stinkythefrog

Wasn't there one of the transfers he had done the deal himself and was the registered agent ?

Its incredibly hard to sue for these sort of allegations at the best of time but when you're damned by your own son then frankly you don't have a cat in hells chance. If Craig Allardyce hadn't shot Sam squarely in the foot I might have gone for the conspiracy / no one likes us theories.

I keep hearing the no evidence thing but isn't the fact that Sam was implicated by 3 agents for taking bungs including his own son pretty damning ? Isn't the fact that Harrison admitted paying Craig Allardyce for 2 transfers he wasn't supposed to be involved in pretty damning ? Didn't Harrison say he slips some money to Craig to keep the deal sweet ? I know that is Craig not Sam but when Sam agrees to have Craig involved in deals surely he at least has a duty of care to ensure things like this aren't happening and should be making sure the deals like this are whiter than whiter ? I agree there isn't enough evidence to convict in a court of law but there is plenty of evidence to arouse considerable suspicion around our transfer dealings.

Bottom line is that the money that goes to agents and bungs is the fans money so belongs to all of us. So yes I like you I damn well care if there are bungs or not. I don't get why any manager would risk everything for what is effectively a couple of weeks wages for them ?

The problem Sam has is how does he prove himself innocent ? I know the rules are innocent until proven guilty but we all know in the world of football mud sticks. He was accused of taking bungs by 3 different agents including his own son. If the allegations are true he has been taking money from the club and hence the fans illegally or allowing his son to do it . If he is innocent why the hell did the agents all say he took bungs ? If he is innocent he has been stitched up good style including by his own son. I don't think they have anywhere enough evidence to prove Sam guilty in a court of law but it is hard to see Sam being able to completely clear his name either. The annoying thing was the way they bleeped out other peoples names at the start and also didn't name the Prem manager who took ??50K and was collecting the other ??50K. The saddest thing for me is that this mud (or crime) tarnishes what we have acheived I like most other Bolton fans am massively proud of our club and what we acheived and to see our name and one of my personal heroes dragged through the mud like that was heartbreaking.

Olivier Bernard has been re-signed by Newcastle it will be interesting to if we missed one or had a lucky escape there.

Bit pointless as if you lose the bet you just welch on your part of it anyway.

So who signed the other 10 players in the team then ? Oh yeah Dowie. He was given great support by Simon Jordan and couldn't get them out of the Championship. Dowie is a piss poor excuse for a manager.

Ah the myth that is Ian Dowie. So he had half a good season at Palace got them promoted managed to take them down inspite of having one of the top goalscorers in the Prem and then couldn't take them back up despite having a ??8m striker in the squad. Sounds a top manager to me

It will be interesting to see what Sam has to say I would imagine he is massively frustrated he couldn't get another couple in.

Genuinely hope you're right AS. Time will tell as they say.

Well I hope you're right and I am just a grumpy pessimistic bleep but I can't remember the last pass Stelios, Diouf or Vaz Te picked out for someone making a run behind the opposition defence I have set myself up good style now come on then lets have the statos prove I am an ass and give me 20 examples from the last 10 games

Well I think any of the 3 of them would be invaluable in feeding Anelka so I think we will have to agree to differ on this one I wasn't doing doom and gloom in terms of us getting relegated or rubbish like that but I honestly don't feel we have signed enough quality to meet the stated aim of Sam and the squad of challenging for Europe.

Campo will play some great passes but he is doing it from deep wheareas ideally your creative would be playing just off Anelka. Agree with you re JJ but last season we didn't have someone making the pacy runs behind the defence that Anelka will maybe JJ would have been the man for the role. Not really seen enough of Idal Tan to comment lets hope he is the answer.

Okocha , Malbranque (OK he didnt want to come up North), Gravesen and Danny Murphy off the top of my head would at least have given us some creativity in midfield. Campo, Speed and Nolan are full of industry and endeavour but picking out the pass for a pacy striker doesn't seem to be their bag to me ?

Well at worst JJ would have been a useful squad player as would Bruno I would think looking at the squad both of them would have got 20 games or so this season. I know Jaidi isn't everyone (or anyones) cup of tea but again as a squad player he would have been useful and doesnt seem to have been replaced. I seriously hope the optimists amongst are right and our squad is good enough to seriously challenge for Europe but I remain to be convinced as we have some glaring holes in our squad.

So you honestly think our squad is good enough to challenge for Europe ? By the end of October we will have played over a quarter of the Prem matches and a couple of rounds of the Carling Cup if by then we are 10 or 12 points behind the European spots and out of the Carling Cup then for a club with big ambitions that would seem to be a bit of a disaster to me.

Actually Ped is a better defender than Roberto Carlos who is probably the most overrated footballer of the current generation. Ped does his best and gives 100% it was not meant as a criticism of him but as a club with ambitions for challenging for Europe is it acceptable that both last season and this season we are having to play a striker there ? Seem to remember SWP giving him a right going over at Stamford Bridge but to be fair he is capable of doing that to better players than Henrik

Can't agree with you re the left back spot we have Gardener who is out for at least another couple of months and is injury prone, Fortune who is really a midfielder and is injury prone, Ped who is really a striker and frankly is not a left back. We are supposed to be a top 8 club. We have been short of cover for here since Summer 05 and still haven't resolved the problem . Right back we have Hunt, O'Brien and Ben Haim none of whom are massively convincing there. As for January it is great having money but the sad truth is there is feck all quality available in January compared to the summer so if we can't sign anyone in summer why will we in Jan ? Add to that that Villa will presumably have a shedload of the Americans money to distort the market for the players we will be looking at and its going to be bleeping difficult to get anyone other than rubbish like Oscar Perez.

Dress it up any which way you want but the truth of the matter is that we haven't managed to sign enough quality during the summer to be seriously challenging for a European spot. Its OK have Anelka with his pace but we have no one to feed him the passes he needs.

Obviously we don't know the full facts but agree on the face of it the decision to fly him over seems strange maybe the medical turned something up or Sam when he met came to the view he couldn't work with him ? On the subject of 0 transfers in yesterday I am quite amazed that we are now going into the first half of the season short of cover at centre back (wonder if we will miss Bruno before Xmas) , short of a creative midfielder and still having to go into matches with Ped at left back. The report says we are saving the rest of the budget for the January sales but by Sams own admission there is very little quality available in January. We make noises about challenging for Europe or even Champs League yet we are going into games with Ped at left back sorry but that just ludicrous we have had since summer 05 to sort this out.

From the official site it says they have signed on permenantly I just wonder if there is some sell on clause with an agreed fee to sell to Chelsea if they want them they just holler. To sign one of these two would have been an amazing coup but two of them at once is just beyond belief.

Sorry I am tired and not thinking (no sarcy comments please) but who is Spud ? Not convinced Johnson could be a world class striker he could be a good striker but dont see him being better than that he doesn't really have that touch of genius that seperates the true greats..

If you measure world class as the likes of Eto, Henry , Ronaldinho I am not convinced Anelka ever has been world class he has been a good player but world class nope don't think so.

Still no sign of the creative midfielder we are crying out for and short of at least one defender preferably two. I seriously hope Sam has a few rabbits in his hat before midnight.