Wullie

Not very confident of getting any of the three players now tbh.

Would actually be fairly easy to swallow losing him if he went there but I'd be very surprised.

Johnson and Gardner - £30m?!

Ah.

Who's Johnson? Adam?

Makes Milner look like bargain of the century. Absolute head scratcher.

Looks shit tbh.

Turboperch.

That and the way she obsessively follows the players round.

Well he's ahead of Best in the pecking order for Ireland and Ameobi is Ameobi. Yet in the 09-10 Championship, Ameobi scored 10 in 11, Long scored 6 in 22. Players can't improve over the course of a season? Of course but I wouldn't go shouting that he's definitely better than anybody. We all know how shit the Championship is and what a big step up it is. Chopra's been banging them in for years down there, in practise he is less effective, both in front of goal and otherwise, than Ameobi at Premier League level (and yes that's saying something).

Well he's ahead of Best in the pecking order for Ireland and Ameobi is Ameobi. Yet in the 09-10 Championship, Ameobi scored 10 in 11, Long scored 6 in 22.

He was suspended for the playoff final. Still has a 1 match ban to serve actually. Yeah he's ok. Had a slow start then got used to the Championship but then he got injured so he was out for a few weeks. Played well then the rest of the season until he got sent off at Forest. Who would you liken him to? Is he better at going forward or defending? Not sure who I'd liken him too but he is quick. Later on in the season he got further forward more and linked with Sinclair well. If he came to you would he be likely to play? Depends if Enrique's on his bike or not.

Without checking, I assume he would have been banned for the final having been sent off for violent conduct in the first semi.

I agree and it begs the question of why the issue has been brought up in the first place. Something very suspicious about it iyam.

Ignoring the fact that he wants three years and you've no idea how much he wants... He gets that all at once does he? And the Sky money stops coming in too does it in the next four years? And the gates dwindle to 0 in the next four years do they? This idea that we have to let key players go because they might have to get paid is absolutely The idea of paying players over their worth and keeping them on big contracts just to keep them happy but to the detriment of the club long term. Is even more laughable tbh. All footballers are greedy cunts. If believe they are not, then you really need your head checking. You've just destroyed your own point, you halfwit, unless you're advocating that the players we sign to replace them are not footballers. Fucking hell, honestly.

It would be nice to be able to sign a blank cheque to keep everyone on long extended contracts and buy lots more expensive players at the same time. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anywhere without arab/russian billionaire owners. If there's a limit on the spending how do you propose we recruit new players at the same time as handing out long contracts to the likes of Nolan and Barton? Don't bid for Gervinho and bid for someone £4m cheaper so we can hand that money to the players already here? Why is there a limit on spending when we've just sold the family silver for £35m? Keeping your main first team players and buying new ones doesn't happen anywhere else? Righto. But no one is bombing them out, they just aren't being given cushy long contract extensions. It's debatable whether either player can even cut it in central midfield for much longer as you yourself have pointed out pretty often. We had this business with Owen where Keegan wanted the board to hand out a mega new deal because he was so important. Sorry but for me when players are showing signs of decline, I don't want to be looking at them as long term central figures at the club. Signs of decline? They've just had the best seasons of their careers. but you don't think Barton can play in central midfield any more? Why not? And Nolan getting on the end of a few set pieces isn't going to make me wonder why he's a stone heavier than in his Bolton days. Getting fatter is a sign of decline for me, don't know about you. I don't think Barton's ever been able to play in central midfield, it's not his game. Fuck all to do with his fitness levels. He's 28 ffs not 38. I'm pretty sure he made his name with City as a central midfielder. When he's slagging off Gareth Barry I doubt it's because he wants to replace him on the wing. Anyway, Barton is someone I would like to keep in the right circumstances, but not if he's tying his own deal into Nolan signing and they both want daft long term deals which makes it less likely we'll buy quality players. Squad players don't get 4 year deals on big wages. How do you know it's either a 4 year deal or big wages?

Good post IMO.

Very harsh on Nolan, I don't think he "owes" us anything. Barton, fair enough.

