Renton

So are we going to go for something like a 4-5-1 with Milner up front by himself (assuming Shearer is not fit)? Or we could go for a 4-6-0 formation and hope not to concede....too many.

You're right, but none of our midfielders we have left have much striking ability. N'Zogbia is very young and hasn't had much opportunity, but is yet to score. Dyer is woeful in front of goal except in the very occasional game. Bowyer shouldn't be here, Jenas can't score. The past record of Parker and Emre show they are not prolific. Maybe Milner is a better option to play up front, but come on, this is the premiership we are talking about, with good defences. I know this is just N'Zogbia being hopeful, but what happened to the experience we needed? We need proper strikers, now! I wonder how many goals our "top striker" will score this year. Eight for Shearer I reckon.

......here. Bloody hell, are things really this bad, am I dreaming? OK, today's daily moan out of my system, I promise.

Well, I am not in the camp of those people who are fearing a looming relegation. That is just because I think teams like Wigan and Sunderland and a couple of others are simply too bad that even a strikerless toon can't do worse. On the other hand - I've seen stranger things happening. For the transfer dealing: Yes, I believe that Fat Fred is doing a terrible job in negotiating. He rarely is hackling out a decent transfer fee. Though I simply disagree in paying for a player of the calibre of Boa Morte more than the 3m I think he is worth. If Fulham want 5m then I start looking for a player that is really 5m or look for a plan B, i.e. a player worth 3m that is allowed to leave for this fee. Same applies for Anelka. If Fenerbahce have paid 4m only six months ago and demanding a 400% increase in his value then they can sod off. A value of 6m is more than I would prepare for a sulking player who is switching clubs more often than Fat Fred is smelling underpants. In my eyes the current shambles has more to do with Souness forcing out the wrong players without a decent plan how to replace them realitically. Fat Fred willingly agreed without being able to deliver from the list he was presented. I just had a cruciate ligament operation, but I would do somersaults if those clueless idiots would leave their current jobs ... rather yesterday than tomorrow. 10486[/snapback] Before you dismiss relegation as a serious concern, consider these factors, bearing in mind how poor we were last season: We have Bellamy and Kluivert, our best strikers last season. Shearer is a year older. We have lost Robert, our most productive midfielder. We now have almost no width. Has the defence really improved? Unlikely, and both full back positions are particularly weak. Have we the spirit for a relagation battle? Personally, I think not. The point being, last year were very poor, and in fact were not far from relegation. Add a few injuries to the mix in our squad now, and a poor start, and what chance have we got? Remember its 3 teams that go down, and the odds are one of the promoted teams will do well enough to stay up. I really am reminded now of Sunderland in 2002, hope for God's sake I am wrong.

Well done for being positive, hasn't worked on this miserable cunt though.

I'm the last one who is in support of Fat Fred's way of running the club, though regarding the bit in bold I strongly disagree. How can anybody say, that he isn't providing the funds? He is making money available in the region of up to 20m this summer if you keep in mind those players signed and those we had lodged bids for. Add to it the fact that Souness was allowed to spend more than 10m only half a year ago. Tell anybody at Sunderland, West Ham, Man Shitty et al that the manager isn't getting money for rebuilding the squad. They will be laughing hysterically. I don't know how Fat Fred is doing the transfer dealings, but I am not a friend of simply bowing down to other club's ridiculous valuation of players. I also have not seen the ominous list Souness and Fat Fred were tinkering about together. As Anelka was pretty low down the list as I asume I only can imagine the answers Fred and Graeme got from other clubs, players and representatives. As I said a couple of weeks ago the transfer business is a fiasco. And in my opinion Graeme and Fred are both to blame, because they simply don't have a clue what they were/are doing. 10406[/snapback] Good post Guru. When I consideer what Souness has already spent compared to other clubs in the premiership, well I just despair. And I am sure a lot more is available to him. Souness can hardly claim he has no funds. He inherited a strong squad and has completely dismantled it without acquiring replacements first, now we will all reap the rewards of his ineptitude. 10435[/snapback] Out of interest, who do you think it is who decides the fees in our incoming and outgoing transfers? 10447[/snapback] Fees are negotiated by common consent through both teams involved, and depend on the quality of a player and the need of a club to offload them or hire them. In the case of NUFC, Shepherd does the actual negotiations, not very well it seems. But I believe he is acting on players selected by Souness. Then of course there's players agents complicating matters through personal terms.... But then you know this, so what's your point?

I'm the last one who is in support of Fat Fred's way of running the club, though regarding the bit in bold I strongly disagree. How can anybody say, that he isn't providing the funds? He is making money available in the region of up to 20m this summer if you keep in mind those players signed and those we had lodged bids for. Add to it the fact that Souness was allowed to spend more than 10m only half a year ago. Tell anybody at Sunderland, West Ham, Man Shitty et al that the manager isn't getting money for rebuilding the squad. They will be laughing hysterically. I don't know how Fat Fred is doing the transfer dealings, but I am not a friend of simply bowing down to other club's ridiculous valuation of players. I also have not seen the ominous list Souness and Fat Fred were tinkering about together. As Anelka was pretty low down the list as I asume I only can imagine the answers Fred and Graeme got from other clubs, players and representatives. As I said a couple of weeks ago the transfer business is a fiasco. And in my opinion Graeme and Fred are both to blame, because they simply don't have a clue what they were/are doing. 10406[/snapback] Good post Guru. When I consideer what Souness has already spent compared to other clubs in the premiership, well I just despair. And I am sure a lot more is available to him. Souness can hardly claim he has no funds. He inherited a strong squad and has completely dismantled it without acquiring replacements first, now we will all reap the rewards of his ineptitude.

