growler

oh and for those with knives out for alonso, BACK OFF. that is one player who deserves to be given the chance to play his way out of his current bad form

Bad day all round. Kuyt only shining light. Like I keep saying, we still miss Hamann. They would not have had so much space if he had been playing.

doesn't matter how much money you have, its still 11 v 11 on the day.

personally, I think a 60k is perfect. we'll have a capacity more often than not. Imagine a 70k, which for most games is NOT capacity. yes, we'll sell out for Manu, neverton etc, but what about watford, on a wednesday evening? Also, we will have a spike in demand for the new stadium, as people want to see it, much like the the emirates, but once the novelty wears off, we want to ensure we continue to fill it. I prefer we have a 60k, fill it, build the atmosphere, and fear of the KOP etc, and then if we need to, expand it later.

he'll never drop him, don't forget terry is captain. also, he is a favourite of the manager. its like phil neville and wes brown. he is always going to be there, so if you support england get used to it. he is the anderton of this generation.

why didn't we do this with Neill? or arsenal with Gallas? also, all it will mean is that clubs will re-negotiate 2 years before the contract is finishing. Which is what most clubs do anyway. Players are greedy too, so why do that, when if they get transferred they get their contract paid up by the club. Its more money for them.

Just some information that everyone seems to be overlooking. In recent times, I have been lucky enough to be in a corporate box at anfield and forced into the old toilet and newcastle. However, the point is, that at anfield, althoughI thought it was the best because of the players on the pitch, those with the money and no loyalty looked at the others. One of the big things at emirates is the corporate hospitality. they bring in serious money into the club, which we are missing out on. If we can maximise their revenue, then the impact on the regular everyday loyal fans will be much less. Its like when you fly, the ticket prices are what they are in economy because of teh first and business class seats. Also, anfield is nothing like it was 20 years ago. Therefore its a new stadium anyway. finally, 60k is perfect. We can fill it regularly and create a real atmosphere. Prefer that than an 70k which is never capacity. 60k capacity will be cauldron.

17 points isn't insurmountable. they could concievably scrape into Serie A next season. Also, I can see them going all out for a cup, and getting into the UEFA cup.

arsenal are probably down the bottom because they don't have any english players so the non-club fans cannot associate with them.

Can we make tim's post a sticky, so that tomorrow, when someone else asks about investment, they can read that first? Great post mate, I've kept a copy for future posts about investment!

I don't think chelsea are behind it. MSI bring the players to west ham, west ham get the players, improve their team, and I am sure will recieve a huge chunk of cash once they move to a big team. No one has bought big from South America in recent times. Even ronaldinho went via PSG. Its the same sort of thing I reckon, but with MSI wanting to maximise their return. Best way, rather than sell them for less, go via another club like west ham, offer them 15-20% of the future fee and let them enjoy them.

Hopefully, the sell on clause is most important. ie, west ham will offer 40% of the future fee back to the argie team.

thats a shame. he's a decent player and hate to see him rot in the arsenal reserves before going to everton. Hope he stays where he is, with that Masca guy, they would be a good pair.

can't see united struggling. they have got strength at the back, rooney, saha, rossi up front, and scholes looks like becoming a sheringham type player. If you are playing saha up front, with rooney, ronaldo and giggs behind him, playing hargreaves and carrick behind them looks like a good move. liverpool and Arsenal really show the value of a manager because the sum is greater than the parts. man u and chelsea show themselves as rich clubs. any one know how the mancs can afford 35mil when they are 500mil in debt?

Not really. next season, you would expect arsenal, us, scum and russia to be in the first pot anyway. Its the same at the world cup and euros. you could end up playing the same team in first group stage, that you played in qualifying.

When you have 3or 4 teams from one country it gets a bit silly and because of the seeding, the top teams will still qualify anyway. It didn't change anything for us having the russians in the same group did it?

if arsenal sell Reyes and get Ribery and swap cole for Gallas plus cash that could completely change their team. I actually hope that Cole stays at arsenal myself.

Didn't Man u win their last title after losing 4 games in the first half?

chelsea's start: 1 win, 2 defeats liverpool: 3 wins, 2 draws

based on seedings, providing we match inter/real this season in the CL we will overtake them in the seedings for europe. The same for the following season. The biggest drop will be Man U. If they don't have a good cup run, they could drop to second seeds. russia will be in the top seeds next season. don't forget with Juve not even competing, thats one top seed completely out.

Funnily enough, not being in Europe for one season would increase our chances of a title win I reckon.

If wenger is after 25mil for Cole, and gallas wants out of russia, I would think 14mil plus gallas will go to wenger, which is a pretty sweet deal I tihnk

thuram went to barca? bloody heck. who else did they get in the summer? I hope that we can be mentioned in the same breath as barca and arsenal for the quality of football. Obviously we are superior for success, but to have with quality of football too. Wow.

Funny that that fans are up in arms. Last season, we had the best back four in the league. 3 of them were out yesterday. Last season how many games did Zenden, Sissoko,Gonzales play for us? Up front, how many games have fowler and bellamy played together? Yes we should have beaten them. But you know what? Arsenal should have beaten villa too. and they had a stronger team out on the pitch.

the great thing is, there are still outgoings to happen, and if we get some good runs this season and lose the dead wood over the next 12-15 months, we can now look to the one/two players who make a difference to the team. next summer, we COULD afford Torres for example, because we don't need anything else.