Yep got ours today, looking forward to it

It was difficult but I have mine in the post and all being well I will be there for the first game of the season.
I want to see Billy leading the line and getting off to a good start heading towards 20+ goals this season. If he does that he can go with my best wishes for £5m to a premier club. My optimism is back in abundance.

Alex, after the events of the past couple of weeks i too have regained much optimism.
I heard SOD on Radio Deedar last night sying that he was expecting Ryan Mason to sign up in the next few days (not sure if it is permanent or loan) and given that the club are trying to resist offers for Copps and Billy together with what appear to be a few good signings i have begun to think we can do well this season.
When Stock, Woods and JOC regain fitness they will obviously strengthen the squad so that bodes well too.
I dont wear the rose tinted specs that some do and at times i do despair at what goes on but this time around i do feel as though we have a good chance of a strong season.
As for Billy, well i fancy that if he stays fit that he will have a great chance of being among the divisions leading scorers which will in turn probably lead to him moving on at the end of the season.
That will then be inevitable, but we have to resign ourselves to that if he continues to impress.

drfc, that's exactly how I see it. I think we will have to be patient for the new boys to gel but so will Brighton, bring it on.

Don't get carried away I can still see the same defensive frailties. We need 3 centre backs who are consistantly fit to be able to form a partnership.

I share your optimism Alex and Hound. Mason would be an exciting addition and assuming Billy is still here on Sept 1st, along with Brown as a bit of a target man, we should have more options open to us in attack.

Hopefully Copps can recreate his better form and once the rest of our midfield are fit, we should see a return to the flowing football we're used to. We need to have more luck on the injury front than last term and then our midfield can be one of the best in the division again.

Defence will hopefully be more consistent and also be relatively injury free, as this killed us last year. We have the players that can do a good job for us and be flexible in being able to play more than one role.

family going down to brighton very optimistic, only hope apart from a couple of new signings idont want to see no more transfer talk

recreate his better form?Interesting never thought it had been lost

Hey Lanzo,

I thought your position was that he never had any, so how can you lose what you never had. More importantly, how could you suggest therefore that it had never been lost!!!!!

Bally alias NY

Hey Alex, Fuzzy and everyone else, have you seen the competitio n in the Sun for Wickes to sponsor training facilities for " your " club.

Might be a good idea for all of us to submit an entry, as the Physio said, we are in need of better training facilities.

Go to the Sun website, it is on there for all to see.

I agree with Lanzarote re the defence - what do we have, a 34 year old injury prone player and a converted left back as our first choice central defensive partnership. And I assume the alternate at the moment with injuries to Lockwood, Martis and JOC would be Hird who has hardly set the world alight in recent seasons. Hopefully Bouchenna will be signed if he is decent. Sounds like he did well in the Armthorpe game but not sure how he's done after that.

NY

Hey ionly and Alex

Finally got what might be my last trip home booked. Leave Chicago on Sept 22nd and arrive on 23rd. Booked into the Regent for five nights so hope to get to the Coventry and Bristol games before flying back. Let's just hope there isn't any early snow!!!!

NY, In theory I should be able to make it for one of the games as, all being well, I am on my way back from Edinburgh.

I can make 24th Yankee, will speak before weekend

Lanzo,
good news Cops signs two year extension

Yes. He was at B and Q yesterday morning with new rugs and DIY stuff, he was very chatty and seemed happy, my mate wanted to know why he was not training but now we know. Well Done Copps. Excellent news

Lanzarote official statement on the new contact for 26.
NO COMMENT.
On the alf bid. I got you Bennet plus Brown and looks like the smoke coming from montana del fuego re alf was'nt far wrong and may yet turn out to be correct if Billy goes to Birmingham

Lanzo, you only have to read the papers to know that Birmingham are looking very close at Billy and negotiations must be going on. Billy would be stupid not to find out what is on the table. Will he go? I hope not mainly because that would make your prediction of Le Fondre come true! Fire mountain might be wrong at least I hope it is. We need those 20+ goals he will get this season.

Just been on Birmingham's 606, they certainly want him

NY

Please see my comments re Sharpie on the Wades gone link.

A move to Birmingham (or Forest) was always far more likely than Ipswich or Southampton. Reading the JA606 comments the thing that could make this a non-starter is their current financial situation. Whether they make a serious effort to buy Billy or not seems to depend on if the Jerome to Stoke deal happens,

Will Billy be on the coach to Carlisle?

It will be a bad sign if he doesn't play!

If he does play I feel that he will start the season for us.

NY

I hope so Alex, but I should look at things next week when it may become clear as to why we are now looking at offers again. I think Billy is always going to be on somebodies radar if he continues to score and especially if we start b adly in terms of wins. Billy can still score and we lose, forcing clubs to come after him and the Board to look to selling. As has been said before, he does not belong to the club, he was bought by the Directors who may want to cash in on their investment.

Paper talk & I not read too much. I remember read the sun in past & Wolves interest in Billy Sharp but never put bid for Sharp so paper is paper!!!

I think if you look at Birmingham they have a need for a striker, Jerome is on his way out, the Croatian has gone or is going and Phillips is in Blackpool. It is also a lot closer to Sheffield with more life and he could be in the Premiership next season.