OTF

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?

Wonder if he's bringing the awesome hat from his site.... All his charity work is good. Another opportunistic signing, could work out to be good but there's plenty of other areas on the pitch where more attention should have been paid. As it is if noone else comes in I'd give him a go playing behind Carroll up top (when he returns) keeping Nolan in central midfield along Tiote.

Don't mind that. With a team like Fulham I'd probably prefer that to a gutsy 2-1. Might come in playing like they were at 2, 3 or 4-0 up and we should be able to show more grit than Tottenham have.

Ok, now that we're temporarily rid of our midfield Xisco what are we going to do about our striker? At the time Depor fans rated Xisco, wonder if they still will when he gets back, or whether they'll wonder what we did to him down here. I'm picking the latter (though they would have been able to see him when playing for Racing Santander*). * - Who are a pretty shit team always hanging around the drop zone in a league where the quality drops off significantly after the first two teams then even more so after the first 6 or so.

Way to ruin a thread Leazes. Sure, we won't qualify for Champions League under Mike Ashley but that's hardly surprising. We're currently behind two clubs in Manchester City and Chelsea who we can't compete with in terms of money. They're happy to be losing fistfulls of cash by the second. Then you have Manchester United who we can't compete with for their international profile and worldwide appeal. Liverpool too have a larger profile. Next down the list is Tottenham who have leveraged a continual growth by making excellent corporate and sponsorship deals that have helped them to continue their rise. Arsenal alll the while have been comparatively frugal squirreling away money to pay for their new stadium, whilst maintaining their European presence through continual Champions League status. ....Anyways.... Does the window technically close at midnight tonight? Or do they also get to use Monday to finalise their deals? I'm thought that was the case previously?

The wages the champions league sides are starting to pay nowadays are ridiculous. Many player on upwards of 100K per week, some over 200k. We're not in a posotion to even consider competing with them, because they're willing to throw away money in order to make a run for the top.

...and he didn't play quite frequently...

Is it cos he is gay? Whenever he has played he's looked no worse than Ranger/Best. Agreed. Very mysterious saga all in all. Is it something to do with if we play him again we trigger an extra payment on his fee? And doesn't really make sense that we were able to loan him out under those circumstances either. Before he came here he was supposed to be a good target man, problem us there's no way he'd be a patch on Carroll. May be a better target man than Best though, Shola is sometimes good sometimes bad - should be a lot better based on his size alone.

If he isn't out injured. Aye, he spent a lot of time out "injured" at our place. Around the time Kinnear arrived and he stopped turning up for training funnily enough. I heard he had trouble sleeping, was apparently out late at night with insomnia...

Not really someone you want to be coming up against for fearing that he'll put out one of his speculators. He is the guy however that you want taking one on one chances for the opposition as he's bound to miss it or slam it straight at Harper. Interesting signing.

Villa should also be fined an equal amount for only just beating a team that was apparently so bad it was illegal.

Bit serious that like.. I suppose Germany and England don't exactly have the greatest footballing history. I wore a Spain to the World Cup last year to see them play. Wore it in Spain as well as other places (nice lightweight thing good for traveling). Only problem was the people coming up to me speaking in Spanish I also have a Hungary shirt cause I have Hungarian heritage.

Woodgate does have a horrible ring, so Sol says anyway...