Dig Dig

How could this be? Our experts are telling us that it's impossible to prove abuse cases from years ago and that people shouldn't be coming forward about it now....

No we won't be which is why we won't be knocking them out of Champions League places any time soon. Not because we didn't win a title in 1902.

Yea I'm sure when he had a choice of top European clubs to sign for, that swayed it in their favour! I'm sure he cares now but I really don't think players care much about what clubs were doing 50 years ago.

But do you think the likes of Tevez, Aguero, Kompany, Silva, Toure etc really gave a **** about the fact that City won the title decades before they were even born?

Jackanory was on here mugging you right off earlier, Horton Heath Saint

Wise words from a mongboard master Krakers. Duly noted

1. Lard had been banging on his anti-Adkins crap the whole time he was here and had been proved so wrong about Adkins, it's ridiculous 2. Adkins eventually went 7 months after the OP so hardly evidence that what he said was true. If he hadn't been such a **** for two years prior, more people may hav believed him.

Cheers Batman, I feel better now

Don't think so, it would be common knowledge if there was a standard youth contract clause like that. If his injury was severe enough to put him out of our last 3 games, I doubt there would be much benefit in making him train with an injury. If he doesn't feature against Spurs, I would expect him to be back for the Sunderland game.

he is training today.

Or even Italian, which won't be a problem on Tuesdays and Thursdays which is when Cortese takes training.

The standard of Interbational football can be pretty bad if you're playing European minnows in qualifiers etc. I can't recall who he has played against for Norway since signing for us though, anyone decent? From what his agent said the other day and based on what a few others have alluded to, we bought him as a ball playing CB but are soending time to improve his strength and stamina. If the lad can stay off the beer a bit, it might speed things up mind.

I think it's more about getting him ready for the physical demands of the Premier League

Agree, wouldn't look to replace them per se but there are a couple of positions where if our first choice isn't available we become so much weaker and unlikely to win. Holding CM is the main one closely followed by full back

Some examples please! ; )

It's not always about the money though. Players could hang on for a number of reasons other than money. It seems we do our homework on player attitude and motivations anyway which I'm sure limits our pool of potential condidates. In some cases, it's the clubs who are ones holding out to get the best deal possible. Personally I think it's worth playing the long game other wise we would have missed out on some v good players like Jack Cork. In Ramirezs case, it's easy to say that lack of pre-season has impacted his season. I'm sure it has but how much I don't know. I think adapting to the culture and pace of the league is difficult despite pre-season.

Yes they do

None of those points are what this thread is really about. You would be very hard pushed to find anyone who doesn't agree that we need to strengthen the squad in order to progress. The accusation here is that the club are inadequate or incompetant when it comes to summer transfer activity.

It's more than money though isn't it? If we are targetting players like Ramirez and Coutinho as two examples, as well as paying them what they can get at other clubs interested in them, we also have to sell the club to them and give them good enough reasons to join Saints when they could move to Liverpool or Spurs etc. Also, why are you mentioning QPR? On the one hand, you say that we should pay over the market value for a player to ensure we get them earlier but then question why we would be targetting players who would only move because of the money on offer? Slightly confusing point to be honest. Either you feel that we should be paying more to get players in early or that we should want players to join us on our own merits , even if it means allowing time for players to consider all options.

Depends what you define as a "bit more"? Especially as there are no gaurentees how well a player will fair once the season starts anyway. If a player is worth 10M, how much would you say it's worth paying on top of that just to the get the player a bit earlier?

I think being Manchester Utd helps in having the summer exactly as you want it. I wouldn't be against signing players as early as possible as the benefits are obvious but the reality for us and most teams in the league is that it's not really possible in the most part. In our case, I can see us targetting players who will also be targets for bigger clubs than us. This in itself makes it difficult to get deals done early. The only way I can see us getting who we want when we want is to chuck more money at it than anyone else does.

We do bring some in early, some in late. Same as everyone else as it isn't about just signing anyone you want whenever you want. You play a longer game for some targets, just how it is. As for "patchy results"....is this a joke? Back to back promotions plus safety in first season back to the Prem is not patchy. We couldn't have done much better really but you crack on.

You would be hard pushed to find many people who didn't believe that there are positions which need strengthening. As with every summer transfer window, we will improve the squad. The usual hysterical critics from a far will no doubt spend all summer telling us what we should be doing whilst also still bleating on about last summer where we actually did do enough solid business to secure our top flight status which was the main objective of the season. People like Alpine bang on as usual about signing everyone early but we have done well worrying about bringing in the right players rather than signing someone as quick as possible. It's a nonsense argument which is raised every year. I remember in the summer, a few people pointing at Readings "excellent" early summer transfers and even McDermott was boasting about it as it they are a benchmark to aspire to. Most people ignored that most of their signings were not very good despite getting them in early.

Why are you all pandering to the hysterics of a moron?

QPR not even trying in this game now. Shameful from their players. Hope it stays 0-0 so both are put out of their misery.