Theres been alot of talk on here recently about a) our squad size, b) the kind of money we've spent and c) the kind of money in football in general. My first point in this article, is that Keane, unlike the recent departed Keegan and Curbishley, has not only been allowed to be in control of his own transfers but completely backed by the board and the chairman, with Quinn often away negotiating the deals Keane wants. They are all on the same page, building a great squad. Which leads me to the next point of the amount of players Keane has signed, and consequently let go, I personal am not too worrried, as Keane has bought to serve the purpose needed at the time, eg championship players to win the league and stay up, and I feel only now are we getting to see our true squad and how it'll be. I think they'll be a lot less new faces as we're now settled and have the players we want. Let the likes of McShane, Halford, Wallace go on loan was a good move as right now, with the state of the transfer market we wouldnt get our money back, or anywhere near. at least on loan they get the chance to show what they can do, and the clubs they're at will probably end up buying them if they serve their purpose well, which they will as they're off to championship clubs. my point is on reflection on the matters else where in the premiership i think the board deserve huge credit for backing Keane, knowing the amount of players he was buying was purely to keep us and allow him to do what he did this summer, which was establish a good, solid squad. We've got strength in depth and if you take out the youngsters and the likes of Conolly and Graham Kavanagh its not as big as people think and is a good looking premier league squad. Once everyone settles in this squad as it is, I think will do well:

1. Gordon
2. Bardsley
3. Mccartnety
4. Taino
5. Nosworthy
6. Whitehead
7. Edwards
8. Malbranque
9. Cisse
10. Richardson
11. Diouf
12. Miller
13. Ward
14. Murphy
15. Collins
16. Chopra
17. Jones
18. Leadbitter
19. Yorke (more of a coahing role these days)
20. Reid
21. Chimbonda
23. Healy
26. Ferdinand
32. Fulop
44. Stokes (likely to go on loan in jan)
45. Prica (likely to leave in jan)

26 players i think in our squad which could play in the first team, its healthy number with healthy quality. your thoughts?