thomas

Clearly sorted and queued for processing in reverse alphabetical order. Nothing fishy at all.

Don't think it should have happened at all. It's either desperation, madness or some other as of yet unclassified mental malaise.

FUUUUUUUCK.

Think it was JFK who promised a statement from mike, which probably means he just imagined the whole thing anyway.

Considerably though? Considerably? It's one thing to say they've improved a little bit too but to paint a picture as though we're somehow miles behind is just ridiculous. Quite right though, I'd forgotten about Pennant and for some reason he's not listed on bbc's summary. Bleh!

i think we have improved, but only a little, maybe not enough to keep us in the prem. we may have strengthened the squad (very slightly) but we haven't strengthened the fight against relegation because our rivals have strenghtened considerably more than we have Considerably more eh? Considerably more? Bottom 8 clubs transfers: SUNDERLAND: - out - El-Hadji Diouf [sunderland - Blackburn] Undisclosed Pascal Chimbonda [sunderland - Tottenham] Undisclosed Liam Miller [sunderland - QPR] Undisclosed Ross Wallace [sunderland - Preston] Undisclosed Graham Kavanagh [sunderland - Carlisle] Free Roy O'Donovan [sunderland - Blackpool] Loan Michael Chopra [sunderland - Cardiff] Loan - in - Calum Davenport [West Ham - Sunderland] Loan Tal Ben Haim [Man City - Sunderland] Loan VERDICT: Not strengthened considerably if at all. WEST BROM: - out - Sherjill MacDonald [West Brom - Roeselare] Loan Lee Baker [West Brom - Kidderminster] Loan Joss Labadie [West Brom - Shrewsbury] Loan - in - Juan Carlos Menseguez [san Lorenzo - West Brom] Loan Youssouf Mulumbu [Paris St Germain - West Brom] Loan Marc-Antoine Fortune [Nancy - West Brom] Loan Jay Simpson[Arsenal - West Brom] Loan VERDICT: Not strengthened considerably if at all. MIDDLESBROUGH: - out - Tom Craddock [Middlesbrough - Luton] £80,000 Mido [Middlesbrough - Wigan] Loan Graeme Owens [Middlesbrough - Blackpool] Loan Jonathan Grounds [Middlesbrough - Norwich] Loan Seb Hines [Middlesbrough - Derby] Loan - in - Marlon King [Wigan - Middlesbrough] Loan VERDICT: AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA. BLACKBURN: - out - Frank Fielding [blackburn - Rochdale] Loan Eddie Nolan [blackburn - Preston] Undisclosed Jamie Clarke [blackburn - Rotherham] Free - in - Gael Givet [Marseille - Blackburn] Loan El-Hadji Diouf [sunderland - Blackburn] Undisclosed VERDICT: Strengthened somewhat. STOKE: - out - Lewis Buxton [stoke - Sheff Wed] Nominal Ryan Shotton [stoke - Tranmere] Loan Carl Dickinson [stoke - Leeds] Loan Tom Soares [stoke - Charlton] Loan Nathaniel Wedderburn [stoke - Notts County] Loan Ritchie De Laet [stoke - Man Utd] Undisclosed - in - James Beattie [sheffield United - Stoke] Undisclosed Matthew Etherington [West Ham - Stoke] £2m Henri Camara [Wigan - Stoke] Loan VERDICT: Their problem is in defense and attack and it seems like they're only addressingone side. Camara and Beattie sound nice but when you leak goals like they do ... eh. I'll say they improved very slightly. PORTSMOUTH: - out - Jermain Defoe [Portsmouth - Tottenham] £15m Lassana Diarra [Portsmouth - Real Madrid] £20m Khaleem Hyland [Portsmouth - Zulte Waregem] Loan - in - Hayden Mullins [West Ham - Portsmouth] Undisclosed Pele [Porto - Portsmouth] Loan Angelos Basinas [AEK Athens - Portsmouth] Undisclosed Theofanis Gekas [bayer Leverkusen - Portsmouth] Loan Jermaine Pennant[liverpool - Portsmouth] Loan VERDICT: Not strengthened considerably if at all. NEWCASTLE: - out - Charles N'Zogbia [Newcastle - Wigan] Undisclosed Shay Given [Newcastle Utd - Man City] Undisclosed - in - Kevin Nolan [bolton - Newcastle] £4m Peter Lovenkrands [schalke - Newcastle] Ryan Taylor [Wigan - Newcastle] Undisclosed VERDICT: Blighted by injuries, Newcastles relatively modest dalliances in the transfer market represent nothing so much as prudent tiding over until first team regulars return. Slight improvement. TOTTENHAM: - out - Hossam Ghaly [Tottenham - Nassr Saudi Club] Undisclosed Cesar Sanchez [Tottenham - Valencia] Free David Button [Tottenham - Bournemouth] Loan Charlie Daniels [Tottenham - Leyton Orient] Free Tomas Pekhart [Tottenham - Sparta Prague] 12-month loan Troy Archibald-Henville [Tottenham - Exeter] Loan - in - Carlo Cudicini [Chelsea - Tottenham] Free Pascal Chimbonda [sunderland - Tottenham] Undisclosed Jermain Defoe [Portsmouth - Tottenham] £15m Robbie Keane [liverpool - Tottenham] £12m VERDICT: Strengthened.

