Realistic Summer Targets

[Martin Lol]

I'd love Carrick to join.  Who knows who Man Utd will sign in the summer, it may just push Carrick out.  With the right display of ambition by the club, some top players come in, you'd have to think it would tempt the boy.  It's his hometown club, hes still a Geordie, he would relish it I'd hope.

 

 

Why do we keep showing one way loyalty to players who have never given a monkey's chuff about us in the past? Fat Fred kept trying to sign Carrick and Matt Jansen based on their north east heritage. Carrick preferred West Ham and Jansen chose Blackburn. So of course, now he's playing for Man U's first team, Carrick is suddenly going to give it all up to come 'home'.

 

The only time I know that we've looked at Carrick was when we needed a replacement for Butt, Robson wanted Carrick but Shepherd told him he'd have to wait until January to get him as his contract was up that Summer, we signed Butt for around the same money West Ham wanted for Carrick and he went to Spurs later that Summer.

can you back that up ?

 

Yes.

 

Bolton did manage to poach Gary Speed from us, however, and therein lies another tale of how disjointed the manager-chairman relationship had become. On our tour to the Far East, John Carver suddenly informed me, 'We've had an offer for Gary Speed from Bolton.' I knew nothing about it, so I went in search of the chairman for clarification. On no account did I want Gary Speed to leave. First I caught up with the player himself.

'Gary, what's all this about you wanting to go to Bolton Wanderers? I know nothing about it. The chairman hasn't mentioned it to me. When John Carver told me an hour ago I was aghast. What do you want to go to Bolton for?'

'The club are going to let me go,' Gary said. 'If you don't know anything about it, you'd better see the chairman.'

'As far as I'm concerned, you're not going to Bolton Wanderers,' I told him 'You're staying here'

That Saturday night, the day of our game, I tried the chairman's room, reception, the restaurant and the bar. Eventually, I was told he was out. I was so angry I sat in the foyer, waiting, for half an hour. Finally, the chairman's figure appeared in the doorway and I confronted him there and then. Under cross examination he denied all knowledge of Gary's impending move. It was heading into the realms of farce. The next step, naturally, was to go back to Gary. I spoke to him on our flight from Hong Kong.

'The chairman says he knows nothing about this Bolton thing,' I said and left it there. We arrived back in Newcastle on the Monday morning and, early that afternoon, the chairman called me. 'Gary Speed's in here with me, he wants to see you. He wants to say goodbye,' he said.

'What?' I exclaimed.

The deal had been completed that morning. Fifty years in the game have taught me that you cannot construct a transfer in four hours. The idea that a player of Gary Speed's calibre can be sold in four hours is absurd and yet I was being told throughout the weekend that the club knew nothing of Bolton's interest in one of our most valued players.

'Gary, this is not my doing,' I told him. 'I want to keep you.' Having let Hugo Viana go back to Portugal, to play more football, we had lost two left footed midfielders. I needed to plug that hole and so, when my indignation had subsided, I gave the chairman four names - Nicky Butt, Michael Carrick, Mark Van Bommel and Sean Davis.

'Why don't you bring Carrick in, he's talented, and he's a Geordie,' I suggested but the chairman was reluctant to pay West Ham £3 million for Carrick's services. His view was that he could acquire him for £500,000 in the January transfer window. Freddy Shepherd honestly believed that Carrick would not move to any Premier league club but Newcastle. He was in the last year of his contract at Upton Park - hence Freddy's belief that West Ham would have to unload him for a reduced fee in January.

I told him 'Look, chairman, if another club comes in and pays West Ham the money they're looking for, they will not turn that money down.' Michael Carrick signed for Tottenham Hotspur that summer.

you got me there...i thought he went to spuds for more than that.

 

 

then again even at spurs he never imprssed me so where does that leave us ?

 

We signed him for less, £2.75m although Portsmouth offered £3m.  He was an ever present after Santini left and was the key to Spurs' progress.  When he asked to be sold to Man Utd it was agreed but there was a clause in the contract that Spurs have first refusal should he leave Man Utd.  Sadly, I don't see that happening anytime soon because he is an integral part of the Udt squad now.  In the meantime, Spurs have never effectively replaced him.

