OzzieMandias

what If they hadn't gone on a kamikazi spending spree, hoying money about when we didn't have it, then maybe our short stay at the top table would maybe have been longer. and if they hadn't gone on a "spending spree", they would have been at the top table in the first place, I presume this will go in one ear and out the other. You should have supported the club during the McKeag and Seymour years, you 'd have loved it. Then again, soopa mike will drag us down to that level pretty soon now The reason I brought this up was I think they'd already done this - have a relatively fallow year spending wise - during Dalglish's reign I think (and this is off the top of my head, mind) that they'd but a reasonable brake on spending as we had Pearce, Rush and Barnes all playing. My point, is that if they'd taken stock after the SBR reign then perhaps they'd have come up the other side better off. Instead they saw the bright lights and continued to chase after them throwing cash out that we couldn't afford then and still can't. Oh, and don't know about Seymour, but deffo McKeag....1977'ish for me. Between Dalglish arriving and the end of his first summer (and leading up to our first CL season) we'd sold about £17 million's worth of players (including Sir Les and Ginola, and Kitson who went in January) and brought in about £8.5 million's worth (Given, JDT, Pistone) plus a bunch of frees (Barnes, Pearce, the clapped-out Ian Rush).

We should have a sticky for all of the questions NE5 is too chickenshit to answer.

I sent the NUSC an e-mail criticising their comments to the media saying Ashley deliberately made it official he was planning to take the club off the market just in order to f*ck up the "Sir Bobby Robson" day, and this was the reply. He then went on to say I should go to the next meeting...no thanks. Don't know whether to laugh or cry.

I was just thinking, no wonder Ashley doesn't bother trying to communicate.

Thanks for that.

£7m for Bergkamp, £3.5m for Viera, £11m for Henry, £500k for Anelka. Thats the model we're after now. And what did they get for them when they moved on?

He should sell his shareholding in Sports Direct and use the money to buy Messi.

Enlighten me, why haven?t we splashed the cash? There isn't any cash. Yes there is, Ashley is a billionaire. That's no longer true. Most recent investment of net worth was £800 million. More than a quarter of that amount has already been sunk into NUFC. so what? So there isn't any cash. Yes there is. According to you Ashley still has £600m in the bank. Wrong again.

Enlighten me, why haven?t we splashed the cash? There isn't any cash. Yes there is, Ashley is a billionaire. That's no longer true. Most recent investment of net worth was £800 million. More than a quarter of that amount has already been sunk into NUFC. so what? So there isn't any cash.

Enlighten me, why haven?t we splashed the cash? There isn't any cash. Yes there is, Ashley is a billionaire. That's no longer true. Most recent assessment of his net worth was £800 million. More than a quarter of that amount has already been sunk into NUFC.

Enlighten me, why haven?t we splashed the cash? There isn't any cash.

Aye, the only difference between us and Liverpool is the unwillingness of the current owner to take on massive debt in a time of global financial meltdown.

@ the truth in that one!

Don't think the comparison is quite fair tbh. I'm certain our wages were less than 50% of turnover until near the end of SBRs reign, would have been down around 45% then, rather than the 65%ish that seems to have been mentioned in this thread. I think our financial situation is worse than it was back then, and whilst the need for investment in the first team is abundently clear, I think it will be slightly harder to turn around than it was last time (and it took a couple of years then, too). Another huge dissimilarity is that then we had a world class manager, who knew the game inside out, had contacts in most major football playing nations in the world and was someone you could trust with money, even if he did get the odd one wrong. He was also afforded a fair amount of time before he did get it right. He also spent his first couple of seasons selling and buying to get the wage bill down and balance the books.

Cardinal Hume was always my favourite celebrity supporter. He could have put in a good word with the big man! Maybe he did. We haven't made a decent managerial appointment since he died.

Cardinal Hume was always my favourite celebrity supporter.

Link? Come on Dave, we all remember it. I remember him appointing Kevin Keegan and saying money was there 'if Kevin wanted' a player. Seems a bit at odds with the pretty straightforward explanation that we're skint as fuck. Theres still no suggestion that he wouldnt puthis and in his pocket when keegan was signed - hence the bid for AModric amongst others. We knew that finances were tight at the point that mort said "we were close to collapsing like a house of cards". I dont understand, though at which point did you think we were ever flushed after the owner having to put £100m into the club to keep us afloat? ~EDIT: For me personally, these accounts dont excuse Ashley from spending any money but they do go on to explain the absolute nessecitiy of the system and its importance to the club. I never thought we were 'flushed', but then I saw the owner come out several times and say he'd be looking to back his manager with significant funds to improve the first team. That didn't happen IMO. I seem to remember when Mort came out with that quote, most people were still fully behind Ashley. It's what's gone on since then which has turned many, hence my request for a link from Ozzie. I can't recollect 'no fucker' believing him, apart from NE5. I was thinking about his explanation of subsidising the club to the tune of £20 million per annum. Plenty of people moaning ever since that he obviously wasn't doing this, though I can't be arsed to look for links.

I don't usually agree with the NUSC view but the only reason Liverpool are sought after is because of their sustained success over the decades. Otherwise it was just an ordinairy club in an ordinairy city before Shankly. Not sure that KK would make much difference though. It's about the brand. Liverpool is one of the biggest names in world football. We're not. I go to Morocco a lot. There's a bunch of guys I know in Marrakech who all work out of an office that backs on to the stadium of Kawkab Marrakech, the local team. You can get a completely unrestricted view of the pitch from the corridor leading to the toilet in the cafe these guys use. But they don't have the slightest interest in watching, even though, when we're drinking tea and smoking kif, the conversation often turns to football. Some of them "support" Barcelona or Real Madrid (Spanish football is much more popular there than the Premiership, one or two like Raja Casablanca (one of the best teams in Africa). One of them has been a Liverpool fan since, he says, he was a child. They've barely heard of Newcastle, though, and that wouldn't have been any different no matter what happened this season.

Well, you dont build up trust by just releasing financial data. The reason is wasnt believed is because many could see the cynical side of his PR stunts and could not comprehend his personnel decisions. "He's obviously lying because he wants to stand among the supporters and has given a job to that cockney cunt Dennis Wise."

But he basically explained the situation ages ago and no fucker believed him.

"What do you think of a deputy prime minister that has won 4 MP of the year awards for 2 political parties?" - Winston Churchill

Both NUFC & NUSC Good point.

Getting a press spokesman who has some wit, charm, tact and media savvy wouldn't hurt in the shorter term.