brummie

God bless him, I fucking love that man, love him.

Transfers being leaked via Facebook? http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/2607/naughton.jpg

re point B. The League title, the European Cup, 4 League Cups I've seen us win in my lifetime What have you seen your lot win? And "proper go at breaking the top four". What is it now with Spurs, 3 top 6 finishes in 30 years or so? As for your previous post re overrated signings that don't deliver, Milner has done very well, thanks. How did your expensive English midfielder do, the one you signed last summer? Also, on a historical note, I believe we've finished above Spurs in 11 of the last 15 seasons. i wish we had really exciting transfer windows though, I really do!

You're more optimistic than me. I have City, Villa and Everton to be certainties to be above Spurs. 8th place at best. Villa i don't agree with. They need to pull some major signings out the bag before i start thinking we can't finish above them. Everton i agree with because they're very consistant and get results even with half their team missing and City...well...it really depends on who they sign. If they continue the same formula they're using now which is to sign any half decent player who might be available irrepective of what position he plays or if they actually need him, then we can certainly finish above them. Imo we need a striker, centre midfielder and lb competition for ekotto (make lm Bales permanent position). Get rid = Bentley, Dos Santos, Zokora, Bent, and hopefully Keane (maybe even Pav to tbh...50/50 on him). That is Spurs all over, though, isn't it? Sell Keane, then buy him back in the same season, then sell him again shortly after? That'd be short termism all over. I think we're going to struggle unless we replace Laursen (Barry, despite the views of the rest of the country who see him play well for England and assume he's that good week in, week out, will be much easier to replace) and bulk the squad up, but I can't see a single thing at Spurs that makes me think we'll finish below them. I recall this exact same conversation going on this time last year and look how it turned out. Dos Santos was going to be amazing, and he ends the season on loan at, errm, Ipswich. Bentley was a stunning signing, and he achieves nothing more than a fluke goal and a particularly flamboyant haircut, Modric is going to be incredible (and he is, until someone so much as gives him a nasty look and he goes missing for the rest of the match, like a gigantic fanny). I worry much, much more about Everton than I do Tottenham - they're sensible, realistic, don't have their head in the clouds, go after players they've got a decent chance of getting and who will do them a job (can you ever imagine Spurs signing players as low key as, say, Jagielka, for example) and they've got a better manager than Spurs and Villa. To reiterate, i know a lot of this isn't Spurs fault and it largely comes through the media, but I can't help but think that ultimately, whilst bigging you up one moment (look! pics of Levy and co in Madrid! They've gone to sign 17 Real Madrid players!), they're laughing at you behind your back.

Young is never going to go to Spurs, for two reasons. Firstly - why? What would be the point? Secondly - you couldn't afford him. Agree totally with the first reason, disagree with the second, there is money for the right signings. It's widely reported that AY hasn't settled in the area and his family are Spurs ST holders but that's no reason to expect him to sign. I agree with you, Young is never going to go to Spurs. Not having a go at you, MJ, but there are two of the most tiresome, continually trotted out London club cliches of the transfer market there. Firstly the "widely reported he's not settled in the area" / "wants to return to London" line (despite being from, err, Stevenage). Widely reported where? On every football forum on the internet, that's a phrase that gets trotted out when there is a rumour of a London club after a non London club player. I've not seen it yet in relation to the NRC / Spurs link, but I bet you what you like we hear it in the next few days. Secondly, the boyhood Spurs / boyhood Arsenal fan line. Spurs and Arsenal must be the two greatest supported clubs in the world, given the number of families of footballers they have supporting them. We heard that story when we signed Curtis Davies (boyhood Spurs fan) and he didnt go there, and we heard the same when we signed Young (didn't go there). On the price of Young, if MON thought Barry was worth 20m when he had two years left on his contract, how much do you think he'd rate Young (signed four year contract 6 months ago) at?

Because we need creativity in the middle.

One would very much hope not.

Rumours that Reo-Coker is going to Spurs as part of some deal involving two of Jenas / Huddlestone / Bentley. I fucking hope so. Great tackler, totally incapable of passing the ball to someone in the same colour shirt no matter how close they are, box to box midfielder in the sense that he gets to the other box then runs into someone and loses possession.

That home kit. It is supposed to be black and white stripes. With that massive white patch, it isn't. Does anyone give a shit about tradition any more?

Young is never going to go to Spurs, for two reasons. Firstly - why? What would be the point? Secondly - you couldn't afford him.

Playing in the middle. Isn't Bentley naturally a central player? Keep Milner on the right and have Bentley in the middle for a bit more creativity alongside Petrov. It looks as if O'Neill is going to play Milner through the middle. Either that or he has finally realised it is quite useful to have >1 player in each position.

I transcend mere boundaries of state, I make it my business to keep my finger on the zeitgeist in several European countries. Oh yes. I don't want to know where your fingers have been. Honest, you don't

And you didn't post it? Don't shout at me like that time over the banners.

I transcend mere boundaries of state, I make it my business to keep my finger on the zeitgeist in several European countries. Oh yes.