[johnnypd]

i don't think first refusal counts for much, we supposedly had that on Woodgate and he turned us down, twice.

[Mowen]

Potentially attainable targets who could be good for us, from the prem that I can think of: Agbonlahor, Carrick, Pennant, Bentley, Yobo, Kranjcar, Ireland, Santa Cruz, Doyle, Shorey, Bellamy, Ashton, Chimbonda, Nelsen, Samba, Muntari. Just off the top of my head.

 

I'm well aware that most of those players currently are important to teams who are higher than us in the premiership, but ambition is essential this summer. If we're going to improve dramatically, we will find it very difficult without proven ability in this league. We are going to have to spend big to bridge the gap back to the European places, and we should have enough clout in the market that teams like Blackburn and Portsmouth will find it tough to hold on to their players should we come calling.

 

"attainable" - Santa Cruz??? Agbonlahor? Carrick?? Bentley??? Are you quite insane?

 

Do you know what potentially means? Do you think we're honestly in a position whereby a display of ambition wouldn't be able to attract players from Blackburn Rovers?

 

We need to aim as high as we can this summer. If we get knocked back with most of our bids then so be it. But I for one would rather we went for the best we could possibly get.

[Baggio]

i don't think first refusal counts for much, we supposedly had that on Woodgate and he turned us down, twice.

 

I would have thought all it would mean is the selling club contact the club they bought him off to tell them about the sale, it's up to them if they want to bid and it's up to the player where he wants to go.

[Martin Lol]

i don't think first refusal counts for much, we supposedly had that on Woodgate and he turned us down, twice.

 

Possibly not.  He was honest with Levy though, admitted he had been tapped up and wanted to go.  Levy said only if Spurs get a full value transfer fee, that's why Spurs held out for the final figure fee of £18.6m, all of which has now been paid.  Levy was upset with Utd but appreciated Carrick's honesty.  Carrick got the move he wanted, there was a lot of mutual respect over how it was dealt with.

 

I don't know about Woodgate so I can't say.

[Martin Lol]

i don't think first refusal counts for much, we supposedly had that on Woodgate and he turned us down, twice.

 

I would have thought all it would mean is the selling club contact the club they bought him off to tell them about the sale, it's up to them if they want to bid and it's up to the player where he wants to go.

 

I think that is just about right, you can't force a player to go to a club if he's intent on going somewhere else.

[johnnypd]

Potentially attainable targets who could be good for us, from the prem that I can think of: Agbonlahor, Carrick, Pennant, Bentley, Yobo, Kranjcar, Ireland, Santa Cruz, Doyle, Shorey, Bellamy, Ashton, Chimbonda, Nelsen, Samba, Muntari. Just off the top of my head.

 

I'm well aware that most of those players currently are important to teams who are higher than us in the premiership, but ambition is essential this summer. If we're going to improve dramatically, we will find it very difficult without proven ability in this league. We are going to have to spend big to bridge the gap back to the European places, and we should have enough clout in the market that teams like Blackburn and Portsmouth will find it tough to hold on to their players should we come calling.

 

"attainable" - Santa Cruz??? Agbonlahor? Carrick?? Bentley??? Are you quite insane?

 

Do you know what potentially means? Do you think we're honestly in a position whereby a display of ambition wouldn't be able to attract players from Blackburn Rovers?

 

We need to aim as high as we can this summer. If we get knocked back with most of our bids then so be it. But I for one would rather we went for the best we could possibly get.

 

Santa Cruz and Samba would both be attainable targets that would slot right into our first XI.

 

Other alternatives to Santa Cruz, Cavenaghi at Bordeaux is showing good form and is a fantastic finisher, tho perhaps better as a number 9. Guerrero from Hamburg is another i have spotted from watching setanta, very strong, excellent in the air and skilful on the ball.

[colinmk]

As the posts above have noted...Santa Cruz is a quality player. We could probably get him for around 6m + Duff. Worth a try.

