NeilS

I thought he favoured linking up with Pardew at Palace? If not, then yes he would be a great signing for us.

Well, the season only finished two weeks ago and he has already been signed by a Premier League club. Not bad for a player who has been "found out". Benteke on the other hand.... Lol, are you comparing Richards who is available on a free with no club to try and negotiate a fee with, to Benteke who is going to be worth £30m+ and tied up with a contract? Not quite the same. I keep seeing "proven" premier league player etc. That was four seasons ago now, he has proven nothing in the last three seasons. He may prove me and others wrong and turn out to be a shrewd signing, but at the moment I fully understand peoples concerns about splashing big wages on somebody who hasn't played regular competitive football for a number of seasons. I would hope that a lot of his wages would be performance related, otherwise we could end up with another wages millstone around our neck for the next few seasons. Maybe that it was four seasons ago but we tried the proven in the premier league in recent times and look where that got us! Never knew we had so may informed and learned experts who know all about what a player is worth and how much he is entitled to and who can already tell that a player won't make it even before a contract has been signed. As always - I will wait till he puts the shirt on and players more than 10 mins before I judge. I'll give him time and I trust the managers judgement - just like with benteke, Bacuna, Gil , Westwood,Senderos (people were wringing their hands and he turned out to be a decent player until injured on International Duty) etc.. I am merely expressing a concern that a player who has barely played top flight football in 3 years is reported to be coming in on a wage that is higher than the most players in our squad. I can only go on what is reported in articles as none of us know any different. As I said, he may prove me wrong, but my big fear is we are clearing down our wage bill to replace it with someone who may not be able to regain the level of performance he had 4 years ago, and therefore leave us back to square one on the wage bill situation of players picking up big wages for little contribution. I guess if we are not allowed to discuss our concerns without being called "learned expert" in a condecending way, then we may as well not have a discussion board to put them on. To Add: Also expressing concern before signing a player, does not mean he will not be supported when he steps onto the pitch. He will get given the chance same as Senderos did.

Well, the season only finished two weeks ago and he has already been signed by a Premier League club. Not bad for a player who has been "found out". Benteke on the other hand.... Lol, are you comparing Richards who is available on a free with no club to try and negotiate a fee with, to Benteke who is going to be worth £30m+ and tied up with a contract? Not quite the same. I keep seeing "proven" premier league player etc. That was four seasons ago now, he has proven nothing in the last three seasons. He may prove me and others wrong and turn out to be a shrewd signing, but at the moment I fully understand peoples concerns about splashing big wages on somebody who hasn't played regular competitive football for a number of seasons. I would hope that a lot of his wages would be performance related, otherwise we could end up with another wages millstone around our neck for the next few seasons.

To add to the above theory, didn't Arya bury her sword somewhere outside in some wall/rocks earlier in the season. I am wondering whether that will play a part shortly?

Ser Meryn Trant is the guy from the Kings Guard who killed Arya's sword instructer mid lesson when they were rounding up the Starks in Kings Landing during season 1 prior to executing Ned. If you can remember he cut him down when he only had a wooden practice sword. I think he also whacked Sansa on behalf of Joffrey on a number of occasions, which suggests he has no morales when it comes to beating up young girls. I guess the latest scene is just re-affirming those scenes from earlier series. I guess with this being a US program, they do like to have regular reminders (Such as previously in......) in their programs.

I wouldn't say he is an upgrade on Pardew, unless by upgrade you mean less of a tosser? McClaren has had a charmed managerial career in my opinion, and I will never know how he managed to secure the England Manager's job when 6 months earlier Midlesbrough fans were throwing season tickets at him after his team were thrashed by DOL's Villa team. He won the League cup, and had a flukey run in Europe before finally being thrashed by the first decent team they encountered, which is not enough in my opinion to get the top job in England. I think being English when the press were clamouring for an English manager was his only qualification.

It is all about the wages for me, if Richards is coming in then he had better be prepared for a massive drop in wages until he proves himself again in my opinion. Would it be fair to bring in a player who has barely played in three seasons on wages that make him one of your top earners? He is a big risk for a team like us on a limited budget and If he were to come in then it would have to be heavily incentivised pay, as he could end up being either injured a lot, or massively off the pace of the game after so long without playing.

Looks like the signing is this Pedro Obiang fella from Sampdoria. I must admit that before today I had never heard of him, but I don't follow Italian football so that doesn't necessarily mean alot.

Yeah, I reckon it is just a mock up to show their logo on something that could be a Villa shirt for news/promo purposes.

