AyeDubbleYoo

Don't understand why that post is so great, obviously we all want something for our money and for the club to move forward. But football doesn't work like that and football clubs have to manage their money. The only ones that don't are the ones that are bankrolled by their owners, and they're getting more and more rare.

The game just passed him by I thought - him, Barton and Nolan combined couldn't get anywhere near Scholes. I know Scholes is class, but they're supposed to be protecting the defence.

Totally, seems to me that playing Nolan in the hole was a just a way of saying "we have this player who's a big name and we don't want to drop, but doesn't have the stamina or mobility to actually play in midfield". Just seems like an excuse to get him in the team because he's supposedly good at "arriving in the box". In the Premiership he's guaranteed to offer next to nothing.

On 5 Live Robbie Savage seemed to be saying he knew where Bellamy was headed already. He wasn't giving much away though.

I just hope Hughton realises how fat and immobile he is. If we do end up signing Ben Arfa to go with Gosling, it a least shows he knows we need to address midfield in some way. Hopefully Nolan will be dropped.

If O'Shea and Valencia are one of the best RW combinations in Europe, there's hope that Nolan will one day be World Footballer of the Year Sorry, obviously I meant LW.

I was thinking this as well, as in the relegation season the main problem is that we have the worst central midfield ever created.

Just a word for Perch and Routledge... they were pretty poor but they were facing one of the best RW combinations in Europe.

Not that bad really, just a lot of sloppy mistakes... especially an inexplicable inability to clear the ball from defence. I'll never understand that one. Nolan was bad, but then he always is. In the Championship he can get away with it because the opposition is so much worse. I really hope we drop him if we get Ben Arfa in. Smith was also pretty poor most of the time. I saw enough to think we can do better than terrible this season, if we'd had Guthrie for a bit of passing and maybe Loven for a bit more threat up front, we might have tested them more. Would've loved Carroll to have scored, he had a good game and is unplayable a lot of the time.

Can't help being a bit excited, even if we're facing a molestation. It's good to be involved in these games again.

We're talking £5 mill for chrissakes not Leeds or Pompey spending proportions. The post I was commenting on was on the principle of not judging owners based on finance, not just on this transfer.

Hmm, but what if they move the club forward through terrible financial management that leaves us in significant debt? Don't see how you can totally disregard that, it's an important part of being a good 'caretaker'.

I was thinking similar, if we somehow scrape a result, would they think we dont need better than weve already got? I think we already know we aren't as good as Man Utd. Yeah but even inferior teams can pull off a shock result, as dilligaf says a draw may have Ashley thinking that everything will be fine this season with what he has, his goal is to survive and I'm sure it's also to survive at the least expense possible. Still hoping for a result of course, just worry how a good result will effect our retarded owner. Yeah, what I'm saying is that a hammering by Man Utd will already be expected, therefore it won't lead to the club changing their opinion of the season to come. If Ashley is gambling, then he's gambling we can take these hammerings and still get enough points to survive. I'm not saying he's correct BTW.

To be honest, most of our movements on transfers have been decent recently, addressing things we need. The problem is that we're not usually talking about the level of player we would like. And we have so many needs to address.

I'm watching it with a mate in NW1 bar, Camden town if anyone if around! Long shot I know.

I was thinking similar, if we somehow scrape a result, would they think we dont need better than weve already got? I think we already know we aren't as good as Man Utd.

True, I quite like it though. Even if we get humped, we're competing at the top level again.

I'm confused at how these guys become journalists when everyone on here could have told him that two days ago Me too, basically they now just report what another newspaper/website has already said and that's a 'source'. In the case of the BBC, they even interview and quote their own colleagues! It's mental man, I tell thee.

Give 'em hell soldier!

Yeah, Derbyshire has what it takes for the Prem I reckon, if given a fair run.

I just want to see the final results of the poll.

I was actually, thought they were new quotes. Ah well, still looks fairly promising.

Real quotes!!!! If it is a loan with first refusal to buy for £5m it's a great deal IMO.