brummie

All sounds a bit fancy for Martin O'Neill. That's why it will probably turn out to be neither.

Villa strongly rumoured to be working on a "big money" transfer in Spain. Though to be Ruben de la Red or Joaquin. Will probably turn out to be neither.

They're both average, both no better than Barton either. Barton is a psychopath with a current market value of 0, though, that's the problem, regardless of how good a footballer he is (or was, at least). Last summer, NRC, Sidwell and Barton were the three English midfielders on the move, and of those three, Barton must be the worst signing of the three, surely? As for taking Coloccini, he doesn't play for you yet, does he? Would I take Martins? I think he's a good player, but would I replace a striker we have already with him? I'm not too sure. Possibly, I'd give you that. Owen I wouldn't take, no. Not because he's not a good player - he is - but because he's a huge injury risk and would cost a fortune in wages. Put it like this. I can think of lots more Portsmouth, Everton and Spurs players I'd take than Newcastle players right now. That's not me on a wind up or owt (I;'d like to think you'd take my word on that), just honest opinion.

Tell you what would make me happy now. If Villa were to buy Dean Ashton, Milner (I know, I know) and some wild card continental playmaker. That would make me happy as a pig in shit. I bet we don't though.

Davies is an absolutely quality player, was getting into his stride until his achilles injury. He's going to be a very good player indeed, certainly in a totally different league to Anton Ferdinan, pacy, excellent tackler, reads the game well, top notch attitude. Reo-Coker over Barton? Sidwell over Smith in midfield?

I can't believe Barton can be rated as better than anyone to be honest, as he's either incredibly inconsistent or in prison, and there's no knowing what's going to be starting the season. Also Gutierrez - never played a PL game in his life - better than Arteta? Ledley King, barely able to stand up let alone play 90 minutes 4.5 points, Martin Laursen 40 games last season, including loads of goals, 2 points? Petrov is also not a right midfielder, he is a central midfielder who got shunted to the right a few times. I'd have that as Spurs Portsmouth Villa - Everton (cant seperate them) Newcastle I can only think of one Newcastle player I'd be interested in, Beye. I can think of a few Everton players, Yakubu, Arteta, Lescott. I can think of a few Pompey players, Defoe, Crouch, Johnson, Krancjar. I can think of several Spurs players, Hutton, Bent, Modric, Woodgate, Huddlestone.

You should follow your local team. (We are your local atm, aren't we?) I'd like to clear this up, actually, as I've been on here for about a year I reckon and I still don't know two things about Gejon. 1. Are you a southerner 2. Are you gay. I mean 2 in the normal, nice, not taking the piss way, too (I work with more gay people than I do straights, I'm practically a friend of Dorothy myself). Those are just two things I've picked up vibes about on here. Sorry if wrong. I wouldn't want to falsely label anyone as a southerner, obv.

Incidnetally, when I said Spurs have the best XI outside the top four, I didn't mean they had the best team outside the top four. They had the best XI last year but weren't anywhere near the best team. Everton had a relatively uninspiring first XI but were a very good team. There's a difference.

You lucky, lucky bastards. 3m for Smith? Jesus. Poor 1878. re Villa's starting XI. Friedel Shorey/Bouma - Laursen - Davies - Young (assuming signs) Young - Reo-Coker - Sidwell - new RM Carew - Agbonlahor That's not bad, but we need a right sided mifielder and could do with a proven goalscorer. And potentially more creativity in the middle of the field. The problem is depth. I still think Everton will do very well next year. Spurs have the strongest XI by some way.

Wasn't very solid last term.

SSN saying fees agreed with Boro for Luke Young (rejoice! a fucking RB after two bastard years!) and Reading for Shorey

i remember you saying Barry has been in poor form, round about the time he started playing well for england. seems like you're taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back. it's still an improvement but must be frustrating considering it could be so much better. you'll probably pull off a couple of signings on the last day, one of them will be good and the other will be a dark horse like knight or harewood. mind you, now i check, even your lot have spent quite a bit if you include making Curtis Davies a permanent transfer. it's just that the rest of your transfers are a bit shite. Friedel and Guzan = goalkeeper problem solved for a fair while, total cost approx 5m Sidwell = solid signing, 5m That's it. Our problem isn't that we've made shit signings (we haven't made any other signings), it is the signings we haven't made. Although Luke Young arriving, allegedly, to fill the RB position is a decent signing, and Shorey for LB whilst Bouma is out. Friedel Young - Laursen - Davies - Shorey That looks a pretty decent first choice defence, and will look even better when Bouma comes back. The issue is we've no right sided midfielder whatsoever (Routledge doesn't count, can't be relied on), we need to replace Barry (Sidwell is not a Barry replacement) and we could do with a more regular goalscorer. The squad right now is barely big enough to handle a PL campaign, let alone the UEFA Cup on top. Although when you listen to what Moyes, Keegan (I believe) and MON have all said about the market being difficult this summer, you start to think they've got a point. It is frustrating losing Barry, of course we'd prefer to keep him, but that shit happens to us all, unfortunately. I'm sure Spurs would have preferred to have kept Carrick and more recently Keane. It is annoying, but shit happens, onwards and upwards. We just need to speed things up considerably. Hard to believe the season starts a week Saturday.

