why on earth would you join a club that has escaped relegation on the last day of the season two season in a row.

If he was joining a solidly midtable club fair enough but....

Which is exactly the reason I will be roundly booing him on his return to the Hawthorns. He had intimated that he wants West Brom to be ambitious and if he doesn't see enough of it them he's off.

But Fulham? To my knowledge he's had offers from Celtic, Benfica, Bolton, Middleborough and the like. So why Fulham? The only explanation I can come up with is they offered him the most money. Which goes against what he said re ambition.

As I said earlier, I shouldn't be so naive. I should just shrug my shoulders and say 'that's modern football' but the whole affair really has left quite a bitter taste in my mouth.

But Fulham? To my knowledge he's had offers from Celtic, Benfica, Bolton, Middleborough and the like. So why Fulham? The only explanation I can come up with is they offered him the most money. Which goes against what he said re ambition.

Those heaving crowds, that San Siro-like stadium. Of course it was money. Unfortunately, in football, when anyone ever talks about 'ambition' they mean 'spend like there's no tomorrow', and it's never the ambition of ideas or vision. It's quite a fraudulent little word and I've always hated the use of it.

It was a given that Gera was off the nearer Decision Day came. That pompous little declaration by his agent - "Zoltan has made his decision and will announce it next week" - couldn't have flagged up his departure any more clearly if he'd skywritten in a plane that pulled a banner saying 'I'M OFF!' in huge flourescent lettering.

What concerns me more is who we're going to bring in rather than who's going out. The season's end brings the same old gubbins - players suddenly grumbling about new contracts or destinations, all that disagreement they didn't mention during a season's toil (understandably) comes out in the wash. Some players will want to piss off to pastures new. Okay, let them. But it's replacing them that's the order of the day - and doing it decisively and swiftly now rather than later. Last year at Albion brought in a host of new players with such speed that it seemed uncharacteristic of our club, who usually took the Rip Van Winkle way of doing things: talk to the clubs. Then wait. Then wait a bit more. And a bit more after that.

I'm not that naive to think it'll happen again, but this is the Prem and it'll be nice to think that the same kind of shrewdness shown last season will be asserted again, even if it is a dogfight against other clubs who'll scrap it out to buy even the most modestly skilful player.

Crossing my fingers on this.

SkysportsbullshitNews have said tht Sebastian Frey (or Frei, depending on their typist) has issued a 'come and get me' plea to Celtic.

Hmmm.

FC United have revealed that they have four or five players lined up for next season, and that all will be revealed in the next week or so.

BBC and Cardiff City official site are reporting Aaron Ramsey is off to Arsenal

gerontofiel van Basten wrote:

QUOTE:
SkysportsbullshitNews have said tht Sebastian Frey (or Frei, depending on their typist) has issued a 'come and get me' plea to Celtic.

It's Alexander Frei.

Don't want him. He's always injured and he's a wanker.

Jon wrote:

QUOTE:
But Fulham? To my knowledge he's had offers from Celtic, Benfica, Bolton, Middleborough and the like. So why Fulham?

Because it's in London?

Apparently Tottenham Hotspur have signed Giovani Dos Santos from Barcelona.

Eto'o however has decided Spurs aren't for him because "Tottenham, and I hope the English fans will forgive me, are a club in mid-table and I need more,".

Sempronio Carpentiere wrote:

QUOTE:
I thought I heard Ameobi's loan to Stoke included some kind of compulsory purchase if they went up?

Stoke bid slightly more than we did, but Ameobi turned them down.

Hot Orangey Thing wrote:
[quote]Ipswich are one of two clubs to have had a bid for Cardiff's Roger Johnson rejected. Johnson seems to be just the kind of player we need, and I think I recall Phoebe Disco suggesting we should sign him when he was at Wycombe.

Despite Ipswich's new wealth, though, this does seem to be a fairly unlikely transfer. Were Johnson to be allowed to move, I would think he'd be off to the Premier League.[/i]

Missed this the first time round. I rate him higher than Gareth McAuley (the Football League equivalent of the Cristiano Ronaldo transfer, in the respect that it's been going on for months, and Jim Magilton has publicly stated about a dozen times how much he wants to sign the player), but I think it's more likely us playing hardball with Leicester to drop the McAuley price. With Pim Balkestein arriving some time this week, I can't see more than one other central defender arriving. Unless Magilton's looking to play one of them out of position at left back. Which to be honest, wouldn't be a suprise.

So far we've signed Daryl Clare (Burton), Lee Phillips (Torquay), Rob Wolleaston (Cambridge) and an unknown quantity called Scott Mitchell, a former Ipswich trainee who spent the last couple of seasons at Livingston.

Hey repeater, you should see the hilarious names your club was known by on the Conference prediction thread last season.

Dead funny it were.

Crossing my fingers on this.

Fucking too right, ian. It's all we can do at the moment. I wouldn't mind but not only are we not buying players, we're not even holding onto the players we've got.

And back to Gera briefly, before I refuse to ever mention his name again, I do feel we'll struggle without him. I was fairly confident of us staying up next season. Now, pessisimism is really beginning to sink in.

Djibril Cisse. £5.5m. To Wigan. Good Lord no.

First Marcus 'WAG Shagger' Bent, then Marlon 'Glass Knee' King (who might be a good signing, hopefully), now everyone's favourite mis-firing, wild-haired wife-beater (alleged, of course) is set to find his way to the JJB Stadium via Uncle Dave's helicopter ride.

Saying that, it did`nt impress Papa Bouba Diop much...

Are we the striker`s graveyard club?

At least we have Emile...

Relegation dog-fight, here we come!

Sounds about right for Mr chequebook-as-crutch.

"I used to play in defence for Manchester United you know. Give me loads of money."