BOF

1 backup player, and that's my optimistic side.

I think he'd be a good signing. Therefore he wont sign.

I'm split on this. I think it would be nice to keep him, but strictly speaking we can do without him. He is not the difference between midtable and relegation, and he would be easily replaceable in the sense that plenty of other strikers score more goals than he does. I'm 50-50 on it. If we could guarantee it would bring in someone else then let him go - but on the other hand it probably wouldn't, so we'd be down a player yet again.

Posting to avoid pruning !

I was only talking to a ManUre supporting mate about him this morning (I do hang around with some filth don't I). I can't see a role for him. DOL seems to have Davis above him in the attacking midfield pecking order. Berson is being told he has a role. Djemba is the favourite to start if Davis doesn't, and I presume he didn't sign Berger to cut the oranges. I really can't see where and when Hendrie is going to play, short of an injury crisis or regular 30 minute slots here and there. I voted for 'wont feature much'. But I wouldn't argue against someone who thought he might be on the list by January - purely out of frustration of not playing.

Blandy you vaguely resemble Alpay in that pic

Iain I'm not wearing a mousemat or a mug to a game :?

Haven't met anyone. But will probably meet Bickster when I'm next in Liverplop

I do Software/Hardware IT. Does that make it a SHIT job ?

I'll give it a 7. I like my job. Unfortunately there are 2 parts to it. I like the development side - as I was hired as a programmer. The part I hate is dealing with the customer.

It's OK Sheriff, I thought he was free too :?

He's unproven in the Premiership, and I don't see him as being as good as Earnshaw, Ashton or Defoe, or even Darren Bent just gone to Charlton. So I don't think he'll be one of those Championship strikers who comes up and flourishes. I also don't think he'd go in above Phillips. The only thing he would do is push Luke further down, and I don't want that for the sake of having another 4th choice striker. If Luke is gonna be pushed down to 5th choice then I want it to be because of a player who will walk into the 1st team.

It's typical of America to have a transfer window and then make it different to the European one. Surely if they are trying to grow the sport, making it easier for their stars to become better players in other countries would serve to do that. Keeping it relatively insular is only hurting the development of the national team. That's my 0.02 anyway.

Maybe the possibility of linking back up with his old River Plate team-mate Angel could be a sweetener if we were to go in for him. That's the one lure we have that no-one apart from Valencia have (cuz they could use Aimar as the same lure).

I'll go for Spurs and Villaboro or Spurs and Everton.

Alexei Emerenko - Exciting Finnish winger currently playing for Lecce in Serie 'A'. There are 2 Preeemiership clubs in for him.

Or posting for effect Seriously though, there is absolutely no hope in hell that we will get Saviola. I don't think they even have the vision to TRY and get him never mind getting to the point of failing.

True Sid, plus the differences in the actual racing means comparing Moss' ability to drive the kind of cars he was expected to drive and Michael's ability to drive the F2003 are pretty much meaningless. All you can do is gauge how they did compared to their contemporaries, taking their equipment and the level of competition into account.

LV, Andretti is an interesting one. I believe he is one of the best drivers in history because of the sheer amount of different series' he excelled in. He did everything on 4 wheels even doing the hill climbs. He took to everything like a duck to water and did it for the pure joy of it. A definite one of a kind. GV is my personal favourite Formula 1 driver of all time despite him dying before I ever got to see him race. I have since read everything I can about him and watched as much footage as I can. The way he was revered by everyone in F1 from journos to other drivers tells me that everything written about him is true. He could do miracles in inferior equipment that only tales of Nuvolari could equal. I recommend this book.

You'll find that Gilles Villeneuve is up there too LV.

Part of Schumacher's greatness is his ability to get the best team then get the best from them. You wouldn't have a team like Ferrari pumping millions into their car if they had Irvine as the number 1 driver. Fact is Schumacher's ability in a Jordan then in a Benetton alerted Ferrari to his ability. Villeneuve was given the chance at BAR to do what MS did at Ferrari. Bring in his own team, have a blank cheque, yet he did nothing of note. Toyota now have the biggest budget in F1 and they've yet to win a race. We can all say he got the best opportunity to win, but the fact remains that these opportunties only present themselves to the best people, and he took that oportunity and realised it, in a way that no-one before him ever has. And others had the same chance and let it go begging. He is one of the best, and no-one can take that from him. But he still lags behind the likes of G.Villeneuve, Rosemeyer, Senna and the definite number 1 Tazio Nuvolari as the greatest ever.

So Bickster, are you saying the word 'overrated' is in fact overrated ?

Correct Iain. People use their dislike of him to sell him short. His achievements are unparalleled, and even though I'm not a fan of the man outside F1, you can't but admire some of the performances he put in throughout his career. The only shame for him is that he has spent his entire career at a time when there was no top class opposition, much in the same way Federer might be doing. He is still the 1 driver on the grid that you think "he might just be able to do that". He is definitely one of the greatest ever, although not the greatest. He is certainly not over-rated though. And I don't think he'll be winning this year's title.

The trouble facing Raikkonen is that the points system is such that if he was to win every remaining race, all Alonso would have to do is come 2nd behind him and he'd still win the title. Giving 2nd place 8pts instead of the 6pts that it used to be, means less of a reward for winning the race. It was designed to make Schuey's dominance look less ..errr .. dominant, but now it seems to have backfired and consistency is now a far more valuable asset than outright speed on the day. And racing should always be about the fastest man winning the title, not the most consistent one. You can feasibly win the title nowadays having never won a race. Unlikely, but easily done.

No, calling someone German if they are German is factualist