[Mowen]

Potentially attainable targets who could be good for us, from the prem that I can think of: Agbonlahor, Carrick, Pennant, Bentley, Yobo, Kranjcar, Ireland, Santa Cruz, Doyle, Shorey, Bellamy, Ashton, Chimbonda, Nelsen, Samba, Muntari. Just off the top of my head.

 

I'm well aware that most of those players currently are important to teams who are higher than us in the premiership, but ambition is essential this summer. If we're going to improve dramatically, we will find it very difficult without proven ability in this league. We are going to have to spend big to bridge the gap back to the European places, and we should have enough clout in the market that teams like Blackburn and Portsmouth will find it tough to hold on to their players should we come calling.

 

"attainable" - Santa Cruz??? Agbonlahor? Carrick?? Bentley??? Are you quite insane?

 

Do you know what potentially means? Do you think we're honestly in a position whereby a display of ambition wouldn't be able to attract players from Blackburn Rovers?

 

We need to aim as high as we can this summer. If we get knocked back with most of our bids then so be it. But I for one would rather we went for the best we could possibly get.

 

Santa Cruz and Samba would both be attainable targets that would slot right into our first XI.

 

Other alternatives to Santa Cruz, Cavenaghi at Bordeaux is showing good form and is a fantastic finisher, tho perhaps better as a number 9. Guerrero from Hamburg is another i have spotted from watching setanta, very strong, excellent in the air and skilful on the ball.

 

I agree. In an ideal world we'd be able to take our pick from anyone on that list, but I put a lot on because some wouldn't come/wouldn't be sold. I mainly wanted to prove that there are a lot of players we could get hold of in this division that would improve us. Kranjcar and Ireland are two of the more attainable from that list that would help us imo.

[Martin Lol]

Potentially attainable targets who could be good for us, from the prem that I can think of: Agbonlahor, Carrick, Pennant, Bentley, Yobo, Kranjcar, Ireland, Santa Cruz, Doyle, Shorey, Bellamy, Ashton, Chimbonda, Nelsen, Samba, Muntari. Just off the top of my head.

 

I'm well aware that most of those players currently are important to teams who are higher than us in the premiership, but ambition is essential this summer. If we're going to improve dramatically, we will find it very difficult without proven ability in this league. We are going to have to spend big to bridge the gap back to the European places, and we should have enough clout in the market that teams like Blackburn and Portsmouth will find it tough to hold on to their players should we come calling.

 

"attainable" - Santa Cruz??? Agbonlahor? Carrick?? Bentley??? Are you quite insane?

 

Do you know what potentially means? Do you think we're honestly in a position whereby a display of ambition wouldn't be able to attract players from Blackburn Rovers?

 

We need to aim as high as we can this summer. If we get knocked back with most of our bids then so be it. But I for one would rather we went for the best we could possibly get.

 

Santa Cruz and Samba would both be attainable targets that would slot right into our first XI.

 

Other alternatives to Santa Cruz, Cavenaghi at Bordeaux is showing good form and is a fantastic finisher, tho perhaps better as a number 9. Guerrero from Hamburg is another i have spotted from watching setanta, very strong, excellent in the air and skilful on the ball.

 

I'm not certain that any Blackburn player is attainable if Hughes doesn't want them to be.  Last summer Spurs were offering what I thought was silly money for MGP but Hughes said he wouldn't sell and he didn't.  I rate Santa Cruz highly but I don't think Hughes would sell him, no matter what.

[johnnypd]

Potentially attainable targets who could be good for us, from the prem that I can think of: Agbonlahor, Carrick, Pennant, Bentley, Yobo, Kranjcar, Ireland, Santa Cruz, Doyle, Shorey, Bellamy, Ashton, Chimbonda, Nelsen, Samba, Muntari. Just off the top of my head.

 

I'm well aware that most of those players currently are important to teams who are higher than us in the premiership, but ambition is essential this summer. If we're going to improve dramatically, we will find it very difficult without proven ability in this league. We are going to have to spend big to bridge the gap back to the European places, and we should have enough clout in the market that teams like Blackburn and Portsmouth will find it tough to hold on to their players should we come calling.

