Ronnie Whelan

I stuck a tenner on both Suarez and Sturridge to score anytime tonight at 7-1. That looks a pretty good bet in my opinion. Also bet 4 quid on luis being first goalscorer, 2 quid on Danny being first goalscorer, 2 quid on Cavani and 1 quid on Potato Man scoring first. I get my money back on England first goalscorers if Uruguay win. Watch now it will be a fucking 0-0 draw.

Real always go for the flavour of the month. While I'd love Uruguay to do well for Luis, it might be better for us if they get knocked out early and Luis is ussurped by other players....Benzema going and having a cracking tournament might be good also. I agree that unless they offer 100 million, we can't consider it. We've grown into a very good team over the past 12 months. I think Stevie has maybe one more year at the top (with a much more peripheral role next season), so if we lose Luis then we are losing another big voice on the pitch. There's only Messi or Ronaldo that have the influence that he can on a team. If it's Barcelona, then 65 million plus Pedro, Tello and Sanchez should cover it!!

United are like Brazil. They ultimately have to play the big teams at some point, so even if they get off to a flying start, it's only going to mask their deficiencies. As has been said, it's better to play the shit teams near the end of the season, when their confidence is low. If they do get off to a bad start, it's a pressure cooker. I'm happy we have a few tough teams out of the way when the players are nice and fresh. If we can take 4 points off City and Spurs away, that sets us up very nicely.

To be honest I'm reasonably happy that we play Spurs when Pochetino is finding his feet. City don't always start the season great, so it might not be the worst time to play them. Hopefully, Chelsea as the third last game is a chance for glorious revenge, rather than a bad omen.

I'm a cowardly scumbag today. Put a tenner on Neymar to score anytime at 5/6, so I'll get about 18 pound if he scores. Was going to put 30 pound on Brazil, Belgium and Russia all winning at about 5/2, but I don't trust Russia to beat South Korea. Yesterday, put 20 euro on Germany, Ghana and Nigeria all winning. Fuck you Pele for making me believe that African football was boss!!

If Kenny was still our manager in 93', as has already been said, Keane would've probably ended up here, along with Shearer. Having said that, we wouldn't have had the likes of Dicks and Ruddock anywhere near the club so none of us would have the pleasure of seeing all the jarg hardmen who ripped the heart out of the club getting the shit kicked out of them by Keane. Keane and Redknapp would have been phased in to replace Whelan and McMahon. That's my opinion anyway and we would be probably on title number 27 or 28 right now, while the Mancs would've won far far less in the past 24 years. Keane admitted that while he grew up a Tottenham fan in Cork, he would have walked over broken glass to play for us and without our decline, he would have picked us over the Mancs imo. I'm unsure about Keane. On the one hand, I think he's a twat that picks on the wrong people like Mick McCarthy and seems a dour cunt, the very polar opposite of any Irishman that I know. He also seems to love the sound of his own voice. On the other, I see a guy that is anti-establisment and I'm drawn to people like that, especially when he takes on the United pr machine and Fergie. A mate of mine did his coaching badges with him a few years ago and said he's a top fella who wasn't in the least bit big headed with everyone. He said he invited him around to his club and he actually came and spent the day with the kids and was bang on with everyone around the club. He said he actually had a great sense of humour.

To be balanced, I'm delighted with Lambert as a third choice striker. He's a great signing at 4million or so. I'm really excited with the signing of Can. Most people who know the Bundesliga who I have spoken to tell me that he is a great talent (some say he's average). He might not be first team ready, but you can't hide that a lad playing for Leverkusen and who has won caps for Germany all the way up bar the senior side, is probably a very shrewd signing at 10 million. I'd congratulate Ayre on those two bits of business. However, rightly or wrongly, I do have serious reservations about our ability to tie up the really big deals. I haven't seen Moreno too often, but if he's as good as people say, then just pay the extra few quid. It all balances out in the end if he's a success. People can say full backs don't win you trophies, but I disagree. They are a pivotal and forgotten part of any winning team. Phil Neal, Alan Kennedy, Cafu, Maldini and Irwin roll off my tongue immediately as massive players in their respective teams. This boy is 20-21. If it works out, he could be our left back for a very long time - or at least until fucking real madrid come calling. Moreno, Kono, Miki, Salah...it's the same problem with negotiations. If it was one club I'd go okay, two clubs maybe bad luck, but we seem to struggle to deal with most clubs. Personally, I think any criticism of Lallana is unfair. He's clearly a very good player and I don't put him in the same category of players like Downing and Carroll, neither of whom I thought would be a success here. I wouldn't like if he rolled up at any of our rivals, because I think he'd make them stronger, at least as a bench/squad player. However, at that price, I'd much rather get a player from the continent.

