Ketsbaia

Wow. It's like 2002.

Fair enough but to what level? Theres nothing wrong with his words as long as the long term is combined with a short term bootstrap approach to get us to a level where we can sign Modric et al. That would need a large initial investment which he seems to be shying away from. If the suggestion is that he wants to use an Arsenal approach to success in combining moderate outlay with youngster recruitment/development then again I don;t see anything wrong with that - I would however question the appointment of Keegan in that context. Large investments haven't worked in the past. The reason this club was in so much debt was because we kept throwing money at our managers and offering silly sums to attract players. The league is shit nowadays, it's clear for all to see. Everton and Villa are fighting it out for 5th place and neither side has been anywhere near as consistant as they should be. The same goes for the teams in the bottom half of the table who would've been knee deep in relegation woe coming in to the last day of the season if it was any other year. It's entirely possible to be frugal and still make significant inroads next season. When we get into that top 7 or 8 then I think we'll hoy substantial amounts of money about. I don't for one minute see us having another "keeping the powder dry" summer but I think the signings we make will be well thought out and in positions we really need to strengthen.

Is that what Terry was doing like? Anyway, Bennett is a fucking arsehole. The farce where Chelsea's wall were refusing to go back the full 10 yards, I'm sitting there thinking "there's 5 or so Chelsea players there, you're the referee who is supposed to be in charge of the game, and they are TAKING THE PISS out of you and you're letting them." He had literally zero authority or respect from them, stood there telling them to move back and them just stood looking at him not moving an inch. Get your fucking card out, book one of them, and tell the rest of them that they're all getting one unless they step back 2 yards. If that doesn't shift them, then get the second yellow out and start shifting them off the pitch. Honestly, I would delight in putting these cocknose players in their place, and this prick actually has the opportunity to and is too weak to do it. Pathetic. I concur with that. If I was a referee it would be my word goes. Some of the shite they get is ridiculous and rather than save face and do something about it they put up with it. The rules say a wall must be ten yards away, if the players refuse to move back ten yards they are breaking said rules. Book the fuckers! No one would moan apart from the players themselves.

Less money? If true then the blame for missing out on Modric cannot be laid at Mort, Wise or Ashley's feet. I know why Woodgate moved south and even if he did stay and join us he wouldn't have been much use minus his kneecaps.

They didn't look much cop at our place in the cup earlier. Lets hope that's how they play most of the time.

Hope it's true, hope it's bollocks, hope it's bollocks.

His attitude has been shocking for quite a while. He's a good player but certainly not as good as he thinks he is.

2-0 winners today. They're now in the conference north.

"I'm literally wrestling with the lower classes...."

The Blyth-Gateshead derbies will be something to behold next year

Playing Buxton in the playoff final this afternoon at the International Stadium. A win against the side they hammered 5-0 on the last day of the season will see them promoted to the Blue Square Northern League - one away from the conference. Howay the 'Heed

It started slow, but once they got burgled it was vintage Peep Show

How can a small club like Spurs be richer than us!

Did he? Spinal Tap, Curb your enthusiasm & Peter Kay spring to mind as shows that used a documentary format before Gervais did, or is that not what you meant? I do think he's great though. The Christmas Extras and Office are two shows I enjoyed even more than the hype says I should. You missed out Operation Good Guys

I preordered it so i'm living in hope it'll come today, just in time to ruin my preperation for exams

Not bastard Ashton. Please no.

Can T-Keith go all power mad and lock this please

Apparently SSN are reporting he's to leave after talks with the Human Rights violator

Hayden Panettiere for the win

I think it's more to do with the hero worship he garnered a season or two back because he was local. And also the fact he's cocking about over a new contract.

Michael Owen and Oba Martins don't count then ? "mate"......... one day people willl stop making things up Don't count in what? If I remember correctly Martins wasn't exactly Luka Modric when he joined us and Owen came because we priced the next nearest bidder out by around £8 million and we offered him a sustantial amount of cash. I don't think either signed because we were their first choice but more due to the lack of interest/money offered by other clubs. To me it looks like we got into a straight fight with Tottenham over Modric and got a bloody nose for the reasons listed in my earlier post. Now maybe if we'd offered £10 million more and 100k a week things would've been different but that is a daft way to do deals, especially as everything signals to a late, late bid by Spurs which tipped the scales in their favour. you implied that we didn't attract this type of player, so I'm saying - correctly - that we got our men Nowt too difficult about that is there ? As i've mentioned Owen had a choice of us or the bench at Real Madrid and at the time Martins "wasn't that type of player". I certainly wouldn't use those to try and prove your argument, especially as the only valid one originally came for money/so he'd be in the England squad later that summer. It was much less about the standing of the club, but what we were willing to offer on a financial basis.

Michael Owen and Oba Martins don't count then ? "mate"......... one day people willl stop making things up Don't count in what? If I remember correctly Martins wasn't exactly Luka Modric when he joined us and Owen came because we priced the next nearest bidder out by around £8 million and we offered him a sustantial amount of cash. I don't think either signed because we were their first choice but more due to the lack of interest/money offered by other clubs. To me it looks like we got into a straight fight with Tottenham over Modric and got a bloody nose for the reasons listed in my earlier post. Now maybe if we'd offered £10 million more and 100k a week things would've been different but that is a daft way to do deals, especially as everything signals to a late, late bid by Spurs which tipped the scales in their favour.

I'd say that Spuds are at the minute the bigger club given the fact they were top 5 finishers for the past two years, becoming a fixture in the UEFA Cup, have one of the most highly (if not massively over) rated managers in the league and are in London. Now if Leazes' mate hadn't made such a hash of the last couple of seasons before he left then maybe we'd be in a better position to attract this tye of player.

Again, very nice to see us trying to get our foot in the door and set up some form of international scouting network. In a way these type of potential signings excite me more than the likes of Richard Dunne as it shows professionalism and planning - something we've never really had before.