 

"attainable" - Santa Cruz??? Agbonlahor? Carrick?? Bentley??? Are you quite insane?

 

Do you know what potentially means? Do you think we're honestly in a position whereby a display of ambition wouldn't be able to attract players from Blackburn Rovers?

 

We need to aim as high as we can this summer. If we get knocked back with most of our bids then so be it. But I for one would rather we went for the best we could possibly get.

 

Santa Cruz and Samba would both be attainable targets that would slot right into our first XI.

 

Other alternatives to Santa Cruz, Cavenaghi at Bordeaux is showing good form and is a fantastic finisher, tho perhaps better as a number 9. Guerrero from Hamburg is another i have spotted from watching setanta, very strong, excellent in the air and skilful on the ball.

 

I'm not certain that any Blackburn player is attainable if Hughes doesn't want them to be.  Last summer Spurs were offering what I thought was silly money for MGP but Hughes said he wouldn't sell and he didn't.  I rate Santa Cruz highly but I don't think Hughes would sell him, no matter what.

 

if the player wants the move it'll probably happen, i don't think RSC would have too many qualms about using blackburn as a stepping stone.

 

an alternative to Samba who no-one seems to have mentioned could be Meite from Bolton who looked class last season, would surely leave and probably wouldn't command a big fee either.

[Baggio]

Potentially attainable targets who could be good for us, from the prem that I can think of: Agbonlahor, Carrick, Pennant, Bentley, Yobo, Kranjcar, Ireland, Santa Cruz, Doyle, Shorey, Bellamy, Ashton, Chimbonda, Nelsen, Samba, Muntari. Just off the top of my head.

 

I'm well aware that most of those players currently are important to teams who are higher than us in the premiership, but ambition is essential this summer. If we're going to improve dramatically, we will find it very difficult without proven ability in this league. We are going to have to spend big to bridge the gap back to the European places, and we should have enough clout in the market that teams like Blackburn and Portsmouth will find it tough to hold on to their players should we come calling.

 

"attainable" - Santa Cruz??? Agbonlahor? Carrick?? Bentley??? Are you quite insane?

 

Do you know what potentially means? Do you think we're honestly in a position whereby a display of ambition wouldn't be able to attract players from Blackburn Rovers?

 

We need to aim as high as we can this summer. If we get knocked back with most of our bids then so be it. But I for one would rather we went for the best we could possibly get.

 

Santa Cruz and Samba would both be attainable targets that would slot right into our first XI.

 

Other alternatives to Santa Cruz, Cavenaghi at Bordeaux is showing good form and is a fantastic finisher, tho perhaps better as a number 9. Guerrero from Hamburg is another i have spotted from watching setanta, very strong, excellent in the air and skilful on the ball.

 

I'm not certain that any Blackburn player is attainable if Hughes doesn't want them to be.  Last summer Spurs were offering what I thought was silly money for MGP but Hughes said he wouldn't sell and he didn't.  I rate Santa Cruz highly but I don't think Hughes would sell him, no matter what.

 

if the player wants the move it'll probably happen, i don't think RSC would have too many qualms about using blackburn as a stepping stone.

 

an alternative to Samba who no-one seems to have mentioned could be Meite from Bolton who looked class last season, would surely leave and probably wouldn't command a big fee either.

 

I don't think Bolton fans rate Meite all that highly, I can't say I've seen that much of him over the past 12 months.

[oldtype]

Potentially attainable targets who could be good for us, from the prem that I can think of: Agbonlahor, Carrick, Pennant, Bentley, Yobo, Kranjcar, Ireland, Santa Cruz, Doyle, Shorey, Bellamy, Ashton, Chimbonda, Nelsen, Samba, Muntari. Just off the top of my head.

 

I'm well aware that most of those players currently are important to teams who are higher than us in the premiership, but ambition is essential this summer. If we're going to improve dramatically, we will find it very difficult without proven ability in this league. We are going to have to spend big to bridge the gap back to the European places, and we should have enough clout in the market that teams like Blackburn and Portsmouth will find it tough to hold on to their players should we come calling.

