Well this season it does if we get a place in the European competition. But we do seem to be doing better than in the previous two seasons. Last year we were not winning in the US and the season before that (the Great Gullit Vaccum) we were getting cuffed by Dutch and Scottish teams of little note. What seems good this year is that there does seem to be a plan and it is being executed by a team consisting of a number of younger players. So things can't be all bad ... can they?

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Answers

Always Positive

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Good points, i was thinking the same. We have always had pre seasons that have resembled shambles. Maybe some focus is working?

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

It's better than playing a bunch of 2/3 division teams who want to make a name for themselves as the boys who snapped Alan Shearers legs.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

no,Nick you're wrong, he does that by himself

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Shearer pays for boys to snap his legs?

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

We won't know the answer to Sounder's question until January or February.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

I cannot believe any one can suggest that the dozen or so that have played in the Intertoto in July will be materially affected by their stresses come February.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

I've never taken too much notice of the pre-season until the start of the TSM season when we played the Goodison tournament and Shearer all but wrecked his career by twisting badly in the 89th minute of a meaningless 0-0 draw. I don't think any member of the opposition (Chelsea?) was close. Since then I've noticed that we get indifferent results with desultory performances against indifferent opposition.

What interests me is - is this different from what happened before? What was Keegan's pre-season prep like? We were usually very sharp out of the blocks in the KK era and I just wonder if his prep was significantly different to what has happened since.

Must say, I really think this Inter2bob has been very good for us so far. Wins against reasonable opposition has to be confidence boosting, and I presume the lads are getting sharper and sharper. I do hope we see the benefit with a flying start next month.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

I think it has been a great pre-season, whatever goes on after Wednesday's game. The bairns in the side have come of age (note Craig Bellamy saying that it was the greatest night of his club career) and they'll have taken loads of confidence from the wins. Theoretically they should hit the ground running when the PL season starts....

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

That sounds very much like a recipe for broken legs and twisted ankles Dougal... :-)

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

I think this pre season will get us off to a good start.A couple of years ago Manure did a Far East pre season tour.Very,very hot weather,some very competitive teams...Manure played very hard to make sure they a)won and b)entertained their Asian supporters(40,000 for a friendly in HK).I thought well I bet they get off to a good start in the Premier but will blow up by Xmas....WRONG! they won everything that year..so much for my theory!!!!! This is the best pre-season I can remember..yes we will start the season well and no we won't be knackered by Xmas!!!!!!!!! Fifties Fan

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Winning is a habit, so they say. When was the last time we won 3 games in a row? 5 if you count Villa and West Brom at the end of last season.

In that respect alone this has to be a good thing.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001