If we really want Moreno and think he's going to be top class, then surely it's a no brainer that we pay Sevilla the way they want and/or give them 22/23 million rather than 16/17 million. People can say we're being shrewd, but we run the risk of another club coming in, all because we're trying to be too smart with the cash.6 million is nothing in the long term if it sorts out a problem position and he's as good as they say he is. While I will give Fenway credit for many things, I can't help but think that they would gladly take us finishing fourth every year to maximise their profit, rather than push the boat out to take us to the holy grail of winning the league. I'm very hopeful that we will win the league in the coming seasons, but that's more down to Brendan and the team, rather than any conviction that Fenway will throw 60 million at the team this summer.

I wouldn't read too much in to what the Seville fans are saying. I'd be more interested in what Del Bosque thinks and the fact that a lad of 20 was weeded down to the final 30 players in Spain indicates that he's an excellent talent, even if he isn't the finished product yet.

Lambert: At 4 million an absolute snip. We need a fella in a 3rd choice role that can contribute in the cup games, come on when we're winning well to give Luis and Danny a rest which didn't happen last season, and if we're losing at places like Stoke or West Brom be able to throw on a competent player that can get a goal. Rickie is all of those things. The fact he's a scouser living the dream only makes it better. A great fella to have around a young dressing room. I'd been championing Remy as our 3rd choice. Remy is far more talented, but I'm unconvinced in hindsight that he'd be a positive lad in our squad. Moreno: If this happens a boss deal. One of the best young Spanish players. Get it done asap. If those two deals happen in the next few days, I'll be happy. If we get Shaqiri and Can, i'd be over the moon. I'm lukewarm on Lovren and Lallana, but at least they'd improve the squad.

at 4 million it'd be a boss buy. at 8 million, it's a decent signing. lambert is a good player and he'd run over broken glass to play for us. he has experience of the league which is also important. remy for example is more talented, but if he was behind luis and danny as he would be, he'd throw a gigantic strop. rickie wouldn't for sure. luis is one of the best players in the world, danny is on the fringes of being world class and if we had fabio and rickie as our other two strikers i'd be happy.

John Charles by an absolute mile. Liam Brady was brilliant in Italy, but I guess he can't really be considered British.

He's a massive improvement for them, which is not something that I like to see happen with them. Having said that, I'd prefer to see them signing 29 year olds and getting 63 years olds as their manager, than buying the best 18-26 year olds and getting a younger manager who could build a dynasty for them. We could do with getting a few players of experience, but they're the opposite. They actually need to be signing young hungry players.

What would people think of Balotelli? I know he's a total lunatic, but I love him. He'd be a bit of a cult hero here and I actually think Brendan would be a great man-manager for him.

Loved that.

To be honest, it's more than just Scotland. It's each and every one of the home nations. Wales have produced a very good crop in the past number of years with Bale, Ramsey and Allen so things are being done properly there, but whether that's just a very good batch at the one time remains to be seen. England with it's huge population isn't as noticeablely in decline, but when you compare it to the other big nations it is very poor - to be fair Barkley, Shaw and Sterling are fabulous players. England will continue to be highly competitive, but unless big action is taken, they haven't a prayer of winning anything. I'm not biased in saying that if you took Scousers away from England, they would be a far far worse team. Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic have barely churned out a decent player in a generation and those three countries produced a huge amount of great legendary players in the past. Cities like Glasgow, Belfast, Newcastle and Dublin were renowned for producing talent and I could have named a few more. Now the only city that is still producing top talent in the British isles is Liverpool. The youth drug culture, lazy parenting and playstations are massively to blame for the decline. When I was a kid you would be playing football for hours, now even in summer you would barely see a kid kicking a ball.

I used to do a fair bit of coaching and we used to go over to Dublin and Cork with our schoolboy team to play local teams. Our lads were of a very high standard, but the Irish lads were on the whole cracking players. They're like little Scousers on the ball with the same almost cocky mentality. The big problem for the Irish is you're league is fucking shite, so when all these talented lads come over here to Liverpool or United etc and get homesick or injured, they're going back to play alehouse football. Meanwhile, that fella's equivalent in England isn't lost to the game. The Scottish league is shite, but Celtic and Rangers are massive clubs. You can't compare the Irish league to it at all.

