afar

If rumours are true and we don't have a huge transfer kitty this closed season, then I think we should stick with Milner. IMO, we have much more pressing concerns, central midfield, centre back and a Viduka replacement would be much higher on my priority list if I were KK.

Wot no Smith ?

TBH, if any player in the summer is left with the choice between us and them I would be shocked if they chose us. If they did they would only be motivated by money and that's hardly the type of player we need.

Don't know if this has been posted already but beeb goosip says: Tottenham and Newcastle are to battle it out for Manchester City defender Richard Dunne. (thisislondon.co.uk, 1125 BST) Looks like we'll lose another Alreeady in the dedicated Richard Dunne thread, sorry to repeat, ignore this.

I think this is just a sign of things to come for this transfer window. I predict a huge inflation in the fees due to extra money floating around and Euro/GBP exchange rates. I think we'll be very surprised by some prices, 10 mill for example will probably only buy you a decent Prem player. To get any true quality 15 and up will be the starting point.

TBF I think there will be enough to keep the jornos busy outside of NUFC over the weekend, but once the dust settles on the PL season and silly season opens up again, I'm sure we'll get some more unwanted attention.

It's principles are spot on though IMO. It encourages kids to stay in school and allows many from disadvantaged upbringings to attend university, hopefully learning a few things on the way. The universities benefit hugely from the revenue generated by the interest in the college game. The NFL draft for me is such a terrific spectacle full of drama and excitement, ESPN described it as the greatest non sporting event in sports I'm playing Madden 08 a lot at the moment and mostly sim thru the season to get to the draft I can understand the athletes being unhappy because it shortens their career earnings, but is that a bad thing ?

They already have plans, by limiting foreigners but at the end of the day UEFA can't do a whole lot change our PL, that is governed purely by the FA. FIFA being the world's governing body have some power however at the end of the day it'll be what the FA that makes decisions about the PL and they will do nothing to stop the gravy train it is on, they will quite rightly only sanction changes that favour English clubs not clubs in Spain, Italy or Latvia or wherever. I can see a day when UEFA and the PL lock horns and to be perfectly honest due to the worldwide appeal of the PL, I would back the FA to come out as winners. Nah. The FA are members of UEFA and FIFA. If it came down to brass tacks, England would be kicked out of the European Championships and the World Cup and English clubs would be turfed from the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. No way would the FA even dare to take UEFA on. The consequences of losing would be unimaginable. Unimaginable perhaps but the power of the PL is stronger than you think. The world cup is perhaps the only other football competition that has more worldwide appeal. This is what UEFA and FIFA are worried about and why they are trying to pull in the reins. UEFA needs the PL clubs to give credence to it's Champions League. Kicking English clubs out, like they did in the past is just not an option anymore. UEFA and FIFA would risk an awful lot in enforcing unwelcome restraints on trade for the PL, the FA would not take it lying down.

They already have plans, by limiting foreigners but at the end of the day UEFA can't do a whole lot change our PL, that is governed purely by the FA. FIFA being the world's governing body have some power however at the end of the day it'll be what the FA that makes decisions about the PL and they will do nothing to stop the gravy train it is on, they will quite rightly only sanction changes that favour English clubs not clubs in Spain, Italy or Latvia or wherever. I can see a day when UEFA and the PL lock horns and to be perfectly honest due to the worldwide appeal of the PL, I would back the FA to come out as winners.

I don't really think everyone is believing the press tbh. I think what a lot of people are annoyed with is the fact that this episode was alowed to happen.

I honestly don't see what he's done to warrant anything close to a bollocking. This has been fueled by the press, end of story. I'd put money on it hardly being mentioned at the meeting tbh. What he's done is given the press a reason to go after the club again. When there was absolutely no reason to do so. If I was his boss I would bloody have a word and tell him to mind what he says, but at the same time I would try to draw a line under it and paint a happy picture to the outside world. At the end of the day this should have been an internal affair, KK should have held his tongue. If Kev feels he's not getting sufficient backing or has issue with the structure of the club, then airing those concerns to a negative press is not the best way to go about it.

