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Actually in the 5 (!) appeareances he made for City I thought he looked like he could do a job. I guess its as simple as the fact that Helveg has come in in that position and working on the usual principle of 2 players per position he made it 3 at RB. Now I would have kept Briggs ''for the future'' but I guess Worthy thinks a) he doesn''t need a 3rd RB as Holt can fill in there in an emergency and b) he could get a better player than Briggs when one of Helveg or Edworthy stops playing for us. NCFC has moved onwards and upwards and we''re looking at a better class of player now, that''s all.

I can''t believe it will take ANOTHER 2 weeks, even for the Italian FA. Plus, they both report it as being what Worthy said, which based on his comments in today''s EDP isn''t quite accurate. In fact, he said he hoped he would be able to play on Tuesday at Posh, and didn''t talk about missing the start of the season at all. I guess if you''re a lazy journalist and cross Helveg "still waiting for the paperwork, frustrating" with Safri''s "recovering from an op and may not make the start of the season" you have a whole new story: "Helveg''s paperwork not through, he''s not fit and may not be able to play in time for the start of the season."

Tell me about it. As we left the ground on Sat I heard one ''fan'' saying that he thought that performance was ''obscene''. My mate turned to me and said "moaners are back, moaners are back, whoa, whoa! whoa, whoa!" Sad but true. But they never have anything remotely realistic to suggest as an alternative, just that we ''sign 2 more players at least'' or that we need to spend more than West Brom or something else daft. ;-(

Really, £2.5m? That''s a shame. Have they quoted that or is it paper talk? I''d have thought they''d let him go for less if he''s surplus... and he''d definately be worth looking at. As would Moore from Rangers, who are apparently discussing a 500k deal with Blackburn. Worth a bid at 600k??

CD, Why are you concerned after the Cov match? Did you look at some of the other results on Sat? Stoke 2 West Brom 1 Plymouth 3 Southampton 1 Luton 1 Charlton 1 Aldershot 0 Portsmouth 0 QPR 3 Crystal Palace 0 Sheffield Wednesday 2 Bolton 2 and of course just as many with results that you''d expect. The point is though, should all these clubs be worried too? Would you take those results as a yardstick for how their season will likely pan out? Or do you take them with a pinch of salt and move on?

Bentley may be good, but he''d have to be world class to get in Arsenal''s starting XI and right now he needs first team exerience to add to his technical ability. Makes perfect sense to me. As would loaning out Jarvis or Hendo to a Championship side or slightly lower, to give them some games and build them up. On Sat Hendo again looked to have an excellent touch, but lacks strength. That''ll come....

YC, some good points although I take issue with "they are going to ensure they yield a good return on their investment, regardless of what unfolds over the next couple of seasons". If by yield you mean better football and at a higher level then yes. If you mean financial then I have to disagree - I would doubt that Delia will ever see any ''yield'' on her investment, if indeed she doesn''t end up writing it off bit by bit. I certainly didn''t buy shares (twice) expecting any yield! The money''s gone, I''m realistic about that! For her its surely just a matter of blowing some money on something she loves. End of.

Can I just point out that we didn''t even have a 20+ or a 15+ goal scorer in the first division! We only had one player in double figures. I know they weren''t all here all season and had they been then... but why say "you really need a 15+ scorer to survive"? Would you say "you really need a 15+ scorer to get promoted"? The fact is, you don''t on either count. Sure, you need goals, but who ever said they needed to come predominantly from one person? That''s to me like some people saying Charlton can''t cut it at CB because he''s 5''10". Like we''d all sleep happily if he was 2" taller, ignoring his record, technique and anything else that actually matters! I''d just as soon have 4 players across the front who will score 10 goals each than 2 who will score 20, it gives us less reliance on one or two people. Ama

The whole pitch has been moved a metre towards the south stand, goals and all. So a slightly bigger warm up track in front of the city stand - and presumably proper ''technical areas''. I agther they''ve also lowered the Barclay end by about a foot, because it sloped up from the River end before! So we never had a level playing field. No wonder it took us 9 years to get promoted!

Well I was there and it was a pretty dull low tempo training session atmosphere, not helped by a pretty empty stadium. Neither side wanted to really get stuck in which is understandable, and hence neither side had much of a cutting edge. A few players impressed (Francis particularly), a few weren''t really getting a look in. Coventry defended very deep and we didn''t really break them down. I think both sides had about 2 shots on target and neither keeper had much more than a few routine catches to make. No one got injured, there were lots of changes. A few moaners were about who clearly felt that the same team that scraped a 1-1 draw with Coventry at CR last season should now be able to walk all over them, by dint of our promotion. Wait and wee what we look like with Hux and Helveg in the side, and with the other couple of new signings Worthy is hoping for.... Ama

