Dr Gloom

owen is bar far the better player, assuming he regains his sharpness - he's looked a little sluggish since he came back from injury, and martins' release clause is bigger so i'll say martins.

me too, altho I can't get a hotel for love nor money as there is a Triathlon on that weekend too Looks like wor lad will have to stay sober and drive really? shit we haven't booked anywhere yet. unless you want to pay over 130 quid for a hotel (not including breakfast) then your up shit creek basically. I have spent the last 3 days on line trying to find somewhere and am on "standby" for a hotel next to LCC as they may have a cancellation but it is still costing me 85 quid Or the alternative is to stay in Bury or somewhere and then have the hassle of trying to get in and back ?? no way. looks like a camp site might beckon. shit. that'll go down like a lead balloon with the missus

gone to hibs hasn't he?

me too, altho I can't get a hotel for love nor money as there is a Triathlon on that weekend too Looks like wor lad will have to stay sober and drive really? shit we haven't booked anywhere yet.

good band. i like to see more british bands singing in their accents and coming up with lyrics as good as alex. going to see them in manchester in a couple of weeks anarl

big yourselves up hic

Spot on. People have to understand that money doesn't equal the best players, as the Mackem's are finding out now. If you've got no Europe, no real chance of winning a trophy in the next season or two then no one really big will want to join. Chelsea was a freak takeover, they threw money about like nobodies business. Even Chelsea were struggling at the beginning to sign the real world stars. They got knocked back a lot tbh. and it's not like ashley is in the same league as abramovich

so we've signed a world class defender who could have a potentially career threatening injury. nice to see that our transfer policy has remained consistent with the previous regime.

if we lose owen and martins we're going to need to bring in some players with pace. defoe and/or saviola perhaps.

smith plus £4m for owen would be a shocking deal for us

gudjohnsesn would be class alongside owen or martins. i'm not convinced he'd make the best pairing with viduka though. not a lot of pace in that partnership

i can't believe coleman got that job like.

which player were they watching?

Not next season probably the season after that how crap a shirt sponsor would that be? may as well be ace lager. i wouldn't mind stella or guiness but carling for fuck's sake?

how can a bar with Carling, Coors, Grolsch and Worthingtons as its house beers be the best in town? shocking selection tbh.

£17m...fuck me sideways. i remember people on here screwing at the thought of bobby signing him for £1.5m a fwe years back

i'd be tempted to keep martins but £13m might be too good a price to turn down. i think we paid over the odds for him personally.

getting rid of those two wasters will be the best thing sam has done so far. thank christ he can see what we all can. i can't believe the two of them have managed to bleed the club for 40 grand a week in wages without putting in a half decent shift between them.

the yanks don't give hatton enough respect but i reckon mayweather would beat him up pretty bad.

Much better is a stretching it a bit. mildly better? Aye. He isn't getting loads of stick either though to be fair. My beef was more with the assertion he is obviously quality. He hasn't shown it here. i like him because he's got touch and skill. i agree that he's been disappointing for us but i wonder if that's largely because he's played under two shite managers. maybe big sam will get him back to his best - i think he's worth keeping though because unlike someone like parker, he is clearly capable of more than he's shown since he's been with us. Don't see why Parker doesn't get the same excuse then (I wasn't too sorry to see him leave but fair's fair). And if anyone gets unfair stick it's Parker who has had a lot more decent games for us than Emre. i never really saw much more than effort and work-rate from parker - he's very limited compared to emre in terms of technical ability and natural talent. the problem with parker is that he's an average holding player and a below average attacking midfielder. nicky butt's performances last season showed how limited parker is. at least with emre, there's flashes of skill and a sense that the best might still be to come.

Much better is a stretching it a bit. mildly better? Aye. He isn't getting loads of stick either though to be fair. My beef was more with the assertion he is obviously quality. He hasn't shown it here. i like him because he's got touch and skill. i agree that he's been disappointing for us but i wonder if that's largely because he's played under two shite managers. maybe big sam will get him back to his best - i think he's worth keeping though because unlike someone like parker, he is clearly capable of more than he's shown since he's been with us.

Much better is a stretching it a bit. mildly better?

i dunno why emre gets so much stick like. he was much better than the likes of duff and parker last season. not that that's saying too much.

You're a right misery guts of late Dan. Clearly missing Leazes imo. maybe the most miserable june on record is taking its toll - i reckon we've made some solid squad additions but i don't think we've added too many players that will help fire us back towards the top 4-6. i do think this place misses leazesmag btw