Jon

anywhere really Neil. Probably "safer" if not in the Holte, but i've taken supporters of toher clubs into the Holte before without a problem (i know they're not eeejuts though and won't cause a problem or draw attention to themselves). So i'd imagine you're OK to sit anywhere really with your missus as long as she's "discreet"!

on what basis do you say that? Becuase a defender who didn't look like he was going to be good enough for us looks like he will be leaving? :? did you see the game last night against Stoke: on the pitch starters: Ozzy, Gazza, O'Halloran, Gardner, Moore, Gabby. came on: Steiber, Lowry yes, it seems MON is dismantling our youth policy ..... The swine! :winkold:

agree with this Bri. who's at right back in this 1st 11 though? :winkold:

Stuying? :oops: i knew that would happen. Too many beers last night have affected my typing. i think this was very much a case of "people in glass houses ...."

I'm in your club on that one. I think he did a good job when he played there at the start of last season. However, playing him there would leave us a little thin on centre halves. he is indeed a capable deputy though, so he can provide the cover for "when" we get ourselves an actual right back ....

Yep - exactly where I am at too TRO. It has IMO been up to this point a very poor summer transfer window. That can (and IMO should) change over the next couple of weeks. But i still have the utmost faith in this manager to get us good results next season.

I think you should be stuying English rather than maths ..... :wink:

Indeed. It's like the january transfer windown never happened. :? significantly better squad than at the same point last season. Significantly better first 11 too. and it will be strengthened again before the end of this current window.

No. Because that's true. . Is, or rather WAS. that's history - not current FWIW, I used to have a gollywog doll and for me i perceived no negative racial stereotypes from it - if a girl has a doll of a barbie etc does that mean all white girls look/act like barbie? I had an action man - yet i don't think all white males are in the army, wear combat gear and can rotate their eyes with a plastic lever protruding from the back of their head. I must never have read Noddy etc as i can recall no stories from my childhood involving "sinster" car jacking gollywogs! If those stories existed then IMO they were/are wrong and are indeed perpetuating negative stereotypes. But i had a gollywog doll, used to eat the jam and other things like chocolate mousse that all had the gollywog symbol on them and took no negative racial meaning from them at all.

gollywogs didn't actively portray negative racial stereotypes as far as i can recall. Or have i missed something. It was simply a black teddy bear type thing. There was no overt racism going on. we didn't associate them with anything other than being a black doll. negative sterotyping of black "people" in books/cartoons as spear throwers and crazy natives who cook people and have rings threough their noses etc can have a negative impact on how children might then perceive black people. It's an association thing. IMO.

broadly what i was trying to say!

if i was going to vote i'd vote for correct. Books/comics of this nature do promote (negative) stereotypes, often very bad/outdated ones. EDIT: although i'd really need to read the thing before passing full judgement. Not sure of the exact nature of these rascist streotypes ....

It doesn't really, but as I don't have sky its a good alternative. exactly what i was about to post. my subscription to freeview costs .... a subscription to Sky+ costs...... so if you don't have SKY+ (and a lot of people don't) then it's a good thing, IMO. I don't recall ever bringing Sky+ into it or comparing the two!

just sticking my nose in and being pedantic, but they aren't stats at all. Unless you break it down and say that 2/3rds of your immediate family are teachers - that would be a stat(istic) "All make a good living" is not a stat either, mote a very generalised, subjective and remark without detailed back-up. Now, if you had said what they were earning, then ..... :winkold: for the record my sister and cousin are both teachers and both have a very decent standard of living, and get paid a tidy sum for their efforts.

Re-writable DVDs Bicks, you record on them just like a video, but obviously navigating through them iss a bit easier as you can jump to the start of things you've recorded, delete whole programs, don't have to find a space etc etc. exactly. get with the times, gareth! :winkold: I have both re-writable DVD's and the record only knid. If i know there's a filem etc that i will want to keep i'll use the write once only DVD. simple, and easier to navigate through as Paddy says than a VHS. The only thing i hate about modern digital (freeview) broadcasting is that the signal cannot be trusted (especially in my area for ITV/C4 stations). Constantly breaks up for no reason. Not good when burning a once only DVD.