It would be nice to be able to sign a blank cheque to keep everyone on long extended contracts and buy lots more expensive players at the same time. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anywhere without arab/russian billionaire owners. If there's a limit on the spending how do you propose we recruit new players at the same time as handing out long contracts to the likes of Nolan and Barton? Don't bid for Gervinho and bid for someone £4m cheaper so we can hand that money to the players already here? Why is there a limit on spending when we've just sold the family silver for £35m? Keeping your main first team players and buying new ones doesn't happen anywhere else? Righto. But no one is bombing them out, they just aren't being given cushy long contract extensions. It's debatable whether either player can even cut it in central midfield for much longer as you yourself have pointed out pretty often. We had this business with Owen where Keegan wanted the board to hand out a mega new deal because he was so important. Sorry but for me when players are showing signs of decline, I don't want to be looking at them as long term central figures at the club. Signs of decline? They've just had the best seasons of their careers. but you don't think Barton can play in central midfield any more? Why not? And Nolan getting on the end of a few set pieces isn't going to make me wonder why he's a stone heavier than in his Bolton days. Getting fatter is a sign of decline for me, don't know about you. I don't think Barton's ever been able to play in central midfield, it's not his game. Fuck all to do with his fitness levels. He's 28 ffs not 38.

Did anybody say that he was? I'd happily have seen him gone last summer but having reinvigorated himself in a new position, I think the sensible thing to do is to base decisions on current form rather than past - otherwise what's the point in trying to improve players? Let's sell Coloccini for being shit two years ago shall we?

I've never seen Cabaye play mate, not even once. He could be a huge success, he could be a huge failure. It's utterly ridiculous to try and guess whether he'll be worth his wages this season, let alone in two year's time. If he even signs. Ben Arfa has barely played for us and I'm sorry but despite his obvious quality on the ball he's still completely unproven for us. Not least because he's just broken his leg. You couldn't pick a worse pair of players to compare the 'worth' of wages to. Perfect choice to compare with imo. Ben Arfa and Cabaye are in the prime of their career and will be viewed as key first team players. Will that apply to Nolan and Barton when their contracts are up? And what if they're shit or disruptive? Then what? what if they are? Would you prefer we didn't sign them and stuck with safe and tested? I'd rather try both and shift Ryan Taylor and Alan Smith. That's what I said, try reading it again.

It would be nice to be able to sign a blank cheque to keep everyone on long extended contracts and buy lots more expensive players at the same time. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anywhere without arab/russian billionaire owners. If there's a limit on the spending how do you propose we recruit new players at the same time as handing out long contracts to the likes of Nolan and Barton? Don't bid for Gervinho and bid for someone £4m cheaper so we can hand that money to the players already here? Why is there a limit on spending when we've just sold the family silver for £35m? Keeping your main first team players and buying new ones doesn't happen anywhere else? Righto. But no one is bombing them out, they just aren't being given cushy long contract extensions. It's debatable whether either player can even cut it in central midfield for much longer as you yourself have pointed out pretty often. We had this business with Owen where Keegan wanted the board to hand out a mega new deal because he was so important. Sorry but for me when players are showing signs of decline, I don't want to be looking at them as long term central figures at the club. Signs of decline? They've just had the best seasons of their careers.

Ignoring the fact that he wants three years and you've no idea how much he wants... He gets that all at once does he? And the Sky money stops coming in too does it in the next four years? And the gates dwindle to 0 in the next four years do they? This idea that we have to let key players go because they might have to get paid is absolutely

I've never seen Cabaye play mate, not even once. He could be a huge success, he could be a huge failure. It's utterly ridiculous to try and guess whether he'll be worth his wages this season, let alone in two year's time. If he even signs. Ben Arfa has barely played for us and I'm sorry but despite his obvious quality on the ball he's still completely unproven for us. Not least because he's just broken his leg. You couldn't pick a worse pair of players to compare the 'worth' of wages to. Perfect choice to compare with imo. Ben Arfa and Cabaye are in the prime of their career and will be viewed as key first team players. Will that apply to Nolan and Barton when their contracts are up? And what if they're shit or disruptive? Then what?

It would be nice to be able to sign a blank cheque to keep everyone on long extended contracts and buy lots more expensive players at the same time. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anywhere without arab/russian billionaire owners. If there's a limit on the spending how do you propose we recruit new players at the same time as handing out long contracts to the likes of Nolan and Barton? Don't bid for Gervinho and bid for someone £4m cheaper so we can hand that money to the players already here? Why is there a limit on spending when we've just sold the family silver for £35m? Keeping your main first team players and buying new ones doesn't happen anywhere else? Righto. So you're happy to blow the money we got for Carroll on long term deals for Nolan and Barton? How are we supposed to progress doing that? Fucking hell, how much are we planning on paying them? I don't think we give them it all in one lump sum btw. Not sure, so correct me if I'm wrong.