Davvo

s***ting himself I reckon. You could tell from Waddle's reaction at the time that he knew Champion had gone too far, think he's had words in his ear a plenty since then. Champion's noticeably being trying his hardest to overcome his hatred of us in recent weeks, failing, but trying, and I'm sure that too was due to words from above If he's not a Manc fan I'll be astonished. On tha tnote, Mcnulty is a snide f***** on BBC too, scouser isn't he? Blue presumably.

he just pays himself and his dad a nice annual bonus, and then uses his own company for any work needing doing on the stadium. As far as I know it's just the manager that was getting a direct cut of profits on individual transfer deals.

Oyston is the kind of stubborn prick who would prefer to keep Ince for the whole month, just to show he's in control as much as anything else. I think we only get him this month at all if we pay more than we'd hoped too, or at least quite a bit more than our first offer, in terms of the whole value of the deal, not just cash (ie loans). I can't even begin to imagine how much he's wound up Ince Snr by now.

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It's madness, as though noone listened to that Rodgers chat from the other day.

Hope so, plenty of pace there. Given how ripe we've been to the counter, hopefully centre mid will be solid tonight.

£12M for a young International forward, has the makings of an absolute bargain really.

Or more likely, of the teams that enquired, Ba favoured Chelsea, leaving them a clear run. The fee is set, so there was no possibility of a bidding war.

No idea, but I went to Blackpool's 2 home games over Christmas with the folks. Fri 21 Dec he was waving to the crowd before and after the game, as though it might be his last home game. He played fairly well, unlucky not to score really. Then yesterday, he looked thoroughly disinterested to be honest, both in the game and in terms of no waving whatsoever. I realise this adds nothing to the will he / wont he scenario, but there we go . My guess is that he hoped a deal to somewhere was sorted, to be rubber stamped Jan 1st, and Oyston is now trying to wring every last fiver out of any deal as he did with Adam. Then again, my opinion is based largely on body language and perception, and is therefore most likely s****.

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That's as bad a shout as I've ever seen on here.

You're right, we've also saved more than half a million per week from the wage bill in the last year or so, so there surely is room for a little investment, whilst waiting to shift on the last couple of big earners we don't want. If there's no intention to increase the wage bill from where it's been slashed to, then we'll struggle to compete in all honesty.

True that.

Aye, results may be no better than the beginning with Hodgson, but that's the only comparison you can make. His reign was doom and gloom, with no sign of improvement, whereas under BR at least there seems hope and signs of being at the beginning of something. Could be a falsedawn, no mistake about that, and he does himself no favours sometimes with the amount he speaks and moreso the language he uses, but comparing him to RH is madness. He gets the season from me at least, unless we go into a freefall and it starts to look like he's lost the players.

This bit is the strange thing, as it's in stark contrast to how he talks the game. He clearly wants us to be playing the ball around much faster, but we're quite clearly playing it around much too slowly a lot of the time. I know it takes time, but something like that should be starting to bed in now shouldn't it, especially if they're doing this day in day out at Melwood. That, the lack of movement from the front players, the lack of support for Suarez in the box, and the invitation for teams to drive a bus through our centre, is troubling to say the least. Oddly, I can still see what a finished product may look like, there are glimpses, but it would appear to need an influx of proven talent, quickly. Too many are trying to learn together, without enough guidance and leadership on the pitch.

Open up the skylight of your mind Smithdown, float up above the clouds of negativity, you'll see it all then. League title's, European Cup's, they're all just around the corner, if only everyone would join hands and will it to happen. Or, just sit and watch and wait, see who we sign in January. I'll be watching this window from behind the sofa I think.

Easier to say when you've been at the same club for the last billion years, whereas BR has dipped into 5 in the last 5 or something like that.

Keegan

It'd be interesting to hear their response to a question on this topic.

There is, but when playing a side like Stoke who commit plenty of men forward, before pulling them all back as quickly as possible when they lose the ball, you have to be prepared to get the ball forward quickly on occasion. It's how we scored in the first minute, and we didn't look to do it often enough for me. Today had 3-5-2 written all over it for us, with Sterling and Suarez up top to take advantage of quick balls forward, not every time, but often enough. They clearly took advantage of our slow, deliberate build up play, and we have to vary that, keep teams guessing. It's worrying that we don't seem to be able to prepare and set up for different opopnents. It's not just about stopping opposition playing, but about finding the best way to exploit their weaknesses, and I'm really not convinced we do that, or at least I don't see evidence of it.

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Will be intreresting to see if that's possible, depends on how the administration has to be handled, and what deadlines there are for a Wednesday night game. Seem to remember it was midday Friday for a Saturday game, but no idea if the FA admin people are on double time New Year's day ? Good signing I think though, can play with or as cover for Suarez. Like others, I'm intrigued to see if we're still looking for the Inzaghi type, and have someone lined up, I suspect we may be..

And there's a quota to be filled, so it makes sense to pick them up when available. Even more so if he happens to have spent 3 years with us previously, which I think he did just. Interesting to see if he plays tonight, they're on SKY against Wolves if anyone's interested in checking him out.