David Kelly

Only ever seen him a couple of times for Portugal. Seems to have been linked to Arsenal for the last decade. If Wenger has decided against him he's probably the sort of midfield monster they have been crying out for for years.

I don't see how £40m for a defensive midfielder makes sense we need four or five new starters. It might make sense for a striker but I still don't see us spending it.

That's why he's my favourite Bond right there.

Wouldn't fancy relying on him, Gayle and Mitro as our strikeforce next season. Looks like he could be a good player though.

Well that could be said of any signing. I'm guessing they won't be paying him that much more than others would be prepared to pay though.

You're missing my point. I'm not in any way having a go at Mitrovic or claiming he is the reason we were relegated. But the transfer policy that we have had up to the point of Rafa being allowed more freedom, was to sign young unproven players who will hopefully have a sell on value that can make us money. That coupled with poor coaching (though I'm not at all convinced McClaren was a poor coach) and motivation (largely brought about by the poor recruitment policy which lead to the poorly constructed squad) is what took us down. But if we'd adjusted that recruitment policy and signed someone like Defoe who is proven and has experience and was what the squad needed, we would have been, imo, in a much better position to stay up. We would probably have a player with no sell on value but we would have already reaped far greater financial benefits anyway. I'm not convinced King is near to the same quality as Defoe because of a six month purple patch. We saw with Cisse how a striker can go on a good run and never be able to recapture that form. And Cisse's record outside his incredible form when he first arrived is far better than King's has ever been. Again it's a risk to bank on King as much as it is to sign Defoe. Carroll and Sturridge both have injury records that make them as big a risk as Defoe even at his age and I'd say Sturridge has had a questionable attitude even when he's been at much bigger clubs than Bournemouth. I think he'd be a terrible signing for him despite his undoubted talent. Batshuayi I agree would be a better lower cost, lower risk option if they could get him. If Chelsea are willing to let him go out on loan he'd be a great option for them (or us) if they could get him.

Lallas is a surprisingly good commentator on Fox Sport. Much prefer to watch European games on there than BT with the likes of Owen on the mic.

I'm in no way suggesting he will be. I just think they need a massive lift and I can't think of many ways they can get one.

I didn't mean to be harsh on Mitro (although by using him in a similar context as Riviere it obviously seems like I was), I agree he could still do well for us. But we spent £13m on him to be the main striker to keep us in the premier league. That was a failure. Because of taking the risk of making a young lad who had only played in Serbia and Belgium our main striker, we were relegated and lost tens of millions in tv revenue alone. If he's on £30k a week say, we spent more than £15m on him. So in one season we spent £15m and got pretty much the worst possible result we could have. Bournemouth will spend less than £7m on him in the first season and I'd say he provides a much better chance of them staying in the division than Mitro did. Ok Mitro has a resale value that Defoe won't have after even just one season but that's peanuts compared to the tv money. Out of interest, who would you put forward as a better option for them? Or us for that matter.

Phillips could, possibly, have the same effect of unifying their support as Allardyce would. If they are to turn things round quickly they need something like we have had with Rafa where the whole town unites behind the manager because as things stand they are a complete mess and it's an even more miserable place than usual. We saw that appointing someone like McClaren couldn't change the mood that had developed throughout Pardew's time here. Phillips is as close as they have to a legend so he might be able to unite them. Of course he could be completely hopeless, it's anyone's guess at this stage.

I've never suggested he's not a risk. I just don't think he's more of a risk than us spending £6m or whatever it was on a donkey like Riviere or even £13m on Mitrovic. He's a player who's regularly proved he can score at this level and do so even playing for a team that is often under the cosh and not creating chances. I would also disagree that he's been decent for Sunderland. Given the absolute state their team has been since he arrived there he's been absolutely brilliant. Yes he's not done much recently but I think his head dropped after their poor January and if you've watched any of their games, you'll have seen how little service he got. People on here mocked the mackems when they signed him and I said at the time even with the amount they were paying for him I thought he was a good signing. I think the same now if Bournemouth sign him. Yes it's a lot of money and yes if he picks up a bad injury (or even starts just picking up a few normal injuries) it could go against them. But then again you could say the same about any big signing.

He's a manager I would hate to see go there. They think he relegated us and they know we despise him so he could be just the man to get the inbred's back behind the club. If he did go back he'd be getting money so they'd be in a good position to come back up. No one wants that. I think he wasn't given the money he wanted last year like so I can't see him getting it now so I think it's a non starter. Apparently sewper Kev wants the job.

Well he doesn't seem to have lost much pace, hasn't been picking up injuries in the last few years and still seems to have the desire to play at the top level. For all he seems a bit of a cock, with shit like his personal assistant and fragrance, he actually seems to be a model professional. So I think he could manage it. He'll be pushing 38 at the end of that contract if he sees it out so there is obviously a risk but even if he only manages two seasons, at £10m a season I still think it's a risk worth taking for them when you consider the rewards of staying in the premier league. He'll probably have a similar clause to what he's had at the Mackems if they were to go down so I doubt they'd be stuck paying him that if they lose the premier league money.

I don't follow your logic there at all. They spent £15m on Ibe last summer and I imagine with that sort of outlay they would have him on a minimum of a four year contract. If you guess a £50k a week contract (record signing, coming from Liverpool etc) that's a further £10m that they are committed to over four years. This is on a player who had played less than 50 premier league games. That's surely more risky than committing to pay £20m to a player who has managed 15 league goals in each of the last two seasons for a team who have never been out of the bottom 5?

He was Bond when I was a kid.

Anita is the first player I'd get rid of. For no other reason than the threat of him playing another game for us in midfield.

A lot less risky than the money they spunked on Ibe or Grabban though. If they are spending big then they need to be spending on the players with the best chance of producing for them.

The story I posted did come from the Sun like (someone sent it to me) and I've never seen it picked up anywhere else so the truth of it may be in question.

A £20m contract for Defoe isn't that mad imo. If you paid a £15m fee what would it get you in todays market? And the wages a £15m player would be on would take it well above £20m. Defoe even at his age is a safer bet than someone you'd pay £15m for. Obviously there's no resale value but if he keeps them up for another 3 seasons then he more than pays for himself. And I wouldn't judge his last few months at the mackems. Ronaldo would have struggled for goals in that side.

Give over it's a cracking film.

Connery may have been the best Bond but Moore will always be my favourite. RIP

That's brilliant.

Watched all but the last couple of minutes of the first two episodes of the new season of Twin Peaks this morning before I came to work. It's fantastically Lynch and a great start. Christ knows where it will end up but I think it's going to be great getting there.

I'm not sure which story makes me like him more.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3556335/newcastle-united-star-isaac-hayden-says-he-cant-get-a-girlfriend-because-hes-too-good-in-bed/