fredbob

sorry to bring this up again but i can se this being something that put Spurs in a better position than us to sign modric.

I just love the insults that some non english speaking people come up with. mackems.gif Poor comeback.

There are obviously a few exceptions like Hargreaves but to me the genral policy out of the top 4 is to look at the younger spectrum of players, players like Nani, Ronaldo, rooney, Torres, Babel, Skrtel, Maschereno , all of the Arsenal squad etc. In fact its only Chelsea who buy the proven player on a regular basis but thats only becasue they;re in a league of there own finacne wise.

maybe, I take the view that you should take opportunities, and also the attitude that you should ask yourself "he may be a good player but is he good enough for us". As a starting point I would go out and buy Bentley and if they want 15m just pay it. Far better than buying 2 sub standard players and repeating in 12 months time exactly what we are saying now. Edit: Ref the youth system, I can tell you that the mackems and smoggies have always looked after youngsters ie very young ones, better than Newcastle. Where has that got them ? How often have they been above us ? I'm not denying its a good step, of course it is, but give some credit for the new training academy which in actual fact has been over 50 years overdue at newcastle, at least. Even if we don't go for Bentley it's players of his age and quality that we should be aiming for, which is what I think the club want to do. As for the academy, I'm not saying we should put all of our efforts into that and ignore signing quality players as we won't get anywhere, a good youth system is important though as the more quality youngsters we can bring through the less first team positions we'll need to buy for, meaning we can afford to spend what money we have got on those positions rather than have to spend less on more players. Look at Man Utd for example, when was the last time they had to spend big money on a right back? Or on a left or right wing? Or even in the middle? They didn't have to for years because they either brought through great youngsters or went out and bought a quality young midfielder like Roy Keane, Veron was the only big money buy in any of those positions and he didn't really work out. After having 10 years out of these players Fergie is looking to do the same again, Beckham left so they bought Ronaldo who was 17 iirc, they've also bought Nani and Anderson as replacements for Giggs and Scholes, in an ideal world Fergie would have these players at Man Utd for another 10 years and if they develop properly then it's less positions he has to fill, meaning he can go out and spend all of his Summer kitty on one player if he wants because he doesn't have to worry about filling the midfield or anything like that. What you don't understand is the difference between a club having a policy and a manager showing good judgement of footballers. The vast majority of ManU's team cost a huge amount of money, the 3 players you mention did well What difference is there between us wanting to sign, Modric, Woodgate and Turan and Gomis and Man U wanting to sign, Ronaldo, Nani, Anderson and Ferdinand? Now Im not comparing them player for player but i fail to see the difference in policy?

I'd heard that, at the time that Keegan left Man City, a lot of senior players were rather pissed off with him and weren't sorry to see him go. A lot of people assume that players like Dunne would be eager to be reunited with Keegan, but I'm wouldn't be confident of that. pissed off why? The training was boring and old-fashioned. Keegan had lost his spark and was a rather non-inspirational presence. Allegedly. Aye, i heard that oo, i heard they had a cruel nickname for him too but cant remeber what it was.

