Wings

They''re all done in London, which is why I don''t believe the whole "so-and-so checks into Dunston Hall".

I think this would be a superb choice. Pulis knows this league inside out and I don''t think we can afford to turn down a candidate so readily simply due to his previous team''s style of play.

I suspect this is a deal initiated by Peter Grant that either Duffy wanted to continue or was too far along to stop. I''m personally not against it; it''s only for a month after all. If it works out, then great, if not then never mind. Yes, it''s a drain on the new managers resources, but one that could''ve been alot more costly.

There''s no doubt that Delia provided the help we needed when we needed it most. As with all things, though, it''s clear she lacks the precise business acumen and funds to take this club to the next step.We need fresh reinvestment and fresh ideas, and I genuinely believe Delia should be actively seeking people to provide this.

[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"] Robert Chase was forced to sell his shares. The hostility involved came from City supporters. Learn to think out of the box. Of course a hostile takeover is possible and feasible. OTBC[/quote] Robert Chase was bought out of his shares by a group willing to take his place. Do you see anyone willing to stump the money to buy Delia out? The Turners seem to be happy to stay in the position they''re in presently until Delia and co are willing to part with their shares when they''re ready. They''ve made it clear that time isn''t yet. A hostile takeover is in no way possible or feasible because you need interested parties in order to initiate such a takeover. We don''t have any such party. Anything of this sort isn''t going to happen. It''s quite obvious yet here you are telling people to learn to think out of the box? I suggest you just learn to think, BlyBly.

I''ve no problem with the calls for the board to account for their actions; frankly I agree with alot of what''s said. Delia and Co are not doing enough on the face of things to encourage fresh investment. The Turners look eager and keen to reinvigorate the club yet Delia and MWJ seem keen on continuing with the same old same old. What bothers me is the ridiculous reaction to the signing of John Hartson. We have two major problems; creating chances and taking chances. The former is a problem that will continue to remain unsolved (unless Jimmy Smith proves to be the answer to our prayers and Huckerby and Croft start doing it again) simply because of the difficulty in signing decent creative players. The latter though is a problem we''ve moved today to sort; the club have been shrewd. Yes, John Hartson is overweight and yes he''s injury prone. But he was also a very good striker that had a superb strike rate. By taking him on loan for a month, we are given the chance to see if he''s got it still, and can do it for us. If he''s not, we ship him out, the expenses kept to as small an amount as possible. This is a good move, and realistically probably one of the best options available to us. We''re not a good side at the moment; we''re not an attractive team to play for. If you were a striker aware of how long we''ve gone without scoring, would you come here? I doubt it. I wouldn''t. John Hartson sadly represents one of our better options, and I would far rather the club do something than do nothing. I look forward to seeing Hartson against Bristol, and think we should adopt an open minded approach to his arrival. As sad as this is, we''re not going to get much better and having someone who can potentially solve one of our problems is far better than plodding along head in the sand ostrich like.

I''m suprised about the reaction to Hoddle; I think the man''s not good enough and has now been out of the game too long. As for we8wba, with respect a Wolves fan shouldn''t be commenting about a board making "disgraceful" appointments and signings; Wolves have had enough poor managers and signings over the years and I suggest you keep your mouth shut. 

Once had a real pleasant chat with the lad; he bleeds yellow and green. Will be a great player for the future, IMO.

[quote user="cityangel"][quote user="Wings"] Instead, we''re treated to the ridiculous article interviewing the two creators of the muppets video; who obviously have far too much time on their hands and the bog standard "X player says we should do more Y". This is, in my view, nothing better than propaganda, designed to distract fans away from the real issues that Archant fail to face and thus the club never need to answer. [/quote] What people do in there spare time is up to them, maybe they thought we needed some light hearted relief to make us laugh in these troubled times. It made me laugh [:D] [/quote]Thanks to CA for providing an excellent example of how the majority seem to have missed my point. My main criticism and point of discussion is levied not at the creators of the video (I enjoyed it too), but at Archant and the Evening News for essentially avoiding the far bigger issues in exchange for articles on this and repetitive interviews with players. How many times have players been trotted out to say exactly what Lee Croft is saying in today''s articles?Let''s leave discussions on Thorny/Fatty and move on to more relevant discussions about how Archant are not asking the pertinent questions that really need answers.

It''s actually page 3 of the Evening News.

