R.I.C.O.

Nice to see us address a crucial weakness in our team. I always felt we needed a no-nonsense shitkicker in midfield and this guy seems to be the one, I only wish we'd tried to get him or someone of his ilk last year or the year before. The midfield has been crying out for someone with a bit of presence, and the fact he is a six footer means that he'll tower over the three dwarves we've been playing.

I have a feeling this thread will be bumped over and over when we are bumping along in the bottom 3.

I wanted Lambert in but he's been a bit of a disaster in my opinion; you can say he's had his hands tied but to perform as poorly as we have for so long during his tenure is inexcusable. Some of the tactics and effort deployed in games towards the end of last season were a true embarassment to this club and the general feeling of malaise around the club is largely down to him and his approach. At times last season I really felt he was having no effect on the team whatsoever, we may well have had a cardboard cut-out managing the team instead. If we have a season that defies expectations I'll get behind him again. I expect we are going to struggle BIG TIME this season, possibly be in the bottom 3 for most of it. So if he can guide us to a mid-table finish, I wouldnt begrudge him getting a new contract.

Can't see anything other than a comfortable win for Stoke I'm afraid.

The mighty Cambridge of League 2 taking Blooz to extra time. Attendance: 9800.

He's a nose if I recall correctly. Doesn't he have their badge tattooed on his leg?

Agree on Baker. Clark reminds me a little of a poor-man's Liam Ridgewell (if that's possible), and may scratch a living at a championship club (maybe us!) in the future, whereas Baker just looks like a lower-league player thrown in at the deep end, and never learns from his mistakes.

Unfortunately Gabby has been going backwards at an alarming rate for the last few seasons; ever since MON left really. I thought he'd go on and be an England regular and score 10+goals a season; long periods of poor form and injury have robbed him of that blistering pace he had as well as the decision to bulk-up as much as he did, which seem to have affected his sprinting over short distances. He has the ability to put in blinding performances and can be unplayable but those occasions are getting fewer and fewer. I think he only really put in three or four decent performances last season and the rest were forgettable. I'd keep him but on a reduced wage, no more than two thirds of what he is on now. To have a seasoned. local pro around the place who knows the club inside out can do wonders for squad stability and helping new players to bed in, but he has been robbing a living somewhat for the last four years. I think he'll be released at the end of the season.

As long as he doesn't press the self destruct button again like during McLeish's season, he'll should be a solid influence in the back. The amount of stupid rash fouls he committed that season and mis-timed sliding tackles he could have been sent off a dozen times. The guy was a liability but hopefully he's put that behind him.

After being highly recommended by Stan I expected much much more than what he turned out to be, a player way way out of his depth. Some of those attempts on goal last season were truly embarassing. He'd struggle in League One to be fair, so a switch to the Scottish Pub League seems about right. As the standard is so laughably poor up there, he'll probably go on a blinder and hopefully Celtic will pay us a bit of money to make the move permanent, as he looked shit scared every time he had the ball.

By "average", don't you really mean "sh*t"?

Wahey, another left-back to go with the 2 others. Just what we need!

My optimism has been low since the middle of June, when it became clear that no-one was going to be taking us over. If they were, it would have happened by the time they went to the USA. I've never felt so disheartened about a forthcoming football season. Everything with the club is a total shambles at the moment, we have begged our cast-offs to please come back and perform, appointed a nutjob as assistant manager, retained our poor, out-of-depth manager and signed three players who wouldn't look out of place in a team in the league below. I'm actually going to be watching Halesowen Town next season instead and looking forward to their local matches full of heart and guts because I'm fed up of the fact that PL football is all about balance sheets, "super sunday", diving, keeping TV audiences happy by moving games around and stupid sponsorship deals (£50m to become Man Utd's Chinese biscuit partner etc). Everything is just so......sterile. It wouldnt surprise me if only Man City, Chelsea and Man Utd swapped the title between themselves for the next 100 years. Where is the enjoyment in that? I just don't enjoy football any more, and so I'm going down to non-league to get the excitement back again. I'll watch from afar at the slow-motion car crash that will be Aston Villa next season, wondering how much worse it can get. Optimism: 1/10

Thanks for the goal against Arsenal but nothing else. Another one of Lambert's carthorses out the door.

I honestly don't think we will sign anyone else, even whether they be free or on loan.

Ever wanted to find out how bad things could have been if Ellis hadn't managed to sell us in 2006 and O'Leary had stayed in charge? You'll find out this season. We are going down.

Yeah but that will be Cowans and Givens fault. It always is everyone elses fault!

A real upstanding citizen is our Scchhhtteeeeeveee. National treasure.

Yeah, hilarious. BBC are absolutely gutted Diverpool arent going to win the league. Sod em.

How quickly people forget these diving cheating tossers.

I'm surprised he didn't dive to the floor after that.

To be fair the only open top bus parade will be the Blosers celebrating their survival on goal difference from going down to the old division three!!!!

Wednesday I want Villa to win on Wednesday. This anti-Liverpool stuff is silly. ... just to make it absolutely clear. This is our Cup Final. Eh?

Nah. We will take it up the arse as per usual.

But.....but.....its 25 years since Hillsborough..............