Hobbes, if it keeps you out of a straitjacket, I'm more than willing to act as a focus of your manic depression. SLP has my position spot on. The time I argued that people demanding him be sacked were idiots was not long after he'd first joined the club when people were saying that anything less than Champions League qualification was a sackable offence. If you insist on clinging on to this as a stick to beat me with, then feel free. You seem to think that because I said that Souness deserved more time than people were willing to give him that this now means I rubber-stamp any and all of his decisions and therefore should be held partly responsible when things go wrong. Get a grip - I'm about as pissed off as you are with the state of the squad going into the new season funnily enough. Just because I didn't like Robert doesn't mean that I think getting rid and not replacing him was a good idea, just as I don't think getting rid of any players without replacing them is a good idea. You are fucking obsessed with me lad. 10317[/snapback] Well fine, does that mean you think maybe he should be sacked sometime before next summer, and if so, under what circumstances? Also, do you still think comparisons with Sunderland circa 2002 are ludicrous and that relegation is an impossibility? As for the depression remarks you constantly make, I only really say negative things about the direction the club is heading in. How does this make me a depressive, I would say my concerns are shared by most now.

You could, but I think there is more to it than that. For instance, it was reported that Real had accepted our bid for Owen, but he obviously didn't want to come here. Same was true of Coco I think. If a player really wanted to come, we would sort the fees out. Unfortunately nobody does, we are simply an unattractive proposition. I bet Emre and Parker are also having doubts.

Agree completely but would add that I think part of the reason we can't get players in stems from Souness himself, and what he has done to the status of our club. His reputation precedes him, if I was a proffessional footballer I would think twice before being managed by him. Mind you, its entirely Shepherd's fault he is here in the first place.

To not give Souness a whole further year would make Gemmill "a fucking idiot", according to his own words. Sorry for picking on him like.

Well, as our resident cancer, I feel he does have some explaining to do. But seriously, he is the only one I can think of off hand on this forum who backs Souness, so I think it's a fair point.

Pretty depressing article in the journal here. No doubt they will forced to retract this, as everything is really going swimmingly. Does anyone still have any hope left we can do something this year? Gemmil, for instance, do you still feel people are making amateur dramatics out of our predicament? I am beginning to dread this season now to be honest, I think I would return my ST if I could. I can see no light at the end of the tunnel whatsoever now. And the season hasn't even started yet. Oh dear.

Followed by you phoning in, saying what a grand job Souness has already made and how he needs more time.....

He's definitely Souness's mate like. 9938[/snapback] Hansen, Dalglish, Souness, McDermott, Lawrenson, all one big happy family who stick up for one another. Notice I didn't include Keegan in that particular clique, he doesn't seem to suck up to the others so much, and gets less "protection" back in return.

The media is full of Souness's cronies, telling us to eat humble pie after a couple of good games, and completely ignoring the dross we are forced to put up with. In reality you can take 10 places from what he really expects we will finish, so we will get relegated.

Exactly, people seem to naturally assume we will always have our strongest 11 out, so we will be OK. But we desperately need cover, we know injuries/fallings out will happen, more at this club than any other. Relegation in the current scenario is not an impossibility. We still need to sign a host of players covering nearly every position on the pitch.

Fair point, but he would be stop gap at most, whoever is manager. Better than nothing though.

As would I. Anelka is probably a perfect type of player to fit the formation Souness seems to favour. Expect a lot of offsides though. 9789[/snapback] He also has the perfect personality not to clash with Souness..... Expect a major falling out sooner rather than later. What a joke.

First option = relegation Second option = bollocks

True 9807[/snapback] Perhaps not a panic buy but I don't think for a moment he was our number one choice. 9811[/snapback] Plus given our increasing desperation there is now a good chance we will get shafted over the transfer fee and personal terms. Oh well.

Who's going? Looks like we might be going to witness a new low in supporting NUFC. I guess the season really kicks off against West Ham. Lose that and Bye Bye Souey. Maybe.

Personally I think that's a bit strong. Not that I don't agree with some of your sentiments, but that its a bit disrepectful considering what he's done for us. He's in a very difficult situation after all, and anything better than a top 6 finish now is just pie in the sky, even with Owen. He could say we are aiming to win the PL, but would get justly criticised for it.

Amazing we have Souness, Shepherd, and players like Dyer at the club yet some refer to Shearer as a "cancer". He's made a mistake staying on, that's for sure, especially when we have fans that can call him that, but it shouldn't be forgotten what he has done for this club, and he is still the most respected individual associated with this club.

I hate pedestrians when I'm in my car, and hate drivers when I'm walking. Everyone's a wanker! Two things have really pissed me off recently though. The first was someone who scraped my car at Sainsbury's and didn't leave their number. They caused about £300 worth of damage and unfortunately were just off camera. The second thing that pissed me off was someone driving on the wrong side of the road and knocking my wing mirror off without stopping. Cnut. My uncle was once at the supermarket and found someone had scraped his car and had left a note. It said "Everyone thinks I am leaving my number but I'm not. So long sucker!". As you can imagine he was not best pleased.