Away Toon

They did cover their asses with the "according" to the Daily Mail, a wise move considering the garbage they come out with.

Saying on Friday in the french press that he was still interested in signing for OM and that along with Newcastle it was a possibility, is more on what I'm going on.

I doubt that L'Equipe steals stories from the Daily Star. They claim that Zubizarretta the sporting director of Barca when interviewed by Mundo Deportivo indicated that MU understand our position and have given up on trying to sign Fabregas. They then add that according to the Daily Mail the red devils will turn there intentions to signing Schweinsteiger.

L'Equipe are reporting (gossiping) that MU have given up on Cesc and are now after Schweini. Can't see that happening, but money does talk. Looks like Cabaye is well down their list of centre midfielders they are interested in.

Agents want their commissions, St. Etienne want their 5%, and Gomis wants to go to Marseille, that's why there are delays.

In all likelihood Gomis will sign, though I get the feeling he'd rather end up at OM. Modern football, wow it sucks.

The contract is complicated, loan, possible transfer later, fee to be agreed, wages are an issue. his reported salary at QPR is higher than anything we pay, his court case hanging over everything, and lastly he doesn't seem to have any interest at all in playing for us. If we really want a forward who can play wide, buy Ince or McManaman both would probably be around 6-7 Million and both would accept considerably less wages.

Does anybody really believe Remy is going to sign for us? I'm 99% sure he's not.

Now it would appear that we are signing Gomis, the club can get on with transferring Cisse to a Turkish or Russian club.

Liverpool have made a £21m offer for Atletico Madrid's Brazilian striker Diego Costa. The offer is understood to have triggered the 24-year-old's release clause and Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is hopeful of completing the deal swiftly. Costa who joined Atletico from Valladolid in 2010, scored 10 goals in the Primera Liga last season. The striker made his international debut in March this year. Liverpool have declined to comment on the bid, but sources at Anfield insist the move has no bearing on Luis Suarez's future, which has not changed since Arsenal made a £40,000,001 bid. The Uruguayan has not submitted a formal transfer request nor has he contacted the Premier League to dispute Liverpool's interpretation of a clause in his contract that the player disputes. Suarez claims he should be able to talk to Arsenal about a move after their bid, although the Reds disagree. The move for Costa is something of a surprise, but Atletico head coach Diego Simeone has hinted the striker could be allowed to move on following the arrival of David Villa from Barcelona. Earlier this week, Rodgers said he would only bring in new signings if they he believed they would improve the squad. "They have to be of the right quality, that's the bottom line," he said "We've got money to spend on getting that quality in, but if it's not available I won't waste it for the sake of bringing a player in."

323 pages and we are no nearer to signing him then when this thread was started #waste of space

Watching Bayern against Man City, Bayern have around 70 per cent possession and are all over them like a rash. Still 0-0 though.

"Hang in there" is more accurate and my girlfriend doesn't speak French, though her Spanish is very good as she's a Peruvian beauty.

Top level competitive football at the highest level throughout Europe and probably the World is non-existant because of money. There is no longer the opportunity for good coaching and a well run club to succeed at the highest level. Less than 20 years ago we nearly won the Premiership, now we have no chance at all and without massive investment are not capable of finishing in the top four. We have no players that are good enough to play for the top sides, and none of the top sides want any of them. Football is currently from a competitive point of view at club level a complete waste of time.

I think all professional football players are tremendous role models for the rest of society. There must be a few twats among them, but it's a very negligible percentage overall.

To completely change the subject, what exactly is the deal with players officially in writing asking for a transfer? In the good old days it was a regular occurrence, now it virtually never happens even when players are actively looking to change clubs (Suarez). Do they lose some kind of loyalty bonus (rumoured) or a percentage of the transfer fee? Does it depend on the players individual contract or is it the same rule for all? The fact that players virtually never do it must mean that there are financial penalties.

I've always thought the only logical reason Ashley didn't sack Pardew at the end of the season, is due to the idea (fact?) that because of the 8 year contract he has, there would be substantial compensation to be paid. There is no other logical reason. He certainly deserved to be sacked. Unfortunately it didn't happen , although I've no doubt it will if we get off to a bad start which unless we sign 2 or 3 players seems very likely. What comes next will no doubt not be very pretty, but the quicker we start with the cleansing the better.

I think he'd do a better job than Tiote in the same position.

Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay hopes to conclude "delicate" negotiations to sign midfielder Etienne Capoue after having a bid accepted by Toulouse. The Premier League new boys are thought to have offered close to £9m but must convince the 25-year-old France international his future lies in Wales. Now he would be a serious upgrade on our midfield options especially Tiote. Too much money for us though, just a poor club with no ambition from the North East.

Once the transfer window closes we can put up the poll to guess the end of season league position. Last season I guessed 7th, I won't be doing that again.

Well we know Ashley knows Poyet, surely he'd be an upgrade over Pardew.

How likely is it, that if they don't get Cesc, they'll put in a lowish offer for Cabaye to see where that takes them?

I told you I was playing the Devil's advocate. The discussion revolves around the realistic limit the current players we have can achieve. I think we overrate a lot of the players we have and when you add in the unbalanced nature of the squad and the genius of Alan Pardew, I think it's a lot more likely we will finish in the nether regions of the table than anywhere near the top.

The quicker we get rid of Pardew the quicker we get JFK, if that's the case, and then the quicker we get rid of him. The quicker the process starts the better.

There seems to be a lack of consensus in general about how good the current squad is and where in the league we should be finishing. Some people think that we should be battling for a European position and aiming for the top 6 or 7 with the quality of players we have (in their opinion) others that we are just as likely to go down, as we nearly did last year. Everybody agrees we need at least one more forward, apart from maybe Ashley and JFK, and that Pardew seriously hampers the effectiveness of many of the players we have. Playing the devil's advocate and looking at our current players in the worst possible light as many supporters of other clubs do; Krul: Injury prone. Worst kicking game in the Premiership. Good at hoofing the ball into the opposition area, especially from free kicks on the half way line. Debuchy: Temperamental. Gets sent off/booked and gives away penalties. Not the same player who played for France in the euro's, must be his twin brother. Taylor: Flaps his hands a lot, poor positionally, plays attackers onside, injury prone Colo: Slow, short fuse, wants to leave. Santon: Appalling positional play, can't defend. HBA: Injury prone, inconsistent, can't defend and shouldn't have to. Marveaux: Injury prone, physically very light weight, often anonymous. There is a good player in there somewhere but maybe not in the premiership and certainly not with the way we play. Cabaye: Temperamental, slow, wants to leave, nobody knows his best position. Tiote: Gets booked every game, gives the ball away in dangerous areas, a liability. Jonas: Please Shola: Ditto Cisse: Not since Inzaghi has anybody spent so much time offside, or since Bent, missed so many simple chances. Gouffran: Squad player, has the merit of running around a lot, occasionally into space. MYM: Has potential Haidara: Has potential Others: Nothing special, a few promising, plenty hopeless. So are we collectively as good as some people seem to think or as bad as those who are betting on us going down? Would a Gomis and a Remy really make that much difference considering how poor we are at the back?