Exactly. Good to hear more and more fans are as realistic as me. Bet you're a blast in the pub before the match. Well if you'd ever been like. Oh he's been to plenty, at the stadium of s****. typical. denial are we?? I'm certainly not denial no.. mackems.gif hope so for your sake from more disappointment When we go through a s*** spell are you happy or sad? Of course i am down... you would not want to be near me after we lost a match or played crap. But these days i am much calmer after finally acknowledging and recognising the fact that my expectation of the team (we are a top 6 club at least and that we are famous n big club) is simply unrealistic. After seeing the crapness after the Sir Bobby days, I become more and more upset cos i know we have really fallen behind our previous lesser rivals like Everton, Pompey and Spurs. I am perhaps one of the few who predict days of mediorcity when players like Dyer, Bells, Robert left and the retirement of Shearer cos i know these are the best we can have. People rave abt the new coming ins like Duff but i got stick saying we will be in for a relegtion scrap this season but was called names for this view; I was more right. In any case, my upset turns to reasoning and finally acceptance that if i am not going to get disappointed i must face the truth. So i was delighted with our final position this season and performance in the last few games, even then, i am realistic of my expectation next season if no added quality players are made. Also, i was constantly upset by jokes from mates then, that i think my club is big and has a good squad. Finally, i understand our standing in the game has fallen and do not expect big names unless they are in twillight of their years whats more now, we are not spending due to wage cost pressures. As such, i face the truth that getting back into Europe and become more famous is at least 5-10 years away cos in simple terms, even if we add 3 or 4 good players this seasons, our rivals are likey to do the same to already superior squads than ours. We can of course do a Chelsea and buy big and pay big, signalling our ambition and thus attract more and better players but this is impossible under the buiness oriented Mike Ashley. So my expectations has changed to a more realistic one. I am given stick but just as irritated that these fans are deluded and asking for the impossible which will lead to disappointment and a hostile and unhappy crowd which thus lead to pressure on the squad. Would it not be better if we can create a vibrant and more suppotive crowd at St James if we lower our expectations or become more realistic? Would it not be that we wll be happy if we overahieve our realistic expectation and finish in the top 10 rather than moan and swear, creating a unpleasant environment for players and fans alike? I for one, do not expect any rising star/star signings but maybe a few unknowns who perhaps can surprise us, in fact i expect more departures to keep the wage bill down but hopefully that man is not Martins as i feel he is the only few top 6 quality player we have who also seem want to play for us. So what do you think our overall potential is? Why dont you speak about our club in terms of its potential rather than its current standings?

Id disagree with that - cant remember Allardyce ever having a question mark hanging over his head, i always got the impression that he needed to test his skills at a bigger club becasue Bolton couldnt match his ambitions. Id also think its fair to say he didnt come up short at NUFC and that his rep hasnt been damaged in the world of football - he was given 22 games and left the club in 11th position(?). No sane football analyst could find any substantial evidence in those 22 games to suggest that he;d of been a guaranteed failure here. Only Nufc fans have a real idea of what went on here and even we dont know how things would of turned out, we just know that his football and philosiphy didnt fit into nufcs traditions and something needed to be done. This is a no brainer for Hughes - he'd be at a club which has all the tools to break the top 4 and if he stayed at Blackburn it'd be a disastorous decision.

So were we ever in for him? Shame if we've not made an enquiry, seems more attainable than Cuellar.

This is a no brainer for Hughes - has to take the job , unless Chelsea come knocking. He's not gonna get another chance to prove himself at a bigger club - his rep will either improve if he does a good job or stay the same if he gets sacked soon enough. It'll all get blamed on Frank.

Id rather we didnt swap one immobile striker for another - Bent over Crouch. Bent is also more verstalie in different formations and can lead the line on his own if we are under the cosh.

think Gerrard and Barry make the best centre midfield partnership - seem to understand each other and cover each other when required.

This is gonna be such a wank game.

Keegan always has room for a good perm. The more i think about it, the more sense this transfer makes.

im not sure they are to be honest - i dont think they have the resources to compete on the same financial level that nufc, man c or Spurs can. I also dont htink that despite there recent success they;d be able to find a man who would be of good enough claibre to take them to the next level should Moyes depart which would be imperative for them. As you sy - if they want to improve and make the real money in the prem they need to compete with the top4 financially and they cant no matter how succesful they are. This is where clubs like us, man c and spurs and vialla do have an advantage.

