BOF

United were a global name back then.

What the Premier League era has done is made Premier League teams so rich that the better foreign players couldn't resist the allure. Up to that point, barring a few exceptions, British players stayed in Britain and Europeans stayed in Europe, with the better ones gravitating towards the Réals and Bayerns. But as The_Rev says, given the success of British clubs in Europe, that makes their players just as 'top' as the Europeans, if not in prestige certainly in ability. And as I've said earlier, Réal are the original Chelsea, being bankrolled by their own government so they could 'represent' Spain internationally. It's also just plain wrong to say that "it's only in the last 10-15 years that United have become a global name". Sorry but that's a ridiculous comment.

AVFCPOB, he didn't 'lie' he made a mistake. It is possible to do.

---- SPOILER ---- Episode 8 had a horrible inevitability about it. I knew what they were doing for the whole episode. And it further hammers home the futility of war and the cheapness of life in it. Good episode and a lovely lady ---- END ----

Sometimes a player is a better fit in a system than the player being offered in return. Sometimes a player has less on his contract making him less valuable than he might otherwise be. Sometimes a player falls out with a manager or his team and needs to move on, or his wife fancies a move, or he needs a change in direction. There are many reasons why players might swap, where the selling team seems to be getting the better deal. Ireland is a case in point. By all accounts, Citeh don't want him any more. This makes a potentially brilliant midfielder very gettable and probably at a comparitively knock-down price. I can't honestly believe that people in here don't genuinely know why players might be cheaper than a similarly skilled player. We are the seller so we hold more of the cards than the buying club. They want OUR player so they need to satisfy us in order to get him. If that means taking a hit on a player that might on another day be more expensive then so be it. Shit happens.

Agree with all of that McG except for the strange notion that United are in some way 'nouveau'. They're every bit as proper a team as Réal are in that they won their titles through the years, built the club up properly and didn't buy any of their success with gifts from billionaires. If anything, it is Réal who inherited their success through being Franco's plaything. Chelsea are nouveau, United are not.

Foster is good. Probably not 'United' good but that's hardly a criticism. He certainly hasn't progressed the way I thought he would though that's for sure.

In answer to 'would I take him'. Yes in a heartbeat.

Mascherano wants Barcelona. There's no way in hell he'd come here. Even if they don't want him, that's where his head is.

I definitely have sympathy for paulanddonya's point of view there. As a fan it is annoying not to be signing players early and being able to don the new shirt in June amongst other things. However, as frustrating as our methods may be, we have improved year on year so our way is working. It's just different.

If we're discussing how a transfer is generally triggered then yes you are right, the player tends to have the power. However, in this particular instance regarding James Milner, I think the only trigger would be the club because I think James is perfectly happy where he is. That's why I disagreed with you about James Milner. Mine was not a statement about transfers in general. Only about his situation.

I disagree with that Richard. I think Milner is very happy where he is and after the successful season he has had personally and on the international stage + getting recognition from his peers, I don't see a reason for him to leave nor a reason to want to. Plus we know his impeccable character means he wont be rocking any boats, certainly not this close-season. On the other hand I think it is possible that Villa might feel that perhaps Milner's considerable market value might be worth more to us than he is - without knowing exactly how much we have at our disposal before player sales. For me, if he goes, it will be because the club were made an offer they couldn't refuse.

Confucius say one chicken must have head.

I agree 100% with putting Ash back on the left and bringing in Albrighton. I always thought Downing was bought for the centre and only the emergence of Milner made MON rethink his plan. So for me I think IF we sold Milner we could use the money, as you say, to bring in a top striker and still be pretty flush in the centre. I'm warming (slightly) to the notion of getting Ireland in some kind of player+money deal although I'm still hugely unconvinced about his temperament. I think a better deal for us would be swapping Milner for Berbatov + any money that might come our way but I think we might be going into the realms of fantasy there as I think he'd think he's above us.

You keep posting; I've just nicked your CC details through your browser's security loophole

A year ago maybe, but Milner is a centre mid now. I can't see a winger with no central experience replacing our key central midfielder. Not that I'd want Bentley here in any scenario anyway.

Pah Levi you know I gave the Opera beta a good chance because the browser IS damn quick but the RSS is much too separate from the regular browsing to be convenient and opera's equivalent to add-ons are just, well, they're like stand-alone apps rather than something that actually improves the browser itself. They're so closer to cracking it. For me I just basically want firefox with opera's speed.

I know LAX wasn't being entirely serious. But while Spain may have a 'top 2', that top 2 happen to be 2 of the greatest club sides on the planet. I'd say they'd probably be the top 2 if they were plonked into the Premier League aswell (they'd arguably be the top 2 no matter what league they were put in). Just because everyone else in the Spanish League is so far behind doesn't mean it's a poor league. It just happens to have 2 world-class power-houses at the top. The league is strong throughout. Atlético just won the Europa League from midtable beating a Premier League midtable side. Bottom of the league could have escaped relegation on the final day (!) had results gone their way and the 2 sides at the top just happened to re-write their record books with the season they just had.

Is that a random suggestion? I would like it, calm and experienced player. I know probably 80% would disagree. Here's a wave from one of the 80%

Have to admit I'm quite liking all the chaos And it's worth remembering last time it erupted, it did it on and off for 3 solid years So sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

Richard (£8m), Ireland (£10m-£12m) and £10m to make the overall value ~£30m. How would people feel about that?

Puressence - This Feeling

€60 lost. Thanks Réal you useless bastards. Glad you won nothing this year

Shhhh, don't tempt fate.