The 2011/12 Gary Speed Memorial Thread

[MJB]

A bad one? Surely that would be a pull or a tear?

Unless he means it's a bad strain? In which case, it's still a shame, he's been one of our best players as of late.

[Adam]

What he probably means is it's a bad one because one of his better players is now going to miss a third of what's left of the season at least.

I imagine you'll be okay, there are several other options available to fill his shoes.

[Vincent K. McMahon]

We blame Shola, our fourth choice striker, rather than Danny Simpson our starting right back. Football fans (collective) are stupid.

And James Perch, regardless of whether he's actually on the pitch at the time.

And Gabriel Obertan, because, well he's shit.

[Lineker]

This is story hit the press today:

Tottenham look set to be taken over by American entertainment giants AEG who are preparing a £450 million bid.

Spurs' Bahamas-based owner Joe Lewis has reportedly been in talks with Philip Anschutz, owner of AEG, who has a personal fortune of £4.4 billion.

Should a deal be completed, current chairman Daniel Levy would remain in place.

Tottenham formed close ties with the AEG group last year as they put together a bid to buy the Olympic Stadium.

According to the Daily Express, if an agreement is reached, Spurs' transfer fund would be significantly boosted as they look to mount a sustained challenge for the Premier League title.

The club delisted from the Stock Exchange in January in a move Levy declared necessary to secure funding while a new 56,000-seat ground at Northumberland Park is also in the pipeline.

Lewis, 75, who owns about 30 per cent of Spurs through his company ENIC, has been keen to loosen his ties with the club for some time.

Anschutz currently owns LA Galaxy and played a key role in taking David Beckham to the club in 2007, as well as a majority stake in Houston Dynamo, plus several basketball and ice hockey clubs. At one point he owned the Colorado Rapids, Chicago Fire and the San Jose Earthquakes.

AEG still own the O2 Arena in London and Manchester’s MEN Arena, as well as other major sporting venues.

Wouldn't say no to a transfer kitty like that if this did come to fruition. Keeping Levy at the helm is vital though.

[Colly]

We blame Shola, our fourth choice striker, rather than Danny Simpson our starting right back. Football fans (collective) are stupid.

And James Perch, regardless of whether he's actually on the pitch at the time.

And Gabriel Obertan, because, well he's shit.

Although no less productive than Ben Arfa, who has his name chanted from the bench despite being even worse than Kevin Nolan in the 'if he doesn't score he does fuck all' stakes.

[Lineker]

Chief executive Jez Moxey is confident Wolves will appoint a new manager to replace sacked Mick McCarthy before they play Newcastle on 25 February.

Ex-Sunderland boss Steve Bruce was interviewed for the job on Friday after Alan Curbishley's pitch on Thursday.

Moxey said: "Our intention has always been to have a new manager installed in time to take charge for the Newcastle match and that remains the case.

"But I stress, we want the right candidate, not the quick candidate."

Moxey added: "Things are progressing. We are continuing to work to the timetable we indicated at the outset of this process and remain optimistic we will be able to fulfil those requirements."

Curbishley's son, Michael, tweeted his father wanted the job but was not confident of getting it after meeting chairman Steve Morgan and Moxey on Thursday.

But the former West Ham boss remains the bookmakers' favourite to take over.

Neil Warnock, Gordon Strachan and Walter Smith have also been linked with the vacant manager's post following McCarthy's departure on Monday after five-and-a-half years at Molineux.

Wolves are in the bottom three with 13 games remaining.

[Colly]

After the naff St James Park sign was pulled down yesterday someone's grafiti'd a new one in and been arrested. He's done it for all Newcastle fans, apart from those of us who don't really care. Funny though I guess.

[MDK]

Piers Morgan is arguing with Frimpong on twitter

[Plubby]

Piers Morgan is always arguing with a footballer on twitter.

[MDK]

Oh, I don't check twitter much, I thought this was big news.

[DavidMarrio]

Yeh there is normally something between

Morgan and Owen/Ferdinand/Rooney or Alan Sugar on a regular basis.

[Plubby]

He is basically a fan who craves acknowledgement, so he chirps athletes on twitter...except he's on TV :\

[Lineker]

I'll have you know that Piers Morgan is a renowned football expert. So back off!

[Colly]

Yeh there is normally something between

Morgan and Owen/Ferdinand/Rooney or Alan Sugar on a regular basis.

Don't forget Joey B!

[Lineker]

Piers is 100% right though. Nobody should have a job for life in football. If the results are consistently bad then surely it's best for Wenger to walk away from the club with dignity and reputation in tact.

[Jimmy]

Wenger's got Arsenal into a top 4 position for God knows how long, for Arsenal to sack him for one off season would be awful and very disrespectful for everything Wenger has done for the club. Give him one more season, or something. I don't really like the guy, but I respect him as a manager and seeing Fabregas and Nasri walk away after years of bringing them up must've been a real kick in the teeth.

[Lineker]

One off season? Have you been living in a cave for the better part of the decade?

Nothing will change in 'one more year'. Wenger is as stubborn as an ox and won't budge on his philosophies - especially now that he brought in "experience" in Mertesacker and Squillaci and both have flopped. He lost Nasri and Fabregas as the club doesn't show enough ambition to win the things that they want to win and besides, as manager, it is his job to find suitable replacements!!

But don't get me wrong - I'm loving this. I genuinely want Wenger to have a job tehre for life

[Colly]

If anything Mertesacker and Squillaci went completely against his philosophy, biggish name experienced signings that the media and fans were moaning at him to get, I'm half convinced he brought them in just to say 'see, doesn't fucking work'. They're clearly not doing well at the moment, but just to be competing for the top four for so long with the financial constraints the stadium put on them is an achievement in itself. All depends on his own future ambitions (how old is he now?) and how short term the boards thinking is, but to call him a bad manager is daft. They'd be well up for top four if Newcastle hadn't nicked all the good young Frenchmen...

[Lineker]

I'm not calling him a bad manager - he's a great manager. But for that club to progress they need fresh impetus at the very top.

There's also the argument which I've heard that part of Wenger's success was achieved using George Graham's backline.

[jack95]

Backline for 2003-2004 invincible season: Ashley Cole, Pascal Cygan, Sol Campbell, Kolo Toure, with Jens Lehmann in goal. Not really George Graham's backline.