 

"attainable" - Santa Cruz??? Agbonlahor? Carrick?? Bentley??? Are you quite insane?

 

Do you know what potentially means? Do you think we're honestly in a position whereby a display of ambition wouldn't be able to attract players from Blackburn Rovers?

 

We need to aim as high as we can this summer. If we get knocked back with most of our bids then so be it. But I for one would rather we went for the best we could possibly get.

 

Santa Cruz and Samba would both be attainable targets that would slot right into our first XI.

 

Other alternatives to Santa Cruz, Cavenaghi at Bordeaux is showing good form and is a fantastic finisher, tho perhaps better as a number 9. Guerrero from Hamburg is another i have spotted from watching setanta, very strong, excellent in the air and skilful on the ball.

 

I'm not certain that any Blackburn player is attainable if Hughes doesn't want them to be.  Last summer Spurs were offering what I thought was silly money for MGP but Hughes said he wouldn't sell and he didn't.  I rate Santa Cruz highly but I don't think Hughes would sell him, no matter what.

 

if the player wants the move it'll probably happen, i don't think RSC would have too many qualms about using blackburn as a stepping stone.

 

an alternative to Samba who no-one seems to have mentioned could be Meite from Bolton who looked class last season, would surely leave and probably wouldn't command a big fee either.

 

I don't think Bolton fans rate Meite all that highly, I can't say I've seen that much of him over the past 12 months.

 

Faye made Meite look decent at Bolton. I suppose he could do the same here, but still, no better than what we've got.

 

Of all the names being bandied about Santa Cruz seems attainable if we pay enough and show ambition through other signings. The target area we need to set, I think is players not from the top 4 or Villa/Everton/Spurs/Portsmouth/City who are just barely not good enough for any of the top 4 to be sniffing around at.

 

This means players like Santa Cruz, Ashton, Samba, Downing, Arca, Nolan, Shorey, Kenwyne Jones etc. It's a very small  window but there are certainly benefits that could be reaped, and it's a far better idea than buying unproven foreigners or big club rejects.

 

God, I am so not proud of laughing at Keane for buying Jones for 6m. Would that we had spent that money on him instead of buying Alan f****** Smith.

[biggs]

Dean Ashton for starters to replace spuduka.Giles Barnes and little Steven Hunt (atleast he does something with the ball thats productive)  just for starters off the top of my heed.

[LooneyToonArmy]

Dean Ashton for starters to replace spuduka.Giles Barnes and little Steven Hunt (atleast he does something with the ball thats productive)  just for starters off the top of my heed.

 

replace one injury prone striker for another? no thanks

[oldtype]

Dean Ashton for starters to replace spuduka.Giles Barnes and little Steven Hunt (atleast he does something with the ball thats productive)  just for starters off the top of my heed.

 

Steve Hunt really, honestly isn't much of an improvment (if at all) over our current wingers. And we'd have to pay through the nose for him since he's just signed a new contract. Giles Barnes once Derby inevitably gets relegated is a good shout though since he'd come cheaper.

[Northern Monkey]

How much for Carrick this summer to twist Man U's hand to sell?

 

£25m maybe? Thats a quarter of the way to £100m on one player btw.

 

Offer what they paid for him and hope he's home sick, it's a starting point and probably our only selling point to him.

 

I think we as fans are looking at the fallacies of the club entirely wrong, i dont doubt for one second that money needs to be spent, but the figures being bandied about are ridiculous, we need to be aiming for the top half before we go looking for Europe, its about expectation and the higher we raise the expectation the more sensitive the trip wire becomes.

 

Personally i would be happy to see the club cement a top half finish before we go making proper strides into the top 6/7.

 

If we go about spending huge amount of money, and only achieve a top half finish, what effect does that have on the club and its fans? Personally i dont think it'd be particularly healthy.

 

We havent seen a team yet play anywhere nears its potential, i dont buy into this the whole squad is shit, deep down everyone at this club knows that there are some excellent players at this club, we need to be punching our weight at present.

