Interesting to hear that Bentley played so well in the centre and Emerton on the right. Bit of a headache when Tugay returns for Nancy. Great result. McCarthy sounds like he was excellent, Nonda was not quite so convincing. Gallagher has to be on his way out unfortunately. Not even used as a sub with no first team players fit ahead of him in the pecking order.

Can't see Tottenham selling for less than 6-8million. bit too much for us I reckon. Nugent could move for around 4 million, but it would be a big gamble.

Um, I think Phillipl was jocking

Unfortunately this is untrue. CL teams knocked out in UEFA cup 32, all by standard UEFA entrants: Bratislava Brugge FC Thun Rosenborg What you are saying is incorrect. UEFA Results 2005-2006 Great little summery there but I would take anyone really apart from Ajax, Lisbon, Benfica and Barcelona. And I think we would have a decent chance even against those sides with the one obvious exception of Barcelona.

Apparently Jeffers is injured which is interesting as we arenow down to three fit strikers. I agree Nonda should not start, but I don't have much choice. Oh and remember Phillpl that Tugay is suspended. My team: ----------McCarthy---Nonda ---Peter Savage Bentley Gallagher ----Gray Ooijer Henchoz Emerton -----------------Freidal Sparky's likely team IMO: ----------------McCarthy Nonda ----Pedersen Savage Bentley Emerton -------Gray------Ooijer--- Henchoz----Niell -----------------------Freidal [/code]

Thats an extraordinary amount of balls! Last years final was between Boro and Seville who both were in the groups (ie. Always been in the UEFA). All eight of the 'exiles' were knocked out by clubs came straight into the UEFA. How on earth did you get that impression? So rather than having an invincible record the CL teams have been RUBBISH! Indeed Shalke were the only CL team to make the semis. Bring it on.

Wakefielrawks has a major obsession with Pedersen. Sure he has played poorly, and arguably should be dropped, but Rawks appears to get some satisfaction in constantly abusing him. Not sure what the point of it is.

Well ofcourse I would like Rovers to lay their hands upon an experienced qualty full back. But I suspect we do not have the cash to do so if we also want a midfielder of real quality. So in a way Warnock is the preferred option as we get the most 'player per pound' so to speak. Even an average Championship player is going to set us back a million quid. The only way we could pick up a quality left back on the cheap is either going for someone near the end of their contract (none spring to mind) or shopping abroad in cheap countries- Czech, Scandinavia, Austria etc. (fraught with danger as to how the players will adapt to big leagues).

I'm stunned. I agree with you on this completely. Any environmental tax should be connected to individuals so ravek as not to unduely penalise the poorest, it is the only fair way. I think that is the first time. A link? Your argument will stand and fall entirely on this. No one will believe you unless you provide evidence.

Personally I think the straight swap for Warnock might be our best bet. If we do sell Neill it isn't going to be much more than 1-2m and all three of those players you mention are going to cost 4-5m I would imagine. We need to conserve cash reserves for a midfielder if we can.

That's ridiculous. If spurs had enough cash to give us in order to buy SWP they would just buy SWP themselves. Plus there is absolutely ni chance they will stump up for Gamst nowas he is not looking like a decent aquisition at the moment. Very true. Beckham is just, and only just, a realistic target simply because he is going to be cheap in terms of a fee, we have Hughes and we would give him a prominent starting role (although obviously a number of other clubs could do that too). We have no chance of getting SWP- not enough money, not enough pulling power (what's Hughes to SWP?).

I completely agree with that. Mokoena cannot play in a 442 yet Sparky did not shift to a 451, and I think that was a major contributing factor to us losing West Ham, Villa and Man U. If we are not going to play 451 I cannot see the point in keeping the axe. He is a poor full back and central defender, and a poor central midfielder. The one saving grace might be something TND suggested: playing a 442 where mokoena sits very deep and Tugay gets further forward. However in three or four games Mokoena has played this hasn't happend, and it doesn't look likely to happen. Mokoena consistently goes up the pitch and looks utterly out of his depth, giving away fouls and misplacing passes.

To be fair Pedersen has played moderately better over the last two games. If Peter was going to get a crack it would have been in two-three weeks ago when MGP was truly awful. With Tugay out what we do with the side could be interesting. I imagine what will probably happen is Niell will come in at RB and Emerton will move up to the wing while Bentley goes inside. While that is quite acceptable personally I would rather see Gallagher come in on the wing and Emerton stay at right back, but I doubt that is going to happen. If Hughes puts in Mokoena he needs shooting. But I can actually see that happening, more likely than Gally starting anyway. Perplexing Hughsey.

It looks like we could well have Warnock at LB. Not bad, but hardly going to set the world alight.

On tonights evidenceI can see why Hughes has a roving eye as far as strikers are concerned... While Benni clearly has bags of skill none of our strikers really are ones you expect to threaten a defence. We need a player who is going to cause damage in the box.

