Last pre-season in Austria we trialed Karkouri (sp?) and Simon Gershon. Karkouri, Algerian international midfielder who play last year for Man City, was kept a secret and I'm quite sure he scored in a big friendly win but Souness still decided against signing him. And Julian Gray had a good game when on trial with us - so by no means is this mystery man certain to sign. (And don't say Gray was asking for too much money because I don't believe it). BTW: Lee Grooby has said that it was neither Andy Welsh nor that Dutch guy... so unless it's McGoldrick or Maradona Jnr - it could be a completely new player. EDIT: As mentioned on another thread - the Algerian's name's Kerkar not Karkouri.

When did he fall out with Sukur? We sent him back as his wages were too high combined with Jansens 'comeback' and Gallaghers rise. I can assure you that we parted company with Sukur because he and Souness had a 'disagreement' following the Man U match when he was hauled off quite early. OK, you think that Souness can deal with big egos. Let's wait and see how long, if at all, before he falls out with Amoruso, who is probably the only remaining player you could accuse of being self-centred and hasn't felt the wrath of Souey. Just to add, Alex Ferguson falls out with players but he has PROVEN that he can get the best out of egos like Cantona, Beckham, Yorke, Cole, Stam (before he was sold). Souness has not proven that at all.

But Souness isn't falling out with the occasional player, it seems a regular thing. Cole, Yorke, Todd, Sukur, Dunn, Berg that immediately spring to mind. It can't be healthy for team morale.

Souness can't handle big egos and will probably look to build a team of obedient, opinion-less underlings who'll folllow his every demand without query or suggestion. I'm fed up with Souness' incessant falling out with players. It's a fact of life that a lot of players are going to be big time charlies who think the world revolves around them. I can't help thinking that the best managers are able to work with these 'egomaniacs' without letting them go out of control. Alex Ferguson should be the role-model. A fiery passionate man like Souness, who's had his own plethora of tiffs with players. BUT he has proven that he can work with egos like Cantona, Cole, Beckham and Keane.

Cole was definitely bought for a stupidly high transfer fee for someone his age and a stupidly high wage for a club of our modest revenue. However, letting him go now without a replacement could be a disaster. Cole has a physical strength, (although that's not always obvious) - something that none of Stead, Gallagher, Dickov and Jansen have. So we'd be lacking in that regard. Imo we need someone like Cole to use his bulk to hold up the ball and provide a platform for our attacks.

Cole and Flitcroft in the squad according to the offical website. Good news, imo, (Cole anyway) but from the sounds of things, it would only take a bid from Fulham to prise him away. Bit surprised Souness hasn't taken a few more youngsters. McEveley, Douglas and Gallagher are in but not Johnson, Fitzgerald, Peter or Donnelly.

On the flip-side - Souness is being paid handsomely himself to manage the team. And managing a team entails garnering a team spirit and creating unity in the camp by being a good leader. Doesn't mean you have to be Mr Nice to everyone - but holding the professional respect of the players.

I'm afraid, people, that it does look as if Cole has been frozen out and will be leaving. He was first choice striker last season, so it seems bizarre that we'll offload him - even he did have his set-to with Souness. Once we get confirmation of his exclusion from the squad embarking on the Germany tour, they'll be no doubts. Who would have thought that Paul Dickov may be our senior striker next season? I thought he was a decent signing, but only as a squad player.

Didn't Thompson play central midfield for Liverpool? I don' t think it will take a lot of 'converting'. He naturally drifts into the centre when playing wide and imo would have no problems adjusting.

The fact we turned down a bid from Wigan for Todd proves that we are not just looking to throw players out of the club for peanuts. Sure, if Fulham bid £1m for Cole, Souness will let him go - but released, I don't believe it for a second.

Let the Boros and the Birminghams spend big. We did it last season on the back of the Duff sale, and it got us almost relegated. Buying big doesn't mean anything if the team can't perform as a team.

If Flitcroft's claims are true, it really is a crass way of handling things from Souness. But sadly, not unexpected. Whatever Flitcroft has done to annoy Souness and however bad he played last season, he deserved to be the first person told about the change in the captaincy. This news does not bode well for team unity and the season is not even upon us yet.

True, but that's what you expect from tabloids. I agree with those who say 'let if go'. Just don't buy the paper and your conscience will be clear.