Anyone who thinks this is a ragbag club with an over the hill manager should probably join Crouch at Portsmouth. There's a nice lttle club with shed for a ground that can easily accomodate a few more supporters. Plus they've got a jowelly faced c*** for a manager whose wife tells him where he can work I believe in my club, but the people saying only a mug would choose Pompey over us are deluded, tbh. Aye, especially when their posts are less than accurate when it comes to facts... what facts are those Not referring to you, mate. Hence why you weren't in that quote list. TRon's "25,000" comment when their ground only holds 20,000 and when he says they've got plenty of empty seats when I'm fairly sure I remember their ticket uptake for each game being right up there with us, not to mention the fact that they're desperate to build a new stadium to fulfill ticket demands. he's not too far out though, pompey is a canny little town and the supporters are quite good, but they [and Southampton] aren't that substantial in numbers to sustain being a top club. Without serious cash injections they will possibly bomb when Redknapp calls it a day. Building a new stadium will be nice but so far as numbers go I don't see any point in them building a stadium bigger than about 35000 at the most, and thats being generous. Crouch, being British, will know this. The only way he would prefer pompey to us IMO is because he's played for Redknapp before. None of that changes the fact that what he posted was essentially bollocks, like, even if it fits your agenda. That aside, I do hope we're still capable of attracting players like Crouch here ahead of clubs like Portsmouth, and I certainly don't buy into the thought that there's "no chance" a player would ever come here now ahead of their like (Villa, Spurs, Everton, etc.) even if all things were equal (wages, transfer fees, etc.) I just think for Crouch, personally, we'd be behind Pompey if it came to the crunch. On top of Redknapp, they've just won the FA Cup, finished top seven and are in the UEFA Cup and they might be able to offer more wages than us these days, rightly or wrongly. what agenda ? I just think that he would be mad to choose pompey before us, for footballing reasons. They won't stay where they are without serious cash injections. Peope are actually discouting the fact that our stadium and crowd base will actually be a huge selling point to a plyer who's used to being at a big club - Portsmouth may be able to offer more next season career wise but im sure he;ll be thinking of the season after that as well....our crowd would be less important to aplayer who knows no different. Imagine playing in front of 45k rabid fans week in week out, would it be easy to swap that atmosphere for a club with maybe half that capacity and half that passion? Also Pompey seemd to have hit a pinnacle - even Redknapp admitted that and topping an FA cup and 8th place finish (?) would be near impossible with there limited resources. Its certainly not a club which is geared towards long term success like ours is. there is a reason why we are the 14th richest club in the world and that will work in our advantage. true. Unfortunately some people - for some reason - are unable to see this or unable to admit it. Thing is NE5 that this is only really applicable to Pompey and maybe blackburn and at a push Everton - our real rivals are Man C, Villa and Spurs who do have more to offer than us in the short term and they have a head start on us for the long term becasue all arent short of a few bob and have reasonable stadium capacities and all are definitively on the up. Thats when the real battel for transfers begin.

Ayala would be another excellent signing. His reading of the game is superb and suprisingly enough, he's actually pretty damn fast. Leadership skills second to none. When Naybet came to us from depor, he was easily our player of the season and helped King develop into an excellent centre back. Naybet was a massive fans favourite and im sure Ayala would do a excellent job for you lot (and us too). Aye, exactly thing is at 36 years old im not sure he'd ever be on the clubs radar whatsoever. Shame really cos i he wouldnt have too much trouble adjusting to the pace of the prem. Coloccinno would be excellent though - could do a simlar job.

Blanc was a pile of s**** for Man United. Aye he was ya right - i rememebr him getting torn apart at SJP when we beat them 4-3. Like i say ferdinand say he brought his game along so i cant see why it wouldnt be the same for Ayala and Taylor - he;s a hugely experinces defendderr.

If Ayala wasnt so old id take apunt on him - think he would of been perfect stop gap player who's experivnence would of been vital to the developemnt of the team and Taylor. Man U did a simlar thing with blanc a few years ago and Ferdinand spoke of how much of a good influence he was on his game.

Personally i think Martins should be drifiting to both sides of our target man, he drifted to the right hand side against Spurs, i think its impotant that we have someone in the centre at all times to be honest someon more mobile as well. The lack of width down the right is down to Geremi not down to viduka.

