magorific

No. 1991-92 was worse. So bad that KK thought Darron McDonough might improve it..

Buys more country? Wat dat?

Epically gash again - other than bailing Elliot out once. Amazing that we are desperate for Dummett to be fit...

If he is, then he should have gone off. Stupidity to play on when injured.

Yep, remember that game vividly He was sick as a pig that day. If you were anywhere near the pitch in the the middle of the Gallowgate, you could hear him shouting "We're f*cking shiiiite!" on he ran up to take goal kicks.

Yes, and Hall was desperate to sell to them (he knew King's dad). Shepherd refused to speak to them.

His over riding ambition was to cream as many millions as he could possibly get. Took us from signing Shearer for a the record fee to Guisseppi Rossi on loan which he tried to pass as a major coup. Where would the club be now if Ashley hadn't came along? The debt was massive. John Hall knew to p*ss off rather sharpish... He signed Owen for £17m less than a year before Rossi arrived! Yes, he spunked future sponsorship money on the Owen deal, but you can't say he lost all ambition, transfer-wise later on in his reign. Thinking back to the day Owen signed, barely anybody didn't think it was a sensational signing at the time. Plenty - as ever - are blessed with 20-20 hindsight..

No grip on basic facts either...

When your bag of English Wum is nearly empty and you're grasping at the crumbs in the bottom. Gayle would have knocked those chances in. Wummery sh*ite. Showed serious class to get into the positions he did. Snatched at chances because yesterday will have been the most emotionally testing game of his recent career, against the manager who put him out to pasture.

Exactlly this. Just try to imagine how much adrenaline was flowing through him today, up against a manager who basically hung him out to dry for months. He's getting in great positions, while also giving us the physical focal point we need up front to get ourselves up the pitch. But for a wonder save last week, he'd now have 2 in 3 for us. People calling him need their head shaking.

Oh do jog on - and once you get there, keep going.

Brother is a pro basketball player. Some good genes there..

Because footballers are generally thick as mince and the club lawyers would run rings around them. An agent will get you the best deal and knows the ins and outs of things like image rights. they are basically there to make sure players don't get screwed and to get them the best deal possible. Like them or not. So agents make sure their client doesn't get screwed by the club, by taking twenty percent of his contract and a one off fee every time he moves clubs. Seems perfectly reasonable. The standard is around 10%, but i mean they have to get paid or the aren't going to do the job. They don't just turn up one day with a player and go, hey sign for this club, thanks for the 10% The standard isn't 10%. FIFA recommends 3% and most agents take about 5%.

Well said Dave, although it simply beggars belief that anyone can point the finger anywhere beyond our fat, lying, alcoholic (everything he does screams this fact), trainer sock-selling mess of an owner.

Seconded. At last, a natural #10. So won't happen..

There is zero contact between "head office" and the sports desk at Thomson House. Fact.

On the evidence of pre-season, he's lost the only attribute he had which was solid defensively. It's gonna cost us goals if we don't fix that LB spot. He was only ever solid against the type of head-down winger who'll run directly at him. Always vulnerable against players who are clever enough to know how to time runs in behind him in teams good enough to exploit those runs. In other words, he has zero football intelligence and will always be a liability at the top level.

The piece has come straight from Rafa - no way Martin Hardy would risk the relationship he has with him (Rafa) by speculating himself. But the one good thing is I see it as proof that Rafa desperately wants to stay - it's another warning shot to Ashley, same as after January. But how many more can he send out before giving up?

we won't be like, not with rafa in charge...now if he leaves that's another matter btw i don't think the problem in splashing the cash is ours, if everyone else would just f*** off and let us lowball clubs we'd be fine Rafa is not a miracle worker, as it stands quality wise we have the 3rd worst squad in the league. If the likes of dummet,lascelles,colback,mbemba,mitrovic get anywhere near the first 11 on a regular basis we are f***ed Colback, Mbemba, Mitrovic, yes. Lascelles, maybe but Dummett is fine. We won't lose games because of Paul Dummett. I disagree. He brings nothing to the attack and is one of the poorest first-choice LBs out there in the Premier League. Lucky he's a left back and not a left winger. He's primary duty is to defend and at that he is very decent. Rafa will have us defending first, that's why he's getting a new contract. "very decent". ? I'll bookmark that, when his ball-watching, combined with the far cleverer movement of Premier League opponents, returns to haunt us this season.

Papers love making s*** up. Has Rafa directly adressed the media or fans? Graham Carr leaving shows he is now turning our transfer strategy around. In June players rarely sign. Even Conte the league champions manager is allegedly frustrated at lack of progress, is he really though? Or more crap from press. I get why people s*** themselves largely because Ashley is uneducated in football decisions and also many peoples lives are social media and they choose to talk about the latest news good or bad. Pessimism has forever surrounded nufc fans and will continue to,so whats new! I expect the real work to start next week, cant be arsed buying into media hype until Rafa speaks out himself. FFS man, wake up. Rafa briefed the press immediately after the QPR game at the end of the January window re his frustrations. He has done the same again. Head out of sand (or your arse) time...

Sorry, but Rafa was behind these media reports (Northcroft at the Sunday Times is one of the journalists closest to him since Liverpool days), Just as he was behind the similar reports in early Feb. Doesn't mean he's going anywhere though..

Almost certainly Rafa himself briefed the press about his frustration with the January window.

Spastically speaking, you mean (you, not him)? I've been as much on Mitro's case as anyone, but it was plain to see he linked up play really intelligently today, was only denied a cracking goal by an even better save and put Gayle's goal on a plate for him.

We could guess but I he has sources in the club. He has reported with insight in past and so is likely to be on this occasion too. I don't like him or some of the content of the article - but it is likely at least partially accurate. How many people at the club will be currently aware of what our transfer budget is going to be next season though? Not many I would guess, so it wouldn't be difficult to detect who the source is and therefore the source, unless a complete dildo, probably wouldn't tell the press. This piece certainly won't have come from a source within SJP. It may have come from someone around Ashley (although I also doubt that). But people are missing the real picture here, and that is that Martin Hardy wrote a piece a few weeks ago (Sunday Times, I think) saying Rafa was now planning to stay long term. Hardy was the only guy reporting this. A few weeks later, it turns out he's obviously been speaking to Rafa regularly for his next book. It's not difficult to join the dots and draw the happy conclusion that Rafa has received assurances that he'll be given what he needs.

No. No. No.