Uh, no one is arguing against that particular facet, just that the association isn't both ways ... good players almost always equate to high wages, but high wages don't always equate to being a good player. I don't think there's been a poster on this board in the last 3 years who doesn't feel that there's only two or three on the squad earning their pay. as NJS says the issue isn't the wages it's them as a failure. Getting them off the payroll frees that much more up to attempt to sign quality. Although if I'm honest, yes, I'd rather replace one 80k/w earner with 2 40k/w earners at this point in time with a view to a villa style step up.

I will skullfuck anyone voting yes. Just throwing that out there.

Then again there's no player, who would also be a realistic target, that you could say would guarantee survival.

Wise, yes I'd be surprised. Llambias ... I still don't know what the fuck he does besides piss me off.

What have you seen that convinces you that we are better than 17th? I've seen 5 things in West Brom, Blackburn, Boro, Stoke City and Portsmouth that convince me we are better than 17th. But then again it seems you're depressed and distraught over our current situation so when you look at those teams I don't think you don't see them for the shit they are, you see Barca, Inter, Man U, Madrid and Juventus. The situation isn't so dire as it's made out to be and for that reason I cannot reason with you that we are better than them because even though we're talking about the same teams, we're not talking about the same teams. Have faith.

Tripe like that really doesn't help your argument. ridicule is the only weapon that can be used against unintelligible propositions.

Source on that promise?

OH NO WE DIDN'T SIGN RONALDINHO IN JANUARY CAN'T SEE ANYWHERE BUT GOING DOWN

Get a grip

10 minutes :frantic: :frantic:

Probably hanging from a rafter somewhere with a tipped over stool and a hastily scribbled note reading "all I wanted was to hope " laying on the floor beneath.

Same reason Urban Legends are around -- people tend to lend credence to things that confirm their suspicions and preconceived notions. Lots on this board have it in their head that Ashley is in league with the devil, that our top brass are all wildly incompetent. A story that comes out and says we only got 5.8m for Seamus confirms this and they latch on to it.

Culture of victimhood tbh. Bunch of whingy moaning twats looking for a reason to be offended and upset.

Especially for a january.

No amount of snow will stop an agent from getting their commission. A way will be found.

Check out the date it was posted dj.

But then again if your "emotional contentment" is revolved around ambition and winning trophies then he's 5 years too late with all this - in my eyes he's decided to go before the ships sunkbecasue he doesnt want to be tarnished. Ambition isnt something which you develop a craving for, your either are or arent. I don't think his revolves around that at all though. I think Shay is a man very much driven by routine and comfort, safety in the familiar. He'd reached some kind of internal breaking point after that Liverpool game. And I think it was a very, very tough decision for him. It's all gone ugly due to being aired in public though. I don't wish him any specific ill will, but no good fortune either.

If you're miserable at your job pay really, really starts to not matter. I know that's an insane amount he was/is earning but there's no price tag for emotional contentment.