The departure of Speed is a big hint that we have Butt lined up. Chelsea bought Veron while he was in the US, I don't think that'll be a major stumbling block.

I'm also disappointed to see Speed go as I think he could still do a job as a squad player, but if we land Butt I think our squad would look a bit stronger and 750K for a player who will turn 35 in September is a good bit of business.

If we don't sign Butt though then it will leave us a bit thin in the centre of midfield.

The Viana loan is a sensible one, and I hope reports that a permanent deal could be worth 7M are true, that'd be a great price to get for him. Viana has publically stated he doesn't want to be here, and it's not healthy to have someone like that hanging around. Hopefully if he has a good season in Portugal they'll either give us a good sum or return us a fit, in-form and more valuable player. Strangely though he has extended his contract by a year after complaining so much recently.

The Trabelsi rumours are still on but it's looking almost certain he'll go to Arsenal. It would be a major coup if we did get him though. Stephen Carr looks more likely but he's not a signing I'd be happy with, a couple of seasons ago maybe but last season he generally looked disappointing.

Freddy and Bobby have said they are looking at signing "a few" players this summer and at the Kluivert press they said that our transfer business is not over. Whilst that could be nonsense, I'm quite confident we'll get at least one more player before the season starts. I just hope we get a defender.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Jul-22-2004 at 02:40

Fox Sports did an article about the 10 greatest sporting myths. Under their number 9 myth "If I don't get it, it sucks", they say the following:

quote:

As for soccer, I defy anyone to take in a game at St. James' Park in Newcastle, England and not come away transformed. Yes, that transformation may be a physical one from having a bottle broken across your face, but you will be transformed. Hint: Root, root, root for the home team. Take in a game at Newcastle's St. James' Park and you might become a soccer (football?) fan.

Who the hell writes this crap? Is that what they think of football 'soccer' over there?

http://msn.foxsports.com/id/2579652

quote:

Originally posted by Team Talk Ajax have confirmed that Newcastle have lost out to Arsenal in the race for full-back Hatem Trabelsi. Reports in Holland on Thursday strongly suggested a 6million euro deal had been agreed between the Gunners and Ajax for the 27-year-old Tunisian. And now officals at the Amsterdam Arena have admitted Trabelsi is on the verge of signing for Arsene Wenger. "It is nice that this case has been dealt with," Ajax director Arie van Eijden told Dutch newspaper AD Sportwereld. "Just a few minor details must be handled before Arsenal will declare it official. "We have had an agreement with Arsenal for several days but we had to wait until Arsenal and the player reached an agreement." Ajax spokeswoman Pauline Seamers added: "The comments in Sportwereld are correct." Newcastle must now decide whether to pursue an alternative right-back target or place their faith in the man who has previously filled the role for them, Aaron Hughes.

Anyone actually know what this player was like? any good?

I haven't seen him but Ajax fans rate him very highly, apparently an excellent attacking full back with a lot of pace. He may have attitude problems though as he's fallen out with their coach. If you go to their website they don't even list him as a player any more, and their coach said he was happy to see the back of him.

But the latest news is that Arsenal's negotiations with him have hit a snag.

http://www.skysports.com/skysports/...1144626,00.html

quote:

Wenger also revealed that the move to sign to Ajax defender Hatem Trabelsi had run into problems. Arsenal were thought to be ready to seal a deal for the Tunisian international after agreeing a deal with Ajax, but the move has hit a snag over the length of his contract. "No it looks like it is a little problematic which is disappointing," added Wenger. "There are discussions over the contract and at the moment we cannot resolve that."

I don't think we'll get him but would love it if we did. We badly need a right back.

If you could have any defender playing for the town, who would you sign?

Difficult one but if I had to choose one I'd say Nesta

We've agreed a 2.5M deal with Man Utd for Nicky Butt. He's flying back to England in the middle of Man Utd's tour of America to agree terms and have a medical with us.

Nicky Butt has officially signed for just 2M:

http://www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/pag...~544782,00.html

He's on a 4-year contract. He'll wear the number 4 shirt, as previously worn by Solano.

Butt in his first training session, with Kluivert:

Last edited by evil_bastard on Jul-30-2004 at 00:42

I'm delighted with the signing of Butt. A great piece of transfer dealing by Bobby!

I can't wait for the new season to fire up again. Shearer & Kluivert will be a treat to watch, if they gell.

The only real position that is needed to complete the jigsaw really is a RB.

Benfica told the press they will not sell their star under any circumstance, but I have heard that nonsense all too many times.

Even Moritz Volz of Fulham? He looked fantastic last seaosn for the Londoners. Wenger must be cursing himself for letting him go

Woodgate is injured! It's all happening again! How long before Bellamy and Dyer are injured?

This is seriously bad news, Woodgate is our best player and we can never get more than half a season out of him, the last time he played was our 2-1 win over Chelsea in April. We can only close the gap on the top 3 if we can keep our big names fit. We must go all out to sign a defender now.

Given, Jenas, Woodgate, Taylor and Elliott are all injured for today's game against Rangers.

Our back four are all going to have to play 2 full games on Saturday and Sunday, and again at Celtic on Wednesday. Any more injuries to our defence and we are really fucked.