NJS

I don't think he wants to be relegated - his ridiculous trust in Kinnear and lack of football awareness are the threats but I think they're crimes of ignorance rather than crimes of malice.

Compared to other clubs? "Sensible" running of the club until the finances improve are fine but for one thing - relegation and the shit that goes with it. Yeah compared to other clubs. Are you suggesting they'd be better off being irresponsible? Not irresponsible but as I've said many times a reasonable level of debt is not the greatest crime in the universe - its less of a crime than relegation.

All will be sorted when he sells. Who is he selling to like? Anyone who'll stump up the money - I'd guess in about 12-15 months time. No one then. mackems.gif There may not be any buyers now but the point is he will sell when he can - if you honestly think he's now committed to five years in charge you're mad imo.

Compared to other clubs? "Sensible" running of the club until the finances improve are fine but for one thing - relegation and the shit that goes with it.

All will be sorted when he sells. Who is he selling to like? Anyone who'll stump up the money - I'd guess in about 12-15 months time.

All will be sorted when he sells.

Fair enough but I don't remember too many windows where we ended up in profit.

Considering Ashley did exactly what the Halls did when he floated SD (though the Halls weren't damned by the City for ripping them off) how are they "morally" different if that's what you're implying? Also what about the price he allegedly wanted off the Arabs in September which would have made him more that £150m? Shepherd & Hall creamed millions of the trading income out of the club & left it in a disastrous financial state, that's entirely different to money made from selling shares. The vast majority of the £146m was from selling shares. Yes they did take salaries and dividends but that's small beer compared with what Ashley wanted to and would have made but for the credit crunch. I also object to any money Wise and the rest have had from the club far more more than what Shepherd did. You carry on comparing taking profits out of the club which could have been used for player purchases with making money from selling the whole entity though. I believe they (the Halls & Shepherds) made over £24m by taking dividends & using the club's money to buy their own shares off them. That £24 million doesn't include their salaries either. Small beer to you perhaps, but more than a couple of players for the football club. I always knew the Halls and The Shepherds were in it for the money and never subscribed to their "Geordie nation" bollocks but I was always happy that despite being bastards they wanted the team to succeed (even if there was an element of further financial interest in that) and on the whole did their best to do make that happen. That's why I think they come off better when compared to Ashley's lies. You think Ashley wants the team to fail? No but his priority is money - the number one priority of any football club should be the first team imo. That doesn't mean the financial situation should be ignored but I think he has seriously ignored the team.

Considering Ashley did exactly what the Halls did when he floated SD (though the Halls weren't damned by the City for ripping them off) how are they "morally" different if that's what you're implying? Also what about the price he allegedly wanted off the Arabs in September which would have made him more that £150m? Shepherd & Hall creamed millions of the trading income out of the club & left it in a disastrous financial state, that's entirely different to money made from selling shares. The vast majority of the £146m was from selling shares. Yes they did take salaries and dividends but that's small beer compared with what Ashley wanted to and would have made but for the credit crunch. I also object to any money Wise and the rest have had from the club far more more than what Shepherd did. You carry on comparing taking profits out of the club which could have been used for player purchases with making money from selling the whole entity though. I believe they (the Halls & Shepherds) made over £24m by taking dividends & using the club's money to buy their own shares off them. That £24 million doesn't include their salaries either. Small beer to you perhaps, but more than a couple of players for the football club. I always knew the Halls and The Shepherds were in it for the money and never subscribed to their "Geordie nation" bollocks but I was always happy that despite being bastards they wanted the team to succeed (even if there was an element of further financial interest in that) and on the whole did their best to do make that happen. That's why I think they come off better when compared to Ashley's lies.

Considering Ashley did exactly what the Halls did when he floated SD (though the Halls weren't damned by the City for ripping them off) how are they "morally" different if that's what you're implying? Also what about the price he allegedly wanted off the Arabs in September which would have made him more that £150m? Shepherd & Hall creamed millions of the trading income out of the club & left it in a disastrous financial state, that's entirely different to money made from selling shares. The vast majority of the £146m was from selling shares. Yes they did take salaries and dividends but that's small beer compared with what Ashley wanted to and would have made but for the credit crunch. I also object to any money Wise and the rest have had from the club far more more than what Shepherd did.

