Gribz

CL Qualifier: That must have been great to watch

Bit of a doing for the mhanks. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/6918450.stm

Thats Dundee Utd's unbeaten run against Barca at an end, according to the beeb. I remember the UEFA cup games between them back in 1987/88 when Utd got to the final - great games. I think it was John Clark who nicked the decider at the Nou Camp.

What do you think then Cammy? Hemdani on the bench and Ferguson to play the holding midfielder with Buffel coming in? IMO we HAVE to keep 2 upfront. McCulloch was a signing i said i wanted for ages and I think he will be one of our best players.

I like the look of that, plus 18,000 for one tier!! That will be awesome, thats twice the size of the tiers behind the goal at old trafford - the top tier there holds 9000. Everyones new stadiums recently all look alike - round / Oval etc like Emirates and Eastlands but this looks traditional and square - just how stadiums should be.

It is quantity but that was the first step - to cover all positions. But I also do think we will have genuine improvement domestically with the bigger depth.

Where does that come from Frankie? Buffel when fit? Maybe give Gow a chance? But my concern is it will be a striker who makes way for the creative player and worse again JCD will make way ahead of Boyd. Should it be Ferguson who makes way?

Does anyone think that will more or less be Smiths first pick XI? If Thomson was available would he have played instead of 1 of the strikers?? Im glad its a 4-4-2 but I didnt think McCulloch could play right midfield, Im sure this is a fill in but we'll see how he does. Darcheville seems well up for the challenge, I like the fact he is "over-committed", he just cant be silly or dirty about it, but he is exactly what we need - a solid "tank" to get in about the rough SPL defences while playing with another striker. EDIT: Apparently Smith agrees with me 32,000 at the game BTW

Agree with all that Craig, but I also agree with Wija at the bottom saying why are we going for Naismith in the first place for 1.5 million as some Bears (myself included) dont think he would be worth more than that. IF and its a big if, that there was another team with a bid, i think it was Bristol City a long while back who showed the interest but never followed it up.

I thought Kaunas would have got through here but ha ha Romanov. So its Rangers v Catherine Zeta Jones, surely we should pump them

Yeah but maybe its a good thing so all scottish clubs get richer as we cant fall any further behind than England as it is because we are being held to ransom. So if the SPL players fee's rise then any club coming in for OF players the fee will rise also. I was thinking about the Richardson fee, it did seem a bit high but he is a england international squad player and hasnt got a look-in at Man U due to Giggs who is world class.

I might get it then, I get Man Utd and Chelsea TV for a few hours everyday so hopefully they stick the game on!!

Yeah it certainly makes the squad look a lot more beefy. I cant believe we have 4 options for left midfield

SURELY this has to be another http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sheff_wed/6912404.stm I think only Anelka has probably earned more on signing on fees.

Shock horror

He did take that well considering it would have been his first touch!! Can he do a job on the right??

Saw this on BBC aswell, never heard of the guy though. Smith must still be on the hunt for a striker, but I actually think we are well covered upfront. Boyd, Sebo, Darcheville, McCulloch, Novo, then Buffel, Lennon and Gow can play up there aswell.

Werent the first 2 bids under 500k though?? I can see Killies point of view from there, IIRC the first bid was laughable. But after that we met there valuation of 1.5 million and they started to play funny buggars.

Friendlies are shite but they are important for players to get to know each other. But its good to see us playing decent opposition. But the club should have invited 1 more team in and made this a tournament over the weekend and would have probably sold out both days if the tickets were at the right price. Linfield would have been a good idea as a 4th team. I think Smith may play half his intended team tonight and the other half on Saturday or play his preferred team in the opening hour of both games. Im hoping its a 4-4-2 as we should be going into the CL qualifier with 2 upfront.

I have a bit of fear that West Ham are doing a Leeds and paying there new signings silly wages. But the chairman wants to take the club up to the top level and to do that he has to attract better players and pay the money. Signing the likes of Bellamy and Ljungberg will do no harm and may attract the next level of players but they HAVE to perform on the pitch. There is no reason why West Ham cant be a top 6 club this season. If they play like they did in the last 10 games of last season they will be there no problem. We did the double over Man U and Arsenal last season so the potential is there. The Tevez one is going to be interesting. Id love him to stay but he wants to move to Man U. But its players like Ljungberg Rangers should be going for aswell. We could easy have put up 3 million but the problem would be the wages. But give me Ljungberg over Naismith / Whittaker ANY day. If Dyer is available for 4 million we (Rangers) should go for him aswell.

Top 4 still means top 6

Great signing for West Ham if Freddie gets back to full fitness and stays clear of injuries. he is certainly capable of 12-15 goals per season and this makes up a little for Fauberts Injury. Id still take Kieron Dyer aswell then West Ham are ready for a top 6 challenge. C'MON YOU IRONS

Anyone going along? I saw on the official site individual tickets can be bought for 18 quid each or the pair for 34. Id sure be going along to the Chelsea game if I was over and id get the chance to sing at Fat Frank Anyway, Walter has now said pre-season is effectively over after the Falkirk game and now its all about getting a settled team in place for the Champions League qualifier. So these games will be interesting to see who Smith picks and what formation he goes with. Also if he sticks with the same team for both games. I noticed Sionko was the only sub not used against Falkirk so I think we can effectively rule him out!! But with McCulloch banging in a few goals I will be interested to see if he starts upfront or on the left and if so where Beasley plays.

No probs, but its good to discuss

Jonc beat me to it!