AyeDubbleYoo

This is what most managers seem to do, unbelievable how nobody's realised he's our best player.

There was a point when he looked like he would be more successful than Lennon if I remember right, potentially Premier League quality.

Can we agree to not post anything along the lines of 'headless chicken' and/or 'no end product' until he's had a decent amount of games?

Couple of encouraging things about this transfer. 1 - He wanted to join us. 2 - We seem to actually know our weaknesses and be trying to address them. 3 - The club didn't just say 'we've got Pancrate for the right, that's it'... they saw he was terrible and went out and bought someone. 4 - It was under the radar. Hate to give them credit, but still.

Nice. If Barton sorts himself out we might haev something resembling a midfield! Please play Guthrie inside and don't drop him.

I do like watching Smith and Barton on the pitch together though, the potential for violence is brilliant.

I honestly don't care how much players 'care' really... I'd rather they did I suppose, but it's performances that matter at the end of the day.

Are both of the Talyors out?

I don't really consider him an NUFC player at all, he's appeared so little. And he always says he's going to reform, just before beating someone up usually. I hope he's going to do what he says this time and actually play well, but I'll only believe it when I see it. The time to believe anything he says is long gone.

Probably, from what ive seen on other championship teams forums, they seem to rate our midfield more than we do. Everyone rates our midfield more than we do. They don't have to watch them every week... they still think Nicky Butt is a good player FFS.

Don't know if that's old school, the holding midfielder is trendier than ever at the moment.

Think it's a total myth that refereeing is getting worse. People need to suck it up and accept that some decisions go against you, referees are human. The constant whinging about decisions from both fans and managers is pathetic IMO.

Be interesting to see how he does.

True. The Championship isn't the most...technical league in the world. Neither is the Premier League when you're a central defender.

Can't really tell you why he's coming here, it would just be speculation. Why does any player move clubs? All sorts of reasons. The fact his current club is going bust is a factor, we are on the up as well.

I'm not sure Milner is actually much better than he was when he played for us... it remains to be seen if this is just an upturn in form and the effect of playing in a much better team. Playing centrally also hides some of his weaknesses. I don't watch him enough to know TBH.

Basically, we need more than two decent defenders.

I was with you until this bit!

Officially no, if we go up then quite possibly yes.

I honestly don't want a buyout that saddles the club with massive debt... no football fan should want to put the future of their club at risk for short-term progress.

Thats a shocking article, typically lazy shite. Still i can think of a few who would fall for it Was just about to post this, it's absolute bollocks. The fact it was knocked up about 20 minutes after the transfer was rumoured shows how much thought has gone into it. The problem with the internet is that shite journos can now let their garbage spurt out all over the place at the drop of a hat. Then if it turns out to be wrong they can just remove it.

I'm almost confident that we'll be looking for midfielders as well. Not sure why.

Totally agree, I tried it out at a broadcasting museum/gallery once and it was impossible! I think the TV commentators need to realise that they don't have to talk all the time though... people can see what's happening. Radio is different of course, but I think cricket and tennis commentators on telly are pretty good at keeping quiet and letting the action speak for itself.

I think this might turn out to be a decent buy, at least we're trying to address the size of our squad and get some cover. Now we need to see a couple of midfielders arrive...

Don't really know what to conclude about this. There's lots of reasons why he should be able to (relatively low price, massive captive fan base, huge potential for the club etc). But then there's a lot of reasons why he might struggle, the economic situation and the reality of football finances that is starting to bite.