1/1 Babb wins the December player of the month award - helped by his 3 goals, Im sure. Despite the Spurs debacle, I somehow manage to win the manager of the month award which is nice. LOANS: Warner - GK - Leicester - 7apps (6.61) Brechet - CB - Accrington - 23apps (7.03) Edman - WBL - Leicester - 22apps (7.49) Pirlo - CM - Brescia - 10apps (7.48)  5 new players are brought in to the U18s squad and all have the potential to make it to the first team in due course, although some thought will be needed as to who, if any will be loaned out as some will need to retain club-grown status which they will only get if they stay.



TIme to take a look at the strength and depth of the squad:

1st team squad U23 / U18s GK Martyn / James Landreau (17)

WBL Bjornebye / Sylvinho Pitcher (16) / Warnock (15) / Edman (18) / Barkero (17)

DC Carragher / Montero / Bjorklund / Scales / Ruddock Woodgate (16) / Brechet (17) / Hofland (17)  Babb WBR Jones / McAteer Ferreira (17)

MC Simeone / Vieira / Barnes / Rivaldo Zanetti (19) / Barry (15) / Pirlo (17)

AMC Zidane / Redknapp Rosicky (16)

ST Owen / Fowler / Inzaghi / Shearer / Rush Charlton (16) Club-grown (if not loaned out) Nation-grown (if loaned in England) Already club-grown

 Long term progression: Rush (35) > not needed, already strong with strikers. Barnes (33) > Pirlo or Zanetti to replace but not needed anytime soon - (will need changes to accommodate) Martyn (30) > Landreau Scales (30) > Brechet or Hofland…whoever’s progressed better. The future looks pretty promising On to the game and it’s a slightly rotational line-up with Inzgahi, Redknapp and McAteer making starts. We utterly dominated from the first minute, even after the sending off, but couldn’t turn that into goals. Zidane pings in a pretty good 30 yard freekick to actually make the difference. Simeone’s 2nd red in the league FK: Rivaldo 5:2 Rest of team

2/1 Simeone didn’t like the weeks fine and comes to see me - standard punishment and he seems happy with that.

3/1 Meeting with DoF who has a list of players out of contract in the summer and interested in a move - world class Brazilians Leonardo and Romario are on there. As well as Klinsmann, Jugovic and a certain Ruud Van Nistelrooy some of the names sound great, but we haven’t really got the space in the squad for them.

6/1 A long injury & suspension list means that Montero, SImeone, Fowler, Babb, Barnes, Scales all miss out. As a result it’s not the strongest team, but it should be enough to progress past Championship Millwall.

Turns out it was enough and the best way to get Zidane to make an impact is to pretty much let him do what he wants. McAteer is the prime creator, with 3 assists but there are contributions all over the place.

8/1 Bolton up next in the FA Cup - now that is one team I’d like to put double figures past. Zanetti - loaned to Galatasaray - £500k

10/1 Hofland - loaned to Leicester - £500k

The first leg of the league cup is up.

Once again Shearer comes to the rescue to earn a draw that I’m not sure we fully deserved, but it does give us a pretty good chance in the second leg. Zidane’s assist and good performance goes to show that putting him in the trequartista role is paying off.

13/1 Back to the league and we welcome Southampton to Anfield. Rush gets a rare start and partners Shearer against his old club.

Rivaldo’s freekick is the only bright spot in an otherwise pretty dull performance. FK: Rivaldo 6:2 Rest of team **Enquire about Le Tissier again

16/1 The busy month continues - Ipswich, currently bottom, are the next team up. A number of players are struggling with fitness so it’s a changed team, but still strong - we line up Martyn Carragher Montero Babb McAteer Sylvinho Vieira Rivaldo Redknapp Shearer Fowler

Mr dependable does it again. He is prolific and still only 26 - Shearer could be scoring goals here for seasons and worth every penny of his very costly wages. That gives us a bit of leeway, even with United’s games in hand. Even with his goals, he’s still only joint 4th scorer in the league. Liverpool p24 - 55pts Newcastle p24 - 48pts Man Utd p22 - 46pts.

17/1 Whilst we’ve got a bit of money, I chance my arm by going to the board and asking for an expansion. They agree to expand to 58,800 (+4,800) to be done in 6 months, so a very positive meeting. Man Utd can only draw one of their games in hand, with 19th placed Wimbledon holding them this time.

18/1 This is a tough top of the table fixture, but we’re pretty much at full strength, so bring it on.

Oh…

Man Utd confirm a massive transfer and pick up 30 year old Brazilian star Romario for a bargain £1.5m. That could provide them with a real boost for the second half of the season.

23/1 Stoke beat West Ham 2:1 over the two legs to get into the final of the league cup. We will join them if we can beat Sunderland in tomorrow’s game. We are the holders…come on lads…

To Shearer or not to Shearer…it’s a massive gamble, but we go with Fowler & Inzaghi up top to give Shearer a bit of a break. Barnes is a welcome sight on the bench for the first time in months after his injury.

Inzaghi had many, many chances to make that a much more comfortable result but missed a host of one-on-ones that I think my gran could have scored. Inzaghi’s been a bit hit & miss so far. have a word - needs to improve. Also, try and get him some Speak to coaching team re: extra training to improve his finishing

27/1 Bolton - FA cup. Inzaghi keeps his place and has the opportunity to redeem himself a bit. A few changes here and there but nothing major. Barnes continues his rehabilitation with a place on the bench.

That was comfortably one of the worst displays I’ve had to endure. Without creating anything themselves, Bolton managed to restrict us to potshots. Disappointing.

28/1 McManaman comes to the office - he’s furious about not playing…he’s transfer listed.

28/1 5th Round of the FA Cup and we’re drawn at home to Coventry if we can break Bolton’s resistance.

30/1

Zidane’s insistence at playing first time through balls to Fowler pays off as 2 of his goals come that way. We shouldn’t have conceded twice, but that was a good win in what could have been a tricky tie.

31/1 McManaman - £25m - Aston Villa Woodgate - Bristol C LOAN - £500k Brechet - Hull LOAN - £500k McManaman moves surprisingly quickly after being told he’s not wanted - he’s quality, but just didn’t fit into the system I wanted. We’ve got loads of young players who need loan time, so they can keep going out and the keep the finances ticking over. We make the transfers early in the window, and after that it’s only McManaman on permanent deals. Romario’s move to Utd is a big one and, potentially, Campbell to Wimbledon could make an impact on them