And your proof is...? Souness even preferred Nisse on the left wing ahead of Gresko, which is saying something. Rovers should look to offload Gresko as soon as possible. He was rubbish in Italy. He's been rubbish for us bar that initial loan spell. And even that fine period of Gresko's Rovers career was embellished by the fact he had an on-form Damien Duff playing in front of him, occupying opposition full backs and wingers AND he was being compared to Nisse who'd played (or attempted to play) there before Vratty arrived. Just on Matteo - I'll give Souness the benefit of doubt and assume that bringing in 3 older players this summer means that he believes that we have the youngsters in the set-up to bring through, and therefore we don't have to spend money on them. Hopefully, McEveley, Taylor, Donnelly, Johnson, Gallagher etc. will get a look in to flourish with the more experienced guys.

How does a player go from the England first team to ignomy before he is 31? Did he have an injury or something? He has been awful for so long that I have forgotten when he actually became rubbish. He stupidly signed for a club managed by Gerard Houllier - and we know what that does for your form - Baros, Heskey, Camara, Smicer, Diao, Diouf, Meijer, Dudek... and so on, will all vouch for that.

Good signing for the price - or lack of a price. Although, no doubt his wages will be up there with our top earners. My first choice centre half pairing would be Matteo and McEveley. Let's throw Jay into the deep end again and see if he can reproduce his form when he played left back for the reserves. Short can still do it, and perhaps Nisse, but I still hold to the view that Amoruso is not good enough for the Premiership. I read quotes from Souey extolling Matteo's versatility. Let's hope we don't have to play him in central midfield. He did reasonably well there for Leeds but it simply isn't his position. Final point, for left back we have Gray, Matteo and McEveley who can play there. Let's get rid of Gresko ASAP.

Why do you read the tabloids ? Tris......why ask rhetorical questions? I'm proud to say I've never bought a tabloid paper, and I never intend to. It might not dent Murdoch or whoever's bank balance but at least I know I haven't added to it. BTW. Tris, to take you up on your fine signature - Peter Taylor made Beckham England captain. Sven, as is his want, merely came in and kept things as they were for continuities sake. (And the fact he is petrified of making big decisions).

Funny thing that dawned upon me whilst watching the finals - Chelsea have just bought Paulo Ferriera for too much from Porto. And Porto are replacing him with a far better player in Seiteridis. There was a shot of Abramovich looking pensive during the match, maybe he arrived at the same conclusion as me!

Les Ferdinand - Allardyce really is starting to believe his own hype. They might as well disband their youth set-up, apart from Nolan and Hunt, do they have any home grown talent?

Flitty may have fallen from grace, but I don't think he's behind Jemal Johnson in the pecking order...yet.

A penalty taker extraordinaire - but not much good at anything else. I might be wrong, but wasn't he our top scorer in our first season back in div 1?

Houllier, Lucas Neill and now Gerrard - class lot those Liverpudlians. On a COMPLETELY tangential note - the media's espousal of the name Chelski is somewhat inaccurate imo. With the mighty weight of 1 years History A-Level study of Eastern European history and a sketchy knowledge of the odd Russian footballer's' names, I can happily announce that the addition of ski at the end of a name is actually Polish. And, although some parts of Poland have been owned by Russia for long periods of their history - Poland is Poland and Russia is Russia. Abramovich is Russian and not Polish and Olisadebe is Polish not Nigerian... ... ...ANYWAY - from now on we call them Chelseovich.

Chelsea are doing what Inter, with Massimo Moratti, did for most of the 1990s - on an even larger scale. Inter didn't win much, I wonder if Chelsea will. Another negative about Chelsea's 'player collecting' is that youngsters like Carlton Cole, Alexei Nicholas and even Joe Cole and those who are in the youth teams, will have no chance. By now, Carlton Cole should be competing for an England squad place - he's that good. But it looks like his career is going to be a series of loan moves at first, which is definitely not good for his progress.

Of course we can drop Owen. Next year Alan Smith will be playing in the Champions League for Man U. If he makes a real impression and proves that he can score goals and control his temper, surely he should come in ahead of Owen. Rooney needs a more physical player alongside him who'll give him freedom to roam and receive knock-downs. Owen can't provide that.

Please don't write that like it is fact, because it's not. We played terrible, Sven made mistakes...but despite all that if we had a half decent referee we would be through. It was meant to be taken in a light-hearted manner. I still think that the Vassell for Rooney substitution was one of the factors that resulted in us losing. Heskey up front would have been able to hold up the ball and allow midfielders to move up the park to join him in attack. Instead we had Owen and Vassell isolated and overpowered, providing no decent possession in the Portuguese half. Imo, Sven should look for Alan Smith and Wayne Rooney to be first choice partnership for England. They'd compliment each much more than the OWen - Rooney partnership. And it'd mean we might actually have an aerial threat up front.