DJ_NUFC

Nah, Grumpy's was seeking a bite.

Having watched the Hammers a few times this season, it's the same old Scotty Parker, 360s in the box, and sideway passes. He does get stuck in, and chips in with rare goals here and there, huffs and puffs as usual, but 20-fucking-million is mindboggling.

Er................... By far the largest reason for these exceptional charges is the severance payments made to departing managers, which amount to a staggering £17 million over the last five years, including £5.3 million to Kevin Keegan, £4.6 million to Sam Allardyce and his team, £3.2 million to Graeme Souness and £1.1 million to Glenn Roeder. It may be a nerve-wracking experience managing Newcastle, but it’s also a lucrative one. Rumour has it that Big Sam bought a villa in Spain with his pay-off, naming it “Casa St James”. In fact, give the regularity of these payments, it is difficult to argue that they are exceptional in any way, shape or form. EVEN A BIGGER PIECE OF SHIT THAN I THOUGHT HE WAS, FAT SAM.

Is there a thread for the impending Barton sale in the Jan transfer window to the Hammers? http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=851309&sec=transfers&cc=5901 http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=852727&sec=transfers&cc=5901 Wages too high my fuckin' arse. Take your fist out of your gaping asshole, you fat fuck. We need to keep him.

I agree that the choices available to replace Hughton don't indicate a huge improvement, which is why I'm not entirely sure why he was sacked in the first place. It's all as baffling as ever under Batman & Robin. Ticket tout and Casino Director. We just gotto suck it up and get on with it.

Fair enough. I think my general point is valid though - that the decision took some courage and that they haven't hidden themselves away from the reaction. It's an unusual type of decision in that normally owners only make a change when things start to go wrong. They very rarely back themselves to bring in someone new pro-actively. So many of Ashley's decisions have been reactive to events around him. Even bringing in Keegan - which was the only remotely pro-active one - had a whiff of panic about it and pleasing others rather than backing his own beliefs. In the current wave of criticism, all his decisions tend to be lumped together, but in this one he's really put his neck on the line and stamped his own judgement on the situation. It's a gamble, but I suspect that, in his thinking, putting Hughton in charge long-term was also a gamble. He now feels that, if he's going to lose, it'd be better to lose having backed himself rather than going with the flow. The only problem I have with that assessment is the choice of Hughton's replacement. What on earth does Pardew have going by his past experiences -- especially in the transfer market -- that Hughton didn't, or couldn't have achieved himself? It's about faith, and they seemed to either, a) have none in Hughton, for whatever reason, or b) there were other reasons which we'll probably never know regarding his sacking. I'm just trying to see the logic in Pardew's appointment, as if Ashley really wanted a proven, experienced, even world-class manager, he could've appointed one. Giving Pardew a five and a half year deal is a little presumptuous, and requires a lot more faith than the amount the players and fans already had in Hughton.

W O W. I go away to Jamaica for a week, a week without internet, and this is what happens. This is some shock to me, all this, although I did hear about the Hughton sacking on Wednesday. Getting a huge coffee and staying up all night reading all the threads, and hope to post some feelings in the 'death to Ashley' threads (hope there are some).

I usually don't even take the table into account until around Christmas, or after the 'winter break' in the rest of Europe. Reason being thats the time you really get an idea of how consistent a team is, at roughly just over the halfway mark.

One of my mates absolutely detests Williamson, constantly pointing out how "slow" he is. You don't need bloody lightning pace as a defender, there's a reason defenders age well like wine, and strikers and midfielders generally don't. Williamson isn't Jonny Woodgate, but he's done very well for us thus far, and if he gets beaten for pace there's really not much else we can do, we don't have any faster defenders on our books. I'd have him over Taylor anytime for what I've seen, anyway.

I don't know, Fabrice Pancrate had a similar first 2 games and honestly, a lot of these comments mirror those made during that time.

A beast. Reminds me of the time Pompey came here and raided us, everyone was spewing semen over their midfield full of "black beasts" and we wished we had just one. We do now, and he's a fuckin' beauty. I hope Smith shines his shoes well.

I wanna cry. That's how good he is. That's how good that goal felt. Had two shots of cinnamon whiskey when that ball zipped past a spreadeagled Howard as I watched a repeat of the game late night here in Canada. Shades of Ginola & Robert, I hope the kid keeps it up and joins us full-time. I'd hate to see him go elsewhere, but as long as he keeps us up this year, I'll be happy with that too.

