craig

I would agree with that but... some clubs, like Arsenal, do a very good job of finding raw talent and getting them for a reasonable fee which, for the most part, means that if they hit financial trouble they can sell a player or two and still not overly disrupt the harmony of the club. Not sure where you got that info from but I just went onto the Highbury Square development site ( http://www.arsenal.com/news/emirates-stadium-news/highbury-square-development-latest-news ) and it states "There are a total of 680 apartments in the development of which 655 apartments have been marketed so far. Of these, 598 have already been presold, which represents over 90 per cent of the development, a figure that we are obviously extremely pleased with. As mentioned, over 90 purchasers have completed so far, generating some �£39 million of sales income" Personally I think that selling over 90 % of the units sold is good business. Obviously with 90 completed they still run the risk of some pulling out but further down the interview Ken Friar also states that they have only had 2 people pull out and they were a while ago and also that the units were worth more than contracted for. I don't think that Highbury Square is impacting them much at all and, even if it were, apparently (according to the same interview) the finances of Highbury Square is ring-fenced such that any profit is purely a BONUS. They havent budgeted for it at all at the football club level. I would expect they would use much of the profit would be used to pay down the stadium debt. Arsenal seem to be a well run club and reasonably well financially managed. They have a strong squad (not strong enough to win the league - but I think this is as much to do with Wenger's stubbornness than it is with lack of money) and I think that in a few year's time they will be very strong financially if run the same way. They haven't spent as much as other clubs and they have a strict wage structure in place (although their wages are still pretty high). Having been to Emirates it is a fantastic stadium. Have the chance to go see them play Blackburn in March - swithering whether I will go or not......

By the same token how do you know the accusers are not lying ? It is easy to believe both sides of these stories.

It is a loan though, right ?

�£10 Bet1 = �£20 Bet2 = �£40 Bet3 = �£80 Bet4 = �£160 Bet5 = �£320 Bet6 = �£640 Bet7 = �£1280 Bet8 = �£2560 Bet9 = �£5120 Bet10 = �£10240 Bet11 = �£20480 Bet12 = �£40960 Bet13 = �£81920 Bet14 = �£163840 Bet15 = �£327680 Bet16 = �£6553600 Bet17 = �£13107200 Cut it down by a couple of bets by starting at a tenner. Ahhhh, you got to love the power of compounding. I am willing to bet that anyone who starts out at 2 quid because they can't afford ten quid or higher stakes would shit their pants at probably even 5 grand and would quit. Now, what you could do if you were lucky enough to get a few bets win is to take half the cash off the table and then continue on. You would effectively only give yourself one bet more to get to the million (assuming that you could, at that point, refrain from soiling yourself whilst the bets were ongoing). This is definitely achievable but you need gonads of steel to see it through.

Sorry Cal, havent had the chance to read through all of this but will. I do apologise for only listing players from last summer, I should have made it clear I was stating only some that I could recall - the post was made in haste as I am busy at work. I would agree with you that, until the transfer window this past August, WS made some very solid, sound acquisitions (McCulloch aside.....) and that it all started to go pear-shaped this past August and sadly coincided with the Kaunas debacle. That said, some of the August signings were decent - Mendes, Davis and Bougherra (but, again, these signings were made without real consideration of where the TEAM needed strengthening. Did we really need to buy Davis, Mendes AND Edu who are all CM's when we already had Thomson, BF and Hemdani ??? Surely Mendes OR Davis OR Edu - but all 3 ?? To give us 6 CM's who could all legitimately expect to be 1st choice......). WS needed to strengthen the team, not the squad. There were plenty of spots that needed strengthened but the central midfield was probably one which, whilst needing it, wasn't as critical as other areas such as the full-bacls or wide midfield areas. The August transfer window was, without doubt, a disaster by WS. He picked up some decent players in Mendes, Bougherra and Davis but he also squandered money too, and a lot of it. Another thing. Taking a chance on potential is one thing but we spent 2.5 million on an untried Edu and 3.5 million on Lafferty. But just how much profit do we actually think we will make on them when the highest transfer fee out of Scotland is about 9 million and I don't think either of these player are near that standard nor do they look like they will be. At 2.5 million, this year given how crucial CL qualification is/was, we needed first teamers, not potential.

Yep, every window seems we dismantle the 1st XI, not strengthen it. A sign of the times we are living in. A back 5 of McGregor (pre head up own arse), Stevie Smith, Cuellar, Bougherra and Hutton would have been just fine by me and would have made us a more attacking force as well with Smith and Hutton overlapping. The central midfield is strong in numbers and quality but, for me, lacks that vital ingredient of true flair (a Gazza). But then we have problems in the wide midfield areas and these were areas that WS should have filled last pre-season but instead decided to purchase a ton of strikers (ironically probably the strongest department of the team).

When thinking about how best to challenge for honours I always liked the way Souness went about it. His first priority was always to have a strong spine to the team. WS has not addressed this properly as he still has to rely on Weir for starters. You could probably say he got unlucky in that Cuellar left as Cuellar and Bougherra would be our first choice CB pairing - but still, if you need to go through a season with no back-ups to your 1st choice pairing you are asking for trouble.