He got Stead and THompson on the cheap too, both well worth their small transfer fees to the club.

I'd say there were two. Feyenoord's left back was utterly outstanding. Managed to nullify both Brett and Bentley. Overall on the basis of that Nonda has to lose his place in the side. He was presented with two clearcut opportunities and completely wasted them while offering little else all game. Jeffers looked sharp, but if we want someone who can finish then I would suggest giving Gallagher a shot. Ooijer was superb, especially picking up the ball and going forward. If we are short in midifield again then I cannot see why we don't utilise him as a defensive midfielder. He can pass very well. We need our forwards to start producing goals! ps. I am an adament admirer of Hughes but I am alittle perplexed as to why he doesn't be a little more adventerous in his selections. Gallagher, Peter, Jeffers all deserve more of a crack at the whip than they are getting (I'm not talking starting them, but mor like subtitute appearences on the hour mark rather than 80 minutes in). If nothing else it will give those players underperforming at LM and Striker a kick up the ass.

Very true. Once BRISA is up and running elections could be held for a small group of three or four, of which one is the clear leader (president or somesuch), to direct policy every season. It would be a good way of keeping focussed while including the whole membership.

I have always thought, well this year will probably be his last...but now I am really beginning to ask "could he make 40?" His style of game does not demand much pace and to be honest he seems more accomplished defensively now than he did three years ago. Certainly more willingand effective in the tackle (even if it still leaves much to be desired. In Tugay we have a player every supporter in the land should be jealous of. A true entertainer who puts the effort in too.

As nice as that sounds Fife, if it were generally true then Accy would be averaging 20k a week at the moment while we were in front of a man and a dog. People like to see good football. The falling attendances across the game, to me anyway, seem more to do with lack of competition (same top four every year), rising gate price and availability of TV games than anything else. Diving needs to be stamped out in the interest of fairness, but I don't really think it drives away crowds.

A different way of looking at it would be that he is a straight replacement for Roberts who could be out for longer than anticipated. Anyhow none of our strikers are really setting the world on fire so maybe this will inspire them to greater efforts...

Whooooooah there. All I was saying was that no one is likely to invest in us. Personally, I think we are doing fine without investment and can continue in that vein provided we keep good management. We are in the same boat as most clubs in the league and remain very competitive.

The only asset we have really, and it is a pretty massive one, is that we are a Premiership football team. I would suggest that every Premiership team apart from Wigan, possibly Reading and Bolton represent more attractive investments than us. Why? Because all those clubs, from Fulham to Middlesborough, have catchment areas that imply serious success entails serious expansions of crowds and revenue, plus the added incentive, in most cases, of having more valuable real estate in town centres. No one is going to want to buy our club unless either a) They don't have much money so cannot afford a more attractive investment- and thus will not provide us with much cash They have some special attachment to the club. Who have been bought out by investors with serious money in the last ten years? Chelsea, West Ham, Spurs, Liverpool, Man Utd, Newcastle, Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Fulham, Portsmouth. All crucially big city clubs. The best the likes of us and Wigan can hope for is that a local individual will sort us out with some cash. Which, amazingly fortunately, did happen for both our teams. Indeed on the surface of it if I was a foreign investor looking for a club to play with, and possibly makes some money from, I would consider the likes of Leeds, Cardiff City and Sheffield Wednesday before us depending on debt. Why? Bigger potential crowds, larger local incomes, larger possibility of expanding revenue. I will eat a row of hats if any foreign investor comes in and invests serious amounts of money in our transfer budget. It would be insanity.

I would suggest that you are expecting negative relpies to your post as it is pretty much the only logical response to it. To me, and to most I would imagine, it seems ridiculous that you are knocking someone else for merely trying to do something. By all means suggest ways to do things differently in order to achieve better results, or object to methods used if you consider it damaging in some way, but to advocate just doing nothing is absolutely pathetic. Why do someone down for trying to make a difference? It's the single most indefensible argument to adopt. They don't appear to be hurting anybody and they are trying to achieve something, both in stark relief to the nature of your post which only appears motivated to insult the individuals involved. Incidentally, what on earth is wrong with being a do-gooder? Would you rather everybody sat on their hands and did nothing? What do you wish to achieve through that? You imply that BRISA are having some kind of negative effect through their actions but I can't really see how that is. Unless you can demonstrate that in some way or another you haven't really got a point... ps. I am not a member of BRISA, but I hate it when people try to discourage others from trying to make a constructive impact in any field. The effort put in, no matter whether you agree with the outcomes, has to be respected not derided.

The way Henchoz played today I would be supirised if Zurab came back in. Niell is a bit more interesting as Gray has just been outstanding against Spurs. I would suspect Niell will get his place back but it woul dbe harsh on Mickey...