revolution saint

I like Soccer Saturday even with it's preoccupation with all things prem. Merson is a prat but the rest of them are ok and is infinetly better without the the halves of the pantomime horse that were Rodney Marsh & Frank McClintock. Jeff Stelling is also the best football anchorman in the business.

The Verve at a V festival. Clearly couldn't be bothered and didn't care. Wish I'd seen James Brown in the dance tent instead.

Yes, I have and neither is he quick. He's a busy player I'll give you that but then so is Barnard, and like Barney he's a nuisance....and that's exactly what we'd be signing - someone who would be competing for a place on the bench with Barney.

Pace? really?

To be fair that's an easy out to criticise people who hold an opinion different than you. I don't really care where he comes from or how much was paid for him in the past. It comes down to a judgement and personally I don't rate him. If we were talking 500k then he's worth a punt but he needs to be playing games and based on ability I don't think he's better than Connolly or Barnard so he'd struggle to even get on the bench.

Equally you could argue it's crazy to write off the players we've already got, and have done well for us. If you're spending this amount of money then you have to make a subjective judgement - Is he better than Connolly? Is he better than Barney? IMO no, and it's a shame people don't give them a chance isn't it?

Based on what I've seen I don't think he's better than Connolly, and in his absence I'd rather play Barney. I'm not sure we need him.

Absolutely, never thought that I'd be advocating prudence if we were in a position to spend big but frankly I just can't see the value in the domestic market at this level. If teams like West Ham and Leicester want to go down that route then fine, good luck to them but we don't need to do that.

Agree with this, you can tell if your neighbours are on vodaphone as they're all outside making calls. That said I have an old school phone that just makes calls and texts - I've no need for anything else.

I think Leicester are the only show in town for Maynard.

Well it's all about opinions but to my mind he'd fit into Lambert's role quite well (and who knows maybe better) but less so as a striking partner. I wouldn't spend 5m in that area - not with the team we've already got.

Well if you're pinning your hopes on pace as an attribute for Rodriguez then you'll be disappointed. Although he's not slow he's just not that kind of player.

Well playing devil's advocate here what attributes does Rodriguez bring to the team that we desperately need? He's not that quick, he likes to drop deep in the manner that Lambert has been doing for us and he's not a clever player in the same sense Lallana is either. I'd love us to spend that sort of cash but if we are going to break our transfer record then I'd rather it was on someone that addressed some glaring deficiencies in the team and got us all excited in the same way Lambert signing did. As I say, I don't think Rodriguez is a bad player and if we needed someone in the Sheringham or Dean Ashton mould then I'd be all for it. I realise we won't get them but for the money being asked Maynard or Sordell would compliment the team better. As for Gorkss I think he would have improved us but not massively.

Well my expectations are for mid table and I'd be happy with that - players such as Baldock, Gorkss, Fontaine and Waghorn I don't think will improve us dramatically, and for the first time in ages I'm pretty happy with the squad so I'm not sure how that's having high expectations? Of course it all comes down to assessments of players and of course whoever we bring in (if any) then I'll support them. As for Rodriguez, it's not that I don't rate him but I don't think he offers anything that we're crying out for and is well over valued. Personally I think we probably will go back in for him though.

No, not really. Baldock could have been good but maybe not - certainly wasn't convinced but maybe worth a gamble. I wasn't fussed about Gorkss or Fontaine either. Rodriguez, Waghorn meh, not bothered either. It's a shame if we haven't signed the players NA wants but not the end of the world.

I reckon we might settle for a loan CB now. Would make sense if the players we want aren't available and I'd rather hold on until they are rather than keep going down the wishlist until we're left with players that really aren't that much better than what we've got. I think we will sign a striker and spend decent money though.

Not really - he's not slow but you wouldn't say pace is one of his attributes. You wouldn't be able to play a quick ball and outpace the defence too often with him. That's what I'd love to see a bit more - we're passing the ball so quickly at the moment that a decent quick striker could have an absolute field day with some of the chances we'd create. Not that we're playing badly at the moment though.

I agree we're missing genuine pace up front but I'm not sure Adkins sees it that way. Billy Sharp isn't quick and neither really is Rodriguez - both decent players though. I'd quite like to see us try and sign Sordell but I don't think it'll happen.

So slightly under 25% of teams who have finished 2nd in L1 have got promoted to the prem at some point - that's actually higher than I thought it would be.

To be honest you're obsessed with someone on the interweb. Dalek annoys me as well but 500 quid to prove a point? Bonkers.

There will always be an incomplete picture if you want one to be there. How could I prove otherwise? I can't prove something that doesn't exist. I'm playing devil's advocate here but the argument doesn't stand up.

That's an assumption though. My point was that based on ability I'd have him back and frankly ability is all any of us can comment on with any authority.

I notice everyone who has said no has mentioned his attitude and not his ability. I don't know the guy from Adam so I'm not in a position to judge him on his attitude and certainly not to call him a cvnt. I'd certainly like him involved because I think he's got talent for whatever reason I think it's unlikely though.

I've got to be honest this forum is very polarised and from my perspective it does seem as if a negative opinion is jumped on quicker but that's also human nature - it's very hard to criticise a positive assessment and mostly because we all want to believe it. There are a few obvious WUMS - personally I don't think hypo is one of them and he is at least consistent. Sometimes he's wrong and sometimes it's just a difference of opinion but to be fair to him he's been called a **** today purely on the basis that initially he hasn't w*nked himself dry over the prospect of signing a CB that none of us really know much about. I'm not sure that being negative always equates to having preordained opinions or being agenda driven. Personally I wasn't that bothered about Fontaine - he sounded OK but I wouldn't have expected a world beater.

To be fair I don't think many of us can make a too detailed assessment of most NPC players. I think Maynard's good but 6M worth, probably not. The other thing to remember is NPC strikers are quite hit and miss - the game is littered with ones who have had a decent season and then not lived up to their earlier promise. I'd also rather not pay a premium just because the player is based in England. There must be some very, very good players around for half as much as Maynard is supposed to be worth. Imagine what 4M abroad would get you?