OTF

Wonder how many other fake deals they will pretend to be making before they claim at the end that they narrowly missed out on several of their targets?

Softening the blow had fuck all to do with it, show me one example in the past two years where those slimey fucks showed that they gave a shit about what we think. They've sent their mate out every other day for the past month to say "Andy Carroll is not for sale at any price". They had to do something to save face there if nowt else. And they came out and rubbished Hughton in the press as soon as they'd got shot of him. They play the game, they're just shit at it. They're not too shit at it if they've managed to garner up to 40m for Andy Carroll. Particularly with his off-field behavioural issues. They don't care about their face, they've contradicted themselves so many times it's now not even worth digging up up the examples. They blatantly know that there's enough supporters out there who are addicted who will keep coming back for their hit no matter how many times they get burnt by the dealer.

The ol' wheeler dealer has seen it all before.

wasnt carroll `going nowhere` ? He was like, but that was coming from Mike and Derek who unfortunately lose out in the credibility stakes to rumour mongering online 'news' sites.

Can't really blame Carroll he'll be more than doubling his wage easily. Have to wonder how he'll react to the pressure and sudden increased 'fame'. All signs indicate not well.

Is better than no Elmander. Absolutely carved us up.

Truth be told this window has been mental for the prices of strikers. The money would be best used in summer to sign a replacement, though someone in on loan now would work out. As always the issue is that it's unlike;y at best that Ashley will reinvest the money back into the team. All this does is bump him further along his five year plan .

No.

Let's see how long it takes him to return from injury. Carroll's head will have been turned in a big way by the wages. I'd assume he'll be on something upwards of 80k now. Torres to be on 200+ at Chelsea. The circle of life. Biggest problem we're faced with now is that Ashley is not going to reinvest the money. If he does try to reinvest some of it we're going to get poor players cause he's not willing to stump for competitive wages. Plus everyone will know we've just got a fat lump of cash so will try to get as much of it as they can, in the same way that Ashley did from Liverpool. Here's hoping plenty more allegations come out of the woods once the deal is officially inked. I hear Steven Taylor is preparing his case as we speak.

Signing someone as cover for a singular position is tough work as your average player would only move if they're going to be first choice or could at least be convinced that they are. Easier to bring someone young through the ranks as cover.

30m won't buy a local player with a love for the club. ... And it won't buy me a new shirt either... So shut it the lot of you.

I'd have got black except they didn't have my size. I'll be happy if they're comfortable. I've got a reasonably wide foot, so that and the arch are key. Possibly a silly move to buy without trying them on... I guess I'll find out when they arrive. White doesn't stay white for too long thankfully, but there's much brighter and uglier boots nowadays than a pretty plain white pair.

If they bring a keeper in that'll be Forster gone in the summer. The Barton resigning hitting the major 'news' sites is to me a sign that we're done in this window. It's Ben Arfa, Irelan, Barton resigning and that's it. If Enrique resigned also I'd be happy, or else another signing.

...please don't let this be our only incoming this window.

They need a decent defensive midfielder to shield their ordinary defense as well, so they might as well tack on an extra 10-15 million and grab Tiote. Might have to wait a while though, or apply for special dispensation as he'll be playing for 3 clubs in less than a year.

It's not daft, it's the truth. Resigning him is a good thing, don't get me wrong. My point was that the club would hardly be battering away other clubs trying to sign him. The only ones that would genuinely be interested (on account of his reputation and past ruling out plenty more) wouldn't be willing to pay anywhere near enough. So, what I'm saying is whilst signing him is a good thing it's hardly a massive achievement. Re-signing Enrique would be a much bigger coup IMO.

Puma King are still very expensive. Must be good though if they've been around for this long.

So all said and done in this transfer window we're looking at 2 out and 1 in. Granted that the one in is technically a better player than the two departing, but he has attitude problems and plays in a position where we're already quite strong. We've lost a wide player, an area where we were already very weak. I'd like to think that there's still a signing to come, but I'm not holding my breath. Ashley will think he's done enough to placate the fans in loaning Ireland, signing Ben Arfa permanently and re-signing Barton (frankly as good as he's playing I'd say not too many clubs would be interested in signing his because of his past).

Those shin pads look like they'd offer a fair bit more protection than the ones I bought. Your first two boots don't look too comfortable (only because they look very plasticky), third look much softer. Over here we had some bad droughts for a few years a few years back and the ground was very dry/hard (which also contributed to my shin splints - plus my shit running technique). Since then I've realised that good arch support makes a huge difference for me. I've never been one to spend a lot on boots, largely because I'm just not that good, but the more I play now the more I'm concerned with maximising comfort and minimising pain. Of course we've had a lot more rain since then so the grounds aren't as hard which helps a fair bit. My current boots have served well.. some type of leather Lotto punto-flex boots. Have lasted a couple of season plus midweek playing at work, so they've lasted well. A few signs are indicating the start of the end so figure I might as well get settled on some new boots before the season starts. Edit - Oh, and these will be my first boots in a long while without covered laces. Hopefully they don't come undone too often. The Lotto's only had a velcro thing over the laces, and that came up fairly frequently. Umbro's before that had an elastic strap holding the part that covered the laces. That worked well enough until the elastic broke.

Just ordered some new boots for the upcoming season over here (starts in April)... Nike Tiempo Classic FG Lite. Not a huge fan of white boots, but the colour matches our strip (black and orange) and they don't tend to stay white for too long. Cost me about 44 pounds (70USD) which is a fair amount cheaper than I could buy them here in Australia. Ordered online site unseen, the fit should be ok as I have other Nike footwear in the same size, just a little worried about arch support as I get shin splints if I play in boots with none. Also picked up a pair of shin pads: Nike Mercurial Lite something or other. Will be my first set of shin pads of this style (slip onto a sleeve). Apparently they're comfortable to wear, and extremely light. My old pair soaked up the sweat and so were pretty heavy and uncomfortable (not to mention stinky as they're a pain to wash). These should be easy to wash. One concern is that there's no ankle protection. What do you wear?

What I want to know is who the 'Charity' is? Us, because he's coming to play for us? Or him because we're paying him a hefty wage to do not a lot?