Teasy

No, we need to get away from buying a big player that the team doesn´t need just to gloss over the rest of the problems at the club. There´s no reason what so ever why we have to either do lots of small signings or lots of big signings.. Surely we just buy the players the manager thinks we need. If Ashley says to Allardyce "I´ll go out and get one or two huge signing/s for you outside of the players you´ve already identified/signed, who do you want?" then what´s wrong with that?.. As long as that signing is chosen by the manager and doesn´t mean that other area´s of the team have to suffer (which has been the main problem with some of our big signings in the past) then there´s nothing wrong with it at all.

Or it could be a £7.5 million fee with a hell of a lot of addons for apearances, goals, winning certain trophies and percentage of next sale ect roughly adding up to a maximum of £16 million.

Dein loves Arsenal but he isn't an idiot.. If it was made crystal clear that there was no chance of him going back to Arsenal he would move on. Obviously at the moment it isn't that clear cut.

He was 34 in February (Makelele that is). EDIT: Beat me to it Johnson..

we haven't spent £9mill net though,i'm sure i'm quoted on here saying we'll spend around £35mill this window,not sure how much of this will be fresh cash mind. Oops, forgot about Parker. I stand by my point though, think it would be more prudent to build the castle rather than throw it up. You know what I mean. I agree, but ultimately I think Ashley will leave that kind of decision (how the team should be built) to Allardyce. He'll simply provide Allardyce with a budget, its up to him how its spent.

We've only really spent about £1.8 million when you consider that we got £7 million for Parker.

Well I doubt he'll be telling Allardyce "You better bloody spend £50 million!!". But that may well be the most Allardyce will be allowed to spend this season. Or the article might just be total crap..

Don't recall that vow myself. Not personally he hasn't, but then he doesn't talk to the media. However his 5-year plan to make us Champions League winners, or summat, included a mention of something like a £200m budget? AFAIR the article mentioned £50 million for Allardyce in his first season with Ashley deciding at the end of the season wether he was the right man for the job long term. With a further £270 million over five years for the manager he decides is the right man. The article didn't say wether the £270 million would include any money brought in by the club or wether it would be £270 million put in on top of club money.. But who knows how much of it was true and how much was bollocks anyway so..

How much though I wonder?

So then you agree I did fix your post? BTW how many threads is that now? You know, where you've brought up Luque's name for no reason at all.. You've got one hell of a complex about that bloke! Seek help..

Being paid off by your firm and haggling for an extra £370,000 on a deal that will already net you £37 million and will be good for the club you claim to love are two different things entirely.

That extra 1p was a childish act of a man who wanted to get one over on the Hall's, he's a petty man who took an extra £300k which will eventually come out of the transfer budget because that's probably the only cost which isn't fixed other than future wages. greedy if you have a soul and some kind of moral fibre, astute if you haven't. Fixed that for you mate..

He won't get a payoff if he decides to leave himself. Also he's a greedy man, the same man that wouldn't sell his shares (something he now admits was for the good of the club) unless he got another 1p per share. His wages are certainly a drop in the ocean compared to what he's just recieved for his shares. But I'd bet the 2 years worth of wages he'll be due when Ashley lets him go will be worth well over £1,000,000.

I don't know, Shepherd may just be greedy enough to stay on purely to get the remainder of his wages. Also he might want to stay so that if we do see success he can still say he was technically the chairman. Even if in reality he had no real say in the club's running. Who knows, I really just doubt that Ashley will keep him on in any serious capacity for long.

Say what you want about how Luque has done at Newcastle, his commitment ect. But that comment really is just complete nonesense. You don't score goals against the best teams in Europe and be considered a top player in La Liga consistently by being an average player...

They were near neighbours a few weeks ago. They can't be both?..

Where did he say anything about being a boyhood fan of Shearer at Newcastle?....

Don't actually think he said/meant that but I agree with you in general

That's possibly the saddest, most pathetic cringe making thing I've ever heard, I mean that is horrific in every possible way.. Jesus Christ, there just aren't any words to fit that... massively embarrassing is the closest I can think of right now. EDIT, the first one that is, the other one is just inane.

That's not the attitude a good manager should take though, its certainly not Allardyces attitude. He quite obviously feels that past managers here have mismanaged certain players, so its good that he's trying to rectify that, even if it ends up being unsuccesful in some cases. Or, god forbid for some here, it might actually end up being successful in the case of Albert Luque. Though I'm certainly not expecting anything..

According to his father (who is his agent I think) yes. There was an article, or a section in a article, recently which quoted him saying that they were trying to get in touch with Allardyce to find out what his plans are and wether or not Luque could be a part of them. I suppose this has come from whatever discussion/meeting they've had. I'm all for it, to be honest its the only option for a real manager IMO. You have to at least make some effort to give a player a chance if there is any chance at all he could help your team. As Allardyce said, the situation may end up being too far gone now after years of mismanagment, but there's nothing to be lost in trying.

Racist! Racist against the police?.. riiiight As for the story.. this bloke is basing his assertions on a phone call, he wasn't even there. Pretty arrogant to claim his second hand info as fact if you ask me..

Nobody has tried to argue about the wasted money theme of this article. Mainly because its utterly futile to argue about such a completely flimsy concept. "Why are people getting there backs up"? Because the article is full of complete bollocks and bias, if you can't see that then you haven't read it..

Nice one, added him

Looks like I'll have to repeat myself... Given that Huddlestone doesn't even start for the U21's I'd say all of the following would obviously start for England ahead of him:- Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Owen Hargreaves, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, David Beckham, Scott Parker, Kieron Dyer, Jermaine Jenas, Joey Barton, Nigel Reo-Coker and Mark Noble. Given that Taylor is a starter for England U21's and has even Captained his country at that level I can only think of these players obviously being ahead of him:- Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Jaime Carragher, Ledley King, Sol Campbell, Jonathan Woodgate. Unless you can think of more defenders that are obviously in front of Taylor, I suppose you could include right backs, but even then...