brummie

That's a big kinda generalisation there. I take it Chester Le Street by comparison is like Rome? Not keen on Birmingham itself but the people are fine. Wife is from Nuneaton and that is a lot like Chester-le-Street. Not bad. Nuneaton has better shops though. Except Chester has a nice castle (and Lumley is within the CLS boundary nowadays before the smart arses appear). Birmingham is shite for shopping by the way. Where the fuck does everyone get their stuff? Last time I spent a few days down there everyone was wearing pink lycra. It was a gay march like. I grabbed my wifes hand and got out as quickly as I could. Went shopping in Nuneaton instead. Birmingham shite for shopping? Second on the UK retail league after the west end of London, you'll struggle to find somewhere better for shopping. Well, other than London, obviously.

That's a big kinda generalisation there. I take it Chester Le Street by comparison is like Rome?

Yeung is only taking a minority stake, in any case. One glimpse at the twisted, gnarled, hideously deformed faces of their fans on the first game of the season should be enough to send him packing.

It is Carson Yeung, unfortunately. Just seen his foolish mug all over the Birmingham Mail front page whilst out for lunch, pictured arriving at the ground.

Let me make this about as clear as it can possibly be ... I have watched him week in, week out for a couple of years now. HE IS SHIT.

Yep, as if you'd pay well over the odds for a not very good striker. Oh, hang on a minute .....

West Ham want a frankly absurd 12m for NRC. We've apparently told them to stick it up their arses and offered 7 or 8, not a penny more. They really are a joke in the transfer market. I wonder if this Sinatra chap will wade in and offer the full amount now, to prove his "credentials" to the Citeh faithful? On Sven, when the various parties were circling the club at the start of last summer before Lerner won, it was rumoured that one was headed by Athole Still, representing some rich Saudis, and that he obviously wanted to install Sven. General feedback was that although we wanted MON, Sven would have been a really good option too.

I'll second that. He wasn't at our place for very long, but he is remembered by many of our fans for the tough as nails maverick he was. Having a mohican 45 years ago exhibited a certain amount of chutzpah

Griffin scored a stunning goal against, I think, Coventry in the cup last season.

Hmmm ... First stable season in years? Since 2005 they mean? Or 2004 (6th)? Oh, I should post this on the article comments, really. Ah, thanks for correcting me on that, I can fix that. Sorry, wasn't sniping or picking holes. In the sense that in that it was the first season free of Ellis, but with the takeover going through afterthe transfer window closed, it was very much a season of consolidation.

Trust me, he is a walking, talking calamity.

Hmmm ... First stable season in years? Since 2005 they mean? Or 2004 (6th)? Oh, I should post this on the article comments, really.

Where do I sign up?

I think he'd be a real asset to you, and a very good investment at that price. You'd be mad not to make a move for him.

Correct, McSheffrey plays wide, Forsell's knees are fucked, and even Spudface Bruce must know Campbell belongs in the lower leagues. Which is where they'll be again after next season, thankfully.

Keith Harris brokered Lerner's Villa takeover, I doubt he'd risk his respectability over a dodgy deal. By which I mean there's probably nothing dodgy about the deal.

Sven > Pearce Thai bloke with loads of cash > clueless debt ridden bloke So things must be on the up then! Had to be really, as I had you down as certs for the drop if you didn't get something sorted. Short term, think you'll be looking at something similar to Villa last year - enough time to get in a few key players before the new season, but too late for a real overhaul. Longer term, not too sure about Sven - getting on a bit now isn't he, and comes with colossal baggage - combination of him and the dodgy dictator means a potential field day for the tabloids.... They're in a much better position than we were before last season - our takeover went through after the closing of the transfer window. Eh? Didn't you buy that ex-Celtic player after teh takeover? Petrov? No, we bought him before the takeover went through. Although word has it that Lerner in some way helped us find the cash. Either way, the takeover had not gone through - my point is that City's will go through well before the deadline and the new manager should have a summer before the season starts. I'd cringe of the thought of Sven been our manager especially with the stereotypical view of the farce we can be but maybe this is the sort of manager Man City need in order to progress. Why would you cringe at the thought of Sven? His club record is excellent. So, he fucked up at England, but that job has beaten many other excellent managers before him. And his games won record was very good.

You'll have to try hard than that. Not much harder, mind

Sven > Pearce Thai bloke with loads of cash > clueless debt ridden bloke So things must be on the up then! Had to be really, as I had you down as certs for the drop if you didn't get something sorted. Short term, think you'll be looking at something similar to Villa last year - enough time to get in a few key players before the new season, but too late for a real overhaul. Longer term, not too sure about Sven - getting on a bit now isn't he, and comes with colossal baggage - combination of him and the dodgy dictator means a potential field day for the tabloids.... They're in a much better position than we were before last season - our takeover went through after the closing of the transfer window. Eh? Didn't you buy that ex-Celtic player after teh takeover? Petrov? No, we bought him before the takeover went through. Although word has it that Lerner in some way helped us find the cash. Either way, the takeover had not gone through - my point is that City's will go through well before the deadline and the new manager should have a summer before the season starts.

Yep, I know

Sven > Pearce Thai bloke with loads of cash > clueless debt ridden bloke So things must be on the up then! Had to be really, as I had you down as certs for the drop if you didn't get something sorted. Short term, think you'll be looking at something similar to Villa last year - enough time to get in a few key players before the new season, but too late for a real overhaul. Longer term, not too sure about Sven - getting on a bit now isn't he, and comes with colossal baggage - combination of him and the dodgy dictator means a potential field day for the tabloids.... They're in a much better position than we were before last season - our takeover went through after the closing of the transfer window. Although Citeh are in a bit more of a fucked up state (at least externally, I don't know if things inside the club are as much of a shambles as they were at our place). Sven = good manager New owner = minted. All good. And who cares if his reputation is somewhat questionable. I'm sure Chelsea fans couldn't give a flying fuck about the provenance of RA's immense wealth.

In that case, I'll go for being a successful club every time.

Sven would be an excellent appointment.

This "fanbase" thing is interesting. Arsenal and Chelsea both have bigger fanbases than Newcastle do now, imho, and I'll tell you why. Because if you go to Asia, or wherever you choose the other side of the world, you'll see kids wearing Arsenal and Chelsea shirts all over the place. You won't see them wearing Newcastle shirts, Villa shirts, Everton shirts, Spurs shirts etc etc. Success for Chelsea over the last few years has had a massive, massive effect globally on their support. You could also walk around - randomly selected town - Tunbridge Wells, and you'll see plenty of people wearing Arsenal and Chelsea shirts, but again, you won't see anyone wearing shirts of the other clubs, not unless you bump into transplanted Geordies, Scousers or Brummies. In these cases, they may consist almost entirely of gloryhunting 12 year olds who will go nowhere near the ground, but now football is a globally marketed commodity, number of people in the ground every other week doesn't have the impact on global fanbase it once did. Sad but true.