I went to and yes, it felt like a training session. Neither side really pushed themselves and the tempo was pretty slow. But I realised as I was watching it that I shouldn''t really expect anything else at this stage of pre-season. No one wants to get injured, its just about getting fit and back into the groove. Anyone who bases our chances this coming season on how we play in the pre-season games alone should take a look at some of the other friendly results today to see how meaningless they can be. But, and here''s the rub. We played largely our 1st XI from last season (minus Hux) and guess what, we looked like we did last season. Hardly surprising is it? There''s at least Hux and Helveg to add to today''s team, plus Safri and the other 2 players that Worthy keeps saying he''s looking at. At the end of last season we thought ''great to go up, we''ll come back down of course, but we''ll have some fun anyway''. Then Rick Waghorn announced that we were really quite good and would surprise a few people. Now everyone is getting diappointed because we can''t suddenly steamroller teams that we fought against last season. I''m not referring to you PW, but as we were leaving the ground and heard people slagging off the team and performance (one guy said it was ''obscene'') as my mate commented to me "Moaners are back, moaners are back, whoa, whoa!, whoa, whoa!" Ama.

But to be fair - why is a 3 year deal for Kanu commercial suicide, and yet us giving Helveg 2+1 isn''t? Surely they will have put the same relegation/break/divisional pay clauses in his contract as we must surely have done with Helveg, to ensure we don''t end up like the sorry binners...

So after a minor op last night Saffri will be out for 10 days to 2 weeks. Haven''t we been here so many times before it seems - he''ll then not start the season and find it hard to break into the team. And 10 days to 2 weeks always seems to turn into 4 weeks, then 6 weeks as he''s ''not quite right''. So without him or Hux tomorrow, we''re not far from the same team that failed to beat Coventry last season. I''ll be there, but I''m expecting a tough game....

Too many assumptions that teams will finish about where they did last year. The top few are easy (although not which order), but the middle of the table is so close its hard to call. There''s not much between 14th and 7th is there usually? And then, which established team is going to crash and burn this year (a la Leeds, West Ham, Coventry, etc before them). The beauty is that its all so unpredictable.

Hmm, this does look like a good signing at 27, 44 goals in ~200 apps for Arsenal. Would have been perhaps the big target man Worthy was looking for? I''m interested in the Macken rumours though. Mind you, how often do we get players we''re linked with? They mostly come out of the blue don''t they? Ama

Tacklebury - "nothing appears to be happening". Isn''t that usually the case with Worthy? Would you prefer that he revealed his ongoing negotiations or enquiries with us (and thereby also with other managers like Megson!!)? Much as we hate it, we are better off being mushrooms.

We can only have two loan players at any one time, so with Bentley already here another year-long loan would cut off any other loan options for the entire season.

Good points DD. I''m sure he had other targets identified and either has been or will now make moves for them. I doubt we''d get another loan (we can only have 2 loans at any one time, and you can only loan for a year players under 24) with Bentley already here for a year. I''d have Kents back - you can''t blame him for making the move he did, it really didn''t look like we were going up any time soon at that stage. Mind you, I''m not sure he has the work ethic Worthy looks for...!

Wonderful positive thinking - spot on. He will have other targets, so we just need to sit back and wait. And we may even have to wait beyond the start of the season (remember we can sign players up to the end of Aug, and it was only after the window closed last year that we got the loanees). Ama

But today''s EDP says there has been no word from the south coast and that Worthy is still hopeful. Unless of course they''re just recycling old (out of date) news and had today''s ''story'' lined up before that interview was in the public domain. No, can''t be. "Today''s news fresh tonight" and all that. So the EDP must be right....

I see that Hierro has moved to Bolton at the age of 36. What do the people who thought Helveg is too old at 33 think of that...? I suspect that top players these days can go on happily into their mid thirties, especially if pace wasn''t their key asset anyway. Timing, experience (reading the game), consistency and so on can be just as valuable. (as in, sometimes you only need to run fast if you''re constantly out of position...) Ama

"Cambridge should take credit that they are as good as Norwich reserves". I know what you''re trying to say, but do you really think it was a good reflection on the relative abilities of the two teams? It was a friendly.

Jarvis mistaken for Helveg? LOL, he''s old enough to be his father!

When people talk about what its ''worth'' they mean more than just the sky money. There''s increased ticket sales, merchandise, extra televised games, overseas rights, sponsorships etc etc. The basic Sky payments are a big part, but only a part of that, hence the difference in the figures. I wouldn''t think the club will make any more out of tickets this season than last (slightly higher attendances, but 4 less home games). Will we sell more shirts this season than last? Truth is we won''t know the details for a couple of years when we read next years accounts.

Hmm, because we would have been trying our hardest wouldn''t we. And if the best we can muster can''t score past them in the second half, well.... Just goes to show how biased local media are. Our papers are the same. I''m sure we''re not as good as they say we are ;-)