Anyone who thinks this is a ragbag club with an over the hill manager should probably join Crouch at Portsmouth. There's a nice lttle club with shed for a ground that can easily accomodate a few more supporters. Plus they've got a jowelly faced c*** for a manager whose wife tells him where he can work I believe in my club, but the people saying only a mug would choose Pompey over us are deluded, tbh. Aye, especially when their posts are less than accurate when it comes to facts... what facts are those Not referring to you, mate. Hence why you weren't in that quote list. TRon's "25,000" comment when their ground only holds 20,000 and when he says they've got plenty of empty seats when I'm fairly sure I remember their ticket uptake for each game being right up there with us, not to mention the fact that they're desperate to build a new stadium to fulfill ticket demands. he's not too far out though, pompey is a canny little town and the supporters are quite good, but they [and Southampton] aren't that substantial in numbers to sustain being a top club. Without serious cash injections they will possibly bomb when Redknapp calls it a day. Building a new stadium will be nice but so far as numbers go I don't see any point in them building a stadium bigger than about 35000 at the most, and thats being generous. Crouch, being British, will know this. The only way he would prefer pompey to us IMO is because he's played for Redknapp before. None of that changes the fact that what he posted was essentially bollocks, like, even if it fits your agenda. That aside, I do hope we're still capable of attracting players like Crouch here ahead of clubs like Portsmouth, and I certainly don't buy into the thought that there's "no chance" a player would ever come here now ahead of their like (Villa, Spurs, Everton, etc.) even if all things were equal (wages, transfer fees, etc.) I just think for Crouch, personally, we'd be behind Pompey if it came to the crunch. On top of Redknapp, they've just won the FA Cup, finished top seven and are in the UEFA Cup and they might be able to offer more wages than us these days, rightly or wrongly. what agenda ? I just think that he would be mad to choose pompey before us, for footballing reasons. They won't stay where they are without serious cash injections. Peope are actually discouting the fact that our stadium and crowd base will actually be a huge selling point to a plyer who's used to being at a big club - Portsmouth may be able to offer more next season career wise but im sure he;ll be thinking of the season after that as well....our crowd would be less important to aplayer who knows no different. Imagine playing in front of 45k rabid fans week in week out, would it be easy to swap that atmosphere for a club with maybe half that capacity and half that passion? Also Pompey seemd to have hit a pinnacle - even Redknapp admitted that and topping an FA cup and 8th place finish (?) would be near impossible with there limited resources. Its certainly not a club which is geared towards long term success like ours is. there is a reason why we are the 14th richest club in the world and that will work in our advantage.

the thing with that season at Southhampton that i awlays thought at the time is that he scored loads of goals from the penno spot - would be interesting to see how many goals he did score from 12 yards. Put Jones in a good side and i think he'd be quality - he has immense strength his hold up play is some on the best in the premiership in my opinion and he's confident and seems to have decent techincal ability. Sunderland were crap this season and didnt link up with him at all - prime example was at SJP where the irsih Puskas struggles to get anywhere near him even though he'd be retaining possesion in our final 3rd p[retty easily. Give him more support and i think he'd be useful for any side. Like you say - price and goals scored would be an issue as would him playing for the unwashed but id take a punt if he was anywhere near Crouchs price bracket. He could be the Emile Hesky to Michael Owen except with more of a goal threat even though this year says otherwise.

Can he not offer something height wise when he starts, no? Very good first touch, quick feet, good awareness of his teammates runs, handful in the air due to his sheer size. All useful talents in a target man, which is what we need. Not a great finisher but he'll chip in with goals here and there. Again, not world class or anything but I think he'd be a solid signing. Well if we intend to play carpet football i cant see how his hieght would be that useful - he link up play is his main strength but for me doesnt offer enough as a striker abiloity wise - no pace, no strength, finsihing isnt great, doesnt use his height to his advantage. Compare him with someone like Adebayor or Drogba then you start to see his fallacies as a target man, hell, compare him to what shearer could offer. Not someone id want to lead the front line to be honest. Easily marked out the game.

Would prefer Kenwyn Jones to Crouch based on this season - now he;s a proper handful for the defenders Sunderland would of been 10times more dangerous at SJP if he had a bit of support.

No to Crouch - persoanlly think he flatters to decieve. He's distictinly average at every single aspect of his game, but covers his averageness with the odd goal - can easily get marked out a game - not so much when he's coming off the bench and offers something height wise. When he;s played consistenlty he's had a pretty consisitent habit of going through long long goal droughts. Would like my strikers to pose more of a threat up front personally. Would be easier to name the things he excels at. link up play maybe?