Cabrone

I think more fans are realistic than this BB would let you believe. This is going to be a tough season and 4th from bottom would be a result IMO. Need a class GK + CB to keep the goals against as low as possible.

Very overrated + media hyped player IMO. A couple of good goals against the Germans but against England he was pants and got nowhere against the Spanish. Wouldn't mind if he does play against us.

Don't know much about the guy but if he's captained Rangers and played international football it sounds like a decent signing in a position that we badly needed some strength. We haven't had a really good box to box midfielder since Quashie so pleased to have filled that role. Chaplow is attacking and Dean\Morgan are defensive but no-one really covers the whole pitch. Get a top quality GK and then a quality CH and we'll have enough to survive IMO.

MLT, arguably the most naturally talented footballer England have (n)ever had. Glad I was around to see his entire career, what a pleasure it was too.

I hope this guy turns out to be good but the Dutch LB at the Euro's was really dodgy and was still called up before Buttner.

From the day we got promoted I thought that 4th from bottom would be a result for us. Fans need to have realistic expectations for 2012/13. As it stands the current team would be likely relegation material IMO but we still have the transfer window to strengthen in key areas like GK, CM, CH so it all depends on who we we buy. First up is GK. We need a class keeper.

Me too, nothing against Jack Butland who may turn out to be a quality keeper but we are a newly promoted prem team who need better players right now if we are to survive. Being as no-one knows how Butland is going to turn out I'd go for a more established keeper. It's too crucial a position to experiment on IMO. £6M can get you a lot of good GKs.....

Whilst a new GK has been my no.1 issue since we got promoted £6M is a huge gamble on a GK that hasn't even played for Brum let alone in the prem. Being as this is our 1st season back in the prem shouldn't we be looking at more established\better\safer\cheaper GK options? Rob Green would have been fine with me and quite a few have mentioned McGregor who also would do a great job.

Yes, I think RL is good for at leat 10 goals next season. We'll soon find out. PS I thought Carrol was decent last night despite the fact that England starved him of service. If you are going to play a battering ram of a player then at least give him some crosses!

August Sat 18 15:00 A Manchester City PREM Sat 25 15:00 H Wigan Athletic PREM September Sat 1 15:00 H Man Utd PREM Sat 15 15:00 A Arsenal PREM Sat 22 15:00 H Aston Villa PREM Sat 29 15:00 A Everton PREM ---------------------------------------- Gulp.......if we could get a couple of home wins out of these fixtures I'd consider it a fantastic return. Emphasizes even more that we need a top quality GK, KD would\will have a torrid time against that lot. No big expectations this season, 4th from bottom will be a decent return for me.

Your bitterness clouds your judgement but if you feel that everything that went wrong with the club was all down to Harry Redknapp then that's your issue. Redknapp inherited a bloated squad full of journeymen caused by years of managerial merry-go-round, bizarre tinkering and injured players like Delgardo signed against managerial wishes. I saw most games of 04/05 and we were dire almost from day 1. Wasn't Redknapp our 3rd or 4th manager that season? You can't undo a mess like that with a click of your fingers. Most managers can't turn a squad around and gel a new team together in weeks. Like the pilot of a stalling plane falling out of the sky he wrestled with the controls but eventually ran out of height. The lesson is if you want a well run club then don't chop and change managers every other month and don't tinker without the full buy-in of existing staff. Thank goodness we have what appears to be a rational guy incharge now.

It just isn't that easy to pull a club out of the mess that we were in, even over half a season. The problem was years of mad experiments, managerial merry go round leading to a bloated squad full of journeymen, constant interference from above and poor morale. I watched most of our games that season, we looked like a beaten team waiting for the drop almost from the off. Spurs (a), Watford (a) and Pompey (a) were particularly memorable horror shows that stick in the mind. Once you are down there it is very hard getting out esp with all the shenanigins going on. Redknapp has his faults but few managers would have gotten us out of that nosedive. The club had been run into the ground. All IMO of course.

To be fair to Harry wasn't Clough (IMO the greatest English manager of all time) the same? His motto was 'football's a simple game', pick good players in the right positions, let them do their stuff and it works. Not even sure if he bothered to turn up to a lot of training sessions TBH. Don't understand the bitterness towards Harry. When he was here he was trying to float a sinking ship with a lunatic above him hell bent on employing rugby coaches and obscure academy 'gurus' above him on massive salaries. I would challenge most managers to have kept us up under those circumstances. What's more - he assembled a fine team in the champ only to be undermined by the chairmain who sold Crouch and handed Harry 90k for transfers. We were 1 or 2 decent strikers away from a bounce back to the prem IMO.

He's definitely better than KD and would have liked him here but £50k p.w is complete madness so it's time to look further. QPR need their heads looking at, they are going to bankrupt themselves if they carry on like this. Football has to get back into the real world.

The fact that so many on here turn their noses up at a keeper of the quality of Rob Green makes me really laugh. Who do they think we are to turn our noses up at a quality player like him? He is a proven premier league keeper and definitely better than Davis. Green would slot in as no 1 straight away. KD would be a very solid backup. Wages should be OK as he'd be a free signing. Not sure how they'd affect the dressing room though. The only question mark is why leave West Ham?

Top priority for me as it's a crucial position. The defence is going to face top quality strikers next season so we need as good a GK as we can get. A top class GK could save 10-15 points over a season. If Butland is as good as the hype then I'd fully expect him to challenge KD from day 1. That's probably what NA will say to him too as he's not going to want to come here to sit on the bench.

So they are offering Ricky 4-5 times more than Holt? If you are going to make stuff up then at least try to be a bit realistic.

Welcome back to reality. Whilst we were the prettiest girl in league 1, one of the prettiest in the champ now we're just plain Jane or even frumpy Fiona in the prem. That's life.

Good, Chappers was at the heart of our best performances last season and I'd be sorry to see him go, even if we got Jay Rod coming in.

Norwich, Spurs and Arsenal away because those are the grounds I'd like to go to. Everton because since that semi in 84 we've won 9 drawn 11 and lost 24. Time to ammend the record (though they'll probably give us a tonking TBH).

Alan McGregor or Kilmarnock's Cammy Bell. Both would be ready for no 1 spot in the team.

Fair play to Chelsea, I thought that Bayern's finishing was poor and whilst Robben and Ribery looked good running at the defence they didn't provide enough decent service to trouble the Chelsea back 4. You can look as pretty as you want but it's all about getting the ball in the net.

Although he's class and only 2 years older than Ricky he's a liability regarding injuries and would want a tonne of cash so no for me. Maybe he could sign up for the blue few as long as he's OK with being paid in nectar points?

Yes absolutely. We need to remember that we were playing in league 1 only 12 short months ago so to be able to consolidate in the prem just 2 years later would be a great achievement. I'm starting off with the aspiration of survival and anything more is a bonus. Signings should give us a better idea of how we may do.

The difference between the clubs is that whilst we have had the odd clown running us Pompey have been devoid of decent ownership for more than 40 years. I honestly can't ever remember a time when Pompey was run by a competent person, the club has always been operated on a short term take-the-money-now basis and it's finally caught up with it. Although Lowe tried his hardest the club came through admin and now finds itself with a decent stadium, a superb academy, a strong fan base and a long term strategy. Pompey are at least a decade behind us IMO.