Kitman

For 'club run responsibly' read 'I will mostly be spending fuck all money at any stage'. My take on it is that he couldn't find a mug to pay the ridiculously inflated price he wanted, so he's going back to running the club like one of his discount stores. Woop-de doo's all around

I'm sure the players are heartened by JFK's assessment of our chances......

To nobody's great surprise, I imagine.

I did the BBC predictor and had us 7th after the next 3 games (W,D,W). Mind you I had been drinking heavily.

Shocked tbh. Why would a fine upstanding bastion of journalism like the Daily Mail want an ill informed cliche ridden purveyor of jellied tripe?

Personally I think he has no intention of staying, whether we qualify for Europe or not. He will want to play in the Champions League, recapture his England place, and win trophies, all of which rules us out frankly. Our club is run like a pub football team by comparison with a top club, so I don't blame him for being ambitious and wanting away. I wouldn't be surprised if he went abroad again, with the free transfer making it attractive to foreign clubs. This 'let's leave for now, lads' is a stalling tactic essentially, designed to keep the press and fans off his back, whilst his management team get on with the business of lining up his next move. I think he'll stay till the end of the season, as he wants a free transfer anyway.

Can no-one see the danger? He'll spray Ralgex on Barton's jockstrap for a laugh, and Joey will pummel his face to a bloody pulp in a frenzied attack.....

I wonder how much longer he's got left in the top flight. All these injuries and illnesses take their toll, he's nearly 30, and his game depends on pace. I think he'll always be a nearly man now.

If it wasn't flu, it'd be something else. He'd stub his toe and it would swell up to the size of a melon, requiring 6 months of treatment to return it to normality. I'm just happy I don't see his name on our injury list these days (along with fellow perma crocks Carr and Baba).

From Football 365. He always finds a way.... Illness will further delay West Ham midfielder Kieron Dyer's return from a long-term injury. The 29-year-old has been out of action since breaking a leg in August 2007 but was nearing a return to first-team action and played in a behind-closed-doors reserves match last week. His comeback was shortlived, however. He had to be substituted at half-time because of a virus, and it means he has no chance of being in the squad for Saturday's Barclays Premier League match at home to Aston Villa. Two weeks ago, Dyer revealed he was targeting a return over the busy Christmas period - but it now looks as though he will have to wait a little longer. "He's not ready yet," said West Ham assistant manager Steve Clarke. "He played his first game last week but had to come off at half-time because he was suffering from the flu. "That was last Thursday, and today was his first day back at training - so where he was this time last week, he's now further back because he's missed so much training from being ill. "I spoke to him today, and he's not so chipper because he's recovering from the flu and is a bit down. "He's been out a long time, and I think any player who's been out a long time starts to feel a little bit down." Dyer had three operations on the broken leg sustained in the Carling Cup match against Bristol Rovers, less than a fortnight after he joined the Hammers from Newcastle. He was closing in on a return at the beginning of this season but then suffered a stress fracture in training, which ruled him out for another three months. Progress has been frustratingly slow for the attacking midfielder, but he is likely to have to wait until the new year for a return as Clarke stressed the importance of not rushing him back. "We hope he can see some light at the end of the tunnel," said Clarke. "We need to get some match fitness into him, so we can welcome him back when he's ready. "It's important that it's when he's ready and not before he's ready - because then he'll pick up more injuries. "He had no reaction from the game injury-wise, but we didn't see him for six days after the game - so for me, that's a bad reaction."

Nice to see we'll be shopping in the bin end section this January. I wonder if Dean Windass is available?

I believe 6m is the going rate for a top quality striker like Smith. And a cheese savoury stottie for Cacapa

A fat fool of a chairman mouthing off in the press. Now that takes me back. * stifled sob *

I've been sacrificing a chicken every day in a bid to get Howard Wilkinson reappointed. Fingers crossed.