Oh, and in approximately 1988, I was in WH Smiths in Eldon Square, and saw Mirandinha with his Mrs. Mira was wearing a black leather jacket, had very shiny hair (he looked like he was in Boys II Men or something), and was smiling an awful lot. His Mrs looked a bit odd, though, vaguely transexual, but it was probably just excessive make up. Although, having said that, they are Brazillians, and that lot do provide 95 percent of Europe's transexual prostitute supply (viados, as they call them in Italy). We've got Mirandinha He's not from Argentina He's from Brazil He's fucking brill. I led what seemed the whole of that pub in the Bigg Market (Old George? Something George?) in a chorus of that whilst standing on a table on my 21st birthday, shortly before getting thrown out, and subsequently having my friends trying to actually throw me through the window of McDonalds on Northumberland St. Happy days. i think.

There's some footage on youtube of Shearer inadvisedly taking the whole NUFC squad for a walk down Broad Street before the final game of the season, and waking past boozers full of Villa fans. What on earth possessed him? Should have gone the canal route, round the Mailbox, that way, much nicer.

If i had to bet on one of Curbishley or Shearer to get you back up at first pop - as in, actually betting with my own money - I would go for Curbishley I appreciate the emotional thing with Shearer, but he has no experience as a manager other than those last eight games and the time since, which must surely have put him off ever moving into management. Curbishley is immensely experienced, and has done the job with little money, which - assuming there is no sale - is the sort of conditions he will need to work in. For all the quoting managers who have done well with no previous experience (and, incidentally, Guardiola, Klinsmann, Van Basten all went to jobs where they had money / pulling power / good players at their disposal, whilst Keane is hardly a shining example), for every great player who has done well, there are at least 10 who have done absolutely shag all. What you need now, in my opinion, is a hard, cool, unemotional assessment of what is best to get you back up. I just can't believe that Shearer falls into that category.

Who are you looking to replace Barry with Brummie, any names? I know you said he certainly wasn't your best player last season but would you be comfortable with Petrov, Sidwell and Reo-Coker being your central midfield options (correct me accordingly)? I like the look of Defour when I have seen him playing for Standard in Europe. I hope we sign a slightly different kind of player to Barry (which is the only thing about Defour, how different is he?) as last year our massive, massive weakness was in the centre of midfield, where Petrov and Barry were too often showing themselves to be exactly the same player. Reo-Coker will be off, I reckon. I think we'll sign a more obvious Barry replacement, but will probably get someone like Huddlestone in to boost numbers. Our defence is what needs bolstering. I want an experienced CB to play alongside Cuellar or Davies and bring the best out of them as Laursen did. Distin would be spot on. Have you seen how many games the Europa League involves next season? Christ. It looks daunting.

Carew and money to Spurs for Jenas, say the Daily Mail. Honestly, I know it isn't their fault (not always anyway), but is it any wonder Spurs are so hated when the media publishes truly laughable shit like that? What next? Ashley Young plus cash for Didier Zokora? Agbonlahor, The Trinity Road stand and 10 million pounds for Kevin Prince-Boateng? Nigel Reo-Coker and 50m for the ghost of Danny Blanchflower?

I'm taking that with a massive, massive pinch of salt, but if we bought him I'd actually properly kill myself.

The 'fit and proper persons' test just proves they're not criminals and stuff I think. If that's what you're getting at. And was passed by Thaksin Shinawatra, which says all you need to know about it.

I know I said this already today, but for my money this is the most cunty thing Ashley has done. Basically, it equates to "I don't care whether they can fund the club, I don't care what their motives are, I don't care where their money comes from, I just want 100m" What an utter, utter cunt, just for that alone, leaving aside all the other stuff. I wonder how he managed to become such a successful businessman, given that he shows not even the slightest hint of understanding how people think, and how to do things the right way. So now, he's simulataneously pimping the club to anyone - ANYONE - with 100m to invest, whilst saying how keen he is to bail out, whilst trying to convince Shearer to become manager (although nobody knows who potential new owners will want) and whilst sticking most of the squad on the books of some shonky agency with the instruction "get rid, quick" - not a thought to what the manager will want to do. I know I'm preaching to the converted here, but honest to god, I couldn't imagine a more inept, insensitive, short termist "leader" if I tried.

I'm forming a party to contest at least 500 constitutencies at the next general election.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gJMCSTp8SGs/ScuCX4bjvPI/AAAAAAAACCM/rssGdT7hu_g/s400/Aston-Villa-92-Home.gif Mid 1990s winner. Although This is the only football shirt I wear, and the only one I own and ever intend to own http://www.scoredraw.com/images/shirts/Aston-Villa/product/VILLA-81H.jpg Retro shirts = where it is at.

With the Everton shirt, I really liked the classic one of the mid 80s which it is based on, and with which they had all that success (that was a fucking great side, I am convinced that had Heysel not happened, that side would have won the European Cup). This execution of it is absolutely terrible though. It is like presenting a new built Georgian style Barratts home on a motorway friendly estate in homage to Georgian architecture. By which i mean it is absolutely fucking without taste.