Cam

This content is not viewable to guests.,This content is not viewable to guests.

The one thing that connects the footballers these rumours engulf is their team have hugely bitter local enemies. Campbell (suitable name?) may well be a player of the pink oboe. But I can't remember these rumours being around before he left Spurs.

Didn't work out?! It's because he didn't want to play with foreign players and for a foreign manager. The daft racist. Hope Jol bought him just to rot in the reserves.

Still think it's an obvious attempt by the club to cover up a disappointing transfer window after Parry & Gerrard's boasts.

This content is not viewable to guests.,This content is not viewable to guests.

Surely number 1 is 'Arry??? Or is calling him 'Coach X' rather than 'Manager X' a clue? Souness never really had any lingering claims about dodgy dealings before the Boumsong story in all fairness. Though the Ali Dia story still amazes me.

This content is not viewable to guests.,This content is not viewable to guests.

Er, who is Blackburn's number 21.... Matteo???

He also suffers from not scoring like he did at left-midfield. Some muppets (not you Mike) would say he's the greatest leftback in the world if he scored 12 a season but was still responsible for every single goal we conceded. "Goals = good players" for some.

"posing as a rich Arab" Can't believe celebs still fall for that! "he would quit as England coach if they win the World Cup this summer" Could quite easily have stopped reading there. "I asked him if he was happy. He said 'not really with the club'."

I think he's one of the best leftbacks in Europe (admittedly there ain't many good 'uns). He'll have a dodgy month every season due to confidence issues but his progression, particularly over the last 2.5 seasons has been great. Cole & Heinze may be better but Riise's right up there. I think it'd be difficult to improve on the position. Cover for him? Now that's an issue I'd like Rafa to look at.

"I'm sh*t, you should have bought Vidic."

£15m? Fecking hell.

True. He didn't score or maim anyone. Must do better next time out. It's not too late to sell him.

Didn't know he was there. I had high hopes for him, thought he could have been the new Mike Marsh.

Is this move at St Michael's behest?

Where be the Phil Babb?

He looks like Welsh in that piccie - I think Taylor's ripped us off, we've paid £1m for our own player.

This content is not viewable to guests.,This content is not viewable to guests.

Around the time we were buying Sami we were linked with a huge CB at Aalkmaar. I forget his name but I continued to watch him on C5 and he'd have been great cover. But if he's also a possible for right midfield then I'm guessing it's not him. Finnan's been brilliant but does cover for there and right-mid put the shackles on Barragan?

That's a good point. He's a good manager, only some poor buys bring that into question. But he does seem... stuck. I think he believed his own publicity - that he'd done all the hard work, he was next in line for United/Rangers/England. And playing to the Everton fans and trying to cement a legendary status by pissing off Reds with silly comments rather than concentrating on the actual job backs this up. Like Curbishley before him (and Allardyce & Pearce to come) he thinks he's done enough. Maybe in some respects he has. Curbishley every season talks about the Champions League, the team then panic. He gets ahead of himself - and shows himself up. But he stays in his job because guiding Charlton to a midtable Premiership finish is more than a club of their stature could have dreamed of. If Moyes was at Charlton, West Brom or Portsmouth he'd be a hero. Everton, for the last 20 years and for the foreseeable future, are that type of club. They'll survive this season. If they go into the last day in a relegation battle and finish 17th I'm sure they'll celebrate. So why not celebrate finishing 9th to 14th next season? It's their natural habitat. But the fans will be demanding CL football because of a brief moment of glory in the 80s. Unrealistic. And because of bitter jealousy of their neighbours. Yes, they finished 4th - and it's not sour grapes saying this - but it's only down to an unbelievable start and the rest of the league (us included) being to crap to challenge. Was it 3 wins since January? He should step away for his own sake, step down a level to a smaller Prem club or larger Champ side. There his talent can be recognised and appreciated, he'd meet their realistic dreams. And Howard Kendall should be brought back, just for the laugh.

No, he realised a dream he'd formulated over the previous 8 years. A plan he was working towards throughout his repeated contract refusals. This was no unlucky, instant accident. The only mistakes he made was thinking Benitez was soft enough not to see through his £££ Bosman-plot, that the club would buy him back for his true worth (and thus effectively rip itself off) and not having the bottle to turn round to Madrid and say "no, only Liverpool".

Y'see - and we all laughed at "Bring Baros back on".

There was one guy at the food stalls under the L.C. (maybe you heard him) who, when Phil Easton read out Owen's name from the teamsheet, started singing "Meeelan, Meeelan". Idiotic but very funny at the time.

Some great one-touch, pass & move and slide-rule passes today. But Crouch clearing the ball while stood on his head was the true moment of skill.