That'd be great! I'd get a season ticket for both

Well done, Special K!

And a lot of people thought that Super Atko and Wilcox would be straight out of the door. Football is an enigma.

He's a very intelligent footballer IMO and his passing is clever. I think Bellamy would thrive on the sort of ammo that Gally could produce. I think quite a few of Stead's goals came from Gally passes and Bellamy pace would make him an even more viable target for Gally's guile. Last season Gally's stock dropped from playing in a poor side (under Souness), then feauturing with Stead when Jonathan was really low in confidence and then, finally, not suiting the 4-5-1 system. I rate him and would like us to keep hold of him. Home-grown quality. No transfer fee and passion for his local team.

I know one bloke who swears blind that Emerton is quick!

I didn't think Malbranque was quick? As for the race, Bellamy would win assuming that he escapes Boa Morte's cynical two footed, elbow flinging 'running style'

Does he just look big next to other 17 year olds? Rooney looks 'fat' compared to some players, but he isn't and I wouldn't kick him out of the team, if we had him. I find some things baffling. Some players are 'too lightweight', but if you're just a little bit bigger your classed at the other end of the spectrum. You've got a bit of brawn so your 'fat' That said I've not seen the players involved. Just a general comment

Oh, hell, I'd forgotten about that. They go through spells were they crack down on any little bit of rubbish for one season and then forget about it completely. All of a sudden diving doesn't matter, keeper keeping the ball for only 7 seconds doesn't matter, kicking the ball away doesn't matter, two footed challenges don't matter. Someone kicks a ball at your hand and it's an early shower for you. Bllody awful refereeing.

Well what's he doing giving a decision to send a player off if he's not in possession of all the facts? Overriding the ref who had not given anything, too. To 'assume' a hand ball is deliberate is pathetic. It looked like a very poor decision to me in real time when it happened. Several thousand other people also thought it was a poor decision at the time, too, hence the swarm of fans near the linesman and the booing of the ref. I also don't get this open palm stuff. What's that got to do with anything? Todd has to run around with his hands as fists all the time has he? That'll do our bully boy tag a world of good. Where in the laws of the game does it define proper hand movements whilst your playing? I'm not meaning to go off on one, but that ref and linesman were rubbish and they've ruined my week, never mind my Saturday. Also, how many times did Halsey get in the way? Three? All when Rovers were attacking? A ref getting hit with the ball is a memorable thing as it happens infrequently. Halsey's inability to get out of the way just shows he hasn't got a clue about football and the manner by which the game is played. Kicking the ball away used to be a bookable offence, but not anymore apparently. Every decision saw an Everton player kick the ball away and they were not even talked to about it. Halsey is a disgrace.

"Todd's a professional footballer, did he have a decision to make? Take my hand away and Beattie is through, leave it there and it's accidental hand ball, I hope?" Did he have a decision to make? No, he didn't. The ball just hit his hand. I think this kind of thinking arises from looking at instant slow-mo replays. There wasn't enough time for Todd to do anything. The ball was just moving upwards towards his hand/arm. If he had time to move it (which again, he didn't) he could quite easily have moved it into the way of the ball and then it would have been a sending off...

Didn't Gally play wide midfield roles for us a couple of times? He did OK, if memory serves.

I'm going on the away travel. Do you have time for a pint before the game when going with the away travel to London nowadays? If so, where should I be looking to have a swift one (or three)? It's a pity we don't have a flying right winger to give that Cygan the run around. He's the real weak link for them. Maybe isolate Bellamy against him?

I didn't see him look a numpty. As far as I can see he didn't even look at Pearce and his expression didn't change at all. He just threw the ball back, which is what every player does when they are doing a bit of time wasting just before the irate opponent gets to you. I always find it amazing how the players that we have that _aren't_ playing are always considered to be better then the ones that are. It's always 'wait for such-a-body to get back he's great' The fact that they've been pretty poor for years goes out the window! For the avoidance of doubt I'm not anti-Emerton or pro-Reid I just find some peoples opinions baffling. There's one chap in the Riverside who slags off Reid for everything even when he's having a reasonable game. Everything that goes wrong is Reid's fault as far as he's concerned. It gets on my tits. Get behind the lads. Don't slag 'em off because you've already made your mind up about them. Also, I didn't go to the game so maybe Reid was a numpty all game! Was he?

Maybe you've got a devious mind. ;-) Wouldn't the 'terminating' club then run the risk of the buying club just telling them that they can't have any transfer money as the player is a free agent? It'd be very easy for FIFA/UEFA to pick up on this though, wouldn't it? I've not actually got much of a clue of the minutae of all this sort of stuff, though.

Won't they have cancelled his registration? They won't have 'mutually agreed' that he'd leave and then say,'but your still registered as a Man Utd player' will they?

Spot on there, Bellers.

Either way that's not bad going IMO. Accy Stanley got a lot of money from the sell on clause in the Ormerod deal (Blackpool/Southampton) and we could get some decent money too, potentially.

Can't find a thread for this question, but this post is related to it. Do we know what the agreed transfer fee is? Let's hope Zura doesn't do a Gresko and go crap once we've signed him properly!

When clubs scrap their youth systems it generally means that there is something very seriously wrong going on IMO. We've spent millions already on the youth academy and it would not be economical to write that all off when we can keep it ticking over and potentially producing good players. Do our free transfers have sell on clauses or performance clauses?

I asked in the video store the other day for that new film 'Waiting to exhale', but they told me not to hold my breath too...

Brad is one of the few world class players we have. He's one of the best in the Prem and to drop him would be crazy IMO!

Quite frankly I am astounded that anyone thought that the ref had a good game yesterday. He was awful! The standard of refereeing in the Prem is poor, but that was one of the worst I've seen. When people whinge at the ref when they lose games its thought of as sour grapes. When you win and still think the ref was awful doesn't that speak volumes?

Dickov's was too near the keeper IMO whereas Bellers slotted it past him. I know what you mean, though American, they both addressed the ball in a similar manner. Bellers was a better finish, though.

He was given a hospital ball 5 mins in and Heskey lunged in. From where I was I thought it looked like a leg breaker, but the big man tried to run it off. Nelsen was struggling to kick the ball with his right foot for the rest of the first half, however, but he seemed to be running on it OK. Hopefully his removal at half time was just a precautionary measure. Thankfully we've got 3 good CBs in the squad nowadays. Todd slotted in fine. Did anyone else think Heskey should have walked for the challenge? I was at a bad angle so I couldn't tell properly.

Jansen was never that quick anyway, was he? Skillful etc and quick enough to get past his man when he'd done him for skill, but not defence splittingly quick IMO.