LRD

You know how this club works. We missed out on Debuchy and just conveniently fell back on what we have, hoping for more favourable terms in January or the following summer. Same thing happened with Luuk De Jong too. He rejected us and our plan B was to depend on Shola again. We are pretty darn stubborn on the targets we have. I highly doubt there will be a 4th option we will be keen to pursue.

There won't be any other targets beyond the 3 of them. If we miss out on them we will just wait til January and do with what we have.

Hence the waiting game on the Gomis and Bent deals. Both deals should be kept alive until we get one of them in. We don't just move on to nothingness.

Which is exactly what we did from January, you would think they might learn lessons but it does worry that might just plough on regardless. They don't care as we all know by now. If it's not the right deal, not the player we want, we'll rather wait til the next window and count on what we have.

There won't be any other targets though. We have seen in the past how the club is fixated on their transfer targets, and it's mostly a case of all-or-nothing. If we don't get either one of them, and put all our eggs on Remy not having to fight a court case, we might well end up with what we have til January before we assess our needs again. Going into the season with Gouffran, Cisse and Shola will be suicidal.

Move on to who? We don't exactly cast our interest wide. In the end we'll just end up with Shola playing 20 games. It is imperative we get at least one of the three in.

Aye, should have just gone up to him asking to have a photo taken.

Our coaching staff does seem to have a knack of getting into confrontations.

Full kit wanker!

'Dear Aulas, I'm going absent without leave. Cheers. PS. You're a cunt.'

Er, one month? That's kinda short.

Where did you get that from?

That is a tricky rule by itself. We tried to make use of that particular rule to get Jonas and yet had to pay significant compensation in the end. I don't think any club or player has seriously tried to test the limits of the ruling so far. Edit: Matuzalem's is probably the highest profile 'Webster ruling' case so far.

Don't higher earners in france pay a huge % of taxes? Even if we offer a similar wage, he should benefit from lower taxes over in England.

Moyes does seem to go all the way in testing Barca's resolve. That has been a very public and high-fee pursuit of Cesc so far.

Sounds like a great entourage there. Does all players with 'Ba' in their names behave like that?

He's meeting his match in Gomis then. His hands are tied. He needs the money, Gomis is selective and on his last year. It's only a matter of time.

Maybe not for other deals but I can see it for this particular one.

Nah, it was from last year. June 2012 to be exact. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ex-nufc-boss-joe-kinnear-still-1365664 Inevitable.

Thought that quote was during his Luton stint? Edit: Ah sod it. 2012.

Let me guess - Ryder, transfermarkt.com.

I understand where bimpy is coming from. When you had a lack of cohesion like last season, surely the first thing you'll want to work out is Plan A (442) instead of another formation in pre-season. Whatever formation you prefer, get the fundamentals right first and breed familiarity in the system before exploring your other options.

His competence is highly suspect but given that JFK is here, you can't really blame Pardew for lack of incomings. He does, however, have a duty to at least manage his tactics and formation according to the playing staff we have. As of now, we don't have the wide player(s) for a 442.

Jesus man Pards. http://25.media.tumblr.com/68de82cdc2f3e28db4b3d4b07f00b7a4/tumblr_mhcw0k0RtJ1qe2am5o1_250.gif