S-Clarke

Would be a star, he's not a striker by the way. Bizarrely I read an article on the dutch squad a few months back and there was a feature on this lad, he's seen more of a winger or an ''in the hole'' forward, not a striker - so he's potentially our RM type player. I'll see if I can dig out the link, but he was described as quick, nimble and very agile. He's more than good enough for a team like Everton, so we'd be pulling off another coup.

One of the best young english prospects around. He will play for England in the next year. Composed on the ball, very, very quick. Technically incredibly gifted and a very good reader of the game. Only 20 as well. Regarded as one of the best young english full back around. You don't come close to signing for Man Utd for being average, put it that way.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18890873

Sounds like this deal will still happen though, going by the latest. NA and co would have been well aware of shaw for months, but still wanted to go for buttner.

It does feel like we go the extra mile to get signings done, like making them feel really wanted. Things like that can swing a players thoughts away from money, and potentially gives us am edge. I assume we did the same with Clyne too

Very interesting and frank interview. What stood out was confirmation of expansion plans and 2 billionaire owners??

Relegation beckons

Why the attacks on Weston Saint? These forums are going down the pan.

He was great for Blackpool to be honest. I wouldn't say as a regular starter, but as a squad player, if he's committed , it's a no brainer.

He wasn't ever that bad for us, but we flew past him so quickly before he could contemplate catching up. Looks to be becoming a bit of a journeyman though.

Interesting to see Puncheon fully involved in pre-season so far. Seem to remember he was left at home last year?

It was a bit mix and matched all season. Players had decent spells there (Guly, Chaplow, De Ridder) but no one made it their own, and I wouldn't fancy Guly or Chaplow to have the same short-term impact in the premier league. We need a clyne-style signing for RM IMO, but I'm sure we're working on it.

Technically it's a free transfer, the comp agreement will probably be around £2.5m spread over a long period. Still a better deal than Gunter.

It's great reading what other fans say about him, not just Palace fans either. He's widely regarded as one of the brightest young talents in English football, he was genuinely interesting Manchester United. After all the interest in him, I think this is one hell of a coup. Sometimes it's worth waiting for the right player. Clyne on a free (compo agreed) or Gunter for £3m? Exactly. End of debate.

Appreciate your snippets.

I don't think RM is the ultra priority, but I think it's important we address it before the end of the window. It was a bit of an iffy position for us last year.

A quality signing. Prior to this summer I wanted Clyne and Rodriguez. Job done. Now let's go out and get Zaha.

That's the one. Don't really like it tbh, looks a bit out of place.

As usual, the panicking lot have no foundation in any of their points. Always plucked out of nowhere.

What's going on with the random red bit in Readings home kit? Looks very odd.

To be honest, I didn't pay a great deal of attention to her presenting skills.

why hasn't he signed yet for christ sake?!!?!?!?! We're clearly clueless when it comes to transfers etc etc etc

People need to stop panicking over Davis, he's ours and he will play 30 odd games for us next year. There will be no problem with it at all. Relax.

You put such a simplistic spin on it, when it's not the case. Is it easy to move on deadwood? What if there aren't any takers? There isn't a problem attracting players either, we just do it properly, and in that I mean we check out every single part of a potential player. What we don't want to be left with are flops that aren't the right characters, don't integrate well, and aren't very good etc. I'm quite relaxed about what we're doing because I know we're in good hands. Seriously, just relax because we know what we need and we're not going to go into the start of the season without that sorted. I'm also of the opinion that we are after a much higher calibre of player than reading, and deals like that are always a little trickier to push through because of other interest.

That is a huge assumption though. I would suggest that a hell of a lot of work went on before the interest was made public. It only seems to take a while with us once the media get involved, and after that we all seem to crave hourly updates. At the end of the day we are careful and make sure no stone is unturned before confirming our side. Leave the media to jump the gun but don't blame saints for it, we do it correctly.