Summer transfer rumours, speculation and out-and-out b*ll*cks.

[eastie]

nice to see given speak highly of beye yesterday , they worked together at newcastle and clark and dunne have also played with given so hopefully the defence will be more solid this season , we were dreadful on crosses last year and im looking forward to seeing us defend corners much better.

i think beye will be given the chance and its up to him to grasp it.

[PaulWinch again]

It's going to be McGeady or SWP and that will complete an absolutely horrific summer.

[TheSandman]

It's going to be McGeady or SWP and that will complete an absolutely horrific summer.

I'd be more worried about the season than the summer in that case.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

It's going to be McGeady or SWP and that will complete an absolutely horrific summer.

Word is that they are the 2 alternatives.

A bit like being asked if you want a red hot poker or a 12 inch serrated Kitchen Devil knife up your 'arris.

[Compass]

What's really hysterical is we've got some saying McLeish will probably make more signings once the season starts. But here's the thing....

Look how long it's tooken to sign Given. Look at the messing about with N'Zogbia at the moment.

When the season starts, we'll have around 2 weeks and you honestly think our board who are slowest people around will get anything done in football?

It's gonna be another tough season. But the key is not to take anger out on McLeish, but straight to Lerner and Faulkner. Those are the real culprits.

[Greg N'Ash]

Can't say i'm that bothered about N'zogbia. He's good on his day but that occurs all too infrequently. Saying that, compared to SWP and mcgeady he's ronaldo

[Mazrim]

Nah, I cant see the N'Zogbia thing falling through. Talk of alternatives is mostly just that and Whelan will be desperate to deal sooner or later.

Still, it does no harm to actually have alternatives lined up. You never know.
And christ, there are better alternatives than McGeady and Wright-Phillips.

[eastie]

Swp has lost his way as has ireland but there is a decent player in there still and if eck gets him he could rediscover his form that made him such a potent weapon at city before he moved to chelsea.

The problem is eck is charged with the task of reviving the career of too many players this season .

[Ger Regan]

Eh?
I wasn't referring to Chris.
It's undeniable that there were a lot of volte faces after the Harewood signing and McLeish appointment.
You'll see it again if Ireland has ONE decent game.

Had a post replying to this and the site crashed. Basically, I don't agree that there was rank hypocrisy on either McLeish or Harewood. Yes, some people who didn't rate them before they joined the club have decided to give them a chance now that they're here (yes, not really any other choice etc), but I can't think of many who have gone full circle from "he's shit!" to "he's great!". I can't think of one, in fact.

[Merv]

Hmmm.... a 'never been good enough' or a 'total busted flush'.... goody! Choices, choices!

I haven't given up on The Zog yet, mind.

[ASHTONVILLA]

i think beye will be given the chance and its up to him to grasp it.

He already has been given the chance, and he didn't.

[eastie]

i think beye will be given the chance and its up to him to grasp it.

He already has been given the chance, and he didn't.

New manager , clean slate for all -i wont hold my breath on beye but he will get his chance.

[Rick_avfc]

Why is everyone soooooo against the alternate options of SWP and McGeady?  Say if they sign and they turn out to be fantastic players??  What if Nzogbia signs and he turns out to be the flop of the summer?  That would mean a £10m waste of money.  The other 2 COULD be, not saying they will be, bargain buys who do fantastically well for us.
Ok, SWP has lost his way since he moved to chelsea but say if he played week in week out at villa and rediscovered the form he showed when he first played for city.  As for Mcgeady, the only time i have seen him play was against Arsenal at the Emirates in the champions league a few seasons back and he looked like their best player on the pitch, cant really comment about his recent performanecs.
Just a thought thats all.

[Ger Regan]

McGeady isn't shit. He's not world-class either, but he's far from the duffer some would have you believe. He's at a good age too, so could well be a runner. By all accounts he's done pretty well in Russia too. Don't think SWP is a good option though, not least because of his age.

[Risso]

The wage bill has to pay attention to position. If you've got 6 central midfield players then if you buy more some of them are unlikely to play meaning you're paying them for doing nothing. As I see it we have Petrov, Makoun, Delph, Bannan, Ireland and Hogg. Similarly we have Dunne, Collins, Cuellar and Clarke at centre back.

One of the things you criticised MON for was having players on good money not contributing. As it stands if we buy anyone in either of the positions mentioned we're going to be back to the same issue.

Three of those are youth team players who presumably aren't earning much in the grand scale of things.  And if Cuellar goes as looks likely, then we're left with two senior pros in defence in Dunne and Collins, both of whom were utter shite last season.