I know it's early yet, but does Bellamy remind you of another certain speedy fireplug (who has near legendary status) played for us in the not too distant past?

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Answers

Amazing Producer....

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

When you were all slagging him off (where are you now swifty?) I was calling him the new Peter Beardsley.

Also on that line, Robert is the new Ginola and Robbie Elliot is the new ........erm.......Robbie Elliot.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Bellamy was pants in his first couple of games. I wanted to see him prove himself. Happily he's starting to do that. Early doors mind

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

With 5 goals in all competitiions Bellamy is second top scorer so far this season. I think though that his value to the club will be a creator of goals more than a scorer. With him by his side Alan Shearer will top 20 this season.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

rik, see match thread and posts yesterday... moral.i know nothing

(to the sound of hat munching)

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

I wouldn't say you know nothing. I'd say you trusted the opinions of your friends from Coventry more than those of our great manager.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

There's a long way to go and as someone has said, Bellamy started off well enough at Coventry. The difference is that we have better players than Coventry had and no one really sees him as being a top goal scorer whereas at Coventry, they thought they'd got a new Robbie Keane.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Would you not be happier if we had got him for 4mil? Otherwise it's a bit like saying, "He's a really shite, disappointing player who is detested by our fans and doesn't get on with his teammates and we can't afford his wages now we've gone down but you have a good manager so he'll be worth more to you than us."

I'm pretty good with concrete so when I build a patio I'll be paying for ballast, cement and the hire of a mixer, I don't expect to be charged for my own labour. It seems to me that Bellamy was a proven failure last season who would need a lot of work from Bobby to help reinstill some confidence in him. Nice of us to pay Coventry for our own good work.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

It dosen't bother me if he cost £4 m or £6.5 million. I'm just glad that Bobby Robson spotted what he could do and that Waddsworthisn't around to curb his natura ability. Mindyou if he had cost £19 m I would have raised an eyebrow.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Actually, the indications are that we paid considerably less than 6 million for him...

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

He's fast - and we need more fast players. But, he's no Michael Owen is he?

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Nice band, I have a couple of albums by them.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Anyone who is now saying they always thought/said that CB would be a big success at SJP are telling medieval banquet-size pork pies, including the Rikster who as usual was simply playing the contrarian.

At least those who thought his signing for £6.5mm - if indeed it was that much - was bad business after his utter failure at Coventry, have at least had the class to fess up.

The only ones who claim any real credit over this transaction are BR - who's judgement has frequently been questioned on here - and FS for backing his judgement with a serious wedge.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Err excuse me....but i'm sticking my hand up for some credit here! I thought he'd do the business and I argued that point with swift....however he's even surpassed my expectations of him....

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

You are excused Gav, go stand in the corner.

I would also like to take the manure (jump on the bandwagon). I berated several on here for moaning about Bellamy. Not that I thought he was going to be great, but to give him a chance, then make up your minds.

On that subject, Bellamy and Robert and now presumably, Distin are all being played in their preferred positions. All of you who are moaning about Bassedas should want to see him start and play the same number of games in his preferred position before you howl about him.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

I'll take the other side, because I never thought I'd see a decent game in him. Glad to be wrong.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

I didn't know what to think as I really hadn't seen much of Bellamy, so was a bit worried at so many people being upset about his signing. The way people were moaning about nearly everyone we targeted, I was also more in the camp of lets give these guys a chance. Still want to feel that way about Bassedas. As has been pointed out, he hasn't often been played in his preffered role. After witnessing his performance against Leeds last season, he clearly has the ability. But it does seem more and more that he may not cut it in our team. Still think he's worth keeping in the squad unless we can get a good price for him.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

OK, you got me sussed Clarky. >p> I usually take a contrary viewpoint just to stir things up a bit , but I didn't say a bad word about him when we signed him , prefering to wait to see how he would turn out.And he's turning out just as I'd hopped ......... Another Peter Beardsley in the making.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

OK Gav, sorry to decry you. My recollection is that many people were of a mind to give the guy the opportunity to impress us - the rest generally felt reimbursing Coventry their total outlay for someone who had utterly failed with them was simply too high a price to pay - given our already difficult financial position.

Whatever, I now reckon he the dog's bollox - fickle fan, or what?

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

...and whatever happened to TMBG? Last thing (only thing) I remember from them are the two quirky and 'zany' songs "Birdhouse" and "Istanbul". Primus do both quirk and zane with much fuller effect.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

He's never going to be Peter Beardsley but he's just wonderful as he is.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

... if he scores twenty goals this season I fear most people will still think we overpaid for him. Lord knows he has probably contributed more to us than Cort has.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

...... I think you're probably mistaken in that particular thought sparxx. He already demonstrated he was indeed worth whatever we paid for him - and as dougal hinted, it was probably less than an initial £6.5mm anyway.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

er, one minute gavin, come out of that corner...who wasn't keen on the Robert signing?

still, come Feb, you may have reason...

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Funny how once we are playing decent football, all the negative rumours disappear. Do we still reckon Dyer is on his way to Leeds? MAybe, I suppose, if he feels he'll struggle to get back in the team ;-)

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

I went to a party with TMBG a few months ago. They just had the music from Malcolm in the Middle out as a single.

I was among those quick to dismiss Bellamy - but it makes no more sense to judge him as the saviour of NUFC now. He's had an excellent couple of games, but let's see how he cracks on away at Charlton, Arsenal, Sunlun etc. Same goes for Robert - looks like most exciting signing since Tino, but they've got to do it over the course of a season. Cold winter Wednesday night at Portman Road and all that...

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

The stats showed last season that Carl Cort had more chances than Bellamy over the whole of last season. Remember Cort played 15 games and Bellamy played 38, so the simple fact is that Coventry didn't create enough for their strikers.

With two wingers - what all of us have been crying out for for the last two years - we can give the strikers bucket loads of chances, it is hardly surprising that Bellamy has topped his goal tally already from last year.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001