I know I'm going to get a little stick for my opinion today on a certain very expensive player and probably a little for the site not working with Internet Explorer version 6, but that particular browser came out nearly ten years ago and well, it's a tough call, but we can't continue supporting it properly.
Sincere apologies for those only able to use IE6 - but my bank have stopped supporting it now and when those guys stop supporting browsers, I think it's okay for me to also.
Anyway, moving on to Raul Albiol, who we are apparently interested in. Why is this speculation just rubbish? Well, it might not be. We've got one Spanish central defender and the manager might be looking at bringing in another that can also play another role. Albiol can also play in midfield too.
He currently plays for Getafe although he is a Valencia CF player and at 23 years old, he's made over 100 appearances for them and 12 appearances for the full Spanish national team, but can you see this happening? I can't but I'm hoping to be surprised this summer.
Moving on to James Milner and in case you had forgotten he's our most expensive signing ever and according to Martin O'Neill he's worth every penny. I don't think so myself, but you can't take anything away from the lad for effort, but is he honestly worth the £12mn we paid for him?
I was asked by someone to leave my criticism of Milner until the end of the season and well, our season is over so here it is. It's not that he hasn't played well, it's that he hasn't been a £12mn. player and as for Martin O'Neill thinking he has a chance of going to South Africa next year, I'd suggest his only chance is if others are unable to.
Milner works and we've seen this season that when we've been chasing a game on a couple of occasions the manager has put Milner to right back - my point is, if you pay £12mn. for a winger surely you want it to be one that can carve out chances and get good crosses in. Actions speak louder than words.
The crossing is a big point for me because a lot of the time it has been woeful from Milner. Often it doesn't beat the first man and I've got to be honest and tell you I'm worried he's not going to get better. But I said all this at the start of the season and some Newcastle fans came on more than happy because we paid that money for him and some of them warned us too, but my view has ultimately not changed.
Milner works harder than anyone in the team but given the choice of Milner, Wright-Phillips or Lennon, I think I will confidently predict most would probably not be picking Milner, unless you were buying Milner to play at right back and were not concerned with creating chances.
I want to be wrong about Milner and when we were playing five in the middle, he looked better eventually as I think he got used to how he was supposed to play, but he's struggled again going back to four in the middle and ultimately the formation the team plays doesn't have an impact on his ability to cross which has not been what you'd expect from a £12mn. winger, which is sort of my point.
Milner works hard, but he's not worth every penny. Had we paid £4mn. for Milner I'd say he was worth every penny but that is who the manager wanted and that is what he had to pay, so he did. I'm not questioning the manager or his choice of player, but I'd hope he did a little bit better this summer with the money he gets given.
But, the manager seems to like him and that is all that matters and he'll get games because we only have two players that like to play on the left or right hand side of midfield, so we're sort of stuck, but if we get another in this summer, which I think we have to get, then Milner will have competition and I think with that, we might see Milner struggle.
Right, that is about it for today I think, I'm rushing downstairs to watch the football.