Where the prem differs from Aussie rules and the NFL, that there is an alternative place for players to go and make almost as much money. A salary cap would IMO, just have the effect of lowering the general quality as talent then drains away to the Spanish and Italian leagues. What works really well for the NFL is the Draft process, I would love to see a similar system applied to the PL but I don't think it would it work, there are too many problems and we don't have the college system to draft from. The other thing that helps to ensure all teams have a chance to compete in the NFL is the Trading processes. You can't just go to one Franchise and give them $30mill for their best player, in order to aquire them they either have to wait until they become a free agent (and this is where the salary cap helps stop teams from just paying more than everyone else for the best players) or trade something for them such as draft picks and or one or a number of your best players or potential stars. But conditions for these other sports are completely different , I'm not sure there is a massive amount that can be done to change the transfer system to make level the playing field. The rich will just continue to get richer and it'll be up to those chasing to try to join that elite club by finding their own funding streams. Is it not a given when anyone talks about salary caps that it would be Europe wide? Otherwise it would never get off the ground. I agree Europe wide it would have an effect, I still think it would devalue the prem, as we have a dispropotionate amount of the top players in our league and will continue to increase that number of the next few years. so the prem would get weaker and the other leagues styronger. No way in hell, the FA and the PL chairmen would agree to that. Also getting all chairman/presidents around Europe to agree on anything would be a hard. In this case getting the PFAs to buy in to the process would be almost impossible, you could well see them holding the leagues to ransom with player strikes and so forth. If they did get them all to agree, what level do they then set the cap at ? 10 Million a year for example, might have an impact on the Prem teams but have no effect whatsover on the vast majority of leagues. So if you set a cap that's propotionate to to each country, then your back to square one, as the players then just go off to the leagues with more money. The other issue that they would have to come against is European law and freedom of trade, it wouldn't be long before a bossman esque challenge would come in and the whole process would have to be re thought.

Where the prem differs from Aussie rules and the NFL, that there is an alternative place for players to go and make almost as much money. A salary cap would IMO, just have the effect of lowering the general quality as talent then drains away to the Spanish and Italian leagues. What works really well for the NFL is the Draft process, I would love to see a similar system applied to the PL but I don't think it would it work, there are too many problems and we don't have the college system to draft from. The other thing that helps to ensure all teams have a chance to compete in the NFL is the Trading processes. You can't just go to one Franchise and give them $30mill for their best player, in order to aquire them they either have to wait until they become a free agent (and this is where the salary cap helps stop teams from just paying more than everyone else for the best players) or trade something for them such as draft picks and or one or a number of your best players or potential stars. But conditions for these other sports are completely different , I'm not sure there is a massive amount that can be done to change the transfer system to make level the playing field. The rich will just continue to get richer and it'll be up to those chasing to try to join that elite club by finding their own funding streams.

It'll be an interesting team selection for KK and might give us a clue as to what's in his plans for next season. He has 2 spots to fill, does he revert back to 4-4-2 or stick with 4-3-3. He rational behind going with the 4-3-3, was that this system alowed him to play all his best players, with Viduka out, that's not the case anymore. Does he swap like for like, with Smith coming in for Viduka, if so he must think Smith is not the lost hope, partically all the fans think he is. If he opts for Carroll ahead of Smith as a direct replacement, I think it's a fair bet that he'll bmove Smith on in the summer. I think he's more likely to go to a 4-4-2 though, so to do that he needs to add 2 midfielders. I expect him to add Smith and Zoggy. But he could go with Duff instead and take a chance, in a game that has very little riding on it from our point of view, with Lua Lua on the right. I think if Zoggy doesn't get the start, it's pretty nailed on (if it isn't alredy) that he's off. Without Cahill and Arteta, it's more than possible to go to Everton and get a result but I have a feeling most of our players mentally went on holiday after the Chelsea game, barring the highly unlikely Wigan beating Manure, we'll finish 12th, win loose or draw this one. Prediction from me 2-0 to Everton.

This story has got more air time this week than the build up to potentially the most exciting finish to the prem season in years. Only now late on Friday are we seeing attention diverting to the battle for the title and who'll drop. We really should be just there to make up the numbers on Sunday at Goodison, but I bet the camera focuses more on KK than Moyes during the game. And this is what the likes of Brummie and 1878 (or whatever) just don't get, we still have a bigger aura about us than their teams despite being so far behind them from a footballing point of view. Anyway lets hope this draws a line under the subject and further differences in opinion between the two parties are conducted in private where this matter should have been. I'm just hopeful that there hasn't been any lasting damage, it's a hard sell attracting players to any club outside the top 4 especially an non London based one already, KK's comments have hjust made it even harder, lets pray footballers have short memories.

