OTF

Happy Face what are the above figures from? - And what spendings do they take into account?

I'd have my doubts as to him being on 90k. I was more comparing an English player with a history at the club to a fully developed foreign player. It's hard to tell now though as most players are mercenaries who will go anywhere for the highest value - or if they actually want to stay will pull a Rooney to up their wages. The role of agents also can't be underplayed. If he's on that much then Liverpool are stupid. He won't have been on a huge wedge at Sunderland so once they agreed a fee there's no real reason they would have had to probably more than triple his wage to get him to agree personal terms.

Obviously the hope with signing young English players is that they get 8-10 years of solid service (or more). Their wages initially won't be excessive as they're still in their formative years. They'll find it easy to settle and are at the ages where they'll become more set in their ways and will start families etc. Foreign players will cost less but they're less likely to come at young ages and you generally won't get anywhere near as long out of them. You'll need to pay higher wages to bring them from their home countries and there's no guarantee that they'll adapt to English life let alone the Premier League. So if you pay for two foreign players plus the increased wages over the same period as a single young English player then there's an argument that it's a wise investment. The other side of this story is that they could burn out or fail to live up to their potential and then that's a lot of money thrown out the window. That's where you need to rely on a solid scouting network. I haven't seen much of this kid, but from what I have it seems an excessive fee even taking into account the above.

It's tough giving a single player an incentive bonus based on something that can only be achieved by an entire team with management included. For all it's worth Nolan could sign an incentive rich extension and then the club turn around and go on a selling spree. I'm completely of the opinion that nothing needs to be done with Nolan's contract at the minute. Wait until January next year to see how he's traveling with any new signings also given a chance to make their mark on the team. If Nolan still has the same impact and positive effect on the team next season then offer him a citing extension of max 2 years with potentially an option for a third pending appearances. Noone can talk to Nolan without the clubs consent until this time next year. It's common sense and there should be nothing to these stories at all - that is unless the club is angling to sell now. If that was the case it would make little sense.

Ba's signing will be prototypical of our recent transfer movements. Why pay 12M when you can hoy someone over for nothing? Always on the lookout for bargains is obviously a good thing, but it should be coupled with moving for players that we absolutely want.

BTW there's no chance he's on 65K.

Still got a ginormous forehead though I hear that's in fashion

For the price they apparently want for N'Zogbia to go to a Premier League side good luck to them!

Way too early to make the call on Kadar. Has looked quite decent when he has played, though the injuries are definitely cause for concern.

12m - they're trying it on. He's got a year to run on his contract and they've got absolutely no hope of keeping him thereafter. He's not the sort of player you'd like to be relying on to keep you from relegation.

...and besides princess tree loves the attention in any way shape or form.

Because we'll get another Barton/Enrique scenario, that's why we're offering him one now. Enrique's an entirely different proposition. Barton's 29 in 3 months and has been a continual problem for the club be it through injuries, suspensions or off-field dramas. Nolan's 29 later this month, and although he's been valuable for us since relegation his biggest weakness is his lack of movement which is not going to get better as he gets older. He's got 2 years left to run meaning that he'll be pushing 31 when his contract is up. Jose Enrique is 25 has had no off-field problems, has been great on field and has had relatively few injury problems. His value in the market will be going up and he'll be on the radar of numerous clubs.

I don't think Nolan would be on huge wages TBH. He came from Bolton who won't have been paying huge wages and he came after the reality of owning Newcastle had set in with Ashley. We were towards the bottom of the table and relegation was a likely possibility, so in addition there will have been relegation clauses in the contract that lowered his wage in the Championship. Was only really bought after Barton suffered an injury.

Norway this is happening.

Should have better vision and awareness at that age. Plus he's a clumsy bugger. Who knows how good he will potentially be when he properly grows into his body, though I can't see him ever having the vision and footballing intelligence to be a player of note.

The most embarrassing part is that CT actually believes his own horseshit and further than that carries on like he's some sort of visionary. ...and at the way in which he attempts to be patronising. A little bit special.

I have Jose's, but not on your list. Says 'the best of me'

Don't know anything about him, is he any good? Central defender?

Quality keeping Joe Hart Good Job Tim Krul

Nolan's contract isn't up until 2013. West Ham would have to pay a premium to get our highest scoring player and captain at year end. Otherwise there's no reason that the contract talks can't be put on hold until next season.

Would appreciate if you could let me know what the difference in materials is between the training jacket and the match day one.

I think the gold actually works on the third strip. Damn. The home strip made it easy for me to have no interest in picking one up. Those jackets look quite nice...

Training jacket and third strip both look good. Much better than the home strip.

Surprisingly there was a few games where Nolan covered a fair bit of ground this season. I think he's capable of being more mobile but is too lazy to do it without good motivation. Whatever the case no side is ever without injury so options are needed in all areas.