I'd say there's probably a lot of truth in that, tbh.

That's a very sensual smilie. I'm in Newcastle this weekend. I'll be thinking of you the whole time.

O'Neill will never buy a Barry replacement - he could go out and buy one right now if he wanted, it isn't about the money - because, as you suggested, he cocks about for far too long umming and aahing about whether to spend the cash. Word has it Lerner is getting *seriously* pissed off as he's given him shit loads of money to spend and he won't spend it. I thought he'd played the Barry situation very well, though. Fuck them, pay what we want, or you don't get him. The only mistake was that stupid statement last week, which was a bit naive. He'll go, and he'll go for about 18m, which isn't bad for a player who had half a season last year (and if you think this is sour grapes, trust me, it isn't - ask Dave, he'll back me up on this, I've been saying it for ages, before this potential move was ever mentioned). Under Ellis we'd have creamed our pants and sold him for 8m last month. He's a good player, but it makes me laugh when I see people say "your best player". Last season Young, Laursen and Bouma all had better seasons than Barry did.

I was talking about most of the residents of Birmingham, regardless of race Of course you were. Still *looks at username* you've finally managed to find a theory more absurd than your original "we're all ruled by evil lizard overlords" one from the 80s. There must be a hell of a lot of competition in the market there then, birmingham must be the place to go for the price conscious druggie. Oh no, not you again.

I was talking about most of the residents of Birmingham, regardless of race Of course you were. Still *looks at username* you've finally managed to find a theory more absurd than your original "we're all ruled by evil lizard overlords" one from the 80s. People from Brum aren't only drug dealers, but reptilian humanoid drug dealers. Who rule you, you lesser mortals. Those pastel coloured shell suits won't help, either.

I was talking about most of the residents of Birmingham, regardless of race Of course you were. Still *looks at username* you've finally managed to find a theory more absurd than your original "we're all ruled by evil lizard overlords" one from the 80s.

Although what the fuck possessed him to sign Baros, I do not know. And Nugent.

Yes, Crouch will work very well with Defoe. Redknapp is a twitchy faced cunt, but there's no getting away from the fact that over a relatively short amount of time, he's put together a pretty impressive squad. They'll do well. And we need to remember, we're talking about Portsmouth here, an unfashionable nothing club until recently.

I can't be arsed to check the previous pages to see if this has been suggested, but maybe it was showjumping rastaman Oliver Skeete? Incidentally, Birmingham is full of black dudes with dreads who aren't footballers.

The transfer market is shit this summer. Villa, Newcastle, Everton - done next to nothing. West Ham - no money Liverpool - spent all their money, scraping round the back of the sofa to buy Barry Man U - Berbatov probably, but Ronaldo not moving therefore no kick start to market as a whole Arsenal - not spending, not selling Adebayour so even less likely to spend The only clubs who've done well are Portsmouth and Spurs. I reckon they'll finish 5th and 6th as things stand at the moment.

I do. Seriously, if i could have any of your players, it'd be him. Although, who have you got at RB these days, and is he better than the last shite defender we had off you?

Yours look horrid atm. Captain going, signed 2 yank GK's & picked up ginger cockney. I'm happy with the keepers, very. And Sidwell. The problem is that we still need another 5 or 6 decent players to stand still, and it just isn't happening. We've got 2 fit defenders at the club, and one of those is Zat Knight. And Stephen Carr is still unattached. Fuck Barry, the sooner the fat arsed cunt gets out of the club, the better. In fantasy football Villa's squad does look a bit worrying like, in some games they only have about 3 defenders listed. Total num defenders at club = 4. Num CBs fit = 2 Num CBs fit and NOT Zat Knight = 1 Num CBs on way back from long term injury = 1 Num FBs at club (excluding kids) = 1 Num FBs at club who have both feet currently pointing the right way = 0 Shorey is apparently coming, which is a decent LB signing, but we need a RB and we need him NOW.

OMG!!!! Maybe that shambling wreck of a homeless dude WAS DR SPECRUM!!!111!!!