I agree on Alonso, would be a great signing and a good fit for our needs. I'm not sure he would fancy the move though, still if you don't buy a ticket you won't win the lottery.

Don't worry, Sam Allardyce will soon have them relegated, or if not him Steve McLaren. Good grief, they have all the money in the world and the choice of manager is between these two. TBF though, both managers are more than capable to getting them to where they want in the next couple of seasons. May be, but the fans will be suffering terminal boredom by then, I can't see three billionaires liking that. Not in a few years but really winning football is all that is required in the Championship. If you think about it both are perfect for what they are all about for a club like QPR; who need to attract biggish players (for their current size and rep) play winning football to get promoted and have a manager used to fighting for survival in the Premiership when they get there. One ex-England manager, the other the rejected candidate. For a club that this year colud have easily went down again, thats a major catch. QPR will have done well if they get either IMHO. I agree. And should their money propell them to the top of the prem, that's just what we don't need, yet another London club. There's already 3 of them who are more attractive a proposition than ourselves, plus West Ham who have money to burn also, add QPR into the mix and we'll be really up against it in the transfer market, while Foriegners maintain this notion that anyplace outside of London is not worth being, unless you are a ManUre or a Liverpool.

Problem with that is the VISA/Work Permit issues, unless they are proven internationals it's hard to get them in to this country and if they are proven internationals they've probably already moved to Europe anyway. Maschareno and Tevez were the exception to this, unfortunately there are not many of those around.

I love KK as much as the next toon fan but I have got to agree with many of the sentiments here, this does not appear to be sound management. I was so optimistic about next season and our future under KK, a week or so ago, but the Modric affair and the comments that have come out of KK since then have well and truely dampened my spirits. Maybe that was the intention, if so then it's worked, but I don't see the point other than trying to protect KK job, which is most unlike KK. I honestly thought KK was still KK, the eternal optimist, able to make believers out of unbelievers. These comments though have forced me to re think. If we want to compete for even the quality of player who resides under a top 4 calibre player, we need someone to sell the club, at the moment neither the chairman nor the manager seem prepared to do that. For the record I didn't expect a top 4 finish next season but to right off our chances of even pushing the big teams in the near future seems very strange and defeatist.

And another 2 pages of people moaning about people moaning about how long the thread is

40 pages were about him joining us, another 10 pages getting over/ accepting defeat & discussing why when he wasn't coming. That's still 13 pages unaccounted for ! Doh, I did it again.

Strange KK's cup record with us was pretty poor, I remember a win against Boro in the league cup when we were in the 1st Div and they were in PL, the 5-0 away to Royal Antwerp in the UEFA but outside that nothing particuarily stands out.

You talk about us building up to challenging the likes of Villa nad Everton for 5th but we are not that far away from them. We had a terribly disruptive campaign this year and still finished 12th. In fact if you look at squads player for player, there really isn't a huge amount of difference between ours and Villa's or Everton's. We have suffered hugely these last few years, from the lack of solidarity and poor management choice, while other teams have overperformed we have under performed. We'll invest in the summer and so will our rivals, I'm confident that we have the best manager of the transfer market in our mini PL league. KK will improve on this squad, that's for sure. There is no way we can challenge the top 4 next season or even perhaps the season after that but I don't see any reason at all why we shouldn't be competing with the likes of Villa, Spuds, Everton and Man City for the unoffical title of 'best of the rest'. My expectations Top 8, tbh anything lower than that will be a disspointing season.

63 pages on another teams signing, are we becomming more obessed with spurs than the mackems are with us ?? Doh, I've just added to the post count.

I agree with this. He didn't cost of a penny, was not one of our higher paid players. You can't fault his desire and work ethic but clearly not of the required standard for NUFC. I wish him luck and hope he has a long career, I can see him doing what Brian Tinnion did when he left us, he carved a very successful career for himself at the lower level. Carr is a competely different story, one of Robson poorer decisions IMO. This should free some room in the salary budget which is a good thing. As for Triosi, I think there comes a time when you have to cut a younger player when they haven't progressed, I think this season he should have been pushing harder for a first team place but instead he's seen the likes of Lua Lua move ahead of him. Again cost of us nothing and wish him all the best.