At least we always have Manchester City to cheer us up. According to the Guardian:

Manchester City want to sign Brazilian striker Wagner Love.

In other rumours: Gary McAllister spotted in Monaco; William Hill slash odds on McAllister to 1/25 (yes, that is the right way round); why am I hearing Paul Ince's name mentioned? Why?

I think Bates will give Bassett a shot for at least a week or so.

Gary McAllister would be fine by me though.

tommydski wrote:Gary McAllister

I know this is my Dad's preferred option. For him, McAllister is nothing short of a legend, one of the greatest playmaking midfielders ever to have lived. This is of course a clear case of the world viewed through rose-tinted 1991-92 season spectacles. But he was undoubtedly a great and very intelligent player, and is likely to be a popular choice with the fans, I guess?

If Juande Ramos was as impressed with me as it seems, and Walter Smith was willing to let me go for an astronomical fee that would help my club, I'm pretty sure I would go.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 215221.stm

I think I read a quote where Hutton said he didn't see how a move to Tottenham could help his career. Rangers are a big club, but I'm not sure I understand that.

iembalm wrote:I think I read a quote where Hutton said he didn't see how a move to Tottenham could help his career. Rangers are a big club, but I'm not sure I understand that.

My guess would be that Hutton feels that as long as he's playing Champions League football at Rangers, he might get noticed and snapped up by one of the true big boys, rather than having to get himself noticed outside the CL playing at Spurs. Let's face it, Spurs aren't going to be playing in the CL for two years at least, and maybe Hutton's a very ambitious man who plans to go all the way to the top?

Apparently, Dave Bassett has already gone. Phew! Expect McAllister to be in place by Saturday.

McAllister is a funny one. He will not be universally popular; in fact, he has been booed on his returns to Elland Road.

Popular opinion has it that he deserted Leeds for Ron Atkinson's coin at Coventry in 1996. After all, why else would he leave Leeds for Coventry if not for money?

For me, this version leaves out the service he went on to give Coventry; returning after his late-career holiday in Liverpool and eventually managing them. That suggests his interest was more than monetary. The mystery for me is why Liverpool or Arsenal didn't take him at £3m in 1996.

I don't blame him for leaving Leeds when he did either; those were the last, barmpot days of Howard Wilkinson (who didn't last three months after McAllister and Speed left) and Leeds were, essentially, rubbish. The players left from the title win were tired and stale; the new signings average and Tomas Brolin; the young players coming through were poor. Everyone needed a change and everything did change after that summer, from the ownership to the manager to the players to the club badge.

So, he won't be welcomed wholeheartedly; this is no Keegan-style 'messiah' appointment. But Gary McAllister was a fucking brilliant player, one of the best Leeds ever had. His wife's illness (and eventual death) stopped what looked like becoming good work at Coventry and McAllister remains well regarded as a manager. For me, this is the perfect appointment: one of our best former players, who knows the club and the city but who will not create unrealistic expectations (the way, say, John Sheridan might have); with a common-sense attitude and a decent management record. McAllister's arrival should be small on pizazz but even Leeds fans with reservations about 'the Coventry thing' will be able to get behind him the way they never could with Wise and Poyet.

And Dave Bassett will never be in charge of a LUAFC game.

simmo wrote:

iembalm wrote:I think I read a quote where Hutton said he didn't see how a move to Tottenham could help his career. Rangers are a big club, but I'm not sure I understand that.

My guess would be that Hutton feels that as long as he's playing Champions League football at Rangers, he might get noticed and snapped up by one of the true big boys, rather than having to get himself noticed outside the CL playing at Spurs. Let's face it, Spurs aren't going to be playing in the CL for two years at least, and maybe Hutton's a very ambitious man who plans to go all the way to the top?

I'm not sure it'll take Spurs that long. Hutton is a great signing for them (even if he did have to be persuaded with large bags of money), and if they can keep Woodgate and King fit as well, they now have a really good defence. Imagine Tottenham with a defence! It just might work. Even if they can't hang on to Berbatov in the summer, they still have Keane, Defoe and Bent, or the money to buy a big name replacement.

daniel robert chapman wrote:

simmo wrote:Let's face it, Spurs aren't going to be playing in the CL for two years at least

I'm not sure it'll take Spurs that long.

I'll bet you a fiver that Tottenham will not qualify for the Champions League before the end of 2009-2010 season.

Why?

Because they're Tottenham. They always fuck up.

Up for it, DRC?

simmo wrote:

daniel robert chapman wrote:

simmo wrote:Let's face it, Spurs aren't going to be playing in the CL for two years at least

I'm not sure it'll take Spurs that long.

I'll bet you a fiver that Tottenham will not qualify for the Champions League before the end of 2009-2010 season.

Why?

Because they're Tottenham. They always fuck up.

Up for it, DRC?

No. You raise a very valid point.

Meanwhile, negotations with McAllister seem tense:

I'll also add that due to a misreading of an internet headline from the Blackpool Gazette ('Pool boss Grayson in Leeds Frame', or somesuch), a wildcat rumour spread around this office that Harry Gration was being lined up as Leeds' new manager.