KaKa

MARTINS!

I have to say this is pretty nice. Hope they do more of this!

When you get onto the page, click 'Pop-up' so it loads into Windows Media Player. That's working for me. Thanks Dave. Sorted.

Can someone please tell me how to watch the match ... sorry bbut I just got in and I am a world member but it's not showing the match when I click on the link on the front page?

Oops ... my bad

Got a ticket for Saturday's games. Going to have a word with Cambiasso about moving up North ...

I think Sam is really trying to get the players used to the 4-3-3 so we will most likely see that formation I imagine.

Just gotta hope that he doesn't have one if his good games when Wigan come here. I doubt it. The crowd are going to get on his back from the outset and every bad thing he does will be cheered. He will definitely have a howler or he will get sent off for committing a bad foul because he is trying too hard.

The absence of a brain? Jokes aside, I actually wouldn't be surprised if this was the case.

I said it at the start of the window and I will say it again ... Harry kewell is their destiny. They were claiming Atletico were asking for £8 million and thatw as the problem yet he has only cost Man city £4.7 million. Tottenham still can't get a left winger! Sven is going to be a force for Man City, a lot of clubs are going to regret turning their noses up at him. He's doing a fine job so far. Very impressed with the players he is bringing in. Not at all going overboard but bringing in very good players nonetheless.

I literally couldn't believe it when I saw the clip this morning ... it was the same old stupid thing. No one around him, but he suddenly turns round and plays a back pass to the goalie which was too short, it was nicked by an attacker on the other team and it led directly to a goal. At that point I remembered that despite the recent uncertainty around us at the moment there was in fact plenty to be grateful for. I looked up to the Heavens, smiled and thanked the good Lord for his small mercies. Titus shall torture us no more. I know for certain now that he will never change. There is something mentally wrong somewhere I think.

Exactly, that last article I posted also contained numbers of players we've tried to get, it mentions 10 to 15, I think I've only seen about 30 players moving with Premiership experience and most of them have been players we shouldn't be looking at, you wouldn't mention them and quality in the same breath. thats the players who have moved,what about those we could be interested in but haven't moved. Well if they haven't moved maybe we are still in with a chance of resurrecting the deal so not as worrying. Sam did state that a number of them had moved though and so it is hard to imagine who he could have meant.

Exactly, that last article I posted also contained numbers of players we've tried to get, it mentions 10 to 15, I think I've only seen about 30 players moving with Premiership experience and most of them have been players we shouldn't be looking at, you wouldn't mention them and quality in the same breath. I'd have to agree. I can't imagine who he means. Ben Haim Distin Jagielka Luke Young Bouhlarouz As far as defenders go those are the only ones I can think of and only Ben Haim and Distin should really be considered great losses. The others are certainly not as good you wouldn't think.

Said everything that basically needs to be said right there. I wonder whether Sam's panorama episode might have made the new board a bit more cautious about fast-tracking deals which is probably what Allardyce is more used to? When you take into account the fact that both the club and the manager were such a big part of the bung investigations, and you add to this the fact that Mort is having a first go at his new role, you would have to imagine that things would be taken very, very slowly. The emphasis is going to be on ensuring there are no similar scenarios in the future. I'm sure the recent police raid at the club would have only further slowed things down and re-emphasized the need for things to be done properly. All very frustrating, but the former regime has to take the blame.

If you are tinking of prem players ... Benayoun would have been great but has obviously gone for the exact same fee. Someone like Malbranque could be had for about the same fee. The Asian player from Reading might not be a bad option (sorry I forget his name!). We could also go with a youngster like Routledge for less than what we get for Dyer. Bouazza at Watford is another youngster who has shown promise. These are just a few of the top pf my head, yes most of them don't have the supposed 'pedigree' of Dyer, but I bet for the most part they would be just as productive for us. I'm sure there are a few more options if you had a good think about it.

Age: 28 is hardly over the hill Injuries: fair point, but he does seem to be over the worst now following a change to his fitness regime. Hamstrings are hardly the same as having major surgery. Astronomical wages: par for the course for England players these days as to what he delivers, everyone has a different opion, from fans to managers don't they? Yours is probably different to mine, but I would be looking for at least £5m and the figure mentioned by Allardyce was £6m. He seems to be over them but his history of relapses is likely to be at the forefront of people's minds. Also, wasn't there something about there being some likely difficulty in getting insurance for him, due to his injury history, should he move clubs? I would imagine this would be a reason for wanting to pay less for him.