 

Look at the effrect that heavy investment had on Tottenham, it needed a set up to get them flowing inthe right direction, and they are now in a posotion of power because of it, i genuinely belive that brining in 7-10 new players will do more damage than good.

 

I just still think this talk of heavy investment a bit kneejerk, i know we are in a very poor position, but we have had a stupid run of fixtures, i genuinely belive that this club could be transformed with 3-5 max, players.

 

Who are the 6-8 first team players who are good enough, for you? And what happens when one of them gets injured, or two of them, or three.

 

Our "first team" players are supposed to be:

 

Given - flaky, still top 6/7 for next season/one after? Probably.

Beye - Seems pretty good, not a brillaint defender. Top 6/7? Yes.

Carr - Fuck off. 6/7? Fuck off.

Faye - only an idiot thinks he's a "beast" so far. Seems alright, needs to iron a few errors out. 6/7? Hopefully.

Taylor - has a number of things to iron out, imo can become a good defender. 6/7? Hopefully.

Cacapa - vastly over rated. 6/7? No.

Enrique - unclear whats happened to him. Not a good buy, it seems. 6/7? No, not on showings so far.

Duff - weak, doesn't drive forwards, ineffective. 6/7? No.

The Zog(at left wing) - our best left winger by a country mile. 6/7? Yes.

Barton - Has been poor, pretty consistently. Also scum. 6/7? On current showing, No. (and please fuck off).

Butt - fuck off.

Geremi - fuck off.

Milner - not the fastest, but not as slow as some would have us think (no slower than Solano, really). 6/7? Hopefully.

Smith - rubbish. Rubbish in the middle. Rubbish up front. 6/7? No.

Owen - Past his best, not arsed, not fit, no service to him. Still clearly has ability, but not world class by a long chalk. 6/7? Yes.

Martins - Very, very flawed. Extremely fast, but its no good making random runs. 6/7? Possibly.

Viduka - Slow, fat. lazy. Well past his best. 6/7? No.

 

 

So, imo, what we have is:

 

YES x 3 (ST, LW, RB)

PROBABLY x 1 (GK)

POSSIBLY x 1 (ST)

HOPEFULLY x 3 (CB, CB, RW)

NO x 6 (CB, LB, LW, MC, ST, ST)

FUCK OFF x 3 (RB, MC, MC)

 

We WERE mid table crap for the past few seasons. Allardyce put things in place to bring us down to the level we now are. We do not want to be looking for mid table safety next season, we need to be looking to get back to the top 6/7 without delay. And to do that, we need some serious investment.

 

Mind, anyone who thinks we can prise the likes of Carrick away from teams like Man Utd is an idiot. We need to look at what teams like Citeh have done with their buying, or get a great manager in.

[Mowen]

Potentially attainable targets who could be good for us, from the prem that I can think of: Agbonlahor, Carrick, Pennant, Bentley, Yobo, Kranjcar, Ireland, Santa Cruz, Doyle, Shorey, Bellamy, Ashton, Chimbonda, Nelsen, Samba, Muntari. Just off the top of my head.

 

I'm well aware that most of those players currently are important to teams who are higher than us in the premiership, but ambition is essential this summer. If we're going to improve dramatically, we will find it very difficult without proven ability in this league. We are going to have to spend big to bridge the gap back to the European places, and we should have enough clout in the market that teams like Blackburn and Portsmouth will find it tough to hold on to their players should we come calling.

 

"attainable" - Santa Cruz??? Agbonlahor? Carrick?? Bentley??? Are you quite insane?

 

Do you know what potentially means? Do you think we're honestly in a position whereby a display of ambition wouldn't be able to attract players from Blackburn Rovers?

 

We need to aim as high as we can this summer. If we get knocked back with most of our bids then so be it. But I for one would rather we went for the best we could possibly get.

 

Santa Cruz and Samba would both be attainable targets that would slot right into our first XI.