...that the Evening News instead of asking pertinent questions about the reasons for the total failure of Peter Grant and his team, is wasting time on speaking with the creators of what is essentially a joke. A newspaper with unrivaled access as all at Archant enjoy should be reflecting the mood of their readers. At this time, they should be looking at Peter Grant and asking why the failures of the team are occuring and most importantly what the team are doing about it. Are there extra training sessions going on? Is training being adapted to cover weaknesses that the management have identified? What are we doing about the vacant coaches position (as it''s quite obvious we need some new ideas and a new voice)? They should be asking the questions we as their readers want answered. Instead, we''re treated to the ridiculous article interviewing the two creators of the muppets video; who obviously have far too much time on their hands and the bog standard "X player says we should do more Y". This is, in my view, nothing better than propaganda, designed to distract fans away from the real issues that Archant fail to face and thus the club never need to answer.

As supporters we should get behind our team and give them the support they need to make the best of starts. OTBC!

Having seen Rossi Jarvis several times, I honestly believe he is the most rounded, capable youngster we have - and that includes Martin.

Excellent work. I''m sure Brellier will really appreciate it.

[quote user="Cluck "]Nope.....new names on a sheet of paper mean nothing. The squad is every bit as weak as the one that struggled last season.....and it will struggle again.[/quote] How can we even assess strength of sides when the season hasn''t started? We don''t know who''s coming in or leaving as of yet. Compare the side that lined up against Coventry last year to the side that''ll line up against Preston when we know it.

I won''t boo, (out of recognition for his earlier efforts) but I won''t applaud either (because of his apauling lack of effort). Same with Ashton, tbh.

Let''s not forget Scott Parker, he''s a former Yellow as well.

It''s not actually a release fee in his contract. Manchester Utd wrote to Heinze''s agent saying the price they wanted and Liverpool have matched that price. There''s no clause in the contract, Heinze''s agent is arguing that there is a contract between him and Manchester Utd to sell Heinze for this price.

No I think Etuhu''s transfer has come as a surprise but the transfer of Safri is probably with Grant''s blessing considering how they don''t appear to get on.

Spending is not equal to success. Spending well is, and I think we can all see that the money spent is not spent unwisely so far. Marshall, Cureton and Strihavka represent three excellent acquisitions and Gilks, Otsemobor and Brellier are three excellent bosmans. It is possible to get out of this division by spending wisely, not spending alot, and I think the assumption by Smudger that investment = success is a naive one. Still, in a related matter, Grant''s apparent dismissal of any additional transfer activity is really disappointing. Last year, we were let down by one of the poorest defensive records in the league. While we''ve brought Otsemobor in, this is not enough to deal with what I see as severe defensive frailities we have at the club now. We need another center back at the very, very least. With Shackell, Doherty, Dublin, Halliday and Spillane the only recognised center backs on our books, to say we''re short on cover in this position is understatement of the century. Look at it this way; Shackell is decent enough. Doherty as we all know is a liability. Dublin is a striker turned defender, Halliday has very little first team experience and Spillane is preferred in central midfield. We need that center back, and for Grant to say our summer spending has come to an end is in my view, a very big and ridiculous error on his part. We could also use that old chestnut of a back up left back. With Drury getting a few injuries last season, we need someone young, fit and up and coming to replace him. Come on Grant; most of us are delighted by the transfer activity so far. But it''s not enough - we need to see at least a central defender. If not a back up left back to go with.

With the departure of Earnshaw, Koumas, Kamara, McSheffrey, Howard, Nugent, Edwards, Jagielka and others to the Premiership, the standard of the Championship has without a doubt taken a bit of a dive. While this is a bad thing for the Championship neutral, it can only be a good thing for clubs like us; ambitious clubs that are doing well in the transfer market seeking to excel ourselves. The Championship is now more of an even playing field than ever. With fewer stars, and the Championships previous top goal scorer in our starting line up and his nearest rivals nearly all Premiership bound next season coupled with the other signings we''ve made, we have to believe that we are in an excellent position to capitalise on a poor Championship. I''m not saying we''re going to win; I''m saying that while our rivals are getting weaker, we are getting stronger. I''m not saying this should be an end to our signings either. I think we need a central defender and a left back. Then, I think we need to replace any leavers.

Sam Sodje from Reading for £750k and Ryan Shawcross on loan to cover the center back positions. Paul Dixon from Dundee for £250k to give Drury someone to fight for his place. Then I''d save the rest and make sure anyone leaving is replaced as well.