Who said that? Exactly what I was thinking! It's got nothing to do with what the fans think, but everything to do with the reality of the situation which Dave spelt out in his previous post.

Correctumundo. To be honest, I think we should be ecstatic if we manage to get £6 million. I think that when you take all the things you mentioned into account, including the fact he wants to leave then we would be lucky to get more than £4 million.

Sam was saying yesterday that after he has done the initial sounding out regarding a potential recruit, he hands over to Mort who then takes it forward from there. I think the board are being cautious, and maybe overly so, due to the bung enquiry which as a club we featured heavily in and which our current manager did also. I remember the Rozehnal deal taking ages and I expect it is the same thing that is happening with all the others which are in the works. Every other move we've made this summer has been for people who were on a free and so they were more straightforward. Barton was pretty straight forward too because he had a clause that just had to be met. I think we will get in the players we need, but I don't necessarily think the board are going to go out of their way to get it done as soon as possible just for Sam's sake. Their priority is probably to ensure the deals are being done right and we are not overpaying for players as has been our trademark. They've even chosen not to let Sam know what the budget is so that is a huge indication that they want to be in total control of the process. Taking all this into account I would imagine it would make Sam pretty nervous because other than identifying the players he doesn't seem to be as involved as he is perhaps accustomed to being. Hopefully, his fears are unfounded and the board are going about things the right way and are in fact focused on bringing players in, with the only downside being it might take a bit longer than we would prefer.

Wait ... I thouht he wanted to be nearer to Ipswich though? Well good luck to him. Let's move on and get someone better in.

All credibility lost ... what a statement. Not a patch on Edgar?

Brede Hangeland got pwned. Why the hell come out and claim interest when it blatantly isn't true same goes with the Chinese fella. Stupidness.

I'm sure we thought Bramble would hold his price and eventually grow when we bought him. He's not the experienced defender I was hoping for. Did we? We thought he could possibly be a star but suffered humiliation a fair few times in his Ipswich career to suggest there were problems there. Also SBR was about the only man in the Country rating him at £5m. Wenger is a keen admirer of Davies, and he isn't even French, says it all. Well if we pay £8 million for him then it's fair to say Allardyce is the only one rating him at that price, he's not a bad player but he's not worth anywhere near the price being mentioned and he'll have to do something spectacular for that value to rise, I watched him play next to Taylor in an England u21 game last season and he was all over the place, Taylor had to bail him out more than once. As for Wenger rating him, he rated Jenas as well but wouldn't go near him for the fee mentioned. What's £2m in the current climate though? £6m he's worth it, £8m he's not? Will that matter in a couple of seasons? It cost us twice that amount to sack our last two managers, 3 times to get rid of Souness, GR, FS & SBR. £9.5m on Luque, £17m on Owen, £8m on Boumsong and were bothered about £2m more than what Davies is probably worth. I can't see the logic in it myself, there is a talent there, one U21 game where he was all over the place doesn't make a player, or is that it for Davies now, utter s**** and he should retire before embarrassing himself any further? Where did I say he's utter s*** and should retire? I've said he isn't worth £8 million as he isn't that good, even the West Brom fans are split on how good he is as he done f*** all for them last season, I couldn't care less how much his fee is in relation to Chopra's as the majority of the country laughed when they paid that, he isn't even close to Taylor in terms of ability and he isn't the experienced defender we should be looking for to bring the best out of him. People seem happy just to be getting a defender in rather than how good he is. Isn't close to Taylor? When Davies was a first team defender for West Brom two years ago in the premiership, not to mention their captain where was Taylor? Davies struggled with injuries last year and that is why he was so up and down. To claim he is no where near Taylor is rather shocking. You say he isn't the experienced defender we need but what's to say we will not still be adding an experienced defender to the mix in addittion to Davies, which I think will be ideal. Or are you happy for Ramage to be one of our top four centre-backs next season? Being captain of Newcastle United is slightly different to being a captain of a Championship club. From what I've seen of Davies he isn't a patch on Taylor, he's physically weak for the size of the lad but is good with the ball at his feet, the West Brom fans rate Paul Mcshane a better player than him and I'd take their word for it as they watch them every week. As for your ridiculous comment about Ramage, of course I don't want him in the squad but the chances of us signing Davies and an experienced defender that's any good are rather slim, unless you're suggesting Davies will come here as back up which makes his £8 million fee even more ridiculous. In order to feel better about Davies being a backup at that price we could pretend we paid £2.5 million for him and £8 million for Rozehnal who won't be back up. My point is that it all balances out. Considering we got such a good deal on Rozehnal I think it would make sense. It's not like Davies is 28 or something, he will still have a chance to contribute and he would eventually end up in the first team someday. If we then brought in someone like Hyypia to, who again wouldn't cost to much, to bring the other three along and also to play against the tougher opponents like the Chelseas that would work I think. I've never seen this Rozenhal in a competitive match so I won't comment if it's a good deal or not, I don't think the idea of pretending we paid different fee's for them is something I'll be doing in the near future either since I'm 27 and not 15. I was obviously joking about pretending, although at a guess I would have thought you were about a lot younger than 15. We need another good, young defender as I am not impressed by Ramage and Huntington and Edgar are for further down the road. If Arsenal could pay £10 million for Walcott who wasn't even really in the squad last year then I don't see why we can't pay £8 million for a young defender who will be in the squad and who we could brin along till he is ready to partner Taylor for years to come.

