CanadaSaint

WTF is wrong with people on here? MLG posts a fairly positive story and it's instantly buried under an avalanche of sneering and snide comments. Damn near every topic on here ends up going down the same toilet, as some people choose to contaminate it with their sarcasm. Give it a rest FFS or else there will be nobody left on here whose opinions are worth reading. Many already don't bother any more as it is.

I'm not sure that he has no sense of history - he's too smart for that. I think he sees it as an obstruction to the kind of progress he has in mind. In both the playing and financial contexts. The anti-Cortese brigade would go into meltdown if they could see what this club (and the cost of following it) will look like in five years if we go where he's planning on taking us. I'm not saying that's a bad thing at all, but that his goals will involve much more of this kind of change.

Now I'm starting to get a little worried. We splash out seven mill on yet another striker and we're scratching around in the bargain bin for one of the most critical upgrades we need. I've never rated Jenas and I don't think he'd add anything at all. I, too, would prefer Hargreaves but this isn't a position we can afford to fill with unreliability.

It's been a really negative close season on here, even after the triumphant last two years. God knows what this forum's going to be like when we actually start playing football. Against the big guys.

Given the vast array of red and white striped shirts from different eras worn by the fans, it makes big commercial sense because it outdates all of them. However, it's a massive "f*ck you" to the club's tradition.

They've done it so that it'll be easier to read the names of all our new players.

Pompey kit?

Of course it's relevant because it's about clubs paying more for young and inexperienced players than some people think they're worth, as many on this forum thought about the AOC deal. No, we are not Arsenal, and six million is not twelve or fifteen million, or whatever it turns out to be. Any more nuggets of your argumentative wisdom to offer?

One of the biggest differences between the Premier and the next two divisions is the need to have enough money to speculate. Sub-Premier league, most clubs can't afford to make a mistake. In the Premier you have to have the balls to take expensive punts on players because the rewards of success and the penalties of failure are so much larger. I have felt all along that Markus left a substantial (and probably finite) provision for us, but that a big chunk of it was to be kept up our sleeve for the kind of investment we'd need to make if/when we reached the PL. It seems to me that some people are looking at this supposed quest for Butland through Championship eyes. I have enough faith in our management team - as well as others who rate the lad very highly - to feel that six million for such a young guy to fill such a key position could well turn out to be a steal. But Yes, it is an expensive punt.

How many of the posters saying that we'd be nuts to pay Brum six mill for Butland ALSO said that Arsenal were nuts to pay us 15 mill for AOC, and that he'd end up anchored to the bench? Come on, fess up.

God, I'd love that. It would completely transform our right side. I'd take him in a heartbeat over Redmond - even if he costs a bunch more.

I can only imagine that Hodgson doesn't think Walcott has "90-minute fitness" at the moment, so he's likely keeping him for the "impact sub" role. However, we almost certainly need to win and outscore France in order to avoid Spain so I thought he might have used AOC and Theo in combination rather than Milner. Just when we stop looking like the old England we look like reverting back to it again.

I hope so.

When we were in the Premier I can remember hoping - and hearing many others express the hope - that we don't face any of the promoted teams early-on, because they can be an unpredictable handful. Well, now we're one of them. For that reason I'll settle for those starting fixtures - and also because it helps us to get a decent run-in at the end.

I'm surprised that some folks think West Ham will be alright. Sure, they'll have money but they had that this year. And their 'football', which shows little sign of changing under BFS, doesn't seem to cut much mustard in today's Premier League. Losing Rogers and Lambert could have quite a negative impact on Swansea and Norwich - no disrespect intended to the guys coming in. Yeah, I'd settle for 15th right now but, with a few key signings, I think we're capable of much better. It's looking like we'll be trying to play on the front foot, which IMO is when we're at our best.

It seems that the best way of surviving up there (here) is to try to play football rather than defend and rely on the hoof to a big front man. West Ham seem well equipped to play the very kind of 'football' that will get them relegated. Again. Let's hope so.

Indeed, but if we had a choice I'd go for Thomas Ince, who I think will be worth more - and sooner. We'd probably have to fight off some of the big boys and spend even more to get him, but Puncheon could still turn out to be a bargaining chip.

So do they.

You still miss my point, which was in response to Crazy Diamond, who said that some people are not that excited about Rodriguez. I simply drew the parallel with Jos. That's all. I sometimes think that you could start an argument in a phone box.

What we need is dependent on how we plan to use Schneiderlin IMO. He spent a lot of late-season time playing in front of the back four, which made it more difficult for him to be the "playmaker" he has the capability to be. But if he's to play farther forward he needs to improve significantly on his finishing.

I keep coming back to him but I don't know whether he has enough left as a player, and the last thing we need is someone coming here as the start of their easy transition to retirement.

CB, I was talking simply from the perspective of a signing that underwhelmed many but turned out really well. However, even the most open-minded about him never imagined that he would make the difference between promotion and another year in the Championship, which IMO he did.

Don't you think that the Financial Fair Play Regulations will have a moderating affect on the wages of players like this? I'm hoping that the environment has shifted, making it harder for the big clubs to pad out their squads with players that the smaller clubs would love to have.

Absolutely. Let's hope the same story works out just like the Jos story.

Whether it's Butland or someone else, the task of signing a quality keeper has to be a top priority because the list of options is far shorter than it is for outfielders, and the window of opportunity is much smaller. This is one we can't afford to dither over.