Isegrim

The architecture is astonishing (well, if you interested in this) and there are loads of decent places for good food and drink (Belgian beer). Have heard loads of lush stuff about it too. Am looking forward to it, hopefully it will all come together on the tickets. Flanders is one of my favourite regions in Europe in respect of culture. When you are staying there for a couple of days you should also go to see Bruges, Ypres and Antwerp.

Exactly, it was a dodgy compromise between sports functionaries and politicians, there is no guarantee that a bunch of judges see things a bit different... it was a deal with the european commision, who are above the judges We aren't living in the ages of absolutism though. Separation of powers and all that...

The architecture is astonishing (well, if you interested in this) and there are loads of decent places for good food and drink (Belgian beer).

Gent is one of the most beautiful cities I know and there are loads of smaller hotels for tourists. I don't think it will be overcrowded in February and probably loads of beds available. http://www.visitgent.be/ http://www.bedandbreakfast-gent.be/

Exactly, it was a dodgy compromise between sports functionaries and politicians, there is no guarantee that a bunch of judges see things a bit different...

Wha? And start looking after sick animals? Wasn't that Dr. Doolittle?

Interesting. Wasn't Hofland being touted as the new Jaap Stam at one point? What sort of money do you think he would go for? He was injured and didn't get back into the first team at PSV. Stabilised at Wolfsburg at got back into the Dutch squad occasionally. One of the most reliable defenders in the Bundesliga in the last couple of seasons. I would value him at around 5m Euro, which would at least unsettle him and maybe force Wolfsburg in a sale. And I didn't take it as a piss-take DK.

For the record, I am not really saying that we should sign someone from Germany, but rather wanted to demonstrate that when looking at the inflated English fees and Newcastle's balance sheets it probably might be worth to look ("scout") abroad as well. I'm sure there are dozens of other, likely to be even better, solutions to be found.

"Computer says no."

You just have to drink the right amount of red wine to counter it though (don't know if red Limassol is doing the tricks).

No, Taylor isn't a natural leader for me. He isn't organising the defence. His own anticipation and positioning isn't good enough yet, which makes him rushing into too many needless challenges. Making him the head of the defence would rather spoil his talent than nurture it. Even the likes of John Terry had someone like Desailly et al next to him. As I said in another thread just looking at things here in Jormany there are a couple of players who I think could do a decent job and which could be available for decent prices compared to the over-inflated fees in England. Hofland from Wolfsburg, Simunic from Berlin, Friedrich from Mainz. A bigger risk (because of his injuries) would be someone like Metzelder whose contract is running out. At Bayern Ismael is probably only second/third choice.

We now need just another scrap category...

Gemmill do you even have an argument/a point/thoughts/a brain ? Easy to sit back and try (unsuccessfully i might add) to pick holes in someone else's argument without offering positive thoughts on a route forward yourself. My point is simply this: 1. We are not going to be able to sign a John Terry or a Rio. 2. We 've paid big money for the likes of Boumsong, Shambles and have even brought in experienced Full backs in Car and baba and it hasn't worked out, (failed miserably in fact). Should we 'A' panic and sign another big money defender i.e. Curtis for £9m who may well turn out to be another flop like Shambles or Boum or should we 'B' let pearson work with the very promising potential, crop of youngster defenders and mould them into quality players? Taylor is our future in defence build round him. When i put it like this, surely even Gemmill can figure out the right move. Are you really thinking a club like Newcastle which should (financially has to ) compete for European qualification can afford trying to mould some youngsters with questionable talent over a long time into Premierleague players.

Aye, to most people, it's plainly obvious that with promising young players at the club, you need an old head playing alongside them for them to learn from, and to allow them to develop at a reasonable pace. For some reason the fucking divvy in charge seems to want to assemble a back 4 with an average age of around 21. Robson seemed to want to do the same thing too! But Woodgate was despite his age a natural leader at the back. So it isn't just a question of age. It's just that experience can make up for a lack of talent. I'm not convinced that any of the current targets as they are talked about in public falls in the same category as Woodgate.

Probably too busy thinking about our line up against Watford, so he can't concentrate on logic as well...

He was wrong about the first two and a half years though.

Apparently not, because its a quicktime file you need the pro version to save it. That's rather down to your settings because it works for me with Firefox. It works, but I want to save the file and quicktime wants me to spend, spend, spend to do it....bandits. Yes, and I can easily save the file by right-clicking on the link the way Gemmill described.

Apparently not, because its a quicktime file you need the pro version to save it. That's rather down to your settings because it works for me with Firefox.

I would expect Meenzer to do this but not you. The Germans love it up em! apparently Ah, the high standard of British humour. Are you sure you don't have any German genes...

Next both of you should post pictures of your penises so that we can judge who has the bigger one.

Campos has retired hasn't he...

FIFA.

Ok, I get you now but am still not sure if the points really fit together. But that is probably rather because I don't think the fact (if it is one) of the big clubs signing less players from the lower leagues has anything to do with the transfer window but rather other circumstances. Again imho the window is - if it all - delaying, but not by itself preventing transfers. But one thing that has to be considered are the inflated prices for home grown (British) talent which means that suitors from the lower leagues are priced out of the market anyway while bigger clubs might easily lose their interest when they are quoted ridiculous fees. The other things is the globalisation of the football market in general meaning that clubs from the top leagues have far easier to look for players (for more reasonable prices) abroad than having to gamble on young talent from the lower leagues. And the work permit isn't really any hindrance any more (and the cases of Baros and Dong show how the clubs deal with it).

Just for the record, I am neither a fan nor an opponent to the transfer window. It has it advantages and it has its disadvantages which equal each other out imho. But I do think there is a fair amount of hypocrisy involved in the criticism of the system. First of all I don't two of FCUM's together. One hand he says that young players from lower leagues only sign for the big clubs from where they get loaned out and don't chose the likes of Burnley et al any more. Then he says big clubs don't sign promising players from the lower leagues because they only go for the big names in the summer because of the supporters expectations. Err, what is it now? The same goes for some basic criticism from managers. One one hand they moan about players not honouring their contracts any more in the post-Bosman time. Then they moan about the window not allowing them sign players from other clubs whenever they want (and Papa L is correct this is in fact restricting free movement and therefore it would be interesting to see the European Courts verdict on this). And when you say that especially in the last months Newcastle might have fancied a gamble on a defender from the lower leagues then it also means that if Newcastle had done this the likes of Edgar and Hunty would have never got their first taste of first team football. And sticking with the example of Newcastle. The injury crisis has not changed, so when Newcastle had applied the gamble on a young first division player at the end of December, why should the situation be different at the start of January. Another thing is the protection of clubs. Take the examples of Nugent and Hargreaves. Without the window PNE would have probably even more in the centre of transfer talk all the time about one of their main strikers. The window gives them the security that they can hang on to a player the see essential to their promotion hopes if they fend of the interest during the window. Bayern who are reluctant to see Hargreaves go can be sure they don't lose a player to one of their (arguably bigger) European opponents. As I said, a lot of the British (blown out of proportions) "problems" with the transfer window seem to me either self made or incoherent.

Does the transfer window really hinder the sale of youngsters? If at all it is only delaying it by a couple of months while the old club might be happy to retain his service for this time. The same goes for your second point. I really don't see the cases where a player was hindered in choosing a club as spring board just because of the transfer window. As for the purpose of the window. One of it was to preserve the balance of competitions just as why already in England transfers were prevented in the decisive stages of the season. This has been extended, but I really don't think that it has such a drastic influence on football as it is implied when people start moaning about it.