 

Other alternatives to Santa Cruz, Cavenaghi at Bordeaux is showing good form and is a fantastic finisher, tho perhaps better as a number 9. Guerrero from Hamburg is another i have spotted from watching setanta, very strong, excellent in the air and skilful on the ball.

 

I'm not certain that any Blackburn player is attainable if Hughes doesn't want them to be.  Last summer Spurs were offering what I thought was silly money for MGP but Hughes said he wouldn't sell and he didn't.  I rate Santa Cruz highly but I don't think Hughes would sell him, no matter what.

 

If big money offers were coming in for a few Rovers players (Roque, Bentley, Samba) then I think Hughues would find it extremely difficult not to let one of them go.

[SUPERTOON]

Bentley

Bent

Poulsen

SWP

Bridge

Dunne

Chimbonda

 

They wouldnt be bad

[Martin Lol]

Potentially attainable targets who could be good for us, from the prem that I can think of: Agbonlahor, Carrick, Pennant, Bentley, Yobo, Kranjcar, Ireland, Santa Cruz, Doyle, Shorey, Bellamy, Ashton, Chimbonda, Nelsen, Samba, Muntari. Just off the top of my head.

 

I'm well aware that most of those players currently are important to teams who are higher than us in the premiership, but ambition is essential this summer. If we're going to improve dramatically, we will find it very difficult without proven ability in this league. We are going to have to spend big to bridge the gap back to the European places, and we should have enough clout in the market that teams like Blackburn and Portsmouth will find it tough to hold on to their players should we come calling.

 

"attainable" - Santa Cruz??? Agbonlahor? Carrick?? Bentley??? Are you quite insane?

 

Do you know what potentially means? Do you think we're honestly in a position whereby a display of ambition wouldn't be able to attract players from Blackburn Rovers?

 

We need to aim as high as we can this summer. If we get knocked back with most of our bids then so be it. But I for one would rather we went for the best we could possibly get.

 

Santa Cruz and Samba would both be attainable targets that would slot right into our first XI.

 

Other alternatives to Santa Cruz, Cavenaghi at Bordeaux is showing good form and is a fantastic finisher, tho perhaps better as a number 9. Guerrero from Hamburg is another i have spotted from watching setanta, very strong, excellent in the air and skilful on the ball.

 

I'm not certain that any Blackburn player is attainable if Hughes doesn't want them to be.  Last summer Spurs were offering what I thought was silly money for MGP but Hughes said he wouldn't sell and he didn't.  I rate Santa Cruz highly but I don't think Hughes would sell him, no matter what.

 

If big money offers were coming in for a few Rovers players (Roque, Bentley, Samba) then I think Hughues would find it extremely difficult not to let one of them go.

 

He turned down nearly £12m for MGP.  To be honest, I think Hughes would be wanting more than that for either Santa Cruz or Bentley.

[Martin Lol]

Bentley

Bent

Poulsen

SWP

Bridge

Dunne

Chimbonda

 

They wouldnt be bad

 

How much do you think KK will have in his transfer pot?  £50m wouldn't buy all those players.

 

 

[Dokko]

Bentley

Bent

Poulsen

SWP

Bridge

Dunne

Chimbonda

 

They wouldnt be bad

 

How much do you think KK will have in his transfer pot?  £50m wouldn't buy all those players.

 

 

 

 

Bentley - £13m+

Bent - £10m

Poulsen - No idea - £8m?

SWP - £10m+

Bridge - £4m

Dunne - £1.5m

Chimbonda - £3m

 

Close though imo.

[Guest alex]

I think Dunne's out of contract (unless he signs a new one). If he were to go for a fee he'd be a lot more than £1.5m though.

[La Parka]

Bentley

Bent

Poulsen

SWP

Bridge

Dunne

Chimbonda

 

They wouldnt be bad

 

How much do you think KK will have in his transfer pot?  £50m wouldn't buy all those players.

 

 

 

 

Bentley - £13m+

Bent - £10m

Poulsen - No idea - £8m?

SWP - £10m+

Bridge - £4m

Dunne - £1.5m

Chimbonda - £3m

 

Close though imo.

