Teasy

How much did Fulham, Everton and Villa spend last season? A lot, Villa certainly, but they and Everton were also building from squads who had done well the previous year. It's madness to think of the Top 8 being unreachable though - Fulham had miraculously escaped the year before and up to their late recovery had been worse than Newcastle were last year. There's no reason why a club with such a large support shouldn't be looking at Top 8 after promotion.......as long as the management is right. Depends what you think of as a lot, certainly nothing they spend should be out of our reach given the right people making the right financial decisions. Like you say the support is massive and that puts us an another league financially to most other clubs (apart from the two sugar daddy clubs and the top 4). Most clubs in the Premiership have very high wage bills as a percentage of their turnover, but Villa and Spurs (and Everton?) have shown that keeping that bill down can be done without the Champions League. Getting rid of (most of) the high earners plus the weakest Championship in my memory means this year is an opportunity to get it right. The need is for a manager that can stamp his authority on the team and squad-building (with some cash); if this doesn't materialise then this squad will come straight back down again. Exactly, we just need someone who will manage the clubs finances correctly and a good manager with a long term plan. The club itself has the cash to back that manager as long as we don't end up paying Champions League level wages to a bunch of players who have us languishing in the bottom half of the table..

More then we spent under Ashley and with a £72m wage bill crippling the clubs finances yes, nowt to do with Moat or how things should be next season IF we do go up. If Fulham and Everton can get their with far less financial clout then us why should we think it unreachable? things have changed, Man City will be part of the top 8 obviously With Ashley or Moat we most certainly wont have more clout than Everton When in the Premiership Newcastle United have a far higher revenue then Everton, so on what basis would we not have more financial clout? Did I miss Everton being taken over by a crazy billionaire like Man City? What's happened at Man City makes it harder, but far from impossible.

How much did Fulham, Everton and Villa spend last season? A lot, Villa certainly, but they and Everton were also building from squads who had done well the previous year. It's madness to think of the Top 8 being unreachable though - Fulham had miraculously escaped the year before and up to their late recovery had been worse than Newcastle were last year. There's no reason why a club with such a large support shouldn't be looking at Top 8 after promotion.......as long as the management is right. Suppose it depends what you think of as a lot, certainly nothing that should be out of our reach given the right people making the right financial decisions. Agree 100% with the rest of your post.

More then we spent under Ashley and with a £72m wage bill crippling the clubs finances yes, nowt to do with Moat or how things should be next season IF we do go up. If Fulham and Everton can get their with far less financial clout then us why should we think it unreachable?

Ashley yes, because he's a human calamity. But its a bit early to write off Moat before he's even taken over (if he takes over..). Seems to me this is another "he won't have enough money to back us" argument which I've never agreed with. How much did Fulham, Everton and Villa spend last season?

Have to say I really don't feel very proud or particularly happy when we win a game in this league, I expect us to win every game we go into anyway. Each game we win is merely one game closer to being back where I think this club should be.

Nowt, Sir Les is all I'll ever need to know about them

Sir Les, that's all anyone needs to know.

Which is what? That we're getting better results against weaker sides? Yeah what a miraculous turn around. Just because its the managers job doesnt mean you ignore the situation and write them off if its not instantly achieved. So one manager gets 5 points from eight games in a harder division, but with a better squad. Performances weren't exactly good, there seemed to be no new manager "bounce", and the squad's general attitude didn't seem to improve that much, but we had been in free-fall most of the season to be fair. Its pretty hard to show an improvement in form when five of your eight fixtures are Chelsea (h), Liverpool (a), Spuds (a), Villa (a) and Stoke (a). It's pretty hard to get a seriously depleted squad of kids and players who were so awful the previous season that they got relegated to play well enough to get 22 points from nine games. Especially when you've had no money to spend, your club is in the middle of a crisis/takeover, you're not a permanent manager and if the takeover happens could be out of a job, etc, etc, etc. Like I said, it's a toss up between them. Neither are proven good managers, we could do better. To state it implicitly, in case anyone is in any doubt: I am not saying Hughton is the man for the job, I am simply saying that his record is at least comparable to Shearer's, yet no-one thinks he is good enough whereas a lot of people think Shearer is good enough for some reason. That reason is nothing to do with his record as a manager, it is based upon something else entirely. Personally I'm inclined to think just about any manager could do as well as he's done, we simply have far better players then most other teams in this league. Not saying we need to replace Hughton right now obviously. But long term I'd have Shearer over Hughton any day.

