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everton win for me put some pressure on jol can see it being a draw though

hate "the brothers" with a passion dont want him here but would love a carr replacement

more likely he see's this as another mind game tactic seen as they won the prem last season and seem to be the "team to beat" this season. fergie recons bigging up the teams who could float around 6-10th to put pressure on spuds, pool, arse and chelski. Obviously even with a fantastic start we will no doubt still have a cool period scraping win's loosing maybe 2-3 in a row it will happen and it all comes down to wether you believe him cause you want to or wether there is a note of "wink wink nudge nudge look at that toon side" in the back of his mind.

I'm happy with his signing I can see how it may seem like an anti climax to people hoping we would go big on one signing this summer. I guess if someone was to tell me we were signing smith as a replacement for say sibierski I would be over the moon as I think many would be. So we are not signing a world beater so what, as Sam has said before saying to a player this summer "we have no european football on offer and there is no garentee we will get in again at the end of the season" some players will turn their noses up just on that basis and I would rather we did not offer them a golden nuget by signing another 5 players on 80,90,100+ thou a week the club has suffered enough from high profile signings that get shown up by the cheaper "more motivated" players.

the smith deal will either work or flop but seen as the climate at the moment is for english players to have an inflated price if everton can get 4m back for james "new shearer my arse" beattie then it is a worth while gamble. He does good im sure he is only 26 he does badly we flog him on for 3-4m and only make a small loss.

he came to them as a striker, fergie descided to make him keane's replacement even though he had shown no signs of being that sort of player and then was resorted to being a bench player never getting a long run of games. Not impressive but definetly good enough reason to say he deserves a chance.

Haven't got a fucking clue. I'm sure Sven will be asked if there are more on the way at the press conference for these guys. He's canny as owt but he should say if there are more or not. I'd guess not but there's a month left, who knows. If you're a betting man, get on the Handicaps. City to win the league at +40 or something like that. Buying money. Could also get 1/2 on us to finish above Birmingham really comes down to sven i suppose as the new owner obviously wants to be the silent type in all this much like we are experienceing. Media silence obviously makes the jerno's nervous so they will no doubt be reports of 50-60m available. There doesnt seem to be any signs city are slowing down though.

he still managed to get a game for manu, I really dont see the big fuss. He is comming from manu after being told he will not get as many games as he wants due to newer more expensive signings, we are not buying him from wigan or some unknown club so I say if we can give dyer more than one chance we can do the very same for smith.

I agree with whoever said I really wanted him before manu signed him as i thought he was a great prospect and really he got over shadowed quite quickly much like saha it took ages for them to get a foothold in the side, when i have seen him play I have found him to be decent, really think that we could do better with 6m if the fee is to be believed but as many have said too young and english usually adds the £££' s on. Certainly we all went on how sam is good at getting the best out of players that have took a dip in their carear and with smith still seemly reeling off a long list of injuries we should keep the faith its not like souey or rodent signed the lad.

Or...he's been playing Football Manager to fill the time. I've only heard of two of the players he's signed so far but everyone keeps saying how good they are on FM obviously the only concern should be will they actually suit the prem sven has worked with english prem players but not managed in the league lets hope he is making the right choices as it seems they obviously have money to throw about. Doc how much you recon city will go on to spend out of interest??

obviously its svens many contacts unearthing alot of these players but least they are getting them in quickly shows how the new board/backers have settled in or maybe its just blind faith in the manager.

old experienced head is what sam said he wanted and thats exactly what he has went for obviously its a stop gap but the continental experience they can pass on to the younger lads is invaluable. If only we could have gotten Sol Campbell in for some premier wisdom but never mind extra bodies at the back at the minimum.

I don't know why we are so desperate to see him play in a low key friendly we are a matter of a few short weeks from the start of the season we should be holding onto him wrapped in cotton wool in the hope we keep him fit till xmas and beyond not pushing him into something when he is not 100%.

3m yes I would bite their hands off 6m would get us baines and would much rather have a decent young LB sorted than a player who has a big ? over him.

exactly how will spuds with their fabulous wage structure include dyer in the equation??

sat nav company?