WE&S which is why i'm not yet worried, Pete. Unless people think MON is spinning us (and NRC) some sort of yarn, then players will be coming in. Ideally sooner rather than later, but come they will. those that have gone would not have got much/any pitch time time this season, and will surely be replaced by players that will.

in practice we're not, and this misses the point slightly IMO. much of out first team is not in pre season yet as they have been playing internationals and so have been given extended leave. It's reasonable to assume that we might be after players on the interantional stage (like NRC) who we'd give extended leave to also, so no actault pre season may have been missed yet. Furtyhermore, of those 5 players that we have let go, how many we're 1st team regulars towards the end of last season. Davis was a fringle player towards the end, ditto Hughes. They would not have got much pitch time at all this season had they stayed. So with the players we've let go, we've lost very little, and still have plenty of time to bering people in before the serious part of pre season training gets under way. I for one am please to see MON is not panic buying to appease fans but is actaully going after the players he wants, even if that may take a little longer. Yes, in this ideal world, every club would love to have got all the players they wanted already and be sat back smoking cigars. But this isn't the reality for most clubs, United apart it seems!

IF we sign SWP, the answer is simple IMO. 4-4-2. Petrov will not start in the first string 11. CM of Barry and NRC. Ash and SWP wide. For me, it's that simple. although obviously we will rotate more this season as we'll have a stronger pool of first team players.

much better ped. a very valid point too. summer/close season/pre season are a nightmare for message boards for this very reason. No "football" to talk about, so people write speculative stuff and scaremongering increase no end. "We're all doomed" it seems to me at this moment is a common theme. tomorrow, if we sign someone, we're probably going to win the league! :shock: :winkold:

Not sure i agree with that. really he has only had two transfer windows at the club, i'd be happy as long as we continue to see an improvement and we are challengeing for a european place throughout the season. If we miss out on one then i'll be dissapointed but i won't consider the season a failure i think you're going to unneccessary extremes here Pete. he's had 1 season with us so far, in fact not even a calendar year yet, and yet this coming season he MUST get us into Europe? He's doing a rebuilding job, and whilst Europe is the aim, I hardly think say a 7th/8th placed finish would "break him asa a top manager". How long didi it take Ferguson at Utd to whil them into shape. 4 years or so? I think MOn will get us into genuine contenders quicker than that, and i think we may well be pushing for Europe this coming season. But to view anyhting less as a dismal failure seems unneccesarily harsh IMO. We must not forget the position we were in just 1 year ago, before MON took over. I;m not going to be calling for MON's head if we finish 7th this year. Or even 8th. I wouldn't be overly happy, but i don't think that sort of finish would be the end of MON or would be a complete disaster. FWIW, i think we'll get 3 or 4 big signings in, and finish well up the league. But fans of many of the top sides feel exactly the same, so ......

excellent input. Thanks for that :?

NRC Peter? I'm a fan of Davis, so i'm not convinced how much better he is than SD. certainly stronger and a better DM IMO, but i'd say SD was better offensively. Personally, i'd like to see SD stay, but i don't think he's going to get enough pitch time as he's too far down MON's pecking order now, and will want to move on .....

Thanks for the updates VF. I don't often go onto the transfer rumours thread as there's to much of it to get through, but i wasn't aware of the renewed SWP interest so that's a real filip if true. still wondering who's going to be our right back this coming season .....

I'd say be wary, very wary, of Citeh in this situation. new manager, money to spend, midfield to strengthen, good player available to highest bidder it seems. one caveat though - NRC does not have to sign for the highest bidder. WHU can agree a fee with whoever but if NRC is adamant about joining Villa then WHU are going to have to either bend on the price or keep an unhappy player. It really is a mexican stand off situation involving at the moment WHU, AVFC and NRC.

Can you not see the dichotomy? It is a stance that the club cannot maintain if, as you and many other Wet Spam fans suggest, NRC is a disruptive influence and one of if not the main reason why you struggled last year. If he does not move, and he will not if the price is wrong, then that disruptive influence is still there and you get even lower than our current bid come January. I am afraid thats the reality of the situation for your club all true tricky. But why do WHU have to accept our £7m offer now? Surely they are simply being prudent by waiting to see if a) others come in for him and if we up our bid to get him before the window shuts. They have no real incentive to sell now (unless we put a time limit on our offer). We would want him i'd imagine asap to blood him into the team. They will want rid before the window shuts. They want the max price they can get for him. WE want to pay as little as possible. It's a mexican stand off type situation (for the time being). I think we will up the offer, but not by much. But they have no incentive to sell at the first decent offer. It's a game of "who will blink first" to some degree ......