0Amarillo<P><FONT color=#cccc00 size=4><EM>  º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ Amarillo ¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°<EM><FONT><P>ddMMyyyy0Falseen-US<P><FONT color=#cccc00 size=4><EM>  º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ Amarillo ¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°<EM><FONT><P>True

I know, its great isn''t it?!! Would you have it any other way?!!

"Darren Huckerby can''t hack it in the prem" - except when he played for Coventry. "You have spent money on 2 goalkeepers?" - no, just the one. The other was a free. "You are trying to buy scowcroft and winger come striker who isn''t prem" - you said it. "all your signings have been crap" - well balanced, insightful. Wenger doesn''t agree with you, mind, but then what does he know about football? "How you think you will stay up is beyond me!" - I''m sure lots of things are. "Dowie is a very good manager and they are more hard working than you." - Well that means we got promoted by skill then, not hard work. If that''s a criticism then fine, I''ll take it! "And as for us with a backbone who all would get in your team except walker" - You should walk the Championship then, like we did. See if you get more or less than 94 points. Then we''ll discuss. Ama.

But, When Crouch was here we talked about how good he was with his feet, and less so in the air, despite his height. Now he''s listed as an aerial threat because he plays for another team!!! "one tall (6''2") pacey centre back who could command in the air". Do we need a naval wing to our attack force as well? Can''t a player who''s 6'' or even 5''10 jump too? Kenton didn''t seem too troubled by taller players, he had a good jump on him. "a smaller centre back who can play with the ball at their feet and can read the game superbly".... why, because bigger players can''t read the game? because bigger players can''t play with their feet? (remember Crouch?). I think we''re too focussed on one attribute or another. Its too black and white.

The world really is going mad. I''m pretty sure the whole rift saga started on WOTB, which seems to be at least half filled with binners on a wind-up. That then got reported on here and has now spread to the paper itself, and to Hucks. So congratulations to the binner who started the whole thing, although no actual damage has been done (if anything it tends to strengthen existing bonds). D''oh!

Both good shouts I think - Davenport certainly looked good when we played them, and another clean sheet against Sunderland is a good start (not that Sunderland are particularly free-scoring as I recall!)

I suspect its more PTV than NCFC, as I think the squads are all maintained centrally (so that, when a player goes on loan, they make one update that updates two sites at the same time). Like all good (sic) journos, PTV are a healthy few days behind.

If I remember right, Kenton wasn''t the tallest, but seemed able to leap like a salmon, and was certainly difficult to beat. Height isn''t everything, otherwise the tall fullbacks in lower divisions would all be knocking on the door of the Prem. Timing and positioning etc are at least as important...? I can''t help but laugh a bit though. Half the summer was spent saying Malky isn''t up to the job, too slow etc. So in comes Charlton. Now there''s a big debate that says Charlton isn''t up to the job, Malky had better start on Saturday. Ama

The speculators have tired of that rumour and moved on. Probably Worthy was never interested or looking at him. The scowcroft thing seems to have gone away too, seemingly Leicester have said no to our bid and that''s the end of the matter.

Agreed, I will still look at the results, still have opinions on many of the clubs in that division etc. Plus, one way or another, we''ll be playing at least 3 of the teams in that division next year, if not 18! Ama.

Something looks odd though - 7 games per season for his club? Really? No chance of burning out at that rate, if true! Looks as though a leading digit is missing, surely?

Yep, it already feels like a 6-pointer, partly because of what follows. Generally, to stay up, home games against fellow strugglers (which I presume Palace are) are must wins aren''t they?! But we''re at home, we beat them here last season. But both teams have strengthened and they have a different manager to the one we beat at CR last year so....

Why is it strange to have a stomach bug? Even if he was to be sold, which he isn''t, why would he have to miss a pre-season game. Or maybe he actually had a bust-up with Worthy? I wouldn''t think Arsenal would sign a keeper who is unproven at this level, after Wright. Surely they would wait until Jan at least to see how he fares in the coming months....

