OTF

Besty just flashed one marginally wide... well struck shot off his left foot.

On that OzT, what div you guys this season? And are you interested in a pre-season game? Div 5.. and yeah could possibly be.. this one is one that we've organised ourselves.

Raylor.. I guess they wanted someone to take over on free-kick duties. Thigh injury it was for Barton. If Raylor is too rusty I'd think about Lovelyhands down the left with Jonas switching to the right.

To keep everyone else updated on mundane shit... by the time this game is over it will be roughly 6 hours before I play a pre-season friendly. The problem? I also need to try to slip in some sleep.

I know papers make up shit, but if the figures are anywhere near accurate then it's actually a proper sign that they're keen to keep hold of Tiote. Otherwise they'd sell him in the summer and not have wasted any money on giving additional wages to a player already on contract until 2015. Accounting wise that sort of bullshit maths I wouldn't put past Ashley and co. As others have pointed out if it's accurate you'd have to remove Carroll's wages and deduct Tiote's previous wage which would effectively cancel out the increase. Otherwise they would have to spend 35m plus the 7m+ that would have been paid to Carroll until 2015.

Tiote's for sure.

Regardless of how much sceptecism you apply this is good news. My main hope is that it helps to leads to Enrique and Barton also extending their deals. Facts of the matter are that every player has their price. The sooner some people on here realise that it doesn't need to be proclaimed every minute the better.

meine aufrichtigen Entschuldigungen....aber, Ich könnte nicht widerstehen... Hast Du etwas Zeit für mich Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer Dich Von 99 Luftballons Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont Denkst Du vielleicht grad' an mich Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer Dich Von 99 Luftballons Und dass sowas von sowas kommt Dreh dich nicht um, schau, schau, der Kommissar geht um!

Wouldn't be a painting... unless it was the roof of the sistine chapel (with the chapel attached and without the thousands of gawkers). I'd say a number of building would be classified as art, but they too are impractical. So if it was to be something to go in my house I'd like it to be something that I can look upon from multiple angles so would be leaning toward a sculpture. David wouldn't fit in my house. Venus de Milo would, but isn't that interesting. Quite like the Thinker but it too is too large. So all said and done I'd have Tutankhamun's Mask. being able to gaze upon something so ancient yet beautiful would be amazing. If I thought about it more I'd probably come up with some alternatives..

Didn't think I'd ever say this but I think we should keep him. From all accounts he is well behaved and a good trainer. Always trying to impress in training to get a chance in the first team. Having him around should keep the pressure on our hopefully higher profile forwards. Has a good scoring record when he has played as well. All despite not looking very good and in general having the heading ability of a sharpened rock (spare his headed goal).

Has the physical attributes to be a very good defender, but judging from less than half a good season in the turmoil that we were in was impossible. I've always said that 8m for him was good business. He wasn't needed by us in the championship and a year there would not have increased his value. Had a horrible shirt tugging habit that puts Williamson's arm work to shame. Was horribly exposed by Emile Heskey, and cost us dearly when he was also sent off against Fulham resulting in him missing our final game against Villa.

Should be substantial financial benefit from the home games alone. Even if the figure is only a maximum of 9m there's some value in the appeal of being in Europe for both keeping hold of talented players and attracting new ones in. It should also provide more motivation in general to expand on the size of our squad, something we've been calling for for years.

9m extra is not a figure to scoff at. I'm not one of those who buys into being in Europe being a massive hindrance to the premier league season. You have a full summer to prepare for it, and 9 million is enough to bring in one good player or two decent ones even allowing for wages. Being in Europe should also make us slightly more appealing to players, instead of being just another of the mid-table rabble. The extra players will provide additional cover across the premier league season. All said and done though I don't realistically see us finishing 7th.

Indeed. We don't even really know who the people with the supposed 35m to spend are.. apart from the fact that Ashley has the final say on player movements.

Should turn up to St James' on match day in a suit. As for training I really don't see what the point in turning up to training in anything but training gear is. On the way out obviously they can wear something else, but no point in putting on a suit for the sake of it.

This is true, but when I look over the strikers we have I'm not particularly confident in their ability to score. They've done a decent job admittedly so far, but they haven't been convincing. It could dry up, or they could be spurred on.... Shola coming back will help. I'll admit you can't compare it to 2008/09 where we struggled to create chances let alone score.

Of course nothing is set in stone, but it's a bit different with Manchester United and someone like Evra. The talk was if he left he'd be heading back to France and it's not like French clubs are known for splashing large amounts of cash for players. Ergo if he does actually want to leave Manchester United for France the club won't get their money back from his sign-on and loyalty bonus. He's 30 in three months, and was already contracted until 2012. He hasn't shown any signs of being on the wain, wane or wayne (apart from some seedy tabloid shots) so it's a fair bet that they do actually want to hang onto him as a player for some time - as well they should as he has been an aver present in a side that has won the league 3 out of the 4 seasons he's been there and made the Champions League final twice, winning once ( John Terry).

Evra has signed on with manure until 2014. So that's one club down..

I'll be pissed if we go anywhere near Carlton Cole. 27, frequently injured and overall shit. Buying players from losing clubs can be bad as well as they can bring their losing attitude with them. So on every front I hope the Carlton Cole talk is just rubbish. I'd sooner have us not sign any forwards than spend anywhere near 10 million on Carlton Cole. Edit - If we were going top look at West Ham I'd sooner pickup Victor Obinna, though he's only there on loan from Inter. I'm sure they'd consider selling him as he's been on loan for a couple of seasons. Bit of a loose cannon though.

That looks much more likely though we'll probably nab a good result off more fancied opposition then cancel it out with an ugly loss to a weak side.

I'm surprised people are expecting so many wins. Winning matches takes scoring goals, an area where we're quite weak on at the moment. I hope we do win that many games but can't see it happening personally. HBA back in the squad will be good, but after such a lengthy spell out it would be silly to expect too much of him. If we can maintain our position in the top half of the table it will be an exceptional result from the players and management. Even more so when you consider the turbulence of sacking your manager and selling your best forward and leading scorer.

That's a pretty unrealistic expectation. If we'd picked up points at the same rate across the whole season we'd finish on 69 points.

Lots of his value is off the field it seems. It can be easy to discount that when thinking about players ability. On the field he does some of the little things that can make a difference but can be a little lazy when there's large distances to cover.

This tactic worked with driving the price of Carroll up, why not give it another crack with Enrique?

Less than 4 years of that and they could have bought Newcastle. At Newcastle if they showed that ambition St James' would be full. We've got a comparable squad that'd be ahead of them with the 35m reinvested (ahead even with their bent money reinvested).