BottledDog

Lost Carroll, but got Ben Arfa for a not inconsiderable £7m. Then got shot of Nolan and Routledge, and replaced them with Cabaye, Marv, Ba, and by the look of it Obertan (Abeid I don't think is fair to class as a first team signing yet). Look, there is no doubt we need more, a fucking decent striker for a start as you say, but the point was that we are not showing the ambition to compete with the likes of Everton, Villa etc. I would (again with the caveat, as it stands) disagree with that.

Looks to me like that is exactly what we're doing. Do you think any one of those clubs has done better business than us this summer as it stands? Villa probably have. Have the other two done any business? 11 players out (2 in) including their 2 wingers, of which they have replaced only one. How have villa done better exactly?

Looks to me like that is exactly what we're doing. Do you think any one of those clubs has done better business than us this summer as it stands?

Sounds familiar.

Absolutely agree. And I don't understand why the club don't seem to have any comprehension of the damage they are slowly doing to the club. They need to keep the people of this city interested in NUFC because if not, we are not Man Utd or Liverpool who can fall back on the overseas markets and tourists to keep us going. Spot on.

We may have the third best supported team (attendance wise) but where do we come in terms of actual premiership gate receipts?

Fat but as mobile as feck, cept when my tea is meant to be ready, lazy moose. P.S, if you never see me post again its because she has read this and crushed my head in her Pat Jennings sized hands.

Fair enough.

Nailed on.

Until such times we wipe our nose, pull in a profit, or after 3 years Ashley finally gets some co-investors on board. Which is fair enough. Co-Investors? The guy has no mates other than the brown noses he employs Who the hell is going to take on the shit storm he has created Indeed. As I said, it's 3 years since he asked for some.

We're playing hardball.

Until such times we wipe our nose, pull in a profit, or after 3 years Ashley finally gets some co-investors on board. Which is fair enough.

It's not even about whether Shepherd can be responsible this time, or that he increasingly brought in and backed dreadful managers, or his regular idiotic verbals in the press, or the enourmous amounts of money he and his family syphoned from the coffers. Simply put, he has relatively fuck all money to be a premiership owner, so more than likely he'd need a loan to get the club and then run to the banks again any time we need a cash injection or another random marquee signing, something the banks are unlikely to want to accomodate any time soon. Shepherd. Fuck that.

IMO he won't sell at the first available chance because the price will keep going up. Why? Because we'll be getting better every year? Get in, if thats the case I'll be pissed if he does sell.

There was another good one. Obertan- The Next Ronaldo (or something). Really does have some extreme pace and dribbling, quite a few skills too. Just decision making that's poor. Should type Xisco - future star as well then Can't believe you've given up on Xisco already.

Fuuuuuck, you're not kidding.

Certainly a possibility. That said, if a significantly better striker (such as Sturridge) suddenly becomes available for reasonable money, I'm almost certain we'd still be in for them.

Good news.

I sense a few are saying that because you had your hopes set on N'Zogbia, and Obertan doesn't appear to be as good as him. He's another body in and for all anyone knows, he could flourish a bit more if he's given more of a chance than he was at Man Utd, which he surely would be. People are free to air their opinions about him as a player but you'd think you were buying an inanimate object if you look at some of the comments on here. Come off it man Neil - it's the fact that we seemed to have money to spend this summer which we could have used to progress, and we've signed cheapies and non-entities. Even Everton shelled out on a few fees after getting the Rooney money. It's not what I was getting at, though. My opinion is that negatives have been overblown and positives swept under the carpet. I can see that this will have been an incredibly frustrating summer. Would I be raging about where this Carroll money has gone? Yes, of course I would. Would I be pissed off about what's going on with Barton, Enrique, Nolan etc? Of course. Has it been a Summer From Hell? Well, I'm not fully qualified to say but from what I've seen, no. I really think people have swept the signings of Marveaux, Ba, Ben Arfa and Cabaye under the carpet somewhat. You have Gosling coming back who barely played last year (if at all?) and it looks like he's beefed the fuck up, so he could really develop this year. Now you look like signing someone who yes, hasn't hit it off at Man Utd, but also hasn't been given that much of a chance. After a troublesome few days, news comes that you're signing someone who could bolster your midfield and offer some pace on the wing and who knows, with some faith placed in him, could start to really establish himself in this league. Instead, it's "he's shit". That is what I find bamboozling. Before someone says this, no, I'm not sticking up for Ashley. I am however sticking up for some of the very good business you've done so far this summer which has escaped the limelight due to the Enrique/Barton etc shenanigans. Potentially disruptive? I would certainly imagine so. Fucking shit? I don't agree. As it stands we have a worse squad than this time last year imo, and I've no idea where the goals are going to come from. With all due respect to you Neil, I don't think you'd be this casual if Everton had just came up the season before last and had made similar boardroom decisions after a season of relative success. I know you're on our side but it's easy from where you're standing to be perfectly honest. Right at the moment, I'd say you have a better squad. Tiote, Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Marveaux, Jonas... see how Gosling and Obertan develop... dare I say Barton as well? That's a good midfield. Your strikeforce isn't great but Ba will help a lot providing he stays fit. Yes, perhaps I can see the positives more easily but that doesn't make them any less tangible. You have a collection of good players and, understandably, the potential on the pitch is being dominated by off-the-field histrionics. From the outside (well, semi-outside), you have a good squad. The question, of course, is can Pardew retain a sense of team spirit and resilience about the squad, come a) the start of the season and b) September 1st? Nice to get another perspective.

It was the third question man And the 4th and a few more after that ffs. Jesus Colocho.

But he didn't wan't to stay unless he was settled with a long term contract, primarily due to his kids schooling. I think we'd have been more than happy for him to stick around for another season. Should have offered a player/coaching role or something imo. Which he rightly wouldn't have accepted. He's still in his 20's.

But he didn't wan't to stay unless he was settled with a long term contract, primarily due to his kids schooling. I think we'd have been more than happy for him to stick around for another season.

Visa problems.