BottledDog

I know :/ Ranger and Shola for me Switching with Leon. Lovelypants should continue in the role of legs off the bench at best.

Can't stand this X percent of supporters think this that and the other. Dear NUSC, please note that it's actually X percent of people who bothered to fill in your surveys. Cheers.

Ashley shopped him to the office of fair trading for price fixing or something. He should again. £12m for the Zog is way over the odds.

"When I knew it was real and that there was a chance for me to come here I knew it was a great opportunity and I had to take it." Didn't need to change his story though.

? I thought that that was exactly what we said?

We may well regret it, but unlike Livepool, established, in Europe, and with massive financial backing, the arguement is sound that in our first season back, we are simply not in a position to give our young players £80 grand a week. Especially when we have just tied half our squad to new contracts that reflect our current standing. As Pardew hinted at, we would not have a very happy squad if we started making exceptions everytime someones head gets turned.

That doesn't even make sense man. Josef Fritzl is world renowned for building enourmously 'secure' playrooms.

Sorry, but while it was too late in the day, didn't Blackpool accept an offer from Tottenham in the end? Not really putting their foot down very strongly if that was the case. EDIT: Well, they tried to accept but... Redknapp - “Apparently the boy was definitely up for coming, but apparently the chairman couldn’t get hold of two shareholders who had to sign the forms as well. It’s just one of those things.”

just to back up wullie's post Backing it up with even more paranoia induced nonsense?

I have to say, Carroll still tugs some sympathy from me simply because he's a young lad jumping out one frying pan into another massive and alien frying pan and I can't help but feel that this whole thing must be totally overwhelming for him. He looked shell shocked at his medical. /This feeling will probably last just about up until he cracks in his first goal for the bin dipping c**ts.

'kin hell.

And I sincerely hope and trust that you are wrong.

Aren't Barca facing a problem with Dani Alves trying to hold the club to ransom Aye, and I back the board on this, as much as I'd HATE losing Dani. But we can't pay a defender €8m per year. What would Piqué or Puyol think? Bingo.

I believe him. Now Ashley has to back his man, the manager he chose specifically with the cash he's been promised. He's as pissed off as anyone by the look of it, but remains level headed and determined. Another top interview from him to be fair.

I think he's the only one coming out of this with any credit. Damn straight. He's just showing dissapointment, but looking for the team to battle on. Where is he even asking for any sympathy?

Cheers.

Probably true sadly.

So was Carroll bigger than club then? No, but he was one of our most valuable players? We could just have rejected the offer and sell him in the summer (and I think that was the plan.) 1. He handed in a transfer request. 2. We wouldn't get anywhere near that price in the summer.

As far as I understand, they were discussing a new contract before the bids came in. What happened after the 35m bid came in is then up to discussion, Carroll says they withdrew from contract talks and that Derek asked him to hand in a transfer request. Pards and Derek says Andy is an illoyal liar! Why would they negotiate a new deal a few months after agreeing a massive one? It would appear that they offered to renegotiate in the summer after the pressure of the bids, but that wasn't good enough for Carroll/his agent so he jumped ship (and as Thumps script illustrates, the main parties probably all felt ok with that).

I'm sure his agent had been fully informed (the smooth and quick signing of terms with Liverpool last night would certainly suggest that too).

Pardew, in an interview on SSN, said they told Carroll they'd review the contract in the summer, but he wanted it yesterday. I didn't imagine that, did I? Ah right, I'm at work. Well even so, if both parties wanted him to stay then you'd think they could agree something. Someone is lying, that's all. Nobody is lying. We offered to renegotiate in the summer. Carroll felt he deserved a new offer immediately to match or get close to Liverpools offer otherwise he felt he had no choice (financially) but to move.

Pardew has said he was offered to renegotiate in the summer last night. Carroll turned the offer down apparently.

From twitter of press conference - Alan Pardew - My take: when I 1st heard bid from Lpool at 8, my advice was to turn down. Reaction space was too small. at first MA and DL agreed with that. We'll miss him as player & character. Some of the things he's saying are misguided we didn't force him onto the helicopter. power shifted when he said he wanted to negotiate contract now, not the summer. we have got an extraordinary figure. If Andy wanted to stay, he could have. Fact is he isn't here. what are we going to do between now & end of season? We - as a group - need to answer it emphatically we made couple of bids last night: extortionate prices quoted as I sit here now I'm weaker. Am I comfortable? It is what it is. Carroll 4-5 weeks away from fitness. Nothing was said to him about forcing him out... Got to build club with sustainable future.. It's not just about AC. If we gave him a new contract, where does it end? Got to draw a line We never tried to sell him. Never. I was involved in decision process - but decision was a balanced one. Wanted him to stay - didn't want media scrum but events took over, we'll use the money to buy '2 or 3' mood here is not great. We've lost a friend & a good player. There's disillusionment in everyone here - you can't hide that. there's a streak in us that wants to show we can cope without him. Ireland back in 2 weeks - deal makes sure he's fit to play. We hope to bring him back to his best - somebody I feel needs his confidence rebuilding