David Kelly

Yes. Anyone who says not is lying tbh. There's a half decent bit down between the pictures and the park but that's it.

I'm all for not paying over the odds but £250k is so insignificant (in terms of a premiership football club) that it's embarrassing!

Yeah I totally agree with all of that. We are stuck with them at the minute because we have nothing else. Given that Swansea picked up Michu for £2m you would have to think there must be other players out there who we can bring in fairly cheaply and are experienced enough to be able to cover for one of our 'Purples' albeit at not quite the same standard. It's all well and good bringing in youngsters like Abeid in for nothing with the hope that they will one day make it and we can rake in a good transfer fee at that time to use on paying for more 'Purples', but you can't rely on them to cover the first team.

I said the next transfer window rather than this one because I am meaning that they need replacing at that time, we won't be able to do that this month. As to who we would replace them with, I've no idea. I don't really think any of us can be expected to come up with cheap young players to add to our squad. That's where we really need our scouts to come up with options. I know I'm probably being harsh on Amalfitano given that I've barely seen anything of him but the fact that throughout our injury problems and awful form, he's never got close to playing tells me he' not up to it! And I've seen Abeid play about ten times now in cup and friendly games and I can't see anything in him at all. You're spot on we haven't replaced Lovenkrands or Best yet but that doesn't alter the fact that our back up players simply aren't good enough.

Ah with you now

Hopefully Obertan, Abeid & Amalfianto will all be shipped out in the next window though as they're all shite!

I've no idea what you're talking about there HF but you're right, somehow we are still managing to attract them!

Worth watching just for the Dwarf to be honest! But the tits and minge certainly don't hurt either!

Lincoln - I hadn't heard too much about what this film was about (apart from the obvious) so I was a little surprised that it was only focused on a small (but extremely significant) part of his life. I also know a couple of you said last week that you weren't impressed so my expectations weren't that high but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes it wasn't incredibly dramatic but it was impeccably made and the acting was first class. Day Lewis completely transformed into Lincoln and it is a truly amazing performance. Tommy Lee Jones was also fantastic as ever and James Spader was a fantastic comic turn. I'm not sure it's something I'll be keen to buy on Blu Ray and watch again and again but I found it really interesting. 7 Psychopaths - After Lincoln I was expecting this to be a far lighter and comic experience and I was disappointed in that respect. I have to say though that I was a little disappointed in the overall film. I was expecting more of the comedy of In Brugge and it really didn't live up to that. There were little nuggets dotted around the film (Walken refusing to put his hands up was a particular highlight) but certainly not in the same quantity as in his previous film. Still though it was a really entertaining and more than a touch mental and perfect for a Sunday night while I waited for season 3 of Breaking Bad to download!

I would question his sanity if this is the case tbh! We're linked with Gouffran again this morning. He's scored 8 goals for Bordeaux this season but I can't say I was impressed when we played them. Out of contract in the summer so if he's a cheap third choice striker it wouldn't be bad but as a replacement for Ba it wouldn't excite.

I really can't understand why any decent player would want to sign for us at the minute. We are a total mess and look odds on for relegation. A couple of top signings and keeping Colo (don't think this will happen if I'm honest) could change that but I'm more than a bit worried that this won't happen. I'd think this deal is far from certain even before the events of the last week but I'm even less sure now. I'll believe it when it's confirmed.

Arsenal being linked again today. I'm far from convinced this is going to happen.

Unless we have some very good news in the transfer market between now and the Villa game I can't see anything else but relegation happening. We are fast running out of games (especially when we've Citeh and Spurs away and Chelsea and Arsenal at home that you can virtually rule out anything from those games) and other teams are picking up. I am extremely fearful!

The crowd was totally negative because of what Pardew did so he has to take responsibility for that. I believe it wasn't just the substitutions but I also suspect his half time team talk was all about keeping it tight and holding what we had. This led to the considerably more cautious display right from the off in the second half. His fear started the rot and his ridiculous substitutions finished us off. I also heard yesterday that Pardews tactical input from the sidelines was (as it has been on every occasion he's played this season) was to scream for the defenders to "hit Shola" every time they got ball. That simply isn't good enough!

Two average players IMO.

Aye you're right I forgot about Goddard. He was a class player, probably my first favourite player who wasn't a local lad (Pedro and Gazza being my obvious early idols. I never saw Waddle play for us which probably makes it much easier for me to hate him now!).

I agree with Stevie about Wharton. I went to my first match when Charlton was manage, got my season ticket the next season and I've missed about three home games since so I saw quite a bit of Wharton. I suppose the affection for him (other than him being a geordie (which was something I don't think I even realised at the time)) may well have come from how he did in the old second division because he was piss poor in division one. Until Bez signed, I think John Bailey was the best left back I'd seen play for us (I can't remember too many others in between except for the abortion that was Kenny Sansom). He was past his best but still a much better player than Wharton. TBH from the mid 80's there weren't too many quality players who played for us except for the ones (Keegan, Waddle, Beardsly, Gazza). There were cult hero's based on their effort and attitude (McCreery, John Anderson) and few young uns that looked like they would do well but failed to live up to the early promise (Spotty Mac, Stephenson, O'Neill, Darren Jackson) and the rest were mainly cloggers (Cunningham, Riley, Megson, Herd) or players who had done well elsewhere but failed to recapture that form here (Robertson, Sansom). Probably the best two players I can remember from the mid to late 80's other than those obvious ones are Roeder and Mark McGhee.

Yeah possibly but when you also consider Taylor's been out for a while I doubt he'll go straight back in.

Well we'll have to agree to disagree about his merits as player but I do agree that the state we're in at the minute he'd be handy to have back!

It's like Shakespear!

Cheers but it'll be a while before I go back to them after spending three months or so on it. Also when I downloaded them some of the names and numbers are out sync so I'll have to work through that.

Not as hot as Scully! They were ok but I thought the whole super soldier bit was handled badly and killing off CGB and Krycek were big mistakes. I still enjoyed it when I watched them (I didn't actually see them when they were on originally) but no where near as much as those that went before. I do think when I go back to them I'll probably just pick out the mythology episodes and watch all them in a row.

He's out for the season anyway isn't he? Oh and he's fucking wank!

I still think we're going to have to pay Deportivo more for Xisco if he plays any more games so you can rule him out of any thinking. Last season for our strikers we had the policy you suggest. Cisse and Ba (premiership) with Shola, Best and Lovenkrands (Championship) as back up. How we've managed to fuck up to such an extent that we're left with Shola as one of the premiership players with a player who was most likely considered to have played his last game for us and kid who no one seems to think is even ready for the championship as back up is anyone's guess. I do think in general we were expecting a lot more from our 19 to 21 (22 in Amalfitano's case) year olds this season (Pardew said as much last week). So far Bigi is the only one who looks like he should be anywhere near the first team squad. Mind you I think we've spectacularly fucked up in loaning our young players out to get experience. Inman was being touted as a player with a real chance three years ago yet we've seen nothing of him. Now he's finally gone out on loan he appears to be doing really well. Same with Dummet. Shouldn't these lads have been getting experience before they reached their 20's? I really fear for Campbell and Streete.

You're right of course but my point was more about why Robhino went there. It wasn't for the chance to win trophy's because there were other clubs who were after him who were much more likely to do that at that stage. Also his attitude and performances for them confirmed as much.