To an extent you do have to look at the transfer dealings as a whole. But, and it is a big but, it still doesn't mean he hasn't wasted money. Just because you make profit on some players and losses on others to come out at breakeven doesn't mean you have done well. WS is seeing this now as he is struggling to get rid of players that are surplus to requirements. Further, you could argue, his transfer dealings have made us a weaker team. His "positive transfer dealings" (i.e. profit) have been the sale of our better players whilst his "negative transfer dealings" (i.e. losses OR players not playing OR not being good enough) have been weaker players. It could be argued the other way too I guess in that he has brought in decent players (Thomson, Davis, Mendes) but the fact remains that had he not spent the copious cash on the likes of Lafferty, Edu, Miller, Velicka that our team would be either a) not needing to sell a player this month or b) strengthened due to the cash being spent more wisely.

Agreed on all counts my man. KT was probably our most consistent performer prior to his injury and there is no doubt that he would have been very highly sought after, more so than Boyd IMO. So, in a sense, I am glad that he got injured - dont want any of our players to be injured but this saved us from losing a player who has great potential. Would I rather lose KT or BF ? BF for me - back end of his career, not as influential as he was, doesnt work as hard as KT.

We dont have the cash to buy him back anyway, even if we wanted to !

Thought the exact same thing. Does this make Hutton 3rd choice RB ? Chimbonda was there when Hutton signed and they played Chimbonda LB, right ?

My honest opinion would be that Fergie has been a very poor shadow of his former self since he came back from Blackburn. I don't care that he has played against some of Europe's top midfielders over the years and come out on top. It is what he is doing NOW that is important and, quite simply, he isnt doing enough - not even close to doing enough. He looks as if he is merely going through the motions and, in fact, seems to be hiding in games (he is more interested in shouting at team-mates than upping his own game). I also dont agree that it shoulf be BF + 1 other. For me, right now it should be Mendes+1 (and i would actually be tempted to make the "+1" Davis and not BF). When Thomson is fit it should be Mendes+Thomson.

I think there is a greatser sense of satisfaction when you gain your successed generically as opposed to "store bought". I am sure Chelsea fans love the fact they have won the EPL a couple of times, reached the CL final and have one of, if not the, strongest squads in Europe. But I bet they also have some semblance of regret over the manner in which they got to that stage. Nothing against Abramovich but he came in and spent more than any other club could hope to spend (at that time) so success was almost an inevitability. JB, I still want ALL of those things for Rangers (save the 10 years of nothing) but I would prefer we got them through our own hardwork, long-term vision (what is that ???), scouting network, talent and sound financial management.

I'm surrprised you even acknowledge us on here half the time :devil:

Very tough bet to win. You can tell how the bet works when you look at all the odds. No bookie would give you those odds on most of those teams if the only team they have to beat are the league winners. Villa is a very good bet IMO with 26 pts but I agree, 6/5 are not odds you want to take. So too are Hull !

Put Novo on Naismith's shoulders and they may STILL be shorter than Vinegar.

Welcome aboard, enjoy the ride, have fun, dont be shy and feel free to contribute !

I wouldnt be overly saddened to see McGregor leave, especially at 5 million !

Did you post in here or in the other thread?

Yes, that is correct. So if your team gets +8 they have to have more points after their +8 than any other team. Eg you take Arsenal +8 and they end up with 86pts. The league winners (Man U) end up with 92pts. Arsenal top them as they have (including their +8) 94pts. However, Hull finish with 45pts and you then add their +50 to get to 95pts. Your bet is down because even though you beat the eventual league winners Hull "win" the league. That is the way this bet works - you are betting that your team will "win" the league after every team has had their "+" points added.

Have the PPSD acknowledged that they are investigating ? And if so is this a proper investigation or one simply out of courtesy ? I didn't see anything in the OP which made reference to the PPSD other than that it actually was investigating. Just curious.

Guys, I dont want to cut short what is so obviously a hot topic of the moment. But might I suggest that if you want to get into the politics/religion/geographical etc elements of Israel/Palestine/Gaza etc then you create a new thread in the Bluenose Lounge. This thread was in reference to Bougherra's personal "statement" and the merits, or otherwise, of it. It is difficult to separate the two, I appreciate that - but I feel that we are losing sight of what the intent of this topic was. The intent from the OP (maineflyer), and correct me if I am wrong, was simply whether Bougherra should be making such a statement or not. Getting into the details of the current conflict and its historical content should be undertaken by way of its own separate thread. Trust this meets with all your approval

I laughed pretty hard at that. I still laugh when I see "bawbab" !!

Yes it does. The player has a contract and is entitled to stay at the club even if they want to sell him. He may be shunned or refused 1st team games but he can stay if he likes whilst under contract.

You will probably have seen it more than me BD but I can honestly say that in all of the financial covenants I have ever seen not one of them was tagged to profits. That school of thought makes little sense to me. I think the cashflow theory is far more likely.