Was signed by Hicks, unfortunately.

Apparently it did. Jealous reds eh

Good to see Speedo getting the nod at Sheff Utd ... I can see him doing a decent job.

Not really seen it done it etc.

Bindipper law.

Great signing = Good business from Rafa.

Crap signing= It was Hicks or Gillet despite having no way of knowing this.

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:Anelka's got an 18 match ban from the French national team. If only Terry, Lampard and Cole would get bans like that. Evra's got a 5 match ban. At least he's taking it well and with dignity. "The so-called punishment has no relevance whatsoever because, for me, the French national team was an issue which ended on June 19 when I was kicked out of the training centre at Knysna. "These people are clowns. I am dying with laughter."

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:Anelka's got an 18 match ban from the French national team. If only Terry, Lampard and Cole would get bans like that. Evra's got a 5 match ban. At least he's taking it well and with dignity. "The so-called punishment has no relevance whatsoever because, for me, the French national team was an issue which ended on June 19 when I was kicked out of the training centre at Knysna. "These people are clowns. I am dying with laughter."

Hope it works out for him. Cracking player and I'm sure he'll turn into a very good manager too.

Nah. Voronin, Dossena, Lucas, Kuyt etc. were all signed by Rafa. Degen's agent is a good friend of Hicks, he recommended him to Tom as he was out of contract at his club. Rafa never said anything 'cause it was on a free and on a fairly low salary (around £30k, I think, not small, but not huge, either). He wasn't even offered a contract at Dortmund.

I think, in general, football managers get far too much credit for their activity in the transfer market, at least managers in England. 90% of it is done by scouts, who then recommend players to higher scouts, who will eventually filter out the best players to recommend to the manager. A lot of transfers in England are done via agents offering players out, look around the media and you will see several players linked to loads of clubs, mostly because of the agent throwing names into the hat. Boselli, who's just joined Wigan is a good example of this, another one is Loic Remy who's currently being linked to every club going. Even then, when the media say 'a bargain found by Redknapp' or whatever, generally it isn't even managers who make the decision on how much a player is valued at, generally they ask for the player then the chief exec, or whoever, negotiates the fee.

All very plausible I suppose but how can you possibly know this? Internet message boards? Bloke in the pub? Newsletter from Shankly's Buddies or whatever they're called?

It depends who you trust and believe. If you listen/read the thoughts of the right people with the knowledge from the right places, then it's easy to believe them. The stuff about Degen was said/revealed by Tor-Kristian Karlsen, a Norwegian scout with great knowledge of the Bundesliga, as well most other leagues.