Legod Third Coming

He does, of that there is no doubt. And there are many people on here saying they would turn their back on the club who would be first in the queue if under Redknapp we were playing at the Camp Nou... However, Cortese won't appoint him in a million years. Hes' more likely to go for Guardiola. The man has ambition beyond the likes of Redknapp.

On this, I think we agree 100%. I'm resigned to being five games in, bottom of the league with 0 points. At best I expected 3. At worst 1. But looking at the fixtures, it seemed pretty likely we would be near the bottom. Whether the Chairman envisages and accepted this... It would be a shame to lose Adkins because I like him, am grateful to him and think he has done a great job given the correct backing from his boss (harder given the pressure he is under) - but I could easily see him gone by the end of Octover if the results do not match the Chairman's wallet! And I don't think you could really blame him. £30m is a huge gamble because we know the pay-off is the massive Sky money next season, not this one.

Amen.

I see that Derby smog is still preventing you from escaping a haze of cyncism... I agree with your post above CB, we must be in the top 3/4 spenders (net) in the league? Assuming our views about fees expressed on here are accurate. At that level, the Chairman has made his intent clear - he's expecting us to challenge and be very competitive in this division. My only concern is whether Adkins is the man to deliver that ambition. I really hope he is but I have this horrible nagging doubt that simply won't go away. Give me a few wins before the end of September and it might!

The former. Strength in depth at £4m is a fallacy, surely? There aren't quality players around at that level who could make a difference to a team like ours (in my view). Put it this way, what would we sell Fox for? I reckon around £4m... My view has always been that you need to buy something better than you have. Otherwise you are never moving forward. Was it any coincidence that our best years as a club in Division One followed the signing of Kevin Keegan? Not straight away but in the following 3/4 years? Did he raise expectations? Set standards for other players? Bring a new higher quality approach to training and playing?

Why the feck do Sky bring in Harry totally out of touch with the game Bassett?

What's happened about the left back and centre back we need?

Great puppies.

Can we remove the idiot trolls from this forum? It seems they have to keep coming back to compensate for their minute genitalia...

He probably doesn't have to do 9-5 though and when he's knackered he can afford a driver!

You're mental!

I agree, but don't underestimate the modern footballer. I remember a great interview with David Beckham in which he said that any professional footballer worth their salt should be able to play in any formation and that this was almost irrelevant. As long as you were told your job, you would do it. Where it most often seems to break down is when the players are either confused about what is expected of them, or simply don't believe it will work - and this is a fault of the manager. Because you have to command the respect and support of your troops. I remember this game with Luggy where he was yelling at Beattie and Beattie was doing nothing asked, because he thought Luggy was wrong! Disaster...

Why, would you live in Charlton?!!

Quite. I somehow doubt Messi would be allowed to express his talent quite so well without Iniesta (28 ) and Alonso (30) alongside him...

Thanks Alan!

So our strategy of buying young and promising talent has uneartherd this gem has it?

You're a necklace?

I hate to say this because I like you lot - go there quite often with my mate and sit on the halfway line in a proper seat (no fecking legroom for 6'2!) in a proper ground where we can scream at Derry and your useless left-winger and they HEAR us! - but you're going down with Hughes at the helm...

Any more naive than Liverpool were yesterday?

For god's sake Phil. All you have to do is identify who you want, pick up the phone and BUY them. The way you bang on it's as though first the selling club have to think about how much they want the player, who they might bring in to replace him, negotiating terms with the next club, and them going through the same debate, then negotiating terms with the player whose agent then alerts other clubs who might also be interested in the same player, then selling the club's vision to said player and his advisors... Buying a footballer is not like buying a car. It's like buying a house. You make an offer but the vendor has to move home - and that has to be repated often a dozen times in the same deal...

I agree with this. KD has been beaten twice at his near post this season if you want to be very harsh about De Santo's goal. But having now seen MoTD and Football First, the standard of keeping is very, very average in this league. People talk about Al-Habsi pulling off great saves on Saturday but every shot was straight at him!! I think the keeper's union have put it into our heads that if a bloke tips over a shot which is hit straight above his heaed, it is a wonder save! When in fact, given that with his arms up he is the same height as the goal, this is nonsense! KD is nowhere near the standard of Neimi but I don't believe a single keeper in thid division is. Talk about ball movement all you like, keeper's now flap, parry and punch anything even when it is hit at their chests!

Thank you.

You said yourself, 'If Adkins was happy'... So he's unhappy? I agree the club clearly wants to strengthen - but we don't know what the discussions between Manager and Chairman have been. Whether they have agreed the current squad is good enough to stay up but not challenge? Whether Ramirez is the difference between 14th and 10th? And so on. You take everything said as being all that is being said... We know for a fact how the media works. Quotes made for the benefit of fans, agents, players, the Chairman, the press... As an aside, after West Brom beat Liverpool, Steve Clarke said "Liverpool are a top team, they will be challenging. When Kenny and I left last season we thought they would be top four this season" Do you really think Steve Clarke believes that? Really???!! Or is he saying "Fans, we've beaten a poor Liverpool but I want you to think it's a huge achievement. John Henry, you were wrong to fire Kenny and me. Brendan, see how you like it managing in a pressure cooker..." I don't know, but I reckon Steve Clarke is no-one's fool. This disussion started with me saying that if we were bottom at Christmas Adkins will be fired. You said the Chairman would need to share the blame if they didn't sign the players the manager identified as being needed. I agree. He won't (Chairman never do). But on this we agree 100%. So what exactly is your point? Two games in is too late to sign these players? The Chairman is not backing the manager? The manager is not looking for the right players? You are concerned we will not sign them? Not sign them soon enough? If we don's sign them we will be relegated? Or just not achieve as well as we should/could with those players? What is it?? Genuinely. I am not interested in some of the other mugs on here, but in your opinion, for now, I am!

So you know for a fact that Adkins is unhappy?

He doesn't have a point. He's angry, we lost. We lost, I'm old enough not to care yet. He wants to put it right now. I know as long as we put it right we'll be ok.