shurlock

Are you claiming that Tokyo is the mongboard Jo Moore?

They've just signed a keeper from Charlton, so perhaps they're clearing the decks.

Flaps at crosses and overhyped because of his name but on a free would definitely strengthen the squad.

??? The last thing united need are creative midfielders - Mata, Kagawa, Januzaj, even Rooney. If they need attackers, its pace on the wing where Nani, Zaha, Young, Valencia are out of favour. Liverpool need to strengthen their defense, though Lallana gives them a willingness to track back and press from the front -defensive responsibilities that some of their other attackers have shirked. Lallana is also more consistent than Coutinho.

Of course, what's best for us isn't necessarily best for the player - arguably we have a better chance of keeping Shaw who has time on his side than Lallana for whom at the age of 26, its now or never for CL and the supposed footballing high life.

Are you Ok Windows - you've been posting all kinds of nonsense today. A lifetime of poppers-fueled menage a trois catching up with you?

Not really. Rather its because Lerrner decided after the MoN years that Villa had to become self-financing.

Liebherr's Mali company had debt and borrowed significantly for a fact. So the whole 'no debt' thing is a red herring. As far as a football club is concerned, its hard to see how a club cannot incur some debt while its going up the leagues. In this sense, a football club no different from any other growth company at a similar stage in its lifecycle. Just look at Amazon, a wildly successful company but one that is making no profit as it makes aggressive investments to capture market share. The key question is when a company moves from being a 'growth' company to a 'mature' one where investment needs are dialed down. My sense is that KL decided that this time came sooner than NC wanted who felt that there was still genuine room for improvement.

As said before -most of the players brought in on AVB's watch were identified to 'fit' his high-pressing game. They're perfect putty for MP.

Yes; but her ambitions are more limited.

We paid to get out of L1 and assembled a side to compete in the championship. But we overachieved in the championship as is almost universally agreed, especially when you look at the money West Ham, Leicester City, Ipswich, Forest etc spent. Its easy in hindsight to paint our rise as rationally guaranteed and bankrolled. But that's b******ks. Look there were even doubts whether Rickie could cut it in the NPC -something which he admitted to sharing.

You're missing the point. For players like Fonte, we were not just competing just against other L1 sides but more realistically many sides above us in the championship. Yeh ambition matters -players don't drop down a division, putting their careers, reputations and future earning power at risk without it.

Around us? Fonte could have quite easily gone to another championship side offering similar, if not higher wages. By Fonte's own admission, the vision he was sold played a role. We matched Palace's wages (who we were struggling to pay players on time); but we effectively asked him to put his career on hold for a season and a half with no guarantees.

Are you thick - we bankrolled our way out of L1; but did very little strengthening once in the NPC - indeed with the loss of AoC, there's a case that we were slightly weaker. We overachieved in the NPC. Most pundits didn't give a chance of promotion or even the playoffs that season. FACT. Otherwise fill your boots and indulge in moronic revisionism.

How did we bankroll our out way of the championship? We barely touched the money from the sale of AoC, so were in surplus for much of the year. Luminaries such as McKail-Smith and Sharp (at the first attempt) turned us down; even Cork hesitated on joining us because he was unsure we offered the best chance of promotion. Most predictions had us finishing midtable (telegraph =13th as one example) while the likes of Leicester, Wham and to a lesser extent Forest and Ipswuch were betting the house on promotion. I could go on. Small Fry, a word of advice: stick to your intimate knowledge of Hummel kits where you don't come across as such a clown.

Any other championship side could have come in for a player who had two good seasons in the league -the price was high but not prohibitively so. By Fonte's own admission, it was a massive gamble joining us. Fonte and to a lesser extent Cork are arguably two signings that can be credited to Cortese's ability to sell a vision, at least before we got to the prem.

Think Reed's comments were reasonable but the club should have left it at that. Once you start commenting on speculation in a way that isn't 100% on point or consistent with earlier messages, people start assuming the worst and inferring things from silence. Of course, that might say as much about those who are doing the speculating.

Depends - loathe them as I do, I have more respect for Spurs who saw something in a rather raw and unfinished Bale than teams coming in and taking players like Lallana and Shaw who are much closer to being the finished article.

Relative to Rovers yes but not in the grand scheme of things - a lower-mid championship side could have come in for Lambert and would have probably been a more attractive option at that point in time. That's a risk that the top sides don't need to worry about. Making such signings also requires much more conviction than just opening the checkbook and hoovering up the best talent: neither Lambert nor Jrod were bankers; otherwise they would have been snapped up by others. Obviously it means jack-s**t to Rovers and Burnley; but these are important differences, making comparisons with the Citys and Chelseas of this world rather lazy.

The difference, though the subtlety will elude you, is that the Citys and Chelseas of this world are at the absolute top of the food chain, so don't need to be worried about being gazumped or in turn pillaged by other clubs. Let's not forget that while Lambert came to us, he could have easily gone elsewhere and we would have been unable to do jacks**t about it (Huddersfield turned him down and Champo clubs ignored him). Yes big clubs will dominate small clubs, but its still quite a different dynamic when you're thrashing about in the middle of the pack.

Yep, I was drawn to the line too. That is a genuinely new revelation. Reminds me of what the big prestigious US unis do in your neck of the woods, setting up branch campuses for the locals. Don't particularly like the idea, though I'm not particularly concerned that it would let the cat out of the bag and create new competitors. Far easier to transfer form than substance which is the real secret sauce.

Article via the scousers in tonight's times - suggesting the bid is only £17m. A good read on the whole. Franchising out youth development expertise is a new one.

Do you get a sense anything will be tied up before the WC, as Hodgson seems to be urging?

Zaha is completely overrated. As one mongboarder in absentia liked to put it, he's all fart and no s**t.

Bazza > Glasgow Bazza's got a wider repertoire and seems a little more invested in what he says.