Chez

I watched the game and he looked a decent player. Very composed, strong and decent on the ball. I wondered why they gave him the scummer chants, but he seemed to thrive on it.

Get Dragged to a lot of Bury and Brum games by a couple of mates.

meanwhile the skates sign another Sheff United player. Still the £6750 they get for the extended FA Cup highlights should help. I bet their owners are wondering how on earth they didn't get selected for one of the five live games this weekend?

Daniel Bentley is well regarded. If the club feels Gazza will never make it, he might be an option.

Fair point. But do any clubs have decent 3rd/4th choice CBs? If they do maybe we should look to buy them.

it does. Cheers. The debt to Norwich Union (which renamed to Aviva) was £23.1m. The combined debt was £27.5m (£23.1m to NU and £4.4m to Barclays).

are we going to have consider putting sell on clauses into our manager departure deals now too?

Can we do a time share on Pelle? We have him at the start and end of a season (when the sun is shining?) and Leicester have him during the middle period? Last season: 9 goal in 12 game followed by 3 in 25 and then 4 in 7. This: 11 in 20 followed by 0 in 7.

Very good point. Wasn't the last day of the last window almost totally devoid of any actual transfers?

I'd agree with all that. Not sure he's fine being back up, but given the right wage players seem to be able to overcome that issue.

Point of order, on further research I can confirm I was barking up the wrong tree here. The £20.4 loan that appeared in the accounts was at the end of 2010 so had nothing to do with the fee paid for the club. I don't want to be responsible for creating another myth. I believe the sum paid to Norwich Union on making the Prem was approximately £4m.

I wonder if there is a chance that Stek's loan will be turned into a transfer? Very difficult to sign decent keepers to sit on the bench - which is what they will do if Forster is fit.

Likewise Bertrand. Certainly both of them before Wanyama. Anyone buying Mane is going to have to be bloody sure about him as he will cost a fortune.

The outstanding debt was completely cleared when Markus bought the club, but were the two main creditors really paid in full? It was reported at the time that the debt was £27.5m. Approximately £4.5m to Barclays Bank and £23m to Norwich Union. It was also reported that Norwich Union were willing to write off a considerable amount of the outstanding loan to any buyer. Maybe that wasn't true, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't some sort of offer as they risked losing the lot if no buyer was found. It was reported that Markus paid between £13m and £15m, but nothing was disclosed so I am not sure how this figure reached the press. Maybe that was the initial fee and then subsequent payments were made - although I think that goes against the general `all debts' have been paid' line. It is worth noting that a debt of £20.4 million appeared on the Saints balance sheet (a loan from Markus to the club) after the admin, with £2.9m of cash in the bank. I might be barking up the wrong tree, but perhaps that suggests the real fee paid for the club (and subsequently to Barclays and NU) was more like £17.5m, with Barclays and NU agreeing to write off roughly £10m between them? I believe there was talk on this forum of an additional payment to NU should we make it to the premiership. Is this true? What was this figure and did it ever appear in a subsequent financial statement? One last thing. I know the `paid in full' conclusion was made by someone on these boards based on the theory that if you add up all the payments made to NU they roughly came to the same amount as the initial loan. But of course that means NU didn't earn any interest on the loan. I am probably miles off here, and I'd be grateful if someone could explain how and why. We certainly didn't pay 4p in the pound, or ripped off local businesses and charities, but was the final agreement more like 64p in the pound (if my maths are right) than 100p in the pound?

Markus paid 0p in the pound as a result of an imaginary CVA? That's brilliant. I can see it now. Fry hands over the keys to Markus (who presumably has just handed over the square route of **** all) and says to him: "The banks? Oh don't worry about them Markus, they said `forget what you owe and go ahead and enjoy yourself'."

good shout. That was the game at St Andrews were Red**** played Kenwyne Jones in midfield and he did his best Ali Dia impression in the first half - absolutely woeful. Camara came on for him at half time and was electric and scored straight away. We still lost though.

fair play to him for taking a wage cut to enable him to get games, although in the long run that might be an astute move, especially if he plays well, as it might lift the wage in his next contract be that with Bologna or maybe Boro themselves. Shame we couldn't get someone to buy him or sign him outright on a permanent deal as he will be back on our wage bill when the loan deal ends. Add to this out of contract players are paid for several weeks (by their previous club) after their contracts have ended if they haven't signed with anyone else.

it was away at Leicester. Bloody great game that. Two nil down at half time and then KP and BT score late in the second half and then we almost won it at the death.

His debut was against Millwall, not Sheff Wed.

I think his debut was when he came on as a sub home to Wolves. The Leeds game was a while into the season. Was that his first start fro the club?

Boy did First time forward passing stand out at old Trafford.

Excellent performance. Totally strangled United. This formation with Bertrand inside is working a treat.

I was saying the same thing. What on earth are Target, Mane, Long and Tadic playing at on throw ins. To feet, and do it quickly. Basics.

Agreed. Up the pressing even more. They are not good envy to play their way out. Charge!