PRL

Beye

You think he earns less than Williamson? For all those saying 'look at what Colo earns' then there can be just as many saying 'look at what Mike earns'. Comparisons like this are silly either way.

Dunno, he was plenty livid with one of their players in the first half. Think he's called the game alright myself, been pretty complimentary about our kids too. Certainly a lot worse out there (waddle on Sunday)

Exactly, he's had over 6 years in the first team and the only thing he'd be remembered for if he was sold tomorrow is being that local lad who had potential. He's not even worth £30k. I’d remember the commitment he showed during our relegation season. If some of his highly paid colleagues had shown an ounce of his drive and determination we’d have stayed up. Taylor was absolutely abysmal in the first half of our relegation season. Yep, drive and determination counts for little when you aren't very good.

I'd say Marc Wilson would be available for a few million on far lower wages and has similar amounts, if not more, potential. I'm sure there are others too. I think Williamson looks like a steal and then the two at the back for Birmingham are great prospects (admittedly £5m and £3.5m but I'd wager a fraction of the wages). I think IF the £60k figure is correct (which seems to already have been denied) and we could get a couple of million for him, I'd rather cash in now. We have 3 CBs, 4 including Kadar who needs to be allowed to progress or he'll leave (someone again with good potential and at no cost whatsoever). Also, it's not just about who we can replace him with immediately, we cannot afford to be that short term any more. If Taylor gets £60k then what do we look to pay Enrique when contract renewal time arrives? He's younger and twice the player already, so is he going to get £80-100k. What about Williamson if he stays in form this season? What happens if we sign Taylor up on £60k a week and he plays awful / is injured for the next two years? Do we then have to pay everyone that as a stock wage as the crap / permacrocked players are getting it? The money ain't there any more.

Greedy cockney bastard...

Seriously, we are STILL down as Championship.

Aren't there a batch of CL qualifiers on tonight though? Would have thought that might make it more difficult

I watched Reading (Shola hat-trick) last year just off the Champs Elysee in an Irish bar that showed us and a Prem game at the same time. It's just down the road from another one, whose name I do recall, which also may show: The Bowler: An English-style pub with pub food and real ale off the Champs Elysees at 13 rue d'Artois (Arr 8). Metro: St Philippe du Roule. I'd just use google, type in 'irish pub paris / region you're in' then give them a call and check.

A lot of the time with Carroll on his own up front it's quite difficult though, as Carroll drops deep and plays it out wide to Routledge. If Carroll's not in the box it's often only Nolan with 3 defenders, so you can understand a bit of reticence

Don't mind if his crossing isn't the best. Relieves pressure with his pace, wins set pieces (2 goals from corners today) and runs himself into the ground. Happy with him in team

Not really bothered about the club's wealth. Fact is he is estimated to be worth 700m, I'm willing to bet it's considerably more (rich list people aren't very good at correctly putting a value on assets and tracking down all assets belonging to those on it). He has an asset in Newcastle United worth a lot more (possibly upward of £70-80m more) in the league we are currently in and for an overall investment of circa 25m (two signings with wages over 3.5 / 4 year contracts) payable over those 4 seasons with the possibility of recouping this money and a damn sight more if he were to sell either the individual players or the club as a whole. The value represented with this deal will be pretty difficult to replicate elsewhere. Yes, there is obvious risk, as there is with every transfer (as mentioned with Nolan et al above), but in my eyes at least, the risk of relegation without relatively modest investment is far more significant.

He'll be turning 70 next year. If Mourinho fancies doing a decent stint at Real (not always an option, but if anyone can i'd say it's him) then Ferguson can't just keep going. 70 is fucking old!

Manchester United. Reasons: Go 1 ahead of Liverpool, Fergie steps down as he's 'knocked them off their fucking perch', Mourinho still in midst of Real project so Mancs appoint someone not up to task, fall out of top 4 the following season, debt spirals as new recession kicks in and no one is there to bail them out. Mancs fall into obscurity. At least, that's the dream. Short term pain for long term gain.

From the FT: China's CIC denies interest in Liverpool FC A spokesperson for China Investment Corp, the country’s main sovereign wealth fund, told the Financial Times they had never heard of a plan to buy Liverpool FC or of Kenneth Huang, the man widely reported to be fronting a Chinese bid to buy the English Premier League club. The shares you are talking about were Morgan Stanley and supposedly sold by CIC.

Back in the French squad http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_6295642,00.html

Without being ott, that was an awful day, a real low point for me as a Newcastle fan. To see Sir Bobby pass away after the season we had left me pretty empty. If I take one thing from the psv game, it will be the few shards of hope we have a year on

Reid has stood out to me as well, looks like he could play at a decent level. i've watched him a bit for FC Midtjylland and imo he is one of those players who are playing above their level in a major tournament.... there are quite a few better players around in the danish superleague... Also known as 'doing a Breen'

Fits with this: http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_6217851,00.html Although Lampard has just been defending Terry. So according to that a clear the air meeting did take place but Terry decided or was instructed to not speak out. All in all a strange affair which will do nothing to ease England's on the pitch worries if you ask me.. Yep, if he really did bottle it then that is far more a sin than the press conference itself. Surely he wouldn't have though? Very interested as to which England players are so in the pocket of the national press to be leaking so much of what's going on in such meetings. Or maybe the press are making it up to make the story have more legs?

Fits with this: http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_6217851,00.html Although Lampard has just been defending Terry.

John Terry is a fucking cock and one of my least favourite football players, which takes a lot as there is a big list. However, I really don't see anything wrong with what he said yesterday. It was Capello (through Baldini) who asked him to do the press conference and it's not like he didn't know what he was going to get. Terry just said what a lot of people were thinking, if they didn't want someone to do that then they should have thought about it and acted accordingly. It was nice to hear one player out there being honest and admitting they need something changed. It was also good to hear Joe Cole mentioned by him - at least some of the players seem to realise that he should be featuring. The problems with the England team lay firmly at Capello's door in my view. If it takes a pretty non-event press conference to fire the players and management up a bit then so be it - I'd rather we went out in a blaze of rage than saw a repeat of Friday night.

he said 'sod'. Twice. Didn't think it was really apologising territory. He joked that a few of the England players might be following anelka home after the meeting tonight. Spoke very highly of Joe cole, said only he and Rooney had the ability to provide the spark.

I think 3 of the final 6 are pretty winnable games, as far as any game can be described as 'winnable'

He congratulated Ozil on his goal...

Was Martin Keown actually after some sympathy for the hours he's working?! Fucking hell... Poor lamb.