(not THE) Kevin Moore

I think this would be a real coup if it's true, he'd give a number of options and looks like he could either partner Lambert or play instead of him. could also be a good outlet up top on his own when trying to close games down. He's still relatively young isn't he? Mid twenties?

I personally think spending 6m on a striker in the champ is an obscene amount of money and its not like spending it would guarantee promotion. I'd be interested to hear which players qpr and norwich paid over 5m for last season? Or are people suggesting we use leicester and west ham as our models? We are playing good football with the side we have but need different options up front we don't 'need' to spend 6m

If he's gonna join an absolute basket case of a football club because they offer him more money then he's clearly not the player we need... IMHO

Interesting, no-one had a 100% record.... and QPR won the league.... therefore we will win the league by a bigger total than QPR.... F.A.C.Tus maximus

Be interested in seeing the champ table from this time last season? Anyone know where that could be found?

I'd rather have a ball player than a 'hoof' merchant so on that basis and his age makes this an interesting signing I think, and looks good value (injury concerns aside) perhaps a better long term bet than gorks. Adkins does have form for improving players as well.

I agree with those above who say adkins is looking for a ball player. Signing a 'lump' might get us out of the champ but you need to be comfortable on the ball to succeed in the prem. No point in building a technical side if one of your cb's is giving it away all the time. In Adkins I trust.

Lambert back up/competition perhaps?

You'd know how that feels eh? And I don't follow your logic, can't find any statement saying it would happen today.

Would be great if it comes off. Fingers crossed!

Think we seem to be signing players who are good enough for the championship but young enough to improve and play in the prem, baldock would seem to be this sort of a signing.

When I saw him against Leeds he was class, and worked his socks off too, the movement and interplay between him, cork, Lambert, connolly and lallana was mesmerising at times.

Cast iron pen to chaplow not given, brown gettting with murder... Ref was pretty weak but Leeds got the better of his decisions, another ref would have had them down to 10th in the first half

I don't hate it. But there were some much nicer kits on the rumour thread. Prob won't buy it if I'm honest

Mouth watering isn't it? Cork and Morgan can both pick a defence unlocking pass with pace and trickery out wide, and Chaplow in reserve to do his all action bit!! Incidentally, the whole squad can't be in Leicestershire at the moment because I saw Chaplow crossing the slip road from the M3 onto Winnall Roundabout at about 6 ish... not sure why he's still here... and risking life and limb like that ;o)

Agree wholeheartedly. Didnt saggy chops sign then almost instantly try and use him as a makeweight in a deal to sign someone else? (saha?) what a prize ****** redknapp is. I think nugent would be just the job for us.

It was a peach wasn't it? 30 yard diving header. With an assist from marian.

This!

He argued that it equally applied academically as well, a kid born early in the year will be significantly more advanced than a kid born nearly a year later. And yet what do we do? in sport as well as academically? We stream according to ability at an early age where the difference is more marked. His arguments about the ice-hockey players, which is surely as pertinent in football, is that they are selected early on to go into regional development squads so benefit from the best coaching and playing regularly which automatically gives them further advantages over and above just the size/age differential so the gap gets bigger and bigger. It's ridiculous really but it does happen.... and no amount of naming 'short' players who have made it will make the problem disappear. Messi and Owen made it because they were SO much better than they were going to shine through despite their height, and naming a handful of short players isn't 'evidence'... evidence would be to look at the average height of pro footballers in this country. Also Messi came through in Spanish football, which (judging by the height of the Barca midfield) would appear to be so much more enlightened than our 'kick and rush, stick a big guy up top and big guys at the back' approach.

You'd have to class delgado as a 'flop' in terms of his impact, but he was clearly a classy player we just mishandled the whole thing. Signing an injured player, without the managers backing, player then getting pressured into playing for his country (despite being injured) by his countries president... He scored goals in a world cup finals and when he did play for us looked a really useful player, but a combination of injuries and perhaps homesickness/cultural dfferences meant it all ended badly. I still like the bloke and was delighted he had a good world cup.

A few have mentioned Telfs and Paul Williams, and I'd have to agree. Both of them on freebies and Telfs allegedly just because he was WGS' golfing buddy. But the two of them instantly tightened up a porous back 4, Willo with his no-nonsense get stuck in and 'hoooooof' attitude (perfectly complementing Claus) and Telfs with his non-stop running and versatility, he did a good job for us in a number of positions but wasn't it him and Oakley dominating Keane and Scholes when we beat Manure 1-0 with an 89th min BT header? Of the two I think Telfer was the best piece of business, a good player, a hard worker and a decent bloke. Still looked lively in the 'bonus' game at the end of last season, teeing Idiakez up with a lovely cross from the right wing.

Haven't read the article. But there is a good book called outliers by Malcolm gladwell and he talks about the proportion of pro ice hockey players born before Jan. All down to size. It's a good read and the prob is not limited to football

this is the REAL reason FIFA crack down heavily on government meddling in national FA's.... they don't want to be accountable to anyone... and they seemingly aren't. there is no higher authority to refer to. I'd be all in favour of the English FA boycotting international football until the whole thing is reformed..... A) it might work, B) we wouldn't have to watch England get humiliated at every major tournament...

Well a deserved victory and I can't recall a single dive from the Barca players all night... although Pedro did go down like he'd had a ball smacked into his face..... when he had a ball smacked into his face. I think it demonstrates that the deplorable diving in the semi's was borne out of referees letting Real 'steam' into them in previous games and therefore trying to balance the odds, not excusing it but it does add context. For me Barca are the best team I've ever seen play, and they must surely have a claim to be the greatest club side ever. Also LOL at watching Manure get COMPREHENSIVELY outplayed for the better part of 90 minutes... how does it feel eh? Well?

Seriously, supporting Manure cos they're English? ******** to that. I'll be supporting Barca because (despite having 2 players who are prone to diving) they are still head and shoulders the best team in Europe... or the world. When Barca are on their game there is no better sight in football and football will be the winner if they do indeed win tonight. As an aside, I don't think the semi final was truly representative of Barca, it came following a la Liga derby where Real had blatantly set out to kick lumps out of Barca, They were just evening up the odds to ensure Real weren't successful in this fashion (typical Mourinho) again. Having said that I have only watched the Barca CL games so they may well dive like that all the time, even then the likes of Villa, Messi, Xavi, Puyol and Iniesta more than compensate for a couple of diving wasters like Busquets and Pedro. I'd never support a team in europe 'just cos they're english' I'd support the team I liked to watch the most.