manorpark

Doesn't Michael Owen (scoring LOTS of goals for us in the coming season) sell shirts worldwide?

Definite improvement to their team though. Exactly, also both players have a good 5 years until the peak of their careers. So with any luck they will be average in 5 years.. From watching Chopra closely, on the few occasions he played for us, it seems that he cannot hack it in the Premiership. What has changed? He is going to be a waste of their money, which I don't care about, but it is a pity for him that he could not have just been left to do his work, at the level to which he is more suited.

There is a distinct lack of information - hard information - around at the moment. We cannot 'know' what is going on at times like this, however I think (I 'think') we can be certain that Sam is working on bringing in the players (4 or 5 defenders, in my view) that he wants. It will happen. Now, to Mike Ashley, and your fictional 'exchange' above. I do not believe that our rich and intelligent (thats how he got his money) billionaire, will be having any "proactive" input AT ALL. It is all cr*p to suggest that he does have (I'm not saying you are). He (in reality, Mort) is leaving it to Allardyce, while their 'review of the business' continues. I imagine that review will (amongst many other things) end up supporting the retention of Allardyce. We just have to be patient. I like to think we are an 'intelligent' club now, and are leaving the "buy anybody" / "we have £50M to spend screaming" to clubs like Man City/Villa/West Ham. The only thing we have to worry about is letting Liverpool, Man U and Chelsea "pull too much farther away from us". Patience is the key (along with ignoring all the press totally-made-up stories) for us uninformed fans, at the moment though!!

What the f***? It's July, we've made a few signings, and I'm sure there are more on the way. We aren't Chelsea though, and this isn't FM07 - Sam doesn't get to press a "Make offer for player" button. I don't want to come over all Glenn Roeder, but signings can take a while. Chill out. The teams that are "striding ahead of us" were already a mile ahead of us. Can understand the feelings of frustration though! Particularly in relation to the teams 'striding ahead of us', that you refer to Gemmill, as these are exactly the teams we need to be 'catching up to in the transfer market' (not letting them stay as far ahead as they were, or get even further ahead). We need to chill though - remember, it is still only mid-July!

that goes for the entire squad. Owen never wanted to join in the first place though. imo hes never been happy having to come here none of them wanted to come here,given the choice between us or man utd/arsenal/chelsea/liverpool they wouldn't be here!!!!!!! what we have to do is get into the position where they'd rather be here than those other places. Thats it exactly - and we need to have gone a very long way towards achieving just that, by the end of the coming (first Ashley/Allardyce) season!

There's been a few (inc. Beardsley & Shearer) but I would go for Robert Lee.

Very good news. I was one of the most vocal, saying "he is exactly the type of player big clubs don't sell, we should be building a team with him for the next ten years or so", before and during all the ridiculous attempts to sell him to Villa. That was bizarre, even by our (old-style) standards. Aye! All we have to do now is teach him how to cross properly and score goals! He needs to learn those things, but he's still the best right winger we have now that Nobby is all slow and that. Yes, he is a "work in progress" , but the finished product won't be too far off, and WHAT a product that will be (in my opinion).

Very good news. I was one of the most vocal, saying "he is exactly the type of player big clubs don't sell, we should be building a team with him for the next ten years or so", before and during all the ridiculous attempts to sell him to Villa. That was bizarre, even by our (old-style) standards.

He's not chairman, he doesn't have a title anymore. Who cares about titles? (apart from League ones!!) Shepherd is yesterdays news, has no power, has no future with us. Bye Bye.

I may be new here but I am a life long supporter like the rest of you guys and have the right to say...ARE YOU f****** KIDDING ME? It is an 'odd' thing to say, that's for sure. I don't think I was ever that daft, when I was a kiddiewinkie (as this kiddie obviously is)!

I don't think we are trying to attract anyone to this club "from the position of 13th place". There is no one involved in buying new players (owner / manager / directors etc) who was involved last season. Even Freddy Shepherds temporary role is irrelevant, as he is off ill. Everyone, who may be joining us, knows that this is a totally different club, and that last season has no real relevance to anything at all - for the future. It will become even easier 'after we have achieved' , but it is still nothing like as bad now, as the statement "from the position of 13th place" implies!

he'll stay and see what Allardyce does for us, if he stays at all. Then he'll f*** off if/when we aren't challenging for the CL. And you can't blame the lad for that. Logical and correct. Applying the same type of logic, and what I hope Sam will do the rest of the close season, I see Owen staying with us for a long long time. It will not be that long before we are challenging at the top end of the league again, only this time, once we have started, our even-greater-than-previously 'financial muscle' should see us stay there.