Give it a rest BarclayMan. If you feel Cobain is wrong, say so and state your opinion otherwise. Don''t act like some spoilt brat who just spilt his milk. Cobain is just as entitled to post his opinions, most of which he makes with decent substantiation (ie he likes him but feels he doesn''t give the side a natural balance). How the hell you can''t see that, I''ll never know. It is also not fact that no one made the club tick last season. Was Safri involved in our period of good form towards the seasons end? No. Did we do well with him? No. Did we do worse without him? Yes; but not by much. My own opinion is that Safri is among the best midfielders in this league. But that''s only when he''s not off to the African Nations. Or playing for Morocco (where one international takes a week of hard work to regain proper fitness). Or in the period of Ramadan (sorry, but his game does suffer for it!). Or injured (which is quite alot). He also doesn''t offer us as much offensively as he should and towards the end of last season made a number of mistakes. Let''s not forget the amount of money being bandied around here; £1.5million. For a 30 year old midfielder. That''s going to go missing for at least a month, probably more. For a player we''ve got a decent replacement for. That''s alot of money for us, and if used wisely could be used to bring in someone to replace him who''s younger, won''t disappear, isn''t injury prone and more importantly doesn''t make our supporters make self righteous "I''m better than you" statements towards fellow fans like you''ve done to towards Cobain. Also don''t post your titles in capitals; makes the poster look like a moron.

[quote user="Stevie Wonder"] We have signed as of this moment 5 players which have strengthened the squad, I still don''t see the first 11 being much better than last season. I will give you Marshall as an improvement over last year and Otsemebor being better than Hughes and possibly Colin (think Colin may be better defensively). Is Brellier better than Safri? Is Cureton better than Earnie? I''m not convinced that Jamie will get many games this year particularly if Hux plays up front as I don''t see them working as a pair. I would imagine Hux and Strivhka may be the first choice front 2 with Lappin on the left (particularly away from home). As many have said we still have the same 2 centre halfs who have shown they ain''t good enough to get us in the play-offs that we have had for the last 2 seasons. A strong leader is need there asap. It also seems that we may lose Safri & Hughes so we will need 2 further players to replace them - Marney for Saf would be OK and as cover for right back I would probably go for Kenton on a 1 year deal (can also provide cover for centre back & left back). The key could well be Strivhka who if he settles is likely to be a good foil for the likes of Hux, Cureton or even Martin. If not then I fear another mid table season or worse if Hux is injured. [/quote] An excellent, well thought out post. However, I must respectfully disagree. I think it''s the other way around. As the squad stands (ie with none of expected leavers leaving us) the squad is significantly stronger than it was previously. Gone are Earnshaw, Thorne, MLJ, Henderson, Fisk and McVeigh and in are Marshall, Gilks, Otsemobor, Brellier, Strihavka and Cureton. Taking those two groups, you can''t help but notice the quality of players coming in far outweights the quality of players that have left. Thus, in my opinion, the squad has greater strength in this regard. Our first eleven is significantly stronger though. Marshall is a definite improvement, and Otsemobor really can''t do much worse than Colin and Hughes. Brellier will offer us everything Safri can offer, but will also give us a player who doesn''t get injured/disappear/lose fitness during religious periods. Cureton will score us goals; perhaps not so many as Earnshaw, but if you consider we''ve lost Earnshaw to gain Cureton and Strihavka I think most would agree it''s a good deal. We can''t keep relying on one goalscorer any longer. Finally, Gilks offers us far more convincing a back up than Gallacher does. I''d feel relatively confident with Gilks than Gallacher. We need now to flesh out the squad. Find those elusive center backs (at least one, maybe two IMO) and a back up for Drury and I think Grant can put his feet up and claim a job well done.

[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"][quote user="Wings"] Whether you support this club or not, you have to admit this season is a massive improvement on seasons gone by. Instead of Jason Jarrett, Mattieu Louis Jean and Peter Thorne, we''ve got Brellier, Cureton, Strihavka etc. We''re in for a better season; but let''s not get carried away. We''ll only do better if we can turn potential into reality. [/quote] I would have thought that considerably more was expected of Peter Thorne at the we got him than is now expected of Davy Striker. Funny old thing - time - isn''t it? OTBC   [/quote] How''d you work that one out? Peter Thorne - 32 year old target man who hadn''t set the Championship alight since playing for Stoke nearly 3 years prior to his signing. David Strihavka; former Czech youth international who finished top scorer in his league. And he''s in the prime of his life, and not nearly at retirement age. I think far more is expected of Strihavka, and I daresay he''ll do a great deal more than Thorne did (not that it takes much).