Apparently Wolves are about to bid for McClen, the figure of £1 million is being mentioned. Q. Do we take the money or are we making trouble for ourselves with regards to cover. Personally I'd take the money- the lad is not going to get a look in when Emerton arrives in the summer. Robert Dyer Emerton Speed Jenas and Solano. Any 4 play with 2 for coverage (4 if you add bassedas and acuna) AM

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

Answers

it would free the way fro Kerr and Green who from reports seem to be a better bet. What do those that attend the reserve games think?

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

Take the money. He's never going to be a first team regular with the players that are already here and coming through the ranks. He can handle the Premiership but would suit a Bolton or Derby more. Somewhere where he isn't a local lad playing for his home club and expectations are high. I think Wolves would give him the chance to grw and then he'll play brilliant in the first Division and Leeds will pay silly money for him.

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

Better make sure we include a sell-on clause then!

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

£1m? Snap there fingers off - he'll never make it as a PL player.

I don't rate Bassedas but he's a better player than McClen. I'd sell McClen and recall Bassedas as insurance - until the summer that is when I'd release Bassedas also.

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

Good point about Bassedas. We do need cover in midfield, esp as Jenas is cup-tied and Dyer's fitness may be a problem.

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

How confident are you of Emerton coming? I would still have thought he'd prefer Leeds, with fellow Aussies Kewell & Viduka helping him with his cork hat / Fosters drinking / croc wrestling, etc.

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

Let leeds buy an overvalued Brett Emerton and we'll take their hands off for Harry Kewell. It's the perfect time to pick up a potentially world class player - while his game is off the boil and while him and O'Dreary are at loggerheads

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

The Journal this morning has FS mouthing off about serious squad strengthening if we qualify for the CL. He reckons they have a series of plans set out for the close season. The one that will be followed depends on whether they qualify for the CL, UEFA or Intertwobob. As he says, the CL is the only one where a significant minimum level of income is essentially guaranteed because of the league format. In the others, the income derived depends on how far you get and is therefore much less predictable.

The clear inference though is that if a CL place is won then several significant signings can be expected.

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2002

The question iis though, in all honesty who is worth paying the money for and would be available. They must be experianced and good enough for the CL. Lot's of players are good enough but not available or overpriced (Brett Emerton?). I wouldn't agree with the club paying out the sort of figures I have seen quoted after the few times I have managed to watch him.

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2002

Freddie's looking forward to being at the World Cup jamboree with a fat wadge in his pocket. I just hope we spend wisely. Luckily Bobby doesn't seem to suffer from 'sweet shop' syndrome as much as some.

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2002

I watched Emerton last night against Lovenkrands of Rangers, ok it was away from home , he did play in a orthodox right back role with the odd foray up the park , 50-50 against his man , in all honesty would need to see him again but first impression is no better than Aaron, (in that position). Barry Ferguson again stood out ,as did Amoruso.

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2002

Clarky, I remember when we were discussing Bassedas being sent off on loan, you said that McClen was better than Bassedas.

So has your opinion of McClen dropped since he has re-entered the first team? (that's a genuine question by the way)

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2002

To be honest, they're both useless Paul.

Probably just selective amnesia due to my advanced age - recent memories are the most vivid. When I commented on Badedas I'd probably seen him recently: my recent views on McClen are based on having just seen him.

Quite frankly, neither of these two should be wearing b&w, and neither are fit to lace Rob Lee's boots - even now.

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2002

Totally agree, although McClen's record recently isn't too bad, we've won every game he's played in.

By the way, Emerton would cost about £7m, don't know if this is really that expensive for someone so highly rated.

The $20m fee is quoted in Australian dollars as it is an Australian sourced story.

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2002

Well, if we qualify for the CL I reckon Brett's a Geordie!

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2002

If we get into ECL then we need to build a f***ing academy and training facilities, then sign up Distin permanently and only sign anyone else if we have any money left over. The squad is young, skilled and confident and should tick along nicely for another season without too much tinkering. If we spend big without sorting out the fundamentals then we will have learned nothing from our mistakes and can go back to showing our arses in public. I'll get my scissors out ready.

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2002

Softie, Agree, btw as a matter of interest seeing as it is mentioned a lot on here , what in your opinion constitutes an `Academy`,? IMHO that the `Academy` is already up and running, u19`s,u17`s and Youth Development overseed by some pretty knowledable people. The missing link is Club Training Facilities for all,state of the art ,which comparing to Rangers will cost a total of 12-15 million. Rather than explain the set-up can I suggest you visit Rangers web site to see for yourself what it entails, suffice to say that the players/officials will only be at SJP on match day`s. The reason I ask is at times Macbeth has been asked on numerous occasions with his FLC head on to pursue the development of the Academy, I may be wrong but I feel the club should be actively looking at the training facilities, the rest follows, hence agreement with Softies post and playing wise it has merits. The boards failing in the past has been to improve part of a problem without addressing the whole. In the long run that line never works,never will.

-- Anonymous, February 23, 2002

I certainly agree with Softie, and was only reporting what I read Shepherd had said.

I certainly share the believe that the Club's long term future also needs to be secured. While it's difficult to be overly critical of Shepherd priorities over the last 2-3 seasons, where the Club's very survival as a PL Club has been at significant risk, he has to consider the other critical issues as soon as is practica - hopefully he will do so.

The lack of ANY training facilities - and the need to change and shower at SJP and be bussed to rented facilities - for a 1st team squad that could be playing in the CL in 6 months is plainly ludicrous. This could even conceivably lead to top players refusing to come here.

The issue of the "Youth Academy" is raised by Buff. We have a fairly productive "youth development programme" that is achieving decent results despite the lack of adequate facilities for the youngsters - facilities that are nowhere near the minimum standard prescribed by, I believe, the FA. The continuing lack of adequate facilities may well have contributed to the resignation of it's Director, Alan Irvine, who has been largely responsible for its recent success.

As I understand it, under these prescribed requirements, the overall development of the youngsters needs to be catered for, including their continuing education. That is why the majority of Clubs are going for purpose-built "Football Colleges". We are a million miles behind the majority of PL Clubs, including SAFC and the Boro. There was a documentary on tv a few months ago on Liverpool's £12m YA, which was just fantastic.

Because of Alan Irvine's dedicated work, the lack of adequate facilities has not seriously hurt us to date. However, unless vigorously addressed, and very soon, this will inevitably impair our ability to attract the best talent - why come to a Club that clearly doesn't take youth development seriously by providing at least equivalent facilities to it's competitors?

-- Anonymous, February 23, 2002