So the only difference between us and Chelsea is literally a decent striker?

I don't need some johnny foreigner telling me a local boy playing for his local club living his dream is going to fuk off at the first opportunity to anyone flying higher than us, its pure and utter bollocks. Spurs could be out of the CL by the time anyone can move and will probably never see CL football again reducing them to a Euro cup club and where we could easily be in 2-3 years. I'm seeing this from a Geordie point of view and when it's about a situation like this it does fuking matter, sorry if the foreign contingent find that hard to swallow, but if you don't understand that then you don't understand why he'd want to stay, because scoring a goal in a No9 B&W shirt is worth a 1,000 goals for a team like Manu and 1,000,000 goals for a team of the moment club like Spurs. The Johnny Foreigner nonsense is just uncalled for. You a Geordie from Newcastle and you have the right to your opinion. I am a Yoruba from Ondo State and I have the right to my opinion. Don't dismiss what I am saying because you were born and raised a bit closer to SJP. You see I think most footballers act mostly act rationally and not out of blind love for clubs and entities. Tottenham are in a much better position right now. This career lasts 10-15 years at most. Most players want to get paid as much as possible and win as much as possible. It would be special to achieve this with your boyhood team, but if they aren't up to it, you leave. Right, I don't usually get nasty on this forum, but you can go f*** yourself, really. I don't know why have turned a small paragraph response about Andy Carroll into a personal attack on me, but I would appreciate it you stopped. My "internet persona" thinks you are being a bit ridiculous. Doctor Zaius, I would leave if I thought I could accomplish things at the new club that I could not accomplish at the old one. Your boyhood club is always going to be that, but business is business. You prove once again why you're so loved on this forum. You tell'em, sistah. I know all about Nigerian tribes through Nollywood and the Hausa melodramas. I concur, the Yorubas are the superior tribe.

Yeah but the LoG reference was hilarious. Great show, especially that sketch. Anyways, it's all good.

I don't need some johnny foreigner telling me a local boy playing for his local club living his dream is going to fuk off at the first opportunity to anyone flying higher than us, its pure and utter bollocks. Spurs could be out of the CL by the time anyone can move and will probably never see CL football again reducing them to a Euro cup club and where we could easily be in 2-3 years. I'm seeing this from a Geordie point of view and when it's about a situation like this it does fuking matter, sorry if the foreign contingent find that hard to swallow, but if you don't understand that then you don't understand why he'd want to stay, because scoring a goal in a No9 B&W shirt is worth a 1,000 goals for a team like Manu and 1,000,000 goals for a team of the moment club like Spurs. TT... we understaaaaaaand. We geddittttt. We're just asking you to relaaaax. I just don't know how this became an attack on the Johnny Foreigner(s). I don't need to express my loyalty or understanding of this club each time one of you goes on such a rampage. Neither does any other JF. It's boring, tedious and incredibly immature. Which was the only point I was making. Funny because I actually agree with you about the point in question, a point you thoroughly ignored and instead began accusing me of "not understanding."

We should've ditched him when we got promoted, or told him he would only be a squad player. He's good to have around by the looks of things in the dressing room, and Hughton clearly finds him dreamy, but he should be used sparingly, not made captain.

I hate how easily he's done so well at Spurs. I can't make up my mind if it's because he's a brilliant tactician (a joke, of course he isn't) or just a great man motivator (more likely). You can say whatever you want about the resources he's had there, etc., but countless managers have wasted resources larger than that at this club. And it seems he's untouchable no matter how many players he taps up.

I personally don't think he'd leave either, for what it's worth, but simply pointing out that you can't discount the notion altogether, and personally lambast someone who says the same thing.

TT, you need to stop re-enacting A League of Gentlemen sketches on here towards foreigners. Baba has a point, every fan in the world who has seen their best homegrown players leave will attest to that, or anyone with a brain who has been following football since the dawn of time will attest to that. Unless you're saying you KNOW Carroll personally, and are privy to all the thoughts that go on inside his head, and from his general demeanour glean that he'd never, ever, come rain or shine, leave the Toon, because, well, foreigners don't know what it feels like to be a Geordie, then we all agree with you, yes.

That's why we need Robbie Keane, innit.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

From Kingston, Ontario, and the Canadian U-19 captain who had an absolute blinder against Brazil, so I was sad to see him leave. He should've stuck around and would've had his chance.

Didn't we? How much did we pay for Best then? In ANY case, Gyan's worth 12M