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every player gets to the point where they arent worth holding onto, but i think the boards hands were tied as who the hell would dare sell him on or force him to retire early i think the fans would be in uproar and i dont think he is the type of man to be forced into anything. I'm very proud he followed his heart and came to us I remember when he was still in his late 20's and we were being quoted a reported 25/27 million for him by some spanish sides but if he went would he be such an icon like he is now to us I think he would potentially be seen as the sell out who followed where the money is instead of where he would like to play his football. Many players say things like "ill end my carear at the club i love it so much" i remember owen being quoted saying that as well as beckham and they all moved on. Alan is a hard act to follow and I think he was worth every penny.

I think thats where i was heading in my thinking, I could have seen it go another way. Owen scores in every match mega play maker and follows on with an excellent pre season, who is to say that we would have been able to hold onto him. What if chelsea came in and offered our money back or 19/20 million (so they didnt have to go for shev stinko) and we agreed to sell on. Who would we have bought I would say that at that time we would have threw 16/17 at bent and we probably we would be in the same situation except I actually prefer a fit owen to a fit bent or is that another thread?

i agree that right now he has been an ineffective purchase, it was also the wrong choice to go off to the world cup having played was it about 30 mins? But we needed a striker when shearer left we needed someone to fill his boots as best we could. I remember at the time people were saying they have known for 2 seasons or so he was going to go why didnt they look into it then and keep track on their targets. This is where the board let us down, as I'm sure robson had an idea but sinse he left FFS descided that he would pick the new striker and cause he doesnt have any more brain cells that the garden variety pigeon he descided who else than wore lil michael owen sitting out on the subs bench at real madrid. I for one was delighted we had got him was proud of the chairman to go for him and delighted he seemed to be all smiles when he was welcomed at st jame's . Fact we needed a high calibre replacement one that we werent going to be retiring straight after signing and I for one think he was the best at the time, we all knew the risks and i think its just bad luck that we have not seen the best of the outlay. I wish i was a fly on the wall that saw the logic in letting real double their money for a striker they have had for 5 mins and couldnt hold down a solid place in the side. If and i mean if with a wait and see attached to it see him show some commitment and play to his best for us till at least his contract ends then i will be happy as i do think him bagging 15/20 goals a season would mean the difference from european places and midtable blandness.

Excellent I was desperate to know more about the youth/reserves team, can anyone tell me any more information on Liam Atkin? Sorry long story as to reason I'm asking.

you cant get blood out of a stone when it comes to baba and carr the reason we have been playing so well is cause they arent in the side to mess it up, blessing indeed as sol has really took the lead and stuck in no matter what position he is in. I fear that with bramble he tries to hide the crap with a few classy touches or 10-15 mins worth of skill it doesnt stop him messing up and no matter how good the coach you cant improve a poor player.

wearing your heart on your sleave while remaining professional clarky boy is showing that with the right coaching he can make a good manager as he has already slipped into a coaching role really well. go clarky go!

Ive seen alot of papers quote between 2.5-4 for luque and about 3-5 for milner if we were to take top estimates it woulc come to about 8-9 this would only make a half decent bid for SWP so lets not kid oursleves if we are going to sell then we need to do two things first 1. make sure we have a decent squad member as a replacement or are expected to go out and purchase one (so it makes financial or football sense though) i.e dont replace a talent for an old talent for cheap as you need to sort the problem out again and soon. so in terms of luque if we play him wide left then we have the zogg and duff, upfront we have minimal to actually argue to get rid of him but if we already have kitty for a striker then i say bye bye. as for milner if we can think of him as wide right we have sol and dyer i would say thats pritty good cover but he is younger than both and i feel he is worth keeping in the squad, again if you think back to the olden days and him as a striker i think if this is where we are wanting to play him then we may as well get rid now as he doesnt have the talents up front to make it as a striker and we will never play 3 up front so keeping him as a right sided attacker is no good either. 2. make sure you are getting value for money, a loss on luque is inevitable he isnt going to get the run of games and although he is seen highly in spain there seems to be weakened interest comming from that direction and half the value we paid figures comming out with it. as for milner good guy good professional tries his hardest some how i dont know got over being ripped away from the pocket of villa but has moved on i think the board need to think long and hard if they are going to toy with him again if they want rid they want rid not putting a sale through as long as we can get the money together for X,Y and Z also we have to ask ourselves what FFS would do with the money put it towards SWP of blow the 4 mil on a bid for a viduka, an ageing while talented player would only give us one or two seasons when we need a constant strike force like in the days of shearer and sir les

SKirge did we ever find out how much of non existant funds we spent though when it came to Mr S's 50MIL blow? I would guess that getting into europe money is already spoken for.

If we guess there was 10 million there as in the summer we supposedly ran close to some signings and didnt get any. Again a leap of faith and say that getting into europe also gave us some kitty, FFS may be thinking flog luque and possibly milner and we may be talking about 15million. This may be enough for Nugent 5mil distin (minimal fee) and then who knows Chelsea might be in the mood to sell a player for 3 million and go buy someone for 15 mil.

I would hope we would have the common sense to take a player from them and some money I think we need the transfer funds but why point this out to anyone else by selling a talented player I know he has his weak points to his game but isnt he still 21. We all know Solano won't be lasting 90mins 2 games a week anymore he can come on and do a job for 30 mins or he can sit at right back and show Carr up to be the muppet extra he is. 5+ million please or go look else where

totally agree with you Gemmill but we have to remember the fans have common sense and FFS only thinks he knows what the fans want cause he knows the heart of the area. No doubt when he sits down with his two portion of chips and looks at what the squad is like and how much we have to spend (thats even if he knows) he will see a poor goal tally on the board and with the defence not looking that bad in recent games (although I'm sort of looking forward to the chelsea games to see just how good the defence is against a potent attack). SWP is value for money at 7-9 mil he was never worth 20+ but thats Chelsea for you buy them to keep them away from sides and then let them go a very much low in confidence purchase for any team to pick up the pieces and i really dont think that roeder has the man management skills to pick him up.

I always have a very horrible feeling in my gut when it comes to transfer windows, its obvious by what we have been linked to in recent weeks and months that some players are cheap players brought in to fill a very much paper thin squad and for the last season and a half we have shown how this with the injuries we have faced (although suprising how well we play with some of the "stars" out of the team. I would welcome him comming but Milner is younger and I would think that he is more likely to develop while SWP has went to Chelsea obviously listened to his own hype and now will be so deflated we may as well be signing a kid from the championship with obvious raw talents for less money. Also I would be wary like most to blow what ever kitty we have on one part time england international at the risk of then having to go back for Zat Knight again and try and say to ourselves we are adding bite to our attack our defence will cope. With Moore supposedly getting itchy feet to leave, Bramble not signing a contract extension (thank god) Carr being so poor I would like to sell him back to spuds and see how they cope with him.