 

Richard? Doubt they would sell.

 

Bentley wouldn't come here (step down/across). Bridge is getting action at Chelsea. Bent would maybe leave Spuds. SWP would not come here, first team at Chelsea most of the time. I don't know enough about the others. Chimbonda probably wouldn't come here either.

[Parky]

How much for Carrick this summer to twist Man U's hand to sell?

 

£25m maybe? Thats a quarter of the way to £100m on one player btw.

 

Offer what they paid for him and hope he's home sick, it's a starting point and probably our only selling point to him.

 

I think we as fans are looking at the fallacies of the club entirely wrong, i dont doubt for one second that money needs to be spent, but the figures being bandied about are ridiculous, we need to be aiming for the top half before we go looking for Europe, its about expectation and the higher we raise the expectation the more sensitive the trip wire becomes.

 

Personally i would be happy to see the club cement a top half finish before we go making proper strides into the top 6/7.

 

If we go about spending huge amount of money, and only achieve a top half finish, what effect does that have on the club and its fans? Personally i dont think it'd be particularly healthy.

 

We havent seen a team yet play anywhere nears its potential, i dont buy into this the whole squad is shit, deep down everyone at this club knows that there are some excellent players at this club, we need to be punching our weight at present.

 

Look at the effrect that heavy investment had on Tottenham, it needed a set up to get them flowing inthe right direction, and they are now in a posotion of power because of it, i genuinely belive that brining in 7-10 new players will do more damage than good.

 

I just still think this talk of heavy investment a bit kneejerk, i know we are in a very poor position, but we have had a stupid run of fixtures, i genuinely belive that this club could be transformed with 3-5 max, players.

 

Who are the 6-8 first team players who are good enough, for you? And what happens when one of them gets injured, or two of them, or three.

 

Our "first team" players are supposed to be:

 

Given - flaky, still top 6/7 for next season/one after? Probably.

Beye - Seems pretty good, not a brillaint defender. Top 6/7? Yes.

Carr - Fuck off. 6/7? Fuck off.

Faye - only an idiot thinks he's a "beast" so far. Seems alright, needs to iron a few errors out. 6/7? Hopefully.

Taylor - has a number of things to iron out, imo can become a good defender. 6/7? Hopefully.

Cacapa - vastly over rated. 6/7? No.

Enrique - unclear whats happened to him. Not a good buy, it seems. 6/7? No, not on showings so far.

Duff - weak, doesn't drive forwards, ineffective. 6/7? No.

The Zog(at left wing) - our best left winger by a country mile. 6/7? Yes.

Barton - Has been poor, pretty consistently. Also scum. 6/7? On current showing, No. (and please fuck off).

Butt - fuck off.

Geremi - fuck off.

Milner - not the fastest, but not as slow as some would have us think (no slower than Solano, really). 6/7? Hopefully.

Smith - rubbish. Rubbish in the middle. Rubbish up front. 6/7? No.

Owen - Past his best, not arsed, not fit, no service to him. Still clearly has ability, but not world class by a long chalk. 6/7? Yes.

Martins - Very, very flawed. Extremely fast, but its no good making random runs. 6/7? Possibly.

Viduka - Slow, fat. lazy. Well past his best. 6/7? No.

 

 

So, imo, what we have is:

 

YES x 3 (ST, LW, RB)

PROBABLY x 1 (GK)

POSSIBLY x 1 (ST)

HOPEFULLY x 3 (CB, CB, RW)

NO x 6 (CB, LB, LW, MC, ST, ST)

FUCK OFF x 3 (RB, MC, MC)

 

We WERE mid table crap for the past few seasons. Allardyce put things in place to bring us down to the level we now are. We do not want to be looking for mid table safety next season, we need to be looking to get back to the top 6/7 without delay. And to do that, we need some serious investment.

 

Mind, anyone who thinks we can prise the likes of Carrick away from teams like Man Utd is an idiot. We need to look at what teams like Citeh have done with their buying, or get a great manager in.

 

 

I'd go with all of that NM, with the caveat that Zoggy will end up in the full French side soon.