Rushian

because it's our money?

It can be dismissed out of hand because it's absolute rubbish and the article claims every player apart from Gerrard is up for sale and this is the rumour doing the rounds in the UK. We haven't twice come close to selling our best player to raise funds - we've twice come close to having to deal with our best player wanting to leave for the riches at the end of the Roman Road.

I'd be worried about the cost of Defoe - if Johnson is going for £8.5m we can expect to pay over £10m for Defoe. In which case other options may be preferable.

surprised Didi's not playing.

I'm assuming you mean RAWK about 7-8 months back? It wasn't a site thing just a post on the forum from someone called "Scouser Red" who claimed to have spoken to Ray. Given the tremendous goodwill towards Ray the post received many responses in quick succession offering ways of helping out, raising money etc and campaigning for the club to buy the medals/testimonial match etc. The mistake the poster had made with the medals thing was picked up by a couple of people who knew more of Ray's story and questioned it. I remember posting that the situation wasn't as stated and messages were passed to the club to check on the situation and Ray. Poster was subsequently banned and thread deleted.

He gets a work permit automatically if Chile are in the top 70 of the DoE two year rolling rankings AND he's played 75% of their competitive internationals in the last two years. * A player must have played for his country in at least 75% of its competitive 'A' team matches he was available for selection, during the two years preceding the date of the application; and, * The player's country must be at or above 70th place in the official FIFA world rankings when averaged over the two years preceding the date of the application. If the player has missed some of the matches through injury: Exclusion from selection for international matches due to injury or suspension will be taken into consideration when applying the criteria. Clubs should submit supporting evidence in such cases stipulating the games the player has missed. If he gets knocked back initially (which he will as he doesn't meet the criteria) it will then go to appeal: Where an application has been refused on the grounds that it does not meet the published criteria, a club may seek a review against the decision. A club will have 28 days to inform Work Permits (UK) that it wishes to seek such a review. If a review is sought within this time limit, Work Permits (UK) will refer the club's evidence to an independent review panel. It is at this appeal that his performances in Spain, buying him not loaning him, his wages, his higher profile etc will be taken into account by the panel of failed Division 2 managers.

Chile are still 72nd in the rolling two year rankings. It's almost impossible for them to move into the top 70 this summer no matter how well they do in their next three games. The work permit will thus be turned down and it'll have to go to appeal again.

Sometimes you have to show people the darkside to make them appreciate the light Knox has distilled it down nicely though I've never been worried about Rafa's contract - the 3 years v 4 years argument was always bogus. If he wanted to up and leave, he'd up and leave irrespective of contractual commitments. Similarly the odd seer did caution against giddy assumptions that investment was a given because Rafa'd decided not to hitch his managerial caravan to Real's conked out jallopy. The biggest issue affecting the club is the building of the new stadium and whether investment is needed to accomplish that. The rest is all froth.

I'd agree entirely with this.

It's not just the headline capacity figure either. Much of it is the improval of our dismal corporate facilities. Man Utd make as much from their corporate seats per season as we do from the whole stadium.

Rafa not signed a new contract. His trusted lieutenant has left for Spain. The investment everyone assumed was signed, sealed and delivered when Rafa "turned down" Real Madrid is as far away as ever. The stadium is still being stalled by local politicians determined to force us into groundshare or a move outside the city. Even Spurs have a sponsorship deal dwarfing ours. We've still got a raft of players signed by Houllier unwanted by us or any other club (Diao, Cheyrou, LeTallec, Pongolle?). We've got two strikers in Cisse and Morientes unwanted by us, on lucrative contracts, and no one wants them or can afford them. We're being outpriced of what seem to be our targets with Alves to Barca, Kuyt to Newcastle and Johnson to Bolton. Mark Gonzalez still hasn't got a work permit as Chile remain outside the DoE's top 70 list. Aurelio has gone into hiding and Paletta is apparently going on loan to Italy. And we're no longer champions, champions of Europe.

15,000 extra seats might not guarantee success, but it might guarantee some of the young local fanbase get a chance of tickets. The crowd is growing old, middle class, and woolish by the season.

we received £40m for him from Real Madrid which allowed us to splash out in the transfer market.

It'a always polite to ask but they won't mind at all as you're raising awareness and funds. Does this help?

We've also signed Alves, Defoe, Kuyt, Aurelio and Pennant

It's pie in the sky nonsense.

You're still on drugs.

It's repeated at 21:30 on the same channel.

You should have booked him.

Perhaps it's for more than a chat

what car does Shevchenko drive? A mate has just seen a Ferrari (a Scaglietta?) with the number plate AS007ACM drive into Melwood.

He definitely was last summer and in October indicated he was still keen on joining us this summer.

It's also been all over a couple of the Spurs forums for the past fortnight.

I wouldn't buy the club but I would pay for a 80,000 stadium. That's enough of a legacy to keep the club going for decades.

Doesn't O'Neill live locally now? He was at a Fulham game towards the end of the season.