Which is what? That we're getting better results against weaker sides? Yeah what a miraculous turn around. Just because its the managers job doesnt mean you ignore the situation and write them off if its not instantly achieved. So one manager gets 5 points from eight games in a harder division, but with a better squad. Performances weren't exactly good, there seemed to be no new manager "bounce", and the squad's general attitude didn't seem to improve that much, but we had been in free-fall most of the season to be fair. Its pretty hard to show an improvement in form when five of your eight fixtures are Chelsea (h), Liverpool (a), Spuds (a), Villa (a) and Stoke (a).

With their name being dragged through the mud all over the press that'll be why West Ham did so poorly last season and couldn't get taken over then. Nobody bought West Ham though. Their holding company went bankrupt, so the only asset the company had (West Ham United) was transferred to the companies principle creditor. Being an attractive proposition really didn't come into it..

Its ok, any minute Sillius Soddus will update us with the significant news that's breaking today.

Nah no more bets like, I only put it on because at the time Villa weren't doing too well and it was a great price (most places had him at 20 to 1).

Hope to god he isn't sacked, I've still got a bet of £10 on O'neil at 40 to 1.

Who says we're currently £20m into the overdraft anyway?

Yet they couldn't beat us at their own ground before they lost their best player. We've probably had the hardest start out of any of the top three, especially with a few key players injured, but we're still right up their only a point off WBA, its stupidly early to claim that we can't win the league.

Blackpool? Peterborough? Lincoln! Against Peterborough we basically played a second team. Lincoln?

The club was happy to continue to pay Robson, honouring his contract, until he got a new job elsewhere. That wasn't enough for him though, he wanted to be able to get another job (possibly for a rival) and carry on leeching supporter's money off us as well as getting paid for managing another club. So he dragged the club through an expensive court case. It was futile in end for him anyway, as noone wanted him after the out of control dressing room he left at SJP which even the best manager in the world would have found difficult to turn around, and ultimately led to our relegation last season. Ok first of all he didn't get a new job until after his contract with Newcastle would have ended despite being offered jobs in that time. Secondly if someone with a contract is sacked he has to be paid in full for the remaining time of that contract. Getting another job has absolutely no baring on that what so ever.

Please, no. Why? Watch the highlights of their latest match. Looks unfit and disinterested. I'm not surprised he was disinterested, he was about to leave. Doesn't mean he wouldn't be interested somewhere else.

Yeah they really sneaked him out the back door like I forgot that County have the power to make players disappear without anyone knowing with the click of Erriksons fingers .. They had two options, hang on to him while he pisses and moans in the press before finally leaving anyway. Or let him go straight away with no fuss, considering all we've heard is "Campbell has left the club by mutual consent" then yes he's gone quietly.

I'm not that surprised they let him go. Most of the reason they wanted him was as a big name to elevate the club (same thing as with Errikson). If he'd started talking about how disappointed he was ect it would have damaged the club so its best to quietly get rid.

What? I haven't even mentioned Ashley in any of my post in this thread

Why didn't we just loan him off them then? Wouldn't he have been able to play if that was the case. Yeah but it seems as though there has been a huge falling out, a loan deal would have been good but to late for that to happen now., Also if the wages the papers recon he was getting at Notts County are true it would have been impossible to do a loan deal. No way are we going to pay him £40k a week and no way are County going to pay half or more of his wages while he's not playing for them when instead they could just end his contract and pay nothing.

Robson was sacked and, as far as I remember, simply wanted the money owed to him for the rest of his contract. Keegan walked out and is suing for more then his contract was even worth.

He can sign for us, just wouldn't be able to play in a competitive match.