Tsunami

Would be pleased to get Smith off the wage bill. He has always given 100% but hasn't been a success here, if he goes on the score goals for Everton then good luck to him; he wasn't going to do it here & his sale may allow us to make another signing (I should say it is now imperative that we sign a striker - a target man - not David Healy).

Yes pay on door £15 adults

Nail on head. The irony of this thread.. Indeed; I nearly simply queried the negativity.........................

As I've said, Keegan has said that the players he's in for are players 'the big clubs are also in for'. Would you prefer him to wait to try and sign them or settle for a lesser standard of player like Malbranque and Diouf to get players through the door earlier? Which "big clubs" is KK referring too? Spurs got Modric; are they a big club, if so then so are we. We aren't in for the players the top 4 want as we wouldn't get them so we are in for players that other "big clubs" want & we can't get them yet; are these players waiting for these other "big clubs" to declare/ decline an interest before coming here then? I'd hope for better than Malbranque & Diouf; but, I'll say this; they are better options than some of our squad. I think you've hit the nail on the head when you say players are waiting to see what their options are before committing to us. Unless you think the club just haven't got around to putting bids in yet. I don't know what to think tbh. We look a shambles at the moment.

As I've said, Keegan has said that the players he's in for are players 'the big clubs are also in for'. Would you prefer him to wait to try and sign them or settle for a lesser standard of player like Malbranque and Diouf to get players through the door earlier? Which "big clubs" is KK referring too? Spurs got Modric; are they a big club, if so then so are we. We aren't in for the players the top 4 want as we wouldn't get them so we are in for players that other "big clubs" want & we can't get them yet; are these players waiting for these other "big clubs" to declare/ decline an interest before coming here then? I'd hope for better than Malbranque & Diouf; but, I'll say this; they are better options than some of our squad.

We should always expect injuries; we knew Viduka wouldn't be fit, Owen/ Martins are always lilkely to pick up knocks & we knew we'd be light in midfield - we knew Emre was on his way, that Smith was shite & that the middle of the park was a bit of a joke. What has ruined this pre-season is not injuries it is our inability/ reluctance to bring players in. We will bring some in before the season starts; too little too late for me. It will take until the middle/ end of September to get any kind of settled team/ understanding & if I were KK I'd be royally pissed off with the support he's been shown so far. Don't give me the usual bollocks of the offers we've made & missed out on. It doesn't wash anymore. Yes, we have players out but we have hardly managed an attack in the last 3 friendlies never mind score a goal. What's more the opposition has not been anything other than mediocre. We have built absolutely no momentum approaching the season & that is poor in the extreme.

Difficult as you have to take into account the opposition. Spurs 7-1 didn't turn up, WH weren't up to much. First half Leicester 7-1 was fantastic. Parts of the Man u 5-0 were brilliant but I'd go for either Inter away 2-2 or SBR first home game 8-0 Sheff Wed. Both games had meaning.

Fucking Arseholes If it is anything other than a fine those old farts will be penalising a new club & not the player. Bollocks, ban him for 5 games & take 15 points off the club.

Viduka had an operation & wasn't expected to be fit. He showed early signs of making a quicker than expected recovery. We knew he wouldn't be ready & we know he will pick up further knocks. We need to buy another target man, we knew this before & we know this now. Owen & Martin's should not be our first choice front pairing. I'd be happy to see Owen start we he finished last season, especially if we don't add creativity to our midfield. We have "bought" a supply man (Jonas), he needs a target man & a man playing off to feed balls too.

Normally I'd say pay the man, but we have met the price & their President is trying to take the piss. The player has accepted the terms so no problem with him. Hang tough & if Spurs or anyone else get him so be it.

Some love in; by the way what is crack/ craque? I actually say good luck to Spurs; they are taking the risks to give themselves a chance. My problem with the Spuds fans is that they have always thought that they were better than us, even when we were thumping them 7-1 & they couldn't understand why were we able to beat them to players. They are currently a bigger attraction than us which I accept; shame they couldn't. They have too many arrogant wankers as supporters to the point that they genuinely believe that they are on a par with Arsenal. As I said wankers.

Heskey over Baptista? Sigh For the money yes. He's played with Owen before, is unselfish & has years of PL experience. Baptista would cost perhaps x 5, double/ treble wages & hasn't cut it with RM or Arsenal. I really could not see him being a success here.

