craig

Calscot, you said the player's rumour stinks - but the rumour merely was that the players had been discussing the lack of activity and that they had been told to not expect any major signings. Your subsequent post said the rumour stank but then threw out players and sarcastic hypothetical comments about them wanting to be challenged in their position. That part of your post bore no relevance to the players rumour - you created a debate about the players rumour out of something which wasn't there i.e. the rumour was completely different to what you suggested it was in your post. Happy to stand corrected if wrong

You on the drugs Fraser ? Watford, Sheffield Utd and Charlton were relegated.

Is MacArthur's still open ? Was the pub right next door to Club de Mar. Remember vividly after a school night out being in Club de Mar and shit-faced, getting thrown out of Club de Mar, taking a piss in a doorway and one of the bouncers throwing a bucket of water on me - prick !

Man, that is scary. Pete, I am only responding in this thread so you dont think you are being ignored....

I read the interview with him in the Sunday Mail last weekend and he also seems to have his feet on the ground. Speaks intelligently, seems to be in the real world (as opposed to some of these footballing muppets whose head is firmly up their own arse) and wants the simple things, like actually playing football. Man, we really could be doing with someone like this - someone who WANTS to play as opposed to some of the mercenaries we have who are happy at just picking up a HUGE wage and doing SFA to earn it !

Agreed. To say it was Le Guen's fault is naive. Lovenkrands had a great belief he was worth a shit load of money at a time when Rangers couldn't afford it. He would have been the highest paid player at Ibrox - would he deserve it based on performance ? NO. He wanted more money than the club could afford - simple decision on the part of the club. For Lovenkrands he took money first (although to be fair he moved to a stronger league with a (currently) better team).

So what you are suggesting is that the current crop of players are happy to fall into mediocre obscurity ? Every player should want to play but surely every player would also want to see the TEAM doing better and at least challenging for trophies. Besides, how does the rumour stink ? Have a number of the players not been quoted as saying they hope to see more quality players signed in this pre-season ? I think you will find the answer is YES they have, BF is one and I am sure others have also been quoted as saying they want to see the team and squad strengthened. If that is the case then the players rumour really DOESN'T stink.

England played the last 20 mins of ET with NINE men Pete - Onouha had to go off injured and Pearce had already used their 3 subs. Technically they still had 10 on the pitch but apparently Stephen Taylor could barely walk !

Just because they are on their holidays doesn't mean they won't communicate.

If that is correct Malky then SDM should be expecting a revolt shortly after the window closes. If true it is SHOCKING

But Sheff Utd DIDN'T cheat so they have every right to be complaining..... And they also aren't asking the EPL to relegate them, they are asking the EPL to have a 21 team EPL next season (I think).

I have only seen him once or twice Gribz so I am not the best to respond but I DO know that the Jambos fans rated him highly and when I did see him he looked like a decent player. Spoke to a Jambos friend about him last week and he was disappointed that he was leaving - read one Jambo posting after that article in the paper (link posted by Super_Ally) who said that Gers would be getting a very good player on the cheap. Personally I would think he would be a decent squad player and a filler-in in the event of injuries. No fee plus he was looking for the Jambos to give him 7 or 8k a week wages. At 7k a week I don't think he is too much of a gamble - decent wage and proven in the SPL. Was on the books at Inter Milan for a while so someone somewhere saw talent.

Now THAT is a tidy top.

But given how poor the current team is do you really think he would excel with those players beside him ?

You conceding ? wow, never thought I would see the day I thought Papac was 450k in the end. Sionko, whilst a waste of money, might be punted in a swap deal with Feinduono (depending on if you believe the rumours) - Sionko may actually make us money depending on what his wages are and how much value is attacjed to him in the swap.

Sorry for the semantics calscot but I disagree that we were playing hardball over Svensson. Utilising the clauses in a player's contract isn't hardball, it is good business sense. If he had a 600k get-out clause then why should we offer 1 mill ? I don't think that is hardball. We did play hardball with Papac and Sebo though, thankfully - yet they still haven't proven to be value for money - so that was, as you say, just as well we did manage to avoid higher fees on them. Papac COULD come good but the problem for him is that he won't be 1st choice CH and he wont be 1st choice LB so he becomes an expensive back up.

Surprised with a sponsor with a name like that..... that Neil Lennon never signed for West Ham.

How many more defenders will we be linked with ? I would prefer to see some creative players being linked - or is Robbie Fowler the creative player we will be signing ?

If he left Man U he would have plenty of admiring clubs down south so he would stay in the EPL (or get a move to Spain or Italy). The fee these clubs could pay would be far higher than we can and the wages would also be far higher than we can offer. At only 26 I am sure he has more ambition than playing with Rangers. As Barry says, never going to happen.

My thoughts exactly. I don't understand the post suggesting that Killie would prefer that a player signed and played 1st team football against them (other than obviously wishing a player well and doing well in the future). If you look at how many times Boyd has scored against Killie since coming to the Gers you KNOW that they would have preferred him to sit on the bench at another team !

But these friendlies shouldn't ONLY be about making money, it should be about a thank you to the fans (especially given the last 2 terrible seasons we have had).

I thought so too until I noticed that Gribz took it from bbc.co.uk and inserted the piece about "not looking for promotion"...... Someone was always going to bite !:fish:

Please say it isnt so !!! We don't need any more centre halves - although I think I would take Moore before the bomscare known as Ehiogu.

Sadly it makes less of a difference to us now, given our fearless leader has sold the merchandising rights of the club over to JJB. Only after certain thresholds have been met would such a signing be to our benefit. Again, sadly, our friends seem to have more forward thinking than we do and are breaking into new markets whilst we either stagnate or contract !

Was there not talk of a Russian outfit offering us multiple millions for Boyd ? I am pretty sure we could get more than 1.5 million for Boyd given that Tony Stokes went to Sunderland (whilst still a Champ side) for 2 million. Naismith and Boyd are different players and Naismith is younger. I am not sure if Boyd is a better player or not, havent seen enough of Naismith. I think Naismith has a fair amount of potential, otherwise why would Arsenal bother taking him on trial and why would they have favourable reviews on him ? Agreed Re Brown but there is also nothing (other than his temperament) to suggest he CAN'T establish himself - he apparently (I never saw the game) produced something quite special when introduced against the Italians (albeit for only half a game) but it shows he has the ability to be special. I dont see your rationale for having the best young English players though - they would still be plying their trade in the SPL and, according to your theory, as I read it, is that being in the SPL stifles their value - so why pay over the odds for a good young English player when his value would immediately fall as he has just come to the SPL ? The one common theme though is that whilst our friends from the East side of the city are prepared to take chances on good, raw, young talent - we are scraping the barrel with Bosmans and not chancing anything on transfer fees. I would much rather be in their position if they get Naismith to add to Scott Brown than ours. And I would rather have BOTH those players in our squad as opposed to theirs.