Lloydie

I'm just glad to hear we're in talks for a central defender....

Issues profit warning, share price slumps, etc. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/07/24/bcnashley124.xml Interesting bits on Ashley here as well http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/06/06/ccjeff106.xml There's a fairly terrible bit of 'investigative journalism' linked from the Telegraphs front page as well (opens a movie in a popup)

I always thought we'd be starting next season with Butt, Barton Emre as the midfield three, except for a brief spell of Deco induced hallucinations. For me I think it works well, providing for plenty of drive and variation. Only slight worry is that none of them can pull out wide and do a natural job as a winger which just denies us an option to stretch the play. If the full backs get their act together that helps.

No they didn't. There was no due dilligence, which is why it was such a bolt from the blue for Shepherd. Two other companies did do due dilligence and it took them months; because that's how long it takes to go from top to bottom in a PLC. Ashley has form for buying things without checking them out first as well, think I read he did it a couple of times with some sporting goods companies. What this means for the season is anyone's guess. I'd imagine there's some cash, but how much I don't know. Of course there have been these leaks about how much we're willing to spend on a galactico, but that could easily be hype. It's worth noting that neither Mort or Ashley have made any comments about spending big.

I think Nobby's quote that 'the new system isn't quite ready yet' after the Carlisle game suggests which way he's going. Also said it might not be ready for the start of the new season. With injuries and signings we could easily be starting in a 4-4-2 against Bolton.

I rate him, I'd keep him, and I'd expect him to deliver something good this season. Personally I think he'll thrive in the middle of a 4-3-3 with Butt and Barton for company.

Shouldn't there be some news on this soon? We bid 7 million for someone on Friday, you'd hope we'd hear about it early this week.

Are you panicking on all the threads in order? Or just at random?

It is interesting. The big bit “The new system is not ready to play all the time and we don’t know if that’s what we’ll use at the start of the season.” Suggests that we could start some games 4-4-2 till Allardyce is happy people know what they're doing / he's got the right personnel in and fit. Personally I think he'll be looking for Emre or a new signing to do the job in the middle with Solano the backup, but if Nobby is fit and up to the physical challenge of playing in the centre then I'm happy to see him given a chance. Still wondering where this system is going to leave players like Milner and N'Zogbia. For away games I can see them playing wide in a 4-5-1, but if the big three strikers are starting up front there's nowhere for them to go. I suppose Milner could play in the centre three, but it's not where his talents lie.

O'Shea could be a good shout. We've got to be able to get one defender out of Man Utd. Ferguson looks a bit overstocked.

Crikey. This is a cracking idea for a thread. Here goes. Players to sell : Kieron Dyer to West Ham for 5 million, if his heart was in it I'd keep him, but lets assume it isn't. Ramage for 0.5 million to anyone, the rest of the bairns are passing him by Players in : Mikael Silvestre LB, CD (8 million), backup Wes Brown (6 million) Brede Hangeland CD, DM? (3 million), backup ? (Hyppia if available) Wayne Bridge LB (5 million), backup Moritz Volz (3 million) And that's me done, 4 million in change. Reckon I might end up spending that to get one of the centrebacks though. Lineup on day 1 (assuming no new injuries and I'm in charge so it's 4-4-2) Given Solano Rozenhaal Silvestre Bridge Milner Butt Geremi N Zogbia Ameobi Owen Bench : Harper, Hangeland, Viduka, Martins, Luque But with the hope of shifting Geremi to RB, and Solano to the bench when either Emre or Barton come back. Ameobi and Owen get the nod on game 1 with Viduka and Martins expected to fight for their shirts Buy another defender at Christmas. Other than that, as the injuries return things look ok. Right?

Ah, and here was me about to post something like 'after a week with no good rumours it must be about time to put some concrete bids in' I imagine there'll be another one or two next week once they learn what the response is to this one.

Yup, it's not a good start to his time. Is it really so hard for footballers to keep their heads down and their mouths shut?

Yup, I'm backing him to have a decent season this year. Depends on the formation, rotation and probably the form of Viduka but I can see him up around 15 goals this season.

Well CAC obviously, but given Carrolls height I think you'd have to call it a Big CAC formation

Good point. Lets get Ashley to buy him back. Chops and Carrol up front. Like the SAS (Shearer and Sutton) only CAC

Carroll would have got three by now

Carrolls not tall is he? He's the Big AC I hear...

So are we playing 4-4-2 both halves?

Nah, Carroll would have scored two by now, maybe three with his height ;-)

I'm not too surprised Ashley hasn't released the funds yet. He's come in and taken over a business that hasn't been well run without doing due dilligence, and the first thing he's done is send in his trusted lieutenant to find all the skeletons in the closets. Until that's done he's not going to want to spend megabucks. I think there's also a genuine issue about learning the ropes in the transfer market. Mort and co won't know what the timelines are that they should expect, have to get used to dealing with agents and all the rest. They're probably also running into a lot of people saying 'this is the way things are done' while they're thinking 'that's borderline illegal' or similar about some of the games practices. So I guess it's understandable Allardyce is frustrated, but from Ashley's point of view he wants to know exactly where he's putting his money. There's almost no other business where you go around spending this much money on product of such questionable value so frequently. The thing that bothers me is this talk of a galactico type signing. I am a bit worried that Ashley wants to buy us a present so we'll all love him, and given our current position, attractiveness etc. I can't see that ending well.

Nobody is irreplacable and good negotiators are very cheap given what they can do. Plus Mort is a heavyweight lawyer, well able to do his own negotiation I'd imagine.

Don't remember the guy at all, but it's true that PSV's defence fell apart completely as soon as Alex was injured.

I'd take Riise if I had the choice, but I can't see him leaving Liverpool.

Mainstream newspaper now reporting on the rumour (as opposed to reporting that we're going to sign him) http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/07/11/deco_could_put_newcastle_on_a.html Some nice descriptions about Deco in there. I didn't know Souness sold him while he was at Benfica...