18 who are of a high quality at the club right now. Like I said we are weaker until the squad is filled again, at this rate that might not happen this summer.

How have we weakened our squad by 4 players? Diatta came in as a short term replacement for Rozehnal and if you want to include Troisi then surely you should add Frank Dequah who's been handed a professional contract with us as Troisi never made a first team appearance for us as far as I remember. Whatever, if it's 3 or 4, it doesn't matter, my point is we are still weaker, and we were already a thin squad. That's just a waste of your time to write a reply to be honest, and equally a waste of time for me to reply to your reply.

I remember quiet summers with the old board too, clearly you've just happened to forget about that. I can't believe I'm responding to this poster but anyway, FFS I'm not a Shepherd apologist, that old board got it wrong often most notably the "we'll keep our powder dry" summer. But however much you hate them, they undeniably backed their manager's in the transfer market and tried to act like a big club, their hearts were in the right place most of the time, despite their gaffs most notably towards the end of the reign when their time was clearly up and we needed a change. But Ashley's proved nowt so far, absolutely nowt, until he starts providing the funds to help the manager improve the team on the pitch I'll remain sceptical.

Don't you see that panic buys are far more likely the longer you wait ? We really don't have much time left here. You don't have to make panic buys right now, I refuse to believe that deals can not be broker for players that would improve the squad significantly, if we are prepared to pay the coin to the club and the player. But the longer you wait the more desperate the situation becomes and the more likely ill advised panic buys take place.

Are you serious? Do you honestly believe Aimar is on 18K per week? Yes. I haven't read of any other figures to say otherwise as of yet. He is in Portugal the nation is a footballing exporter. Most of there national team play abroad because there is not much coin in Portuguese football. OK. Believe whatever you want. But where is the confirmation that we even attempted to buy Aimar and Ferdinand. Why would the club confirm we were unsuccessful with these two? Keegan has already said that we haven't always been successful...who that refers to is anyones guess. There is as equal chance of us on this forum knowing we were in for them as we werent. Noone knows but Keegans comments and past comments suggest to me that things are difficult. I think we were naive to release all the players we did from a small squad and assume that they would be replaced. The last 3 or 4 transfer windows have been slow and difficult for all but the top european clubs. Its not a new phenomenon it just seems that maybe are strategy needs tweaking. this is the first transfer window under the new setup so there will be some "learn by doing" and mistakes and I expect us to get progressively better as the seaons progress but we don't fully know what the brief is and how they are selling this to targets! Said this after Keegans post match interview on Saturday..it didn't seem to me we are well down the line with any given target. That may be the result of the slow market or our inablity to close our targets off. Time will be the only indicator of that! This is why a few of us were calling for more action early in the window. But we were shouted down as impatient and constantly reminded that the transfer window does not open until July 1st. You should know your transfer targets well before the end of the season and once that whistle blows to end the last game, the work should start. Money still talks and I have no doubt in my mind that if we had been prepared to pay a little more we could of had at least one or two bodies in prior to the Euros. It's false economy really because paying over the odds in May/June may be a bargain in late August. And another thing, this constant line that we are fed that "well other clubs aren't doing much either" is complete and utter bollocks. We need much more work than most teams in the league, in fact I can only think of the 3 promoted teams that need more than us. Yet we have managed to weaken our squad in numbers by 4 players. Despite what we think of the quality of those we've let go, when injuries bite we are going to be well and truely f***ed. They all seem to think, it'll all turn out fine in the end, I'm not so sure. To me that attitude is either naive, wishful thinking or supremely confident.

I think it's the complete opposite, we had bunched below our weight for decades, then realised the enormous potential of the club for a few years, and now seemingly heading back to inferiority complexes and lack of ambition. Of course we just need our billionaire owner to release the moths from that wallet of his and all this will change.

I don't think you could have summed up the place any better tbh.

Well I hope you enjoy New York Dazza. I spent a year living there myself and hated it But your circumstances are probably a lot different to mine. It's a fantastically exciting city to live if you are young, single, ambitious and with a lot of money in your back pocket. For me moving from Florida, it was the complete bi-polar opposite to a lifestyle I had become acustomed to. In terms of coverage of the PL, you'll be set, finding somewhere to watch the games is not too difficult, as the other guys have mentioned. And the coverage on TV is excellent. I live in Canada now, but we have access to much the same channels but rarely last season was I not able to see our game live, if I wasn't it would be tape delayed later that day. My Setanta subscription costs $12 a month, which is nothing for what it gives me.

Sunderand town centre is still a shithole though, in fact most of that wearside area around the 'city' is. Durham is in contrast a beautiful city and Newcastle of course has a huge amount to offer. It's a shame about the weather because on a nice day Northumberland is simply spectactular. The sad part for the dirty mackems is that selling the area is very easy as long as they don't take them into Sunderland

I've been thinking about this and I wish I could drop in a few obscure names that some seem to be able to do, but perhaps I don't watch enough of non PL football to have much knowledge of too many. There aren't many players in the PL that would be available, are of the necessary class and would come to the club, that spring to mind. I guess SWP and Bentley, could be considered but I not convinced RW is a priority position now we have bought Jonas. I would have liked to have seen Ashton, Aimar, Modric (of course) and even settled for Crouch coming in but that's not going to happen now. I would take Shorey from Reading, Cuellar at Rangers would be a good move IMO. But if we got those two we would still be short of a creative cm, young DM to replace butt, and a target man who can be relied upon, plus some squad filling. I have absolutely no suggestion for those other than going over old ground with Turan, Inler and that young swiss lad. I think at this late stage now, we probably have to take a few risks with more unknowns than KK had thought he would be left with.

Thanks Johnny I really wasn't trying to have a go and like I said above NUFC have been just as much of a nothing club over the last few years.