weeyin

Yes, but the new Setanta deal was going to be approx. double. So, if clubs set their budgets based on this future income (which many will do to a greater or lesser extent), and that future income is halved, then some cost cutting will need to be done.

We paid an undisclosed fee for O'Brien last year.

It depends on whether or not the spending of the club has been based on the actual TV money or the expected TV money. If it's the former, then we should have some cash to play with.

Ach, he's just auld. When I was a lad, "Rumania" and "Roumania" were both accepted spellings.

Exactly. I remember Arsene Wenger saying it takes players at least 6 months to settle in when they switch countries to play in a different league. And he's buying players that are a wee bit better than the ones we buy.

Ultimately, it really depends on what Gannon sees as his regular formation. If he is going with 1 up front that requires a different kind of striker compared with 4-4-2 or 4-3-3.

The best chance we have of winning the tie is telling them the return leg is being played at Fir Park

5 minute walk from my house, but would probably take you a wee bit longer.

Stokes was terrific at Falkirk, but since heading back down south has faded. Scored 3 goals for Sunderland in 36 appearances after his transfer, and just one more in loan spells at Crystal Palace and Sheffield Utd (in 25 games). Just goes to show you can't predict what direction a career will take based on half a season's performances.

You can buy me a drink in my local

I imagine the Bosmans all receive some sort of signing-on fee, but I have no idea what the going rate for that would be.

If he had a faster guy to play beside, he would be fine. Nothing wrong with using experience over pace - but only if you have pace elsewhere in the defence. It's all about getting the balance right.

I think The Guardian provided a little more perspective (although the article was mostly about Mowbray).

Best effort I could find - on a site selling Ayr Utd. Cult Hero t-shirts.

The greatest tache since Hen Broon. Wullie P's needed work.

Just for comparison, according to "The Knowledge" in The Guardian, leading o.g. scorers are Butcher with 6 during his Rangers spell and Carragher with 6 at Liverpool. Richard Dunn and Frank Sinclair have also scored 6 EPL own goals, but not all at the same club.

Spot on. Craigan needs some support in the middle of defence there.

I'm one of the few who thought we were very poor in Nancy last year. No disgrace in losing to a very good Steaua team, but I was a little disappointed with our lack of willingness to retain possession instead of lumping it up the park (especially in the first half). Great learning experience for the team. Hopefully they will take as much out of this as they can and build on it over the next few weeks ready for the return to league action. And there is no doubt it has been a cracking pre-season. Two early goals for us next Thursday and we might still have a game on our hands

Well, the guy that wrote it died. But in 1996.

Not just that, but some of the guys who were out of contract weren't training at all, so it will take them another week or two to get up to the same level as the guys who started early.

Gannon was in the Record today talking up Hammell. I'd be surprised if he want to offload him.

At least Lasley and O'Brien would be match fit. The 3 new boys are way behind on pre-season and not looking too sharp. We need to be a bit more compact in the second half, and make better use of the ball.

I can accept the fact that we won't have the bulk of possession, but we really need to start knocking it about when we do.

atdhe.net or iraqgoals.net not working for you?

Too long. I'll be using one of the other links later.