TheReebokBear

Jussi was one of the best 'keepers in the country for a decade. If Bogdan's the same as Jussi I'll be perfectly happy. You can take apart almost any 'keeper's game if you want to. What matters is what they do well. If Bogdan is as good a shot-stopper, and as good one-on-one as Jaaskelainen was in his prime....brilliant.

They've offered to double Ba's wages if he stays.

Whoever it may be, it's definitely, DEFINITELY not Ryan Giggs.

Put out what ever the strongest 11 is to try and finish top half.

People are too quick to label players as 'shit'. Upson was a decent prospect at Arsenal and played well for Birmingham. He's played fairly well during spells at WHU and had spells where he was dreadful. He clearly has ability, but WHU hasn't worked out for him. Plenty of decent players have bad times. Nolan did well for us, then he was labelled 'shit' and now he's captaining Newcastle and banging goals in again. Danny Murphy was decent at Liverpool and Charlton, then was labelled 'shit' at Spurs and is now at Fulham being good again. Most players have dodgy spells during their careers, but it doesn't mitigate their ability. Upson has shown he has some ability. Still wouldn't want him though. He's too old to take the risk on him recovering from his slump.

Gary Neville is a dick. No two ways about it. Never met Phil but I'm told he's a decent bloke.

Yeah, that's odd. Everywhere else has him as born in '91. Loans have been a good source of experience for players in the past. We clearly think he has something about him. He's made a few appearances for us and Coyle has said he's having a good look at him. The more games he gets at his age, the better. I agree other players might benefit from loans, but whether that'll be to the Championship or League One is questionable. It's better to get games in League One than sit on the bench in the Championship. I'm all for Ward coming back here if he'll play. If not I'd rather see the lad develop on loan. He seems to have a good attitude when on loan and has done very well at his loan clubs, aside from when he got injured.

I'd say he's more likely to leave if he's making no progress in his career. If he goes on loan again and then gets a proper go in the side that's better than him rotting in the reserves and maybe making the bench.

That doesn't make much sense. Surely if he improves to the standard where he is good enough to start for us, then that's better for the club than having a player who isn't good enough sat on our bench. I'd rather he went out and got games and came back a better player, unless he is likely to get games for us.

We will always struggle with the balance of numbers and quality, because we can't afford quality in numbers. We've never had 2 quality players for every position, so I agree that it would be useful to have youth players who could fill the gaps. However, having Ward sat on the bench or in the reserves will hinder his progress.....he needs football. I think that's the case with young players. Coyle says he intends to sign about 6 players, which should be enough to give us a competitive squad; though we'll be pushing it somewhat. I hope that's in addition to replacing Cahill when he's sold, if not we may struggle. By my count we currently have 16 first team players going into next season. That's including Cahill and three keepers but not including Sean Davis. Adding 6 players to that brings us about right in terms of a basic squad (I'm told most think 25 players should be the aim, but it's not going to happen). We will probably have to rely on some loans to get us through.

He's still a kid. I see no problem with loaning him to the Championship next season and seeing how he does there; I dare say Huddersfield would love to keep him if they go up. He's not even turned 20 yet, so he has a while left before he needs to "make it". I'm not sure when this expectation came in that a player should be ready for the Premier League at 18 or be considered not good enough, but it does seem to be fairly common now. Ward seems to have a lot of attributes that would make him a decent player at this level, but still needs work. He also doesn't have the pace to make up for what he lacks in other areas, so it may take him a bit longer to come through.

Sammy Lee made the immediate change attempt and it back-fired. I think Coyle is just more pragmatic than people expected. I'd rather have that than have him insist we play tip-tap football when the squad can't do it. We've seen more good 'moves' this season than we're used to, but the football hasn't changed drastically because neither has the squad. I don't think Petrov was an obviously bad idea. He went for a player who had ability, but Petrov's attitude stinks. It's a shame, because he's clearly talented enough to do very well for us. We've had him bring in Wilshere and Sturridge, one is now an England player and the other certainly shall be; but we don't have the finance to sign players like that on full deals. If Ward is good enough, he'll play him; but that's the call the manager has to make. There's no point in putting him in if he's not ready. That's my take on it, anyway.

Which is the bad part of that? Sam did very well for us.

It's the same psychological condition as the woman who married part of the Berlin Wall. It's uncommon, but it happens.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sunday-mirror/2008/03/09/southampton-football-stars-bradley-wright-phillips-and-nathan-dyer-in-barmaid-bag-theft-scandal-98487-20345281/

Well, he's only 19. He has time to go on loan in the Championship next season. The trouble is, our left wing is terrible. So we really need a new player coming in to be able to have a real impact.

Would be nice to see a youngster 'make it'. He has to at least be earning a shot with us, couldn't ask much more from him on loan. Hopefully a couple of others get some experience next season and we can start to see the youngsters deliver for us. Connolly and Eaves probably need to start getting first team experience next season to properly develop. Loans to league one might be the answer there.

I was talking about Borini.

Ignore me, he got the i and e the wrong way round.

Is he taking the piss? How can he spell so many words wrong and yet spell 'receipt' correctly?

I think the player has to join the club before the age of 18, which he did I think.

Unfortunately that isn't how it works with the bosman ruling. If he was offered improved terms and turned them down, any club signing him will have to compensate Chelsea. I'm fairly sure that's now it works; but I could be wrong.

Well probably still have to pay compensation for him as he's only 20. Sturridge cost about 3mil from City, so it'd probably still be a hefty bit of cash to get him in.

Saying "keep them both and who cares about one being unhappy" is great if you're playing Championship Manager. In real life, the happiness of the players and the atmosphere within the squad (especially regarding senior players) is important. One of the reasons Megson got sod-all out of the players was how they reacted to how he treated them and lack of game time - as has been said by a number of people at the club. We don't want players being alienated, I'd rather see a decent player go than start that up again.

No, just the numbnuts ReebokBear.