For some strange reason, the only place I would like to see Carrick go is back to Spurs. Don’t know why? If not, we should hold onto him.

Brown – hope not.

Carrick – what, and have Fletcher take his place in the squad? John O’Shea? We need 4 central midfielders and with Scholes getting older, Carrick will get plenty of games.

And it’s not like Newcastle already don’t have a glut of central midfielders (not that they’re available atm, but still)

Newcastle – Buy Bentley and get Walcott on Loan, then look to get your hands on a couple of defenders, Brown won’t join the toon, so Pique on loan maybe? How bout Breno, he’s an 18 year old Brazilian defender at Bayern Munich.

Carrick won’t move, he’s smart enough to give it another season and he knows that the prime reason he isn’t first choice at United is because of his own lack of form. On form, and with Scholes nearing twilight years and Carrick’s going to stay till summer at least.

Sol – Pompey are doing well but with Sol not going to South Africa 2010 (I’d be shocked if he went for anything other than a SEVERE injury crisis), moving to Newcastle could be a good means to end his career with tons of money. Then again, Pompey have a better chance of playing in Europe than Newcastle do next season and Sol has ambition (and already has money). Maybe next summer.

Spurs season was wasted within the first three months. For most people the Premier League has been written off and unless we stun United in the FA Cup, everything rests on Arsenal tomorrow. And even if we reach the final Chelsea or Everton aren’t going to lay down and allow us a safe passage into the UEFA Cup.

As with every ‘x year plan’, there comes over-achievement, set-backs, before you reach your rightful place. Of course it’s easy to say “lol spurs are a mid-table side” but we’re only half-way through our own plan — it’s a bigger set-back than expected, but I still think we’re in the group of City, Everton, Pompy and Villa of breaking into the Top Four.

Spurs have made a lot of mistakes. We are an example – at times – of how not to run a club.

I’d argue that City haven’t overtaken us in terms of class, crowds or performance. If you base it on this season I’ll give you performance alone. Class? I like Petrov and Elano and they’ve got a solid back line (the dream!) but are not on the same footballing level as Spurs. They are usually boring to watch but the signs are good and I applaud some of the results they’ve managed this season.

Crowds is an easy shot at us because of the small ground and whatever way I word it, can be used against me just as easily. I’d only point out that Spurs are more often sold-out (even with our RIDICULOUS ticket prices) than Man City. It’s a loyal fanbase that sells well. We’re exploited to hell and back but we still keep coming (ignorance or love, I’ll leave it open to debate). The City of Manchester Stadium/Eastlands is a very rare sell-out.

I think Newcastle are in the same mould as Spurs, just a few years behind. You need a solid base to build upon, maybe focus on a cup run for a while and after that pick up a couple of players that maybe aren’t going to be in Top Four sides but are capable of playing UEFA Cup football, in a team that likes to the play the beautiful game how it’s supposed to. I like Given, Taylor, (young, so can hopefully eliminate some mistakes) Barton (if he can wind his neck in) and Owen (if he can stay injury-free).

We stumbled upon Jol after Santini left us high and dry. Lucky you could say. Maybe that’s what Newcastle need. Is ‘King Kev’ the man to do it? I’m not sure. Yet.