Correct me if i'm wrong, but the central point of your argument is that it takes a decent manager to get the best out of players. In addition, our players are 'not a patch' on yours, according to one clown. So in other words, you've had great managers and great players but still achieved nothing! The reality is that the whole system needs to work from top to bottom to get the best results but to imply that we have only achieved success because of Big Sam would be wrong. There are plenty of people behind the scenes, including Sammy Lee and all of the current coaching staff, who have played their part. Ok I will correct you that you are wrong. I was agreeing with massive elements of your posts and I and many others are first to admit spending big, having a massive fan base, having good "on paper" managers dont deem success. But as usual you only pick out a small element of what is being posted is that cause you stop to reply on only part of a reply done to you?? As your not a fan of the club I guess you dont know about the ins and outs although alot of our shit is made public gaping problems about who has had control on signings where to spend on the squad and structure have been out of managers hands, an again as I have said before with an impatient fan base and a trigger happy chairman it usually means we go through managers like the rest of us do socks.

Dalglish, Gullitt, Bobby Robson. All decent managers who won things with previous clubs, so why didn't they achieve anything at Newcastle? It's not all down to the manager. I didnt say managers = trophies you will have to continue your argument with the poster before. (and I would appreciate a response to all my post and not just an element you may wish to pick on) Bolton have as I've said done massively well but has done so thanks to the system and ways of working brought in by the manager in conjunction with a very supportive chairman. all i was trying to say following on from the bolton chairman comments and the SA reply that it takes a special/competant manager to make the bolton system work robson you cannot denie after the shit we were left in didnt succeed no trophies but champs league and top 5 finishes. As for the rest I agree all came with pedegree and bombed here and I'm the first to admit not one element of a club can pull the rest of the club up. With us the issue has been the will of the fans and the weakness of the chairman to stay strong with a manager in light of poor performances. SA has worked wonders at bolton and I would be ashamed of any bolton fan to say he hasnt done alot but he has never had the pressure to win things as he will be expected to here due to the fact he did so much with so little.

mido, bent, keane, bevatov, dofoe too many strikers too many to keep happy can see them getting rid of mido and dofoe but still will keane stick round or bevatov for anymore than one more season if they are stuck with rotation

I really see the spuds pushing for the top 4 this season where as I see us pushing for the 6-8 spots so I dont see us really in direct competition this comming season, as we all know it took a while for sir bob to ring the changes you cant change the back room, coaching, playing staff all in one summer and expect instant success, as spuds level off in their development (I can see them buying less and less being happy with their "young squad") while SA always seems to come accross as the type (especially if we continue to buy the older more experienced players) that we will constantly buy to improve/fill gaps so in two season so long as the funding is there spuds watch your backs!!!

Yes 'average journeymen' like Jay Jay Ockocha, Youri Djorkaeff, Fernando Hierro, Nicolas Anelka, etc, etc. I thought that Geordies were supposed to know something about football, or are you just the exception? Dont want to push in the middle of an arguement but I have always liked bolton but the press see's the club as the budget get by on a shoe string, up until anelka the club has gone from strenght to strength buying "older" "troubled" "past their best" type signings you cannot say that anything other than a descent manager would have been able to do a good job with some of rthe players recently signed. Certainly I feel that if we had of had SA and you had rodent or souey then I could have seen the same squad knocking eachother out or putting transfer requesting in left right and centre.

got a year left to run signed a 5yr deal

If Eidur does come and thats a big if right now seen as we may not even be interested him or vice versa would that mean the end of owen or martins? Serious question to consider as I know not everyone would be happy to see them leave.

Was it my imagination when I read quotes from Martins saying he is really happy and settled in the northeast and wants to stay?? and if SA was quoted today as Owen saga being resolved weeks ago then maybe we are keeping them both.

Yes played as a attacking midfielder at Chelsea but surely that would mean Barton playing as a DM. seems like we are going after players that can be used in different positions. If we were to keep Owen and Martins and Eidur was to come maybe we would go 3 up top and we would continue to rotate letting carroll go out on loan leave shola in his regular back up role, we have to remember martins if he stays disappears for over a months with african cup (if he is still allowed to go) and Viduka and Owen arent garenteed to play the whole season. Seems an impossible dream to keep all of them happy but I guess I'm just clutching at straws as I do like Martins and would like Owen to stay