And, suprisingly, Nol Solano was the only one with anything negative to say about us.

He said "I don't want to look too far ahead but our squad is capable of eclipsing Chelsea in Europe this season. Newcastle are better bets to go further in the competition than Chelsea this season simply because we have the most recent experience of what that level of football requires."

Mickey Owen's comments were a bit more positive though "They have bought a lot of players but bought a good mix. They have got a lot of young English players who have played in the Premiership before. Most managers like to bring a few new faces in to freshen things up and in the summer and Chelsea have certainly done that."

And now to Paolo di Canio. His comments were focused on Joe Cole, his former West Ham teammate. The new Charlton signing said "know this is a great opportunity for Joe. Under Ranieri and his very good technical set-up at Chelsea, he will come into his own.

"He was a great talent to see at West Ham and now he has somebody like [Juan Sebastian] Veron to help him look even better at Stamford Bridge. I think it is certain he can become one of the top players in the game.''

He's got to get in the team first, Paolo...