Do people really think that Moyesy would win things up there? I honestly think if he was managing a local schoolboy team, he'd finish 6th or 7th. It's almost his default position as a manager.

I liked Lennon, but it's a sad state of affairs for Scottish football when he might end up leaving a huge club like Celtic for some club like Norwich. I want Moyesy to stay in England, so hopefully he doesn't go to Celtic..my secret wish is that he takes over at the Barcodes or another premier league club and on the last day of next season he beats United to deny them a place back in the Champions League.

Okay, he's a knobhead!! Would it be worth giving him a licence to "lark" about at the United training ground or give him an anti-aircraft missile to take out one of their Manc planes?

Sorry, got Smith mixed up with McLaughlin, who is also very good.

I would love that lad Moreno, but to be fair Cole is a top class player and on a free transfer he'd be a very good signing. He might be a bit of a knob, but he seems to be quite popular with the Chelsea players (okay they are knobs) which probably indicates he's not the worst, or at least he's not the biggest knob there :huh: To be fair, aside from leaving Arsenal and cheating on the nation's darling, he hasn't really ever been in any trouble off the pitch that I'm aware of. Brendan would know Cole from Chelsea so will be quite aware of whether he's a troublesome influence in the dressing room. It may be that Brendan believes that McLaughlin will be the long-term left back and Cole would be a very good stop gap for the next 1-2 years. If he thinks McLaughlin is that good, it makes sense.

City have a load of top youngsters like lopes and Byrne coming through. They might be a few years away from city's level but wouldn't be a bit surprised if they get some game time year, like mclaughlin, ibe and rossiter with us in cups. Milner would be a shrewd signing for 10 million. He's a very decent player and seems a very good pro.

I'd be delighted with Shaqiri and Moreno. Two top quality additions in my opinion that are the type of players that would benefit a team like City - the type of team and level we need to set for ourselves if we are going to bring home title number 19. Lallana and Lovren have both had a very good season. In Lallana's case, he would seem to have gone under the radar a little bit and is more than a one hit wonder. He is Southampton skipper so he is the type of guy that you would want in your dressing room when the shit hits the fan and we're 1-0 down at West Brom or Stoke etc. Furthermore, he plays football the Rodger's way. Lovren has impressed me also. Personally, I think we need to give Sakho time to become the player he has the potential to become for us and the key thing is that we figure out who he might be best paired with, whether that's Danny, Skrtel or a new signing like Lovren. I would love Ilori to get a proper go next season - he seems to be really impressing in Spain. Even if he go brought on when we were winning by a number of goals or in the cup games. It would be good to see what he would be like with someone like Sakho, because they could be our partnership for many years. Both Lallana and Lovren would make me pleasantly happy. I wouldn't be doing cartwheels around the room, but I'd be happy nevertheless. Bertrand broke in to the Chelsea team at a young age. He seems to have gone backwards since. While he'd be one of the least inspiring signings we have been linked with, Brendan obviously knows him and he must have a bit of talent about him. Last season, I really liked McCarthy when he was at Wigan and I would have liked us to sign him. However, it's far easier to make an impression when you're a midfielder or attacker in a shit team fighting relegation. When you're a defender with Villa, it's very hard to impress if all the players around you are completely shit. Shaqiri and Moreno - lovely stuff. Lovren and Lallana interesting Bertrand - let's see how it goes Parejo - he's Spanish so must be decent enough Mascher - happy bloody days

Now Kev the bluenose would be helping the Mancs ambush Kev the rednose. The fucking tits would be reading their cockney cor blimey hooligan books and want to replicate it on Merseyside. It's so sad seeing the way the derby is going. We have more than a few reds that aren't saints and equally culpable, but the City game was a new low from them. I genuinely think even still that most reds would be cheering for them, if the shoe was on the other foot, if they were going for a title. People mention Heysel changing things, but the two Cup finals in 86 and 89 were brilliant. Personally, I think it changed when we both stopped winning trophies and their demise was arguably bigger than ours - we went from being the biggest club in the world to being the second biggest in England, while they went from being the second biggest (certainly best) club in England to scraping to stay in the premier league.