Considering Ashley did exactly what the Halls did when he floated SD (though the Halls weren't damned by the City for ripping them off) how are they "morally" different if that's what you're implying? Also what about the price he allegedly wanted off the Arabs in September which would have made him more that £150m?

It doesn't matter who's in charge imo - we'll live or die by how many matches Viduka and Martins play.

And people say we want communication from the club! They can't win either way. I don't give a shit about communication - all I wanted is some indication of intent to progress (or even not go down) - they comprenhensively failed to do that in January.

"We inherited a mess" - check "Dennis is fab" - check "Mike spent <<insert another made up figure plucked from the air?>> that nobody knows about" - check Sly digs at Keegan - check Lies about NUSC - check Excuses based on not knowing about football (then get some fucker who does!!) - check Long term plans (so expect nowt) - check What a load of shite.

I'm sure the reason they're being picked ahead of him is because his English isn't good enough & Kinnear can't communicate his (lack of) ideas to Xisco whereas the players you mention - Smith & Viduka - are both native English speakers. With a different manager who has a clue how to communicate that doesn't simply involve shouting louder until he understands we'd probably see Xisco a lot more than Smith, Viduka, Ameobi or Carroll. I agree on the other 3 but thinking about starting him instead of a fit (I know, I know) Viduka is fucking ludicrous imo. If he is any good he'll get a chance in the future - for this season we need our best players whenever possible.

Beardsley/Maradona Followed by Cole/Gazza/Lee Old(ish) time "shit but 110% effort" mentions for John Anderson and Kenny Wharton. The only non NUFC British player I really admire is Giggs.

I think we're down anyway but if him and Martins don't play 10 games each before the end we might as well switch the lights off and go home now. I know this is unlikely given both their records which is the main reason I think we're screwed.

Metatarsals always take longer than estimated, Beye's injury is pretty mysterious and Owen being Owen I'd be surprised if any of these three play again this season. so what ARE you saying then? we sign players for these 3 positions and the other players we need? madness.... We needed right back cover anyway so I've no argument in signing Taylor. Nolan imo was only signed after Barton's injury so in that sense they did react. Its the overall lack of plan/targets that should be condemned. Relying completely on Martins is one of the main factors in why I think we'll go down.

Agreed - but this is continuation of the summer in that we should have been signing Nolan/Taylor type players in addition to the others then.

Metatarsals always take longer than estimated, Beye's injury is pretty mysterious and Owen being Owen I'd be surprised if any of these three play again this season.

so you're saying we have to compare a squad with owen & barton (not fit then but was due back) to one where they're badly injured and not replaced you mean? for example harsh indeed if that's what you're getting at Spurs reacted to Defoe's injury - we are relying on one bloke with a dodgy groin to score all our goals for the next two months at least. The injuries didn't happen on Sunday they happened with 4 or 5 days left to react - I don't think its harsh.

As I see it its a question of comparing the "fit" squad on Jan 1st (or Dec 25th to include Beye) and the squad which we now have till the end of the season. Given the length of the anticipated absences of Owen. Barton, Beye and Guthrie I equate those with sales as they are unavailable for a long period (if not the duration). In that context we are significantly weaker in my view.

Better players get paid more though - the idea that we could drop all of the high earners and have a squad full of low/moderately paid ones is an unlikely dream imo. The main issue isn't the wages - its the "failure" of those players - if they had performed then nobody would be that concerned about their wages. Say the "plan" works and in 3 years time we have a team on (I presume) Bassong/Guthrie type wages doing moderately okay under a proper manager - taking a Villa style next step would still require a few Viduka/Smith size wage bills.

At last - someone else realises what a pack of bastards they are. If Barton hadn't been fucked and Kinnear hadn't given N'Zogbia the excuse we'd have signed one player whose contract had been torn up by his previous club - whoopy fucking do.

Nice to see the red shirt rule being applied for Arshavin. "To be concluded tomorrow" - utter contempt for the concept of a window that applies to everyone else.