David Kelly

Ooh ah Tim Carter. RIP Btw how can someone be found dead in the bushes and it not be suspicious?

OK. Who are these "big names". So far as I can see its just an article with the usual shite cliches. He obviously isn't talking about Bramble, Lua LUa, Gavilan, Bellamy, Robert, Jenas, Cort, Viana, Griffin, Solano, Sibierski, Milner, Zoggy, Ambrose, Bernard, O'Brien. Oh aye, the club are trying out a new way of doing things ie look around for young talent which succeeds every time. Its sooper dooper and its brilliant and they should have been doing it all the time. What amazes me is the amount of times these journos spout this stuff, and even more so how long people are taken in by it. They are Owen, Luque, Parker, Emre, Duff, Boumsong, Martins, Smith & Barton. It's there in black and white. Can you not read?

Looks ok, we've certainly had worse!

Depends which pub I was in I suppose. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

Fast Times At Ridgemount High I don't know if it's just too late for me to watch this now and whether I would have loved it if I'd seen it when I was younger, but I didn't think too much of it at all. Far inferior to similar films such as The Breakfast Club, Dazed & Confused or Ferris Beuler's Day off.

Quite like the colour but from what I can see the design of the strip looks a bit wank.

Fuck Buttons - Street Horrsing Don't know why I stayed away from this from so long. It's very good.

George Sanders is the shit. Reminds me, I've still got to watch Dorien Gray, at David Kelly's suggestion. You must do that, Sanders is possibly even better in it than he is in All About Eve. And that takes some doing. Did you know he killed himself (in Barcelona I think) because he got bored with life, something he'd told David Niven he would do back in the 30's!

Looked absolute quality, mind you so did a few of their players. Interesting to hear he's on about £50k a week at Zenit. Looks like we wouldn't be able to afford his wages either!

The fee or the wages? Wonder what Mort was on about like. The fee, I think. Better that way around, I suppose. As others say though, if Keegan wanted him then should the owner be deciding on his value? There have been a number of seemingly crackpot theories about the actual deal itself (different ways of paying the fee, ownership, selling-on rights etc), I actually wonder if those had anything to do with it. I don't know the details but Keegan was very pissed off, it wasn't just the papers shit-stirring on this occasion. Modric was actually training up here. I think we are in a real mess tbh. None of this is at all looks good for trying to build a team. The current player are bound to know about this and it must surely make them wonder what the fuck is going on.

That worked well didn't it.

More reasons to be worried if true. I really can't figure Ashely out. He spends all this money on buying us and getting rid of the debt but then doesn't seem to want to spend on the team and move to team on. I can't work out what he wants to get out of it all.

I would be reasonably pleased with that but with our current squad and the players we're being linked with I think that's unlikely. I fear a far worse league position with the money other clubs seem to be looking to spend.

That's pretty much a nice summary of my expectation tbf.

I know this is very early since we've not signed anyone yet and preseason is still a while off, but that's sort of the reason I want to do this now. Personally I'm very nervous about the way the club is heading at the moment and more and more I think Ashley has either settled for mid table mediocrity or is deluded about what it take to move this club to a position where we can compete for a place in Europe and above. The cost cutting while being prudent in this age of wages spiralling out of control, seems to be going through in a way that seems can only have the result in pissing off some of our players looking for new deals and puuting off potential signings. Altough the names that are being put forward as potenial signings would probably be pretty happy with the lower wages that we seem to want to offer since they are so mediocre (Gardener, Larsson, Guthery, Kapo, Dawson etc) that we probably can match their other options of relegation fodder or championship teams. I know we all (well apart from Leazes) wanted a change from the fat man's policy of big money high profile signings that didn't live up to their billing but the bargain basement route we seem to be wanting to follow can be no better. I realise that I haven't got any proof of this at all and in fact the only bit of incomming transfer business that has been confirmed by anyone at the club was the attempt to sign modric (a move that in terms of ambition and available funds seemed to show quite the opposite of much of what I am saying here) but I just have a feeling that with all of the story's coming out about clashe's between Keegan and the board, wage slashing and looking at crap players that there is as many problems with our current owner as there was with the last and at the moment I'm looking forward to next season no more than I was before Roeder was sacked at the end of the season before last. The optimism that Keegans arival brought me has all but evaporated and I'm now getting seriously concerned that not only have we fell from where we we under Robson (ie in or at least challenging the top four) but also falling well back from the likes of Cinteh, Spurs, Villa, Everton, Portsmouth and Blackburn (although their choice of manage will determine this) so that we will be competing with the likes of the smoggies and the makems next year either just above of even in the relegation battle rather than progressing. Am I being overly pessimistic or do others share my lack of faith in our new regime?

Subtle - ExitingArm

The keepers top is by far the best thing about that tbf.

Long contracts have nothing to do with what a player deserves these days though. You either put them on a long contract or risk losing them for next to nothing. Taylor is both over and underrated at the same time. He shows potential to end up being a very good defender but he isn't anywhere near there yet and he needs to apply himself and stop believing the hype (and have a bit a bit of stability, he's played under five mangers here in his short career and alongside countless clowns) if he is to fulfill that potential. But in the mean time if we don't put him on a long term contract we will lose him for nothing/next to nothing and that doesn't make any sense for us when we aren't exactly blessed with an abundance of centrebacks and are being linked with spurs rejects as additions.

I would avoid Boa Morte like the plague going by his wist am form and Kappo would be an ok squad player but I would be more impressed if we tried to sign some starting 11 players first.

In The Line Of Fire. Eastwoods last really good acting only film.

It's good but seems to lack some of the cohesion and energy of Appologies in favour of a bit more experimentation. I find Shearwater very hard work, their new one is quite good but they aren't in the same league as Okervil River. Just listened to the new ones from Bonnie Prince Billy, Frightened Rabbit and Silver Jews. With the latter being the pick of the three.

True and true. But by the looks of it we will be spunking the money on a load of no talent squad players.

Is everyone as excited as me about the new season with the prospect seeing such talents as Steve Davis and Olivier Kapo?

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer