jimbo

Yeah, Paul Tierney, ive heard of him. I remember reading in the press a couple of years back how it was thought by many that he would save Alex Ferguson a few million in the transfer market such was his ability. When Steve Mclaren went to Middlesborough it was rumoured he was going to come back and take Tierney with him as he rated him highly. I don''t know what has happened to the guy since, he must have just not progressed as well as people thought he would. The talent must be there though. He was also hotly tipped to become a full ireland international along with his team mate john o''shea.

I can''t see the club selling him in the summer if we are relegated. I think that the board and Worhthy see Ashton as an integral part of their plans to do a Charlton and bounce straight back up. To sell Ashton in the summer would be like chucking all those carefully laid plans in the bin. If we don''t go straight back up then yes i feel he will definitely leave then.

Yeah, i think Ifill would be a wise signing. The other big plus with Ifill is that he is 6ft whilst Partridge and Commons are 5 7". Worthy was going on about how size matters in the premiership and how 6ft + players are the way forward, and how he had briefed the academy staff to look out for the big lads.

For me the race for auto promotion next season is going to be a tense and exciting one, i feel that we will be up there but do not feel by any means that it is guaranteed. If we only made the play off''s i would not be surprised. For the record i think that it will be WBA and Palace joining us in the Championship and here is a little anylisis of the teams i feel i liken to threaten our bid to bounce straight back up. WBA. Big, big threat. I don''t know if they will be able to hold onto all of their players but if they lose the odd one it wo''nt really matter as long as they retain Earnshaw they will have a 30 goal a season striker. Alot of the players have been there before and at this moment in time WBA ARE A BETTER TEAM THAN US, yes, they are. We will be going to wire with them for auto promotion next season. Threat rating 10/10 Palace. It is likey that Dowie, Johnson and Routlege will all leave, so for me how big a threat they are will depend on who takes over the reins from Dowie. If Simon Jordan can get a decent manager in who can steady the ship quickly and use the £6million + that the club will receive from the sale of Johnson well then they are also like WBA a big, big threat. They could also however be in turmoil and lanquish in midtable, a bit of an unknown quantity for me for there chances next season at the moment. 8/10 Wolves. Yeah, the gold scum are gonna be a major threat next season. Hoddle has taken over and turned things around to a certain degree. They are not losing many games but are drawing far to many. However, he will bring in a few players in the summer and all of those draws Wolves have been getting could easily be turned into wins. They still have the nucleus of the squad that was in the premiership and in Cort and miller have two 20 goal a season strikers. Hoddle has already taken 2 players of premiership qaulity on loan with a view to permanent deals in Rohan Ricketts and Mikkel Bishoff. Major threat next season for me. 9/10 Ipswich. This is assuming they do not acheive promotion. Now alot of people seem to think that if they don''t win promotion this season then next season Ipswich will be shit. Why? Sure they may sell Bent, but only for at least £5 million. The sale of Bent may make them a stronger team in my view. Bent, for all the hype as far as i am aware is a striker and he has only scored about 14/15 league goals this season, sure a good return but he is not an Earnshaw, Ashton or AJ a 30 goal a season striker. If they sell him Royle will see some of the transfer funds and could quite easily sign someone like Sam Parkin, Rob Hulse, or STEve Mclean who could get them 20 goals a season in the Championship. No, make no mistake Ipswich will still be a threat next season and definite top 6. 8/10 Wigan/Sunderland. I don''t expect either of these teams to still be in the Championship next season but if they were they will be both be big threats. 8/10 West Ham. If they don''t go up this season Pardew will be sacked. They have the prestige to attract a decent manager to replace him and still have imo one of the best squads in the Championship. If the new manager can retain the present squad then West Ham could be a major threat. If he could get Zamora and Harewood firing on all cylinders and give them both new leases of life then they could be really dangerous. Again will depend on who is appointed as manager and whether the present squad and important members like Etherington, Reo Coker and Sheringham can be retained as to the threat level they will present. Possible 8/10 Derby. If Burly can keep hold of Raziack and get Huddlestone back on a season long loan (as there is talk of) and add a few new additions then Derby could be the surprise package next season and be right up there. 7-8/10 These teams mentioned above are the teams t

I would these players are worth a look. I unlike you am not keen on the idea of getting players from div 2 and 3, ok there might be the odd good un that can make the step up to prem football but most can''t, and that is what we having to be judging any new players on "could he hack it at premiership level?" is the question that has to be asked, cos if we recruit only players that are championship standard if we do get re promoted we will again be in for another season of misery like this one. Some players we should look at imo are the following.... Mikkell Bischoff (Man City) - injury plagued but highly regarded centre back,23 yrs old and out of contract at the end of next season. IF he can stay injury free he would be a potencially great signing and he would cost around 500k or less. Trouble is Wolves have just taken him on loan untill the rest of the season with a view to a permanent move so they have stolen a march on us already. Rohan Ricketts - former Arsenal youth and reserve midfield player now at Spurs. 22-23 yrs old and good enough for the Prem. Admitted last week that he will have to seek a move away from Spurs to get first team footy. Probably cost 750k ish. Trouble is again Wolves have taken him on loan untill the end of the season. I personally am concerned about the threat of Wolves next season. They have improved greatly under Hoddle an admittedly they have drawn alot of games but if Hoddle can bring a few players in during the summer they are going to be right up there challenging for auto promotion imo. Big threat for next season in our bid to bounce straight back up. John Halls - Stoke defender and former Arsenal reserve. Stoke have the best defensive record in the Championship this season and a large part of that is down to him i would guess, he impressed me when we played Stoke at home last season and kept Hux quiet. Might be expensive though as he is a championship player. Jan Kristiansen - Danish midfielder. 23 yrs old, can play anywhere across the defence. Scores goals and set them up. Highly regarded by most Danish football fans. Sidwell and tonge are good players but would be expensive, this guy probably has just as much talent but would be available for half the price of the aforementioned.

He may be a good replacement for Mulryne. What do you think? £750K?

Soton winning is a positive result for us imo. We are down anyway, Soton winning has dropped Palace into the relegation zone. From a point of view of next season we want Palace to go down. Think about it Dowie will leave, probably for Man City, Johnson and Routledge will both leave and Simon Jordan may get so disillusioned that he may jack it in (which he has threatened to do before i think). Even if Jordan stays they will not be the same force without Dowie, Johnson and Routledge. Come on you Saints ! i say.:

we have Arsenal away and Man Utd at home games that we will lose with this present team,possibly heavily in either case but then we will suffer for me the most humiliating and depressing defeat at the hands of Palace, we are relegated and they will rub that fact in our faces the wankers. That for me is going to be most humiliating. Although i feel we would have a chance if changes were made to the team that for me has got used to losing now and needs changing in order for this football club to salvage some dignity from this season rather than going down in a spineless, depressing manner like we are going to do if we continue with the present starting 11. If we don''t make changes we will finish bottom by about 10 points, i seriously beleive that. Morale at the club will be at its lowest point since the Hamilton days. This will not be good for a promotion drive next season unless everyone, fans, manager and players can kick it off. We may well suffer a hangover from this season at the start of next season. Teams that do really well and win promotion often start the season in the prem well cos they are full of confidence from the previous season in div 1, they carry the habit of winning over for a while. The opposite can happen if the scenarios are reversed. Your thoughts?  

about 10 points if changes are not made to our midfield. We will not win more than 1 game for the rest of the season and will finish the season in a right shambles that will leave fans and players disillusioned. This will not bode well for next season. Holt must be dropped for Safri and maybe even Francis dropped for Helveg. The present starting 11 has imo got used to losing and changes are needed to stop this season being an absolute disaster. We are going to finish bottom of the league by about 10 points if we do not change the midfield. We are going to lose by god knows how many to Arsenal and Man utd and we will then suffer the indignity of losing to Palace and having our fate rammed down our throats. THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN NIGEL UNLESS YOU MAKE CHANGES. FOR GODS SAKE WAKE UP! DROP HOLT FOR SAFRI OR ELSE YOU ARE GOING TO FIND ALOT OF FANS TURNING ON YOU. I LIKE YOU BUT YOUR CONSTANT SELECTION OF HOLT OVER SAFRI IS STARTING TO MAKE ME AND COUNTLESS OTHER FANS QUESTION YOUR MANAGERIAL ABILITY.

has anyone heard this rumour? It may explain the Docs sudden dropping from the team.

