Jon

do you. :shock: :? i think he's under immense pressure from others to sell. If it was down to him, he'd stay until he's carried out in box, as he's said before ........

2 points off 9th place now. David O'Leary is useless. It's obvious sacking managers solves all our problems. I really failm to see you point here, or indeed how you can be smug about anything really. we're currently 3pts off Man City in 9th. We're also 3pts off Boro who are in 16th. We lie 12th. What is your point? Is 12th good enough for you. If we finish 12th at the end of this season both myself and DOl would consider that a failure. He claimed he was capable of getting us into Europe. one thing i will concede - we've played reasonably well in the last 3 or 4 games. I fail to see why that would make you feel smug, but each to their own.

Is Pete Bossy still about? Not seen him on here for ages :?

don't you lose your post count if you change your user name, Al?

Close call for me between the two Georgie's. Went for Georgie B in the end just ahead of Georgie T. Kelly a close 3rd. Rest of em are pretty plain IMO. nice poll

yellow or red, James?

32: Thirty Two

Steven Davis. by a country mile. far, far better all round game than Lee, who is OK offensively but does not offer much else and does not really have any physical presence. Steeven Davis gets stuck in. He can score goals. he can run with the ball. He can track back. he can tackle. etc ..... Hendrie has his uses, but i believe his skills will be utilised mainly from the bench this season. IMO, Davis is the better player already. Let's wait and see who DOL picks alongside Gav for a few games this season to see who DOL thinks is the better player.

is Pippsy benchable at the moment? i sort of agree with the Pippsy and Baros thing perhaps not working, as neither is a "link" player in the way JPA is. But JPA is not playing at all well, and has not done so for some considerable time now. If Baros comes in, at the moment it would be unfair and unwise IMO to bench the KP man. and MB ain't coming in to warm the bench......

what! Elies has cut back on expenditure to such an extent that we now have no balls to play with. :shock: blimey. mosquiito spray. Footballs. They'll be playing naked next. 8)

these 3 options are not mutually exclusive. In fact, i can see myself ticking all 3 boxes (if that were possible). so, IMO: 1) they (DOL/The board) have still lied to us re significant spending and previously unobtainable targets 2) It could be worse - a lot worse. IF we were to sign Baros, that would mean a net outlay of around 6 million or so this summer - which is above our usual spend - on player transfers 3) I don't expect any more from the current regime - so would be relatively "happy" with this. The only thing that really bites me is the sale of Dazz Vass. For £2m, at his age and with his ability, I think is folly. We shall see i suppose.

Jimbo - I think "He's stale/set in his ways/new challenge required" is basically manager speak for saying "sorry folks, but i just don't really rate him. He's never really done it for me whilst i've been here and he doesn't score enough". But DOL's not going to say that, for obvious reasons. Totally agree Pete. Or at least i hope i agree. We'll have to see if Mr Baros is incoming in the next few days. 8)

option 2, without doubt. this "1 year left on deal" rubbish: if we had wanted to keep him (ie. if DOL had rated him) we would have offered him a new/extended deal. £2.5 for a player of his age and quality is a steal for Citeh IMO. Possibly a good move for Dazz himself though. Maybe he needed a fresh start.

centre half worries me as much, if not more, than the striking dept. laursen looks a complete crock, and Cahill is merley a rookie whippersanpper, albeit seemingly a very good one. If Cahill swims in the prem, we'll possibly be OK. But What if Ollie gets an injury. Ridge and Cahill at the back :?: :shock:

and so the cycle continues, Bri. the ellisian cycle of mediocrity. for angel, Mellie etc read Boateng, Southgate, Ugo, Yorke. There's no ambition at the top of the club, and in the end this permeates down to those on the pitch. They see other clubs being ambitious, and want a bit of that. They don't just want to stagnate at VP, which is what is happening. Until Elies goes, this won't change.

10th would still be top half :winkold: also, signing baros would give us more options up front, but for me the state of Laursen's health is just as concerning as Dazz Vass going. Like i said, Cahill is going to have to be the business I think. i'd need to see 2 or 3 "top quality signings" to think we could finish top 6 or 7 at this point. Baros would simply make us top half material, t'is all, IMO.

10th - 14th for me. Laursen will be lucky to play more than a handful of consecutove games this season. DV has gone. all i can say is that "the kids" (Moore and Gazza Cahill) had better be bloody good this season. They'll need to be :shock:

the grass is always greener and all that thought Jez. :? can't see it myself, looks about the same colour from where i'm standing.

30-11 now. just voted for Dazz. For me thought, there much the same sort of player, so swapping one for another and making a loss on it seems pointless. If he's to complement what we already have, then fine. Otherwise, i just can't see the point. Not an improvement, IMO.

bench option for me, for most of the reasons that Bri has just written. might get the odd game on the right, but chances in the centre, i think, will be confined to coming off the bench.

you feeling a bit lonely mate :wink: these sorts of things aren't difficult to organise y'know :shock: quite simple: name a date. Name a time and venue. Invite loads of Vt'ers. Result: one VT get together. Voila 8)

show off :roll: :winkold:

the North_West villains. So: Bicks, Al, Risso, Pete Bland. Would've met Ian (drat) too, if he hadn't wimped out at the last minute pretending he was dying :wink:

almost. proofreader :wink:

I dunno, i do seem to manage OK knowing exactly what lies ahead :winkold: