Rayvin

I was under the impression that the agreement between the SNP and Westminster was that this would take a referendum off the table for another 100 years. Obviously if enough momentum picks up then this may be revisited, but I think a lot of Scottish people are getting swept along in the nationalistic fervour and equally, off the back of the generally crap economic situation; hence the 20 point swing in the last one year. If it had been this close a year ago, it'd be a different story - but it wasn't. The closeness is coming off the back of all the hype and clever political posturing by Salmond; it's not like that will keep up after a No vote. This is the SNP's one moment, and if they fail here, they'll diminish. Without a strong nationalist party to rally around, the momentum will be lost.

I find myself to be fully in agreement with this statement. That said, we're better over here than the sorts of personality contests that accompany US politics.

Aye, chances are he's been told to get there as fast as possible and the employer has decided that they either pay the fine or get landed with employees who will only go at the speed limit (as if that's a bad thing) It'll have been approved for a reason.

You do seem to revel in it though I'm not sure people would think this so much if you didn't have that smiling doctor in your avatar mind, it just seems to make your posts all the more likely to infuriate - previously you had a beaming Pardew as well. You need a David Moyes avatar or something like that, something a bit more downbeat.

That all sounds like it's nailed on, when you put it like that. I didn't think he was that bad with Cardiff though? Or am I just misremembering?

I don't think he's actually been linked properly, but the Guardian has mentioned that Malky Mackay might be one of the few people who could see some benefit from taking this job after Pardew goes. Anyone have any thoughts on him? I'd consider him an improvement on Pardew to be honest, at least tactically.

They'd have to spend less in the long run though. Less panic buying in January, less players who fail to develop (therefore more resale revenues). These people, much as we hate them, aren't morons. They must be able to see this sort of logic.

I suppose Moyes is unrealistic? He's not going to win us anything and can be as negative as Pardew, but he's a lot better at getting results on a shoestring. Also less annoying.

At the minute, I'm not certain who I think we look capable of beating though, even with a new striker...

On the up side, this will likely be the end of Pardew. We won't win games without SDJ (seemingly according to Pardew himself, given how much stock he was placing on the guy coming back from injury), and Pardew will get the boot around October/November. That still doesn't resolve the fact that our team is chronically under manned though - looks like it's a relegation skirmish this year...

That's just so harsh...and brilliant.

I'm not even sure I can remember being that pleased about anything at the club, weird to think about it. That said, I'm now of the opinion that what I was seeing had more to do with Cabaye than Pardew... You can't deny he fell back onto the route one stuff immediately once Cabaye left. It's not like the other players on our team can't pass... He's also proven to be hopeless at turning games around and retaining leads. If it makes you feel better though CT, I'll admit to being blinded by our good form during a purple patch last year.

Utterly, utterly pointless to support this club. Maybe it's the same all over, outside of the top 6 (then again, look at Hull), but it's beyond me to keep caring. We're nailed on for a bottom half finish this season. I doubt we'll get relegated given that we'll throw money at a recovery in January if need be, but it's absolutely pathetic.

I still think that Chucky is supposed to be our Remy replacement... but that was an opportunistic signing. If he hadn't become available, maybe we would have signed someone else. As it is, I suspect we'll hover around Lacazette for the next few months and sign him from Lyon in January for about £200k less than whatever they were asking for in this window. We'll then call it a success as buying him will pull us free from relegation - obviously can't overstate how important that banked £200k is either. Sure, we may have sacrificed 15 or so points in our negotiation strategy, but think of the saving! For me, the really stupid decision is MYM - otherwise this window would have been about par for the club.

I agree, but have to assume that it's just a matter of getting him up to speed, surely... I thought he was valued around £7-8m wasn't he? Dunno, you could well be right I guess.

Not to defend the club, but have we given up on the thinking that Ferrerya may turn out to be a good striker?

I meant the inevitable end point of an ever diminishing number of options. Eventually you run out of coping mechanisms, I think is the point. Of course, you can arrest that decline before it reaches that point - but perhaps he never managed to do so.

I recall reading that suicide was the inevitable end point once a person feels they have run out of all other options for coping with the problems in their life, as perceived by them. As such, I would argue that they feel that they have no choice. The reality is probably that it varies from case to case.

He might do, I suppose, but I think he's more likely to be the Demba Ba replacement. Ultimately, he's not going to be the number one choice there at any point. If Costa gets injured, they'll probably buy someone else in January.

I hope Nastasic isn't our only option then, given that I can't really see why he'd come to us ahead of the others. And yes, it seems it is a loan deal we're talking about. If we do get him, presumably we'd play him (unlike MYM), which would be a step up on where we are now.

Apparently we've made the enquiry for Nastasic, but so have Spurs and Arsenal... with them being interested, the only way I could see us getting him is if City consider us to be the least threatening of the three to their aims this season.

He does a bit, I guess...? I reckon you might be a tad obsessed at the same time, though...

That is a fairly mental response actually...

Ah so they're going with the tried and tested 'change absolutely everything on deadline day and hope for the best' method. Woodward presumably compensating for the previous summer's window...

£6m to loan a player that they don't need. That team is seriously unbalanced.