Given the relative silence over a creative central midfield player & a target man I'm hoping we have offers on the table for the one's we want. KK can't be serious about being content with what he has got. Barton will not start the season & a pairing of any of Butt, Guthrie, Geremi/ Milner/ Zog/ Faye/ Smith would get circles run round it. Meanwhile up top Viduka & Owen are/ have had knocks & Oba's pre-season has been stopped. I'll not mention Smith or Ameobi; but just now one of them could be looking at a starting place. Carroll is still not ready. Look at our lack of goals from our front players in the pre-season games to date. It is clear that we need to strengthen. I'd still take Heskey (especially over Baptista) if our main targets fall through. Bellamy has been mentioned in other posts; he did fantastic for us but he is a little twat & he needs to play off a bigger man. He's not what we need; even if Martins left Owen would get in ahead of him.

Going to Venezuela will not in itself stop any deal; it will make it difficult for any other club to sneak in ahead of us though.

There goes our policy of getting in young players; come & join us, we have Joey Barton & you will be his Boot Boy.

I'll feel a lot happier once we hear that personal terms are agreed. I don't expect the club to say a word until the ink is dry on any deal.

On a positive note; performances like this may encourage Ashley to loosen the purse strings.

Grobellaar caught taking a bung in another match fixing scandal.

Let's hope it's money up front

Can't see Given wanting to go there & I'd be very disappointed if we only got Warnock in return as I don't rate him that highly. Given has suffered since his injuries & particularly coming for crosses but he is still a quality act.

I probably didn't word my post very well as I meant somebody within the club thought that the players were the right price. As for getting what was left, how many of the players would you consider in that way? Press speculation isn't soundly based speculation, most of the time its s**** generated so sell the s**** newspapers, and theyre in it to make money from sales and advertisements so they come up with names to get as many readers as possible. Somebody might post a link to where press speculation is watched to see how often they are right, I doubt its much better than that of Nico. The Kaboul comment seems to be in desperation, the mackems are ambitious because they are after a player who has played less than 80 first team games, 21 in this country and he hasn't won a full cap for his country. Yet quite a few on here don't think we are ambitious and we have recently signed a full Argentinean international who has played almost 200 first team games as club level. ? I agree that an awful of press stories are to see papers; some aren't & I didn't see us denying the we were in for Aimer or Inler. The point about the Mackems is that Keane will have seen the comment from Kaboul & yet has managed to get him up to talk. He hasn't come up for the scenery has he? As for Jonas, he hasn't cost us, he wont be getting a massive wage & it was a good piece of business. It doesn't in itself show ambition or that Ashley is prepared to pay top dollar. Listen to the KK interview after the pools game, seems quite pleased with what he has but for the moment he can't see where the next player is coming from. Bluffing? KK hasn't got a good passed record of hiding his feelings. He did say we will get players in but at what level? Balls in Ashley's court imo.

Sky sports news is the place (if you can get it)

Hope KK's playing a good poker hand.

I will believe what is known to be true, until press speculation is confirmed then it's baseless s****. I can't understand how anybody can take the stance that "consider a lot of soundly based speculation until proven incorrect." Somebody asked the idiot on the Blackburn Forum about his ratio of stories coming true, I think he said 1 in 20 yet people still read the papers and take what they say as fact when even they admit that they have a record of getting 95% wrong. As for the figures you've mentioned, they are nothing more than a stab in the dark. Nobody has mentioned how much we have to spend other than what we have actually bid or spent. If it is anything like last year then we'll make money available for players at the right price. Well not get to a figure then stop buying, well buy who the manager wants as long as were not having to pay more for him than we think hes worth. We'll get whats left, that's what happened last year & we ended up paying good wages for shit. I can't believe that you are saying we ended up buying players at the right price. If we didn't live in a world where people did consider soundly based speculation we'd still be living in caves. You can't compare this with the clown Nicko who seemingly makes up stories for his own personal kudos and vip status on the site. I have just seen Kaboul arrive at Sunderland's training ground, if he does sign then money certainly does talk after what his agent said & shows ambition and money from the Mackems. Given what he said Keane deserves a medal for even getting Kaboul to travel up.

Good luck to him. Makes a mockery of the London stuff.