UpweySaint

Absolutely shocking stuff! These kind of people should never be allowed near football clubs, best of luck for the future!

He was cracking on football manager From what I understand he was hyped as a future star for Argentina and had the bigger clubs, including Arsenal, circling however this year he's had off the field issues and has been a poor season for him so his mob may want to cash in. Might be a deal to be done but im personally more excited by the prospect of wanayama.

Thats why we're all glad your chief troll around here and not running a football club. But you're right, its chaos. Cortese has started a small fire in the dressing room to prove a point and Poch has accidently been learning Norwegian. I'd take half a pack of hobnobs for Shaw before his value is truly tainted!

We will trade them Stoke and half of either of the merseyside clubs, their pick.

It as staggering the difference in price, cant even be justified by the product half the time, I hear this "Bundesliga" aint half bad y'know I'd glady pay for some extra merch and a £200 season ticket and plenty of others would if they were available, the actual sums of would it be worthwhile are what it comes down to I suppose but, should we expand, I'd like to think we'd be looking at including safe standing and hopefully the football fans groups campaigning for limited prices on tickets will gain some momentum!

Fair point, if he came to us and had a couple of good seasons and a bigger club came in he may not want to stick around. The personality of a player is something our club is big on so I'd hope we'd only go for him if we thought he would want to be involved as a part of the club and would not disrupt team morale.

I actually think his wage demands may not be beyond us. Surely we could have some sort of performance related conditions to boost it up so that, should be be a roaring success, he's reward and, if not, we dont take such a hit? While we may not face massive competition for him. As a rule of thumb english players rarely consider moves abroad so that leaves premiership. I dont see many teams who would/can compete with us with the exception of Liverpool, who I think already have players with similar attributes (Borini, Sturridge), and possibly Spurs though AVB has eyes on the european market if rumours are the be believed. Swansea may make a bid to bring him back, should the fans welcome it, and the new managers at everton or stoke may have some money but I'd fancy the fee would be a significant sum out of eithers kitty. Surely there is a deal to be done should the lad be keen to play football in an attractive side moving in the right direction?

I think most things would mean prices go up, seems inevitable. Even if we went down I would not be surprised to see prices remain at the same level. Though I think significantly more seats would neccesitate, at least in the short term, a drop in prices to attract new fans. Once they're hooked up go the prices, many football fans resent absurd pricing but care about their team too much to stop turning up altogether

Im all for it but not sure how practical it would be in our stadium to make such changes. If, at some point down the line, we are looking at the expansion question and safe standing has been shown to work elsewhere it'd be fantastic to incorporate it. Hopefully it would also offer some sort of reduced pricing though im sceptical

Pulis did a good job, without question. But Stoke did not play attractive football, whether he himself could've changed that or a new man was in fact needed is questionable.

I do think goalkeeping has a lot to do with confidence perhaps more then any other position with a keeper assured of his decisions will have more conviction and inspire trust in the defence. Just for an example Bialkowski has had a pretty decent season at notts county, a good few clean sheets and has been well recieved I believe. Gazzaniga will hopefully go out on loan and progress, looks to have enough potential, and by heck aint he half tall!

The mail flogging the same dead horse since january I see ... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2328682/David-Moyes-wants-sign-Luke-Shaw.html "Reports suggested he would be lured away after playing few games last season" ... hmm, why let silly things like facts get in the way of a good story, just one more reason I never have, or will, buy the mail.

Fair point actually. Liverpool a possible destination. If Shawcross left too then it'd be time for the stokies to hit the panic button!

It really depends on who takes the reigns but Pulis tried to change a winning formula to appease fans and was caught out. Stoke dont have the personal to play like Arsenal and worked will with old school wingers, powerful strikers and an organised defence. Whoever comes in has stick or twist, play a particular style of football and grind out results or take a risk to change the style of play and the playing staff. If Rafa, bookies favourite, gets the job and Coates backs him I honestly think they'l surprise a few people. Despite whatever else they have one hell of a core with Begovic, Shawcross and Huth. Plenty of teams would kill for that!

Stadium expansion answer to our problems you say ... wonder why nobody has ever discussed this at length before No but seriously good point, the way they do things is admirable. 80,000 and reasonable prices. Not the time and place to debate it but I do wonder if such a thing would be possible elsewhere.

Well our bet is for lunch, bets for money between friends can often be awkward, though if he wants to find a bookmaker who'l give him a price he may well get some very long odds!

He's backing an all london top three of Chelsea, Arsenal then Spurs. Still cant bring himself to put them above Arsenal no matter what AVB could do well next year, spurs aint far from being a cracking side, and with the chopping and changing elsewhere they could have a good season but I just dont see the Manchester sides capitulating so easily, Chelski will throw money to bolster their already impressive squad and Arsenal may pip spurs to the post once more with Wengers rumoured £70mil kitty and this being the year all their budgeting comes to fruition (or so the talk goes!).

Spot on. Good to see him getting recognition.

Out of form and half fit could describe a few other players in the squad ...

Seconded, good post (didnt want to repaste the whole thing in my reply). JRod could be but i'd be uncomfortable knowing behind him and lambert was only mayuka! Tripper I fancy would be more expensive and close the the five mil mark, Burnley seem to be a sensibly run outfit so wont be rushed to sell. He can cover lb as well apparently as well as playing further forward. He or Gamez should offer good versatility. The only addition i'd make to the list of Phillips at blackpool. Pace, power and eager to prove himself at a higher level. Expect Blackpool to be forced to negotiate after his form was patchy when they rejected our approach last time around.

Oh you old joker you ...

Worth a shout at least as a part of a friendly squad should he be fit but would not be surprised to see Roy look elsewhere. Incidently the timing of the friendly has produced more withdrawals then normal. I understand friendlies have their purpose but, at some point, it almost seems more logical Hodgson simply having a week with the squad at the s****y new facility. Can run drills, talk tactics, have a first hand look at a few players and give the core a chance to bond. Also he'd not be limited by numbers and could have a look at a few of the options on the fringes, a couple of ours could be included in that bracket. All opinion of course either way I imagine i'l happily find myself watching the friendly all the same

Sidenote, have a bet with my spurs supporting housemate, he believes they will finish third next season above both manchester sides, I bet they would finish below both. Anybody think otherwise even if Moyes has a shaky first season?

1)Utd 2)City 3)Chelsea 4)Arsenal 5)Spurs 6)Liverpool 7)Everton 8)Newcastle 9)WBA 10)Saints 11)Swansea 12)Villa 13)Wham 14)Norwich 15)Stoke 16)Cardiff 17)Fulham 18)Sunderland 19)Hull 20)Play off winner ..

Respect your opinion but disagree. There is a reason so many clubs are in debt or struggling to survive. Premiership revenue helps and, now we've secured that, its not unreasonable to suggest we could try to balance our books from here on out. Swansea and WBA have both recruited v well and, if we can do similar, no reason to think we couldnt carry on without significant investment. A bit more backing, 40k ish seats, wise money in marketing to promote our brand (feel dirty saying that but thats the way of the world), a few additions to the squad and a continued excellence from our academy with a top notch recruiting team we could do just nicely! Im just a realist and think we could do with more money in the short term for long term established success