Wullie

Utterly preposterous player.

Fucking

Mike Dean again man, absolute cunt.

Ben Arfa is a simply astonishing footballer.

Fucking yes.

Typical Moyes.

Hughton was the absolute master of not saying anything in interviews. I never paid the slightest bit of attention to quotes from him cos I knew he wouldn't say anything. Loved it.

:thup:

Course they do. I'd be absolutely furious too if I was paying over a grand for a season ticket, bringing in CL money every single year and the club was spending none of it.

I'm not arguing with that. You're admitting that the door is open to everyone if you can keep getting better incrementally and buy and sell at the right time - i.e. you do not need massive outside investment to be a Champions League contender on a yearly basis, which was my entire point in the first place. Spurs have become another example.

Not at all, but then why should elite sport be easy?

For the CL spots you do but for Europa League, we were living proof that you don't need to spend vast sums. You do, however, need to kee investing to keep on top. Try telling Mike that though... How have Arsenal managed it then for 16 consecutive seasons with one of the lowest net spends across the entire league? Exception to the rule? Wenger? Liverpool et al dropping off and Spurs being perennial bottlers? It can be done, we almost did it and Everton did too. But to keep it going is unrealistic unless you outspend those below you or spend silly money nonetheless. What you say doesn't make any sense. You have to spend vast amounts (i.e. more than the club can generate and sustain) to compete for the Champions League places yet there's four places, and less than four teams doing that. It's bullshit man. You've said yourself, Arsene Wenger. Put him in charge of Newcastle tomorrow, give him moderate investment and I'd put any money you like on us being a Champions League qualifier within 3-5 years. It can be done but as has been proved, to finish in one of those spots, regularly requires someone to spend big money. Wenger has spent big money btw, but he's also sold for big money too which distorts what he's spent. Of course, but we're talking about net spend. If you're saying that "spending big money" includes money from incoming transfers then you're admitting that the door is open to everyone.

For the CL spots you do but for Europa League, we were living proof that you don't need to spend vast sums. You do, however, need to kee investing to keep on top. Try telling Mike that though... How have Arsenal managed it then for 16 consecutive seasons with one of the lowest net spends across the entire league? Exception to the rule? Wenger? Liverpool et al dropping off and Spurs being perennial bottlers? It can be done, we almost did it and Everton did too. But to keep it going is unrealistic unless you outspend those below you or spend silly money nonetheless. What you say doesn't make any sense. You have to spend vast amounts (i.e. more than the club can generate and sustain) to compete for the Champions League places yet there's four places, and less than four teams doing that. It's bullshit man. You've said yourself, Arsene Wenger. Put him in charge of Newcastle tomorrow, give him moderate investment and I'd put any money you like on us being a Champions League qualifier within 3-5 years.

We beat them last year, they only just finished ahead of us last season and the only main changes to their first XI are in their back four. I'd fancy Remy & HBA to cause them problems and create chances to win it. We'll find out tomorrow. I expect us to roll over and have our tummies tickled.

For the CL spots you do but for Europa League, we were living proof that you don't need to spend vast sums. You do, however, need to kee investing to keep on top. Try telling Mike that though... How have Arsenal managed it then for 16 consecutive seasons with one of the lowest net spends across the entire league?

I don't even think it's about competing at the top of the league, I think most would settle for having a strong identity to be proud of and trying to do things the right way whilst playing some attractive football. The competing thing is just an added bonus. Currently, for me, we have none of it. To borrow Pardspeak...yes we have the odd marquee name but it's by off chance not concerted judgement. I agree in terms of NUFC, I just mean in a more general sense, although ultimately we should certainly be moving towards being in that group who compete for CL places annually (obviously at the moment, that is a laughable thought). Agree with your points about identity. For all the talk of how wonderful that 5th place finish was (although not from me), I wonder how many of that group we'll be looking forward to watching in 10-15 years time at a sell-out charity game...

I think it's bollocks that you need vast fortunes to compete at the top level of the Premier League btw, I think it's long been used as an easy excuse by clubs like us who don't really know what they're doing.

Don't think anyone's overrating Villa, they just know how dogshit we are.

He really hasn't, not by any measure. I keep having this same argument with a mate of mine. Ashley has turned a club capable of competing financially with even the likes of Arsenal at the time, to one that cannot, in the manager's own words, compete with Southampton. FS may have spent more than he should have on players and used future ST money etc. to do so and yes we were in debt but the club could handle it and because we actually had ambition, we were only ever a good appointment away from succeeding as we showed under Sir Bobby. Ha we kept Sir Bobby and gave him 50m even if it was borrowed, we would have succeeded somehow at some point. Oh and while we did owe the banks a lot of money, we didn't owe anywhere near as much to them as what is owed to MA, a malicious c*** of a man who has zero interes in the club other than what we spend and where he can plaster his tacky two-bit SD brand. While there is merit to the whole arguement that we are financially worse off, but I'm not buying that. I think it's a case of won't compete over can't compete. We are. All our revenues are down or not at the level they ought to be compared to everyone elses which have generally risen. Ours hasn't. I do agree that it is a case of we won't compete mind. Why is revenue down? If Ashley doesn't want the club and wants to pay off his debt to sell it faster why isn't he making the club generate more revenue to speed that process up? - I'm assuming revenue from the league and Europe isn't the reason why our revenue is down compared to others? it's other revenue streams that are suffering? - Of which case if it is it just shows how cheap and short sighted the cunt really is. Because generating more revenue would mean getting advertisers on board, and he's already got the only ads that he's interested in, those for his own company. Generating revenue for NUFC will mean less advertising exposure for CheapTat.com, and that's all he cares about.

The real and genuine reason that it would put us in our "overdraft" (so what?) is that, unlike everyone else, we insist on paying for transfers up front.

Not a defence, just an observation. Rangers got very similar crowds to us and look what happened, plus they gotten Champions League money and probably have a bigger fanbase worldwide. Err because they were fiddling their taxes. Irrelevance because of the above but what's the SPL TV deal worth?

They're not though are they? Feel free to find me some quotes from a manager saying he's glad his team haven't qualified for Europe, or that his team had lost because half had played three days earlier so were too tired and the other half hadn't played three days earlier so weren't sharp enough. Go and find some quotes from a successful manager saying his team needed to run faster and jump higher ffs. Your assertion is based on absolutely nothing.

Mmm I can really see why you still back the manager.

Drink driving, driving without insurance, all speeding offences warranting more than 3 points, or continuous offences resulting in driving bans. It is irrelevant whether a driver hits someone, their actions are risking the lives of others. Footballers seem to think they are entitled to drive stupid cars dangerously. The laws of the country are not able to deal with this group of the population so the football authorities should act. How is driving without insurance risking the lives of others you plank?

He really hasn't, not by any measure.