GS: David Moyes is vastly experienced. I think the vast majority of his decisions will be made by him. I think he will seek an opinion along the way but I think he will make his decisions.
We focus heavily on managers in the media - do we overestimate the difference they make?
GS: The manager is the most important person at the football club but the most important thing is being involved in the recruitment. Day to day, my experience is that it is about the players. There is too much importance attached to managers.
Alan Smith: A big issue is handling players who aren't in the team with egos being probably bigger than they have ever been. That's a skill in itself.
NQ: Manuel Pellegrini's voice becomes significant because of the problems last year. It's a different voice in the dressing-room for City. It's a tougher thing for United, Fergie not being in the dressing room. Jose Mourinho is a great voice in the dressing room. A showman - and I think the players will respond.
Q: With all that he has achieved, especially at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan, doesn't Mourinho prove the importance of a manager?
GS: He's the real deal and he will do well again this time.
AS: He has got the precious ability to carry players with him. Frank Lampard and John Terry were still talking about him four or five years after he left. He leaves an impression on you - you would run through a brick wall for him. You can't learn that.
Q: Moyes has arrived and immediately had the Wayne Rooney issue crashing through his desk. How hard is that?
GS: It's a stinker.
AS: You wouldn't want it but it's something he would have seen coming. Fergie made it public that Wayne wanted to get away. Moyes would have wanted to get his feet under the table, have a nice smooth start, but it has been anything but. It's a big test.
NQ: Early on he did say, "Wayne's not going anywhere, great player, big part of the future", but it hasn't gone away. Players might have left United in the past but they didn't go to challengers.
AS: You would imagine, behind the scenes, Moyes is talking to him.
GS: There are no noises but I don't suppose they will announce they are all sitting around the table having coffees and cakes. You have to look at it from Wayne Rooney's point of view. He felt unloved. He wasn't first choice. For someone who is a great football player, that will be hard to take. If I was his manager, I would be sitting him down and trying to talk him around. He could become better. Remember, up until last year, Robin van Persie missed 30 per cent of all Arsenal matches. Manchester United cannot afford to sell.
Q: There are not enough good players to buy.So that's how it finishes - he definitely stays?
GS: I think it becomes more difficult the longer it goes. It gets more difficult to claw back from the precipice of where people get so entrenched.Have you seen the Luis Suarez situation in the same light?GS: It's very different. You have got Suarez, who was the main man last year, wanting to leave so he plays in a particular competition. You have got Rooney, who was a top man at the football club until a year ago, then he has been demoted to bit-part by Van Persie and he still feels he should be the star of the show. Both are very difficult to manage.
NQ: While the player has the power nowadays, the decision is for the club. You get forced into a decision at times. What happens if they don't let him go, he puts the handbrake on and he is a devalued asset who is no help through the year?
GS: All this will be completely foreign to John Henry. Suarez has got a four-year contract and the player has been trying to dictate. I don't think that happens in American sport. It's the club who decide when or where you are going to go. I think it will be hard for the owner to take but he has made all the right noises for football, not just for Liverpool, because he is faced with a dilemma where he could be stuck with a non-playing devaluing asset when he could get maybe £50 million ($96.8 million) or £60 million.
NQ: It's a hell of a decision and they made a hell of a decision to let Fernando Torres go to Chelsea. For a few hours it looked an amazing decision and then they paid the price they did for the replacement. Then suddenly it wasn't such a great decision.Andy Carroll?GS: You said it.We all seem to think Suarez and Rooney will now stay.
Q: What about the third saga. Gareth Bale. How does that play out?
GS: It's the simplest one. It's Real Madrid, it's £100 million. Real Madrid always get their man.
AS: It's just the figure that has got to be sorted. There is a bit of cat and mouse behind the scenes but it seems that he is going to go. I think Tottenham are resigned to that. If they sell Bale, they don't have to scramble and buy anyone else. They have got Soldado in, got Paulinho in.
Q: Who will win the Premier League?
GS: Sat here now, Manchester City are the favourites, followed by Chelsea, followed by United. But we are still more than two weeks away from the transfer deadline.
NQ: I'd agree.
AS: There is still a long way to go in the transfer window, it's difficult to say until you have seen everybody's hand. City have done well to get it sorted early.
Q: No one has mentioned Arsenal. They had the best finish last season and it had looked like they would add top players.
AS: I don't think I ever saw them as title winners but there was a chance to bridge the gap. As things stand, they haven't taken that chance. You heard the boos at the end of the Emirates Cup after that defeat against Galatasaray. It wasn't so much they lost but the frustration, the feeling, "you said we have got money to spend and we are no closer to improving the side and getting big names in".
GS: As we speak, their rivals are all stronger but Arsenal are not stronger so why would they make that leap?
AS: You have put expectation into the supporters, they are all expecting big things in terms of signings. Gonzalo Higuain didn't come off. I'd love to know what happened with that. Arsenal really wanted him and he ends up going to Serie A. Was it a matter of not paying the extra £5 million? If you want the player and you have the money, go and get him.
GS: Higuain would have been great for Arsenal. I saw Real Madrid and Bournemouth in the friendly. Higuain came on, was Mr Angry, wanted to win desperately.
NQ: Arsenal always got that balance right in the past when David Dein was around. You always got the feeling that Arsene [Wenger] felt comfortable with David keeping a gap between the financial needs of the club and the best players being attracted. I think that's disappeared since David Dein has left. Fair play to Arsene, he got a response from his team at the end of the season.
Q: Niall, what do you make of your old club, Sunderland, and Paulo di Canio?
NQ: I was close to Sunderland in their pre-season training in Hong Kong. He has worked the socks off them this summer. He is very demanding. We know there will be tough days, he's a volatile character. I also know that his strategy, tactics and methods in training - the players love them. His man management will be critical.
Q: It is a World Cup season. Will it be a happy year for England?
GS: They are going to qualify and for the sake of the English game, I hope they do well in the World Cup.
AS: Gritted teeth, Graeme?
GS: No, I do. We all get a living out of the English game. I hope they do well but I think they are short of making a real impression beyond the quarter-finals. There are some very good teams ahead of them.
AS: I'm not optimistic. The pool of talent is seemingly getting shallower by the year and we can't afford any slip-ups. We should qualify but we are not in the rudest of health in comparison with previous years. We need to understand that we are not part of the top four, five, six teams in the world and accept that. I just hope we qualify because it will be a great World Cup.
Q: And is the Premier League still the place to be? Gareth Bale wants to leave, two German clubs in the Champions League final and some big players - Moutinho, Falcao, Cavani, Thiago - moving elsewhere?
GS: It will still be the league to watch. We are, without a doubt, the most exciting. You can pick out the occasional El Clasico but our league, by far, is still the best.