If I were a betting man, then my money would be on another US buyout. It just seems more likely to me.

Sounds about right, he'll be classed as an asset and part of value of the club, no deals in or out for a while, unless it's a barcelona-esque transfer embargo in which case we're free to do whatever we want If he is sold, then technically the asset then becomes either money in the bank, or money owed by debtor. However, you would have thought a sale is unlikely in the middle of a takeover bid, unless it was discussed with the potential new owners and their permission was given on the values involved.

Yeah, I expect Tom Fox is finding us a tougher sell than Arsenal. On the other hand maybe with the possibility of a takeover in the offing, a big long term deal was not an option.

Same thing was said about Sinclair too. I'm willing to give him a chance, but I don't know much about his character or how fit he really is. Hopefully the staff can judge him correctly and make the right decision either way. For me a lot would depend on the wages he is after, and how hungry he is to get back playing. As you mention Sinclair has done ok for us in his brief-ish playing time, but I still need to be convinced he can do it long term over the course of a season. Richards would be a massive risk for any club to pick up if he is still looking at £40k per week wages, when we can't be certain he has the ability for the top level anymore. Too big a risk for us in my opinion, we need some solid reliable players at the back.

I do not understand the fans who want us to sign Micah Richards, the guy has barely played in three seasons. Looking at Wikipedia he has played 19 games in the last three seasons, you have to wonder whether he is up to it physically or mentally anymore?

I think Vlaar suffered from last summers World Cup. He is never a 38 game a season player, as he is always picking up niggling injuries. However, the extra exertions on his body last summer took their toll on him this season. I did fear that would happen when I saw Holland reaching deep into the WC finals. Hopefully if he gets a bit more rest this summer with a standard pre-season, then we may see a better Vlaar next season. If I were Vlaar I would consider International retirement in a bid to prolong his playing career.

Mama Mia by Abba

For me, it always looked like Everton were his preffered target. If he wanted to be here then he wouldn't have stalled a permanent deal to sign for us last summer, which almost resulted in him losing a year of his career waiting for Everton to stump up the fee. He made the correct sounds while he was here to appease the fans, but I have seen that so many times now over the years that it was not convincing to me. I won't lose too much sleep over him leaving as this is standard footballer behaviour nowadays, he did quite well for us towards the end of the season so i thank him for helping us stay up.

They realised they had gone out and left the oven on, so had to pop home. Keep up will you!

I must admit that I am not as keen on Guzan as some of you guys, but he is clearly the best keeper we have on our books at this moment in time, therefore he must start the Cup Final. This is a rare opportunity for us to win some silverware, so your best players must play and If Guzan doesn't then it is just plain stupidity!

We just need to make sure CB knows he is appreciated and loved here. Hopefully he will stay another year (signing a new contract in the process), and then leave for a real top team for top money after the Euros. If he does look like leaving for that lot, then sending him a link to that thread may persuade him otherwise.

No, I am enjoying it as well. I thought I was the only one lol. It isn't up to it's usual high standards, so I can understand other peoples frustrations though. I have enjoyed all of the seasons so far, but I do usually find the show even more enjoyable when I re-watch it on DVD format where I can watch multiple episodes without adverts disrupting viewing.

Yes a draw may not be good enough for Newcastle and West Ham may get that result, Hull will need to find their shooting boots though. Hopefully N'Doye or someone can do the business.

As hilarious as it would be to see Newcastle go down, I just don't think West Ham will get anything against Newcastle. West Ham have been horrendous for months now. The lack of decision over Big Sam's contract (even when they were doing well), suggests they have a new manager lined up for when they move to their new home. Once the players work this out they lose that competitive edge to play for the manager. West Ham have managed 11 points in their last 15 games,

Well Austin has just been named in the England Squad, so I guess that will now add a few million to his price. I can understand peoples nervousness about spending £xxm on Austin after one good season in PL, for a club with our budget it is a big outlay, especially when you see what we picked Benteke up for. Ideally we keep hold of Benteke, but should he leave, whoever is bought in is going to have some big shoes to fill.

Is it just me that finds it suspicious that the London press seem to be selling our star striker to all and sundry in the lead up to our biggest game for years against one of their darling teams? A few weeks ago, no interest whatsoever, now we're all distracted talking about where Benteke is heading to this summer, when it is perfectly feasable that he signs a contract extension and we get another season out of him. All we need to do is beat Arsenal, pop the champagne, once he has had a few slip new contract under his nose and say sign here Christian. Simple.