TRon

He could start by not saying stuff instead of making promises he can't keep. Theres a reason you never get a real answer from Hughton. Yes, lack of communication is always well appreciated by our fans.

That's assuming that the local press spread lies on behalf of the club. What if that's not true and it's just the impression created by irate fans who don't know any better?

He said that yesterday as well. Seemed fairly confident as well. I'm hoping his sources are genuine and he isn't being led up the garden path, but it would be a fairly stupid thing to do since he'd then let rip nationwide about it.

Your honest opinion is flawed, he's running the business on a purely profit basis now and that has been his aim for at least as long as Llambias has been here. He could make a lot more profit out of it without signing players like Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Marveaux and Ba. In fact I reckon to run the club on a profit maximising basis he would have been mad to sell Nolan as you could get enough goals from a side playing long ball football with Nolan and a few other big hard players to ensure survival every season. Top that off with interest charges on his loan and he could make a tidy sum surely?

If you can remember Tudor crisps then you're too old to fit Ashley's blueprint.

What? If they weren't so scared of being banned from the club, thus rendering their back pages pointless and cutting their readership in half, they'd probably be as critical as the rest of us. That's where the intelligence comes into play tbh. Lee Ryder might get on people's nerves but he's a bit more far-sighted than tits like Steve Wraith.

It's my honest opinion that this sort of action will just antagonise Ashley and make him even more determined to run the business on a purely profit basis. Nothing to be gained at this point by getting antsy.

Thank god they've got a bit more intelligence than the average fan.

Rotten timing. Could the imbeciles not have waited for four more weeks before wading in on Barton's side?

12m for Milner. Great business sense. 14m lost on Milner (to be worth 26m) + 30m lost from relegation + at least 10m lost from crowds, sponsorship and merchandising = Clueless football business sense. It's all just a little bit of history repeating. I was saying at the time that it was short-sighted to sell our best young players, but... Alright, let's look at the next few years. No hindsight needed. I hope and pray that the new signings are great, bed in well and quickly, stay injury free, and aren't sold at the first sign of them being any good. But if I had to put my predictive skills on the line I'd say that I foresee a relegation battle ahead - sometime in the next 3 years, if not immediately. How about you? Can't see a relegation battle ahead tbh. I think we'll sign a couple of players and finish halfway up the table for the next couple of years. We could finish higher but I think we won't invest enough to stop players leaving, but the prices they'll fetch will mean we'll always buy enough players to keep us in the division.

Pardew's main test will be in getting results from foreign players who have a totally different approach to the game to most British players and coaches. Last year's squad dictated the game we played and it didn't take a lot of coaching nous to wing the ball high to a big forward and let Nolan battle for the scraps. If Pardew can't work out how to get the best out of the new lads we might see a foreign coach come in.

Not arguing that we need to spend more wages at all. Just that at THIS point it seems like we are stumped for a striker and a left back with our preferred choices falling through. Unless the club have some well hidden contingency plans there is a real fear we will buy/loan sub-standard players due to our lack of willingness to pay for quality. it's been happening for ages I realise that. Again, I repeat: this is our first window with a year behind us in the premier and some big money coming in from player sales. Last year was about consolidation and this year there's no excuse for not building a competent squad which can finish in the top 10.

I'm sure you've said this every window for the last three years like

You're only interested in what the first 11 looks like on September 1st. I take it you're not going to the Arsenal and Fulham games, or Sunderland away. I might well go to the Arsenal and Fulham games, probably not the Sunderland one. If we've signed no one by then I might give the Arsenal game a miss because I'm not going to watch us getting stiffed voluntarily.

I agree in principle, but this seems to be the norm for even the best teams with the biggest budgets. Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea still haven't done their serious business in the window so it just seems to be the way these things work. Laughable though it seems I will still wait to see if this applies to us. It would beggar belief not to.

Pardew said. Those two words could be followed by any other combination of random words and have as much chance of being true. Pardew said we'd have a player in before we went to America, didn't he? He talks shit. Whatever. I don't really care what Pardew says or what his detractors say, I don't have any agendas. I'm only interested in what the first 11 will look like by Sep 1st.

Not arguing that we need to spend more wages at all. Just that at THIS point it seems like we are stumped for a striker and a left back with our preferred choices falling through. Unless the club have some well hidden contingency plans there is a real fear we will buy/loan sub-standard players due to our lack of willingness to pay for quality.

Pardew said in the last week that August was the month we would see real movement with other clubs doing deals. Well, I am giving him the benefit of the doubt (again) and will see if this movement of players will see us bringing some players in rather than shipping them out. I'm now assuming we have plenty of potential deals ready and waiting for the pieces to fall into place. Four more weeks. That's it.

There's no reason not get a replacement unless we want to concede to Joey's plans to put us in the clarts. There's more than enough money in the kitty to get someone in to replace a twat who isn't going to be considered this season.

Signed a four-year deal in May. Would only be available on loan = stop-gap. The c***s that run this club need to pull their fingers out of their arses and bring in a replacement for Jose, who is proven in top-flight football and will look to be here long-term. With a month to go, I'd go for a loan deal rather than buying dross in like Shorey or Warnock, or relying on Ferguson, Tavernier to step up. It isn't with a month to go, we've known Enrique was off all summer. We should have genuine targets ready to pursue rather than last minute bodge up deals designed to keep the balance book looking healthy.

You've summed up everything I feel in that one post. Still biting my lip for four more weeks then that's it.

Toulouse will sell and M'Bengue will sign if the money is right. The wages will be less than Enrique was on and the fee will be more or less covered by the Enrique sale. The only real obstacle will be whether we will be prepared to pay the fee or go for the safe but cheap option of Warnock or Shorey. On past form you have to fear it will be the latter. He's going to cost at least £8-10 million, was widely reported we were unwilling to pay more than £5 million. If he goes anywhere this summer, it will be Marseille. The deal could be done for less than that IMO, in any case we have the money even at those prices. In any case, the money we get from Enrique regardless of money we've received for other players is more than enough to get us a damn good prospect at left back.

If he was that bad I don't think they'd be turning down £6m for him.

Toulouse will sell and M'Bengue will sign if the money is right. The wages will be less than Enrique was on and the fee will be more or less covered by the Enrique sale. The only real obstacle will be whether we will be prepared to pay the fee or go for the safe but cheap option of Warnock or Shorey. On past form you have to fear it will be the latter.