It was reported last week that he''s gone there on loan for 1 month initially, as cover. Ama

I think Hux, Charlton, Svensson all have Prem experience. Helveg and Jonson are surely ''as good as'', having played in Serie A and SuperLigaen respectively. That''s 5. Technically I think Fleming, MacKenzie, Bentley and Francis have also all played in the Prem, but it may only have been a handful of games (one?!!) when they were younger. We''re always going to be a lightweight Prem team, I agree. Mind you, players like Fowler etc would be considered heavyweight Prem players for Man City, and there are others at Everton, but neither team looked very accomplished at that level last year. The exciting thing in a way is not knowing... who will step up? We assume Green, Drury, maybe Francis, because they are our better players, but maybe one or two of the others will have storming seasons and for some reason look the part when we least expected it. We have traditionally played better against the better teams in div 1. Well next season they''re all ''better'' teams. The presence of players like Helveg could also motivate some others onto a better level... or with better quality service they could look better.... Can''t wait, roll on Saturday!! Ama

Yes, proven usually means costly. I''d rather go for players with the skill and motivation to step up - like Drury, who was unproven at 1st div level until we bought him. Who''s the next Jonathan Stead...? Ama

Yes, any manager who thinks Santos is a footballer is clearly a few short....

Aye, grossly unfair that the best team in the league didn''t get promoted. I hope they''re the ''best'' team in the league again this season ;-) Ama

Yeah, I don''t get why we''re so bad at that. It seems to be a hangover from Iwan who had to lurk very close to being offside because of his lack of pace, and frequently went off. But with Hucks, McKenzie and so on, there''s enough pace there for them to stay onside and still have a good go at a ball through the channels. Otherwise its just a free-kick to the opposition and we''re back on the defensive!

There seem to be a lot of people assuming that Green is going because we have Ward, despite what Worthy says and the fact that Gallacher being injured at the moment proving his point. There''s absolutely no evidence for this. I''d like to know, how many Prem clubs have 3 keepers on their books? All of them, I bet. From the backs of programmes at home last year, quite a few 1st div clubs had three keepers... so why the surprise? Lewis was drafted in last season as backup when a) we couldn''t afford a third keeper and b) way before he was ready - he''s not even a pro yet is he? As far as I can see, its all just unfounded wild speculation. Ama

I always assume its the other club that didn''t want to reveal it, or asked us not to. The Swedish papers are guessing and the figures that are going around are based on that, and it seems reasonable. I agree its odd though. Perhaps the total fee is made up of various things, including a sign-on fee or bits that they can''t make public. Therefore they can''t make any of it public. Hmmmm.

! (Can I join in?)

He must really have pissed off Steve Bruce: "Senegal international Cisse joined Birmingham for £1.5m signing from Paris St Germain in 2002. Last season he made 17 appearances for the St Andrews club, picking up seven yellow cards and one red after angering boss Steve Bruce by turning up late for pre-season training. " From the BBC site. Not as funny as Palace wrongly announcing his as theirs though!

I would like to see another player come in, but I think its unfair to judge the Hux-McK combination solely on the Bradford game last year where we were not at the races all over the pitch. It could work, but would rely on balls to feet... our passing game.

“Last season even just the lack of draws probably stopped us finishing higher in the division and while we won lots of games we lost too many, so this year we have to make it Fortress Portman Road." I would say with some certainty that if they had drawn more of their lost games they would have had more points, and therefore finished higher up the division. With that kind of managerial insight they must be destined for great things! ;-) Ama

The bottom line is, how does he comapre to Harper and Cooper, the two players who did so well for us on the RW last season. Surely Jonson is better, so that takes us another step forward. It suggests McVeigh really is going to have a fight on his hands now for a first team place. And Hendo? Reserves at best, although I''d like to see him go out on loan to a lower league club to build him up. Ama