S-Clarke

They're still feeling it from their mega-spend a few seasons ago. It turned out that they bought a load of utter dross. They don't have £25m to spend on single players anymore, which is why they're using it as an opportunity to throw some of their unwanted players into deals. And one of the reasons Mitchell was bought in - to try and unearth gems at lower costs. In a way, through all of this, I feel a little sorry for Toby. It seems as if A.Madrid are playing games with him, and trying to use him in their pursuit for other players. He just wants his future sorted out, but they're not making it easy.

That was for the Asian/Japanese version of Fifa. Yoshida is quite a big deal out there.

See, that's all I ever see him do. He very rarely assists, doesn't really score, passes sideways and backwards and doesn't seem to have any real presence on the pitch. Yet he's being lauded as a superstar.

What on earth has Henderson ever done, to be on the cover of that game? He is the most bog-standard average midfield player I've ever seen. What is all this ridiculous hype over him all about, he's never done anything to earn that hype. Liverpool think he's their new Gerrard. Good luck with that.

The biggest load of tosh ever written.

It does look damn impressive to be honest. As a potential player or coaching staff, you couldn't fail to be impressed by our facilities. Top level.

That Dome looks lush as ****.

£15m for Troy Deeney being another example. I mean, what is all that about??? He's never even played in the PL for flaming sake. Newcastle are keen though, apparently.

3rd relegation on the trot for Caulker?

As I see it, we're just putting ourselves into a very strong position. I don't see this guy as Clyne's replacement as media outlets are suggesting, this guy offers us cover of very good quality and if Clyne does happen to go, we have an international RB already here. But then I'd imagine we'd go out and get another RB to create the cover again.

Koeman did actually come out and say ''He's on our list should Morgan leave''. I think if/when Morgan leaves, we'll get our top targets in those positions. At the moment I think it's all about beefing up the squad a bit, and if we sign a midfielder now, I'd look upon it more as a Cork replacement rather than anything else.

You're kind of missing the major point here. Toby is not our player. Madrid can do whatever they want with him. We just borrowed him for a few months.

Just been browsing the Sporting forums, it kind of reads like our Clyne thread. Really odd. ''We can replace him for better'' ''he tailed off in the second half of the season'' ''he's not really that good'' etc etc. But there are some very interesting insights, where a fair few believe he will go on to become top quality - but the coaching and 'situations' at Sporting have stalled him slightly. Also, what I think is an ITK sporting guy, he said he's signed a 4 year deal. All done bar the shouting.

I think he's still having, what we call, an ITK sulk.

Or they could just put faith in some of ''their own''. Would be a pathetically stupid move for him, and one way to say cheerio to a career.

I think that's a fair assumption. Cork is a good example really, he didn't sign his contract so we sold him rather than letting him go for a freebie. If it comes to it, we will probably look at a bid towards the end of the window if the situation remains the same. Hopefully he realizes he's better off here for now, though.

I don't see what he's ever done to ask for those sort of wages, to be honest. I'd be incredibly underwhelmed if we'd have gone for him in those circumstances. Not surprised by Sunderland though, seeing what they spent on Defoe over the next 4 years. (Dumb...)

Potential is there, but need to see him really kick on. He's just in a real bad patch form-wise atm.

Bournemouth's run in is a total stinker......but who knows? If they are down there, no game is a dead-rubber for them. Weird result's time.

Bit of an ''ok'' signing. Nothing special, in my opinion anyway. I remember back in 2006..? we played City away in a cup game, and it was being billed as Bale v Richards, 2 of the hottest properties in English football. He never really kicked on. If anything, the takeover at City totally derailed his career - and the injuries didn't help.

That's what he did at Palace to be fair.

I think that will drag and drag.

This is true, I was basically disagreeing with what I felt was a suggestion that we should not buy anyone until the end. That would be a tad dim. I still think you get better value earlier on though, and better results. Longer pre-season, more time for them to settle etc. Juanmi and Cedric are too examples of incredible value deals. 2 current Spanish and Portuguese internationals for less than £10m combined. Absolute top stuff.

It's a bit of a tricky start, if we're honest. Newcastle with a new manager, they'll want a new manager bounce for sure. Everton will be better than last year, not ever a given. And you've then got 2 promoted sides, who I prefer to avoid until a few more weeks into the season. They'll still have their momentum and confidence, so will be every bit as dangerous as other teams. I like the way the 'big sides' aren't all clumped together this year, it's quite a balanced stretch of fixtures in that sense. Our run-in isn't ''too bad'', if we're up there competing with the Everton's/Spurs etc then we have some good 6 pointers there - maybe. Also interesting note about the 'potential' after Europe fixtures. In effect, we may not be as worse off - as you'd never guarantee those games as wins anyway. And it's likley that they'll be playing on the back of a European game too. It would have been more damaging if the games after Europe were against the WHU/Stokes/Evertons etc. So all in all, could have been a lot worse.

No, not at all.