I definitely feel that we need to add a couple of young defenders to the squad cos our defence aside from Drury and Shackell is the wrong side of 30. What about Doherty? i hear you say. Well i feel that Doherty is going to leave the club in the summer. Some suggestions for new defenders are Jagielka, very unlikely though as he will be too expensive and will get snapped up by a prem club in the summer like Brum. Mickell Bischoff if he can stay fit would be a good signing. He is 6 3" and only 23. He is highly rated but has had alot of niggling injuries since he joined Man City. However the Wolves fans rated him highly when he had a loan spell earlier there this season and he may find it tough to get a regular first team spot at Man City. I reckon he could be snapped up for about £500k as city only paid 750K for him. Plus he is Danish and Worthy likes his Danes. John Halls is another good yound defender who is worth a look. Also Justin Hoyte at Arsenal might be worth a cheeky bid if he falls down the pecking order due to new summer signings at Arsenal. I also think that Helveg will leave in the summer and possibly Eddy with the news today that his contract offer has been withdrawn. He may only get offered a 1 year deal, it all depends on how Nige and co look at things in the summmer. Do they concentrate soley on getting out of the championship or do they start planning for the next prem campaign? In midfield we need to find a younger ball winner in the Gary Holt mould as Worhty so clearly loves a water carrier, who? I do''nt know. Mulryne is as good as gone so he will need replacing with possibly i feel Jan Kristiansen of Esbjerg. I have spoken to a contact of mine within the NCFC Scandinavian Supporters Club and he rates Kristiansen highly, he was the Danish Superligi''s top scorer last season i think and also had one of the best assists records. He is only 23 and can play anywhere across the midfeild. We have been linked with him before and again he is Danish.Cost probably £750k Jonson will leave in the summer IMO as he was only brought for the Prem. He could be replaced with Ritchie Partridge who we have been linked with. Partridge is a traditional right winger who has lots of pace and tricks. Quite a few Liverpool fans rate him but the managers there have always prefered to play solid midfielders ahead of him a tricky winger. He is the right age again at 25. He would probably cost about £300k. Sidwell and Tonge are other possibilities for midfield signings if we lose McVeigh. Up front i think Svenny will leave in the summer and although we have a good range of strikers we will lack the target man type if Ashton gets injured and that could prove costly. I would look at Helguson at Watford who is very strong in the air and who is a player Worthy admits he admires, probably cost about £1 million. Rob Hulse may also be worth a look as he is doing well at Leeds, but would WBA sell him to us and would he want to come.He would probably cost £500-750K. One thing is for sure, any new players we bring have to be under 26 and good enough for the Prem. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions for new signings?

I keep  hearing this Jan Kristiansen guy being mentioned, however i have not seen a rumour any where. Is this guy just a player that someone would like us to get or has there been a rumour in a paper somewhere? He sounds like a good player by the way, Danish international with a good goal scoring record from midfeild.:confused

[quote]I''m obviously watching a different game to some other people. Helveg was distinctly average. I, too, was watching Helveg off the ball; he is slow to react, gets his head up slowly when in possession a...[/quote] I really don''t see how people can slag Helveg off today for his performance. He was not outstanding no, but neither was he dire, he just had an ok game and i can''t remember more than one of his passes going astray. We are a much more fluent, passing team since Holt and Francis got injured and this is partly down to Helveg being in the side along with Safri. I would personally not be in any rush to bring back Francis. I just feel that Helveg is a target for the fickle fans, who like to have a scapegoat for when things go wrong. I bet alot of these people who are knocking Helveg are the same people who slag Svenny off. These people have to have someone to have a go at now that Easton and Rivers have left, Svenny is playing well and Hendo is not in the team. Get off the guys back, he has done nothing today to be criticised about