Great idea, a s**** section (got plenty of them already).

A Wind Section?? (thats for me!) Where would they all be though? The wind section needs to be at the back (!) of the Leazes, I would say.

"Why can't he love me like I love him? WHY?!" Exactly!!

A Wind Section?? (thats for me!)

All this wailing and whining, like some girl has chucked you or something. Chr*st!!!! The end product is what matters. He's here / He's staying / He will stay a long time if he scores goals and we win matches / surely you all think we ARE (under Sam) going to win lots of matches . . . . . . . So, we are all going to have some great times - Vintage times await . .

Yeah, both ends. That's where I think (as said previously) the two 'standing' sections should be. That would take care of the singing thing and the atmosphere in the whole ground would be better, starts other people off, etc.

Seriously, a standing section would take care of the singing-section issue, it would automatically become like an 'away section' and would attract those who would start the singing off! I have had this discussion before, but I am certain that "safe" standing areas could be created, that would really improve the atmosphere at home games. My preference is at one (or both) of the ends, in a centre-section stretching from just up from the pitch, to say halfway up and about one third of the width of the end (if you can understand what I am trying to say!!). It would increase attendences too (would please Ashley) and even if the tickets were (naturally) cheaper, the increased numbers would more than compensate the club for the lower prices. I think an insurmountable problem may probably be, government legislation reflected in Premier League rules. Shame.

Shade OTT We need a top quality CB and LB, maybe at RB if Sam isn't comfortable with Solano, Geremi and Carr there. The other LB only has to be decent cover, if we even sign one that is. Reckon Babayaro will end up being 2nd choice. Possibly a 4th choice CB, but even then I'm not expecting anything more than a solid, but quite limited, player. We need a really top class LB and CB though. Marquez and Riise/Heinze would do nicely. It depends on what we are aiming to achieve, as a club, this season. If the objective is to go on failing due to lack of quality players during injuries and suspensions, then what I say may be OTT. If we are moving up a gear or two, to try to challenge for a high league placing and challenge for a cup or two, then I am not being "OTT". I personally feel that we are going to try to 'move up a gear' this season, so I say we need a further five good defenders. I bet Sam goes for them, too. He may settle for only getting four more, if we accept that Solano is a reasonable quality cover at Right Back, for one more season. Yeah, I bet he goes for five more, but may only get four of them. If we aim lower, we will finish lower. it's not as if money is a problem and I think Sam knows how to 'attract' players, until such time (soon, I think) where he will not need to do too much work to attract quality players, due to our league position by the end of the coming season.

I personally think he only needs to strengthen the defence. We need (as Sam himself has said) two good players for every position. This means that defensively (including the goalkeeping position) we should have 10 good first-team quality (ideally 'better' than other teams have) players. How many do we already have? GOALKEEPER - 2 (Given/Harper, so NONE needed) CENTRE BACK (A) - 1 (Taylor, so ONE needed) CENTRE BACK (B) - 1 (Rozenhal, so ONE needed) RIGHT BACK - 1 (Geremi, so ONE needed) LEFT BACK - 0 (so TWO needed) So - we still need to acquire a total of FIVE new, top quality, defenders (in my view).

Fine, no point in continued speculation about whether he means it or not . . . . but I think he means it!

Not an accusation, its a compliment! maybe from you, but with Bellers and nyt/nit, it's a blatant cop out Verlaine is just a whinging tit, disingenous at best, total f****** hypocrite at worst So - would you agree you are a WUM, or perhaps just a pessimist - or what?

Not an accusation, its a compliment!

Maybe, but he 'gets people going' - even when they (like me) know what he is doing, they still respond. Thats talent, in my book. Surely his potent combination of verbal bullshit and general lack of a genuine brain cell tells you he couldn't possibly be an effective wind up merchant... You know, there's a very fine line between genius and . . . . . (not that I am saying that anyone is a 'genius' like)