I'm sure we thought Bramble would hold his price and eventually grow when we bought him. He's not the experienced defender I was hoping for. Did we? We thought he could possibly be a star but suffered humiliation a fair few times in his Ipswich career to suggest there were problems there. Also SBR was about the only man in the Country rating him at £5m. Wenger is a keen admirer of Davies, and he isn't even French, says it all. Well if we pay £8 million for him then it's fair to say Allardyce is the only one rating him at that price, he's not a bad player but he's not worth anywhere near the price being mentioned and he'll have to do something spectacular for that value to rise, I watched him play next to Taylor in an England u21 game last season and he was all over the place, Taylor had to bail him out more than once. As for Wenger rating him, he rated Jenas as well but wouldn't go near him for the fee mentioned. What's £2m in the current climate though? £6m he's worth it, £8m he's not? Will that matter in a couple of seasons? It cost us twice that amount to sack our last two managers, 3 times to get rid of Souness, GR, FS & SBR. £9.5m on Luque, £17m on Owen, £8m on Boumsong and were bothered about £2m more than what Davies is probably worth. I can't see the logic in it myself, there is a talent there, one U21 game where he was all over the place doesn't make a player, or is that it for Davies now, utter s**** and he should retire before embarrassing himself any further? Where did I say he's utter s*** and should retire? I've said he isn't worth £8 million as he isn't that good, even the West Brom fans are split on how good he is as he done f*** all for them last season, I couldn't care less how much his fee is in relation to Chopra's as the majority of the country laughed when they paid that, he isn't even close to Taylor in terms of ability and he isn't the experienced defender we should be looking for to bring the best out of him. People seem happy just to be getting a defender in rather than how good he is. Isn't close to Taylor? When Davies was a first team defender for West Brom two years ago in the premiership, not to mention their captain where was Taylor? Davies struggled with injuries last year and that is why he was so up and down. To claim he is no where near Taylor is rather shocking. You say he isn't the experienced defender we need but what's to say we will not still be adding an experienced defender to the mix in addittion to Davies, which I think will be ideal. Or are you happy for Ramage to be one of our top four centre-backs next season? Being captain of Newcastle United is slightly different to being a captain of a Championship club. From what I've seen of Davies he isn't a patch on Taylor, he's physically weak for the size of the lad but is good with the ball at his feet, the West Brom fans rate Paul Mcshane a better player than him and I'd take their word for it as they watch them every week. As for your ridiculous comment about Ramage, of course I don't want him in the squad but the chances of us signing Davies and an experienced defender that's any good are rather slim, unless you're suggesting Davies will come here as back up which makes his £8 million fee even more ridiculous. In order to feel better about Davies being a backup at that price we could pretend we paid £2.5 million for him and £8 million for Rozehnal who won't be back up. My point is that it all balances out. Considering we got such a good deal on Rozehnal I think it would make sense. It's not like Davies is 28 or something, he will still have a chance to contribute and he would eventually end up in the first team someday. If we then brought in someone like Hyypia to, who again wouldn't cost to much, to bring the other three along and also to play against the tougher opponents like the Chelseas that would work I think.

Sounds good. Clearly states that there are funds available but that we won't be throwing money around, which is good. I am a fan of this stance. However, it probably means it will take us a while to land our targets, but it will be good for us in the long term. Seems he's a tough negotiator, at least we won't be a soft touch in the transfer market anymore. I have to say one good thing about the delay in our signings is the fact that the initial "Allardyce has £50 million to spend ... " talk all died down so other clubs won't be looking to take advantage because now I think everyone is clueless about how much we actually have to spend.