Poor bastards. They'll get whiplash watching the ball continually launched at the penalty spot from the back. The ones who can be arsed to turn up, that is.

Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur are both big clubs. In the top 10 historically biggest clubs in English Association Football history. You have to nit pick over which is bigger or better. Arguably Spurs currently are doing better but 10 years ago Newcastle were the much better side and should have won the league. Anyway good luck over the weekend, I like Kinnear a lot for obvious reasons, may the best team (spurs ) win Good post. I don't really care about Spurs one way or another. I've known some Spurs supporters who were canny when I lived in the South East; by the same token my brother in law was assaulted in the 90s for no reason (we were coming away from WHL after a late Beardo goal). He's called Stevie btw and now I'm beginning to wonder...... My main beef about WHL was always that it's in the middle of a shithole and difficult to get to. Not sure if a new stadium resembling a high-tech commode is going to change that.

I took the look away now option tbh. If you're going to come on here and spout nonsense, at least make it succinct and amusing. Most of us can't be arsed to read this sort of post from our own supporters, never mind a geeky statto with verbal incontinence from Finchley.

I hope the missing word comes back

"Waddya mean I've got the sack?!"

True I guess, for me most things are preferable to Ashley right now. Something else mentioned in another report about the same guy was that he would be very interested in returning Keegan to post. Keegan isn't the be all and end all. As much as I love the bloke I don't think any buyer should feel forced to bring him back in. In fact i'd hope whoever buys us doesn't bring him in as i'd like to see us move on. agree - time to move on . Not sure about an owner who "only" has £40 million in his back pocket mind. Pffffft 40 mill is lightweight. You'd find that down the back of a billionaire's sofa * * unless it's our billionaire, in which case he'd have spent it on roulette and KFC already

I'm not so sure. We really don't want to be owned by people that a) can't afford us or are genuinely desperate for a quick buck. If we've learned anything it should be that is absolutely DOES matter who owns us. In all fairness, Ashley is still probably better than Shepherd, in the sense that he was spending more than we were earning. He wasn't exactly straight with us either. There has to be another way. Preferably somebody who's obscenely rich and isn't an idiot. Or really fat.

I think the feeling's mutual. They don't want to keep him [money] and he doesn't want to stay [ambition/money/Engerland]. Both sides will try to give the fans the impression it's the other's fault....Owen (or his advisers) is a master at this. I can't see him wanting to leave in Jan as he'd be worth more personally on a free. That's good news for us as we desperately need his goals (if selected/if fit/if he can be arsed). I have to say that this general apathy towards Owen and the view that he cant be arsed is one that confuses me. You look at the likes of Viduka who spends half of every season sitting on the treatment table and the other half putting in a fraction of Owens workrate yet he doesnt come in for the stick Owen does. I believe Michael Owen is a professional, one of the biggest (not in height obviously ) professionals in the game and while he is here I believe he gives 110% for this club yet gets no return for it (other than his 100k a week paycheque obviously). That paycheque though is not Owens fault, its the fault of those willing to pay such an amount, we cant blame Owen for how much he cost or gets paid and it shouldnt affect our views of him. The biggest risk to this clubs survival will be whether Michael Owen stays or not, either way we as fans should be showing him that we want him to stay. Currently it must not appear to him that we do. The 'can't be arsed' comment was meant to be a tongue in cheek throwaway comment. Oh well.

Our only hope is spending our way out of trouble in January by buying quality proven players. I'm not holding my breath. We might be able to get Dean Windass on a free, as long as he's not too greedy with his wage demands.

I think the feeling's mutual. They don't want to keep him [money] and he doesn't want to stay [ambition/money/Engerland]. Both sides will try to give the fans the impression it's the other's fault....Owen (or his advisers) is a master at this. I can't see him wanting to leave in Jan as he'd be worth more personally on a free. That's good news for us as we desperately need his goals (if selected/if fit/if he can be arsed).

Yup, good point