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Any fear I had of this division evaporated when I took an afternoon to read through all 24 squad lists. Still pretty confident we'll screw it up somehow though.

Couldn't be further than the truth actually. Their best players are second or third-generation immigrants living in Japan who play in the J-League, and their captain plays in the Russian second division. Hell, they even have a lad who plays in the South Korean league. The "dear leader" is more than willing to make concessions when it comes to money-spinning, propaganda-generating sporting victories.

Hope the Hungarians take there place!! Only losing 1-0 against Sweden, heres to hoping they can pull it back or the Budapest police are in for a busy night tonight!! Hungary in the WC and a callup for Kadar would be sweet.

I'm happy and all for North Korea making it... But in all honesty they're going to be completely slaughtered at that level. They could stifle some of the higher-end Asian teams with their sheer tenacity, but I can't see Messi being all that bothered about four 150 pound North Korean blokes rushing him. Us on the other hand, we've got our strongest squad ever.

Harper!

Crap, I definitely chose the wrong time to go off to the army You're only in the army for 20 days?? 120 days basic training and then a 3 year tour of duty Granted, I'll be commuting from a flat for most of the latter so I should be able to catch matches.

Crap, I definitely chose the wrong time to go off to the army

Beat the Aussies 3-1. Ji-sung park is a god

How could you rate him when you don't know where he plays? He's left footed....... plays on the left and sometimes in the middle. I remember being impressed 4-5 years ago when he was at City whenever I saw them. Just because I can't remember which side he was on surely doesn't mean I can't have liked him when I seen him. He signed for my local club FC Seoul last season, got everyone over here right excited. He was so shit we threw him out after five games. Stay away.

Bow to the inevitable. Accept that Ashley owns your soul until the end of time.

We should know by now that if they can't name the players, they don't exist.

Now Manchester United, there's a team that would be absolutely screwed by a two-window ban.

Good to see that we're shedding our redundant staff.

We'd also have a squad nailed on to equalize Derby's record. And Ashley will never spend any money to buy us anyone. Ever.

But the original ITK/WUM backed the story. Either he had a lucky guess, or Redheugh is talking cack..... Take your pick. You've the rest of the day to decide. I think David Icke just stumbled across an excellent way of proving that our original "ITK" was talking shit.

I've just realized: now that we're all warming to Hughton, the logical next step for Ashley is to go and appoint Kinnear. Tomorrow.

I just give up trying to understand Ashley. Maybe a Geordie stole his dog when he was 8 and he's been plotting vengeance ever sinc.

In all seriousness he's a very decent bloke and the players who've remained seem to be the ones that respect him and are willing to put in performances for him. (With the possible exception of the Argies I suppose) His tactics don't seem to shabby either to be honest... If nothing else he's the first manager we've had in AGES who recognizes that Butt is s*** and should not be played if at all possible. If someone told me at the end of last season that I'd prefer Chris Hughton over Alan Shearer as our manager I'd have said that they were on crack, but that is indeed what I seem to be inching towards.

Source?? I can't reveal it, let's just say i have friends in really high places.

Wish we could just lock this and forbid any mention of the word "takeover" anywhere on this forum. Here's my bit of ITK information: We're never going to be taken over. Ever. Ashley will be here until he dies of old age, after which he'll rise again as an undead lord and rule over us until the sun burns out.

Unfortunately its not just about players being better than what we've got - its about having enough players to put a team out week in, week out. If our annual injury crisis strikes anytime soon, we'll be knackered (literally) and be relying on academy players. I dont disagree that some of these free agents wouldn't/shouldn't normally be considered, but at this moment in time we can't be choosy, and we need numbers! So who signed Simpson & Loven? My best guess is that Fergie suggested that we take Simpson on Loan for free, and that Hughton basically had to beg and plead to get Ashley to sanction the money to sign Loven on the last day.

This is a pointless discussion because no doubt there is nobody at the club who wants to that has the authority to make signings of any sort right now.

Go knock one out to some porn and cheer up, your posts are so depressing! Tell me who you would have signed and how much you think you would have spent this summer. Hakka, I admire your rationality and admit that you make a disturbing amount of sense, but surely there's no excuse for not even bringing in some Premiership youths/rejects in on loan?

I got Enrique on the back of my 2007-2009 shirt for no particular reason than that I wanted the longest name possible. Was mostly regretting it for the past two years. What an inspired decision it's turned out to have been now