TRon

A £1million fee is pointless when it gets Ryan Taylor games. There's still 30 odd million left in the kitty. If we can't find someone better than Routledge the head scout wants shooting with shit.

He's served his purpose and we got the fee back. What were they expected to do; sign him on for as long as he wants and accept diminishing returns? No place for sentimentality - we need to make progress. Some of you would have rather we kept Gavin Peacock and David Kelly. People believed in Keegan and Sir John. Who believes in Ashley, Llambias and Pardew to take us forward? I'll tell you in August. Let's see who comes in first. No problem with the moves so far though.

Remember Viduka, Geremi and Smith being ushered in under Fat Sham? Groundhog Day.

I'd have gladly taken £3million that we originally turned down. Says more about you tbh. Yeah dumb old me who didn't want to sell Zog for £6million and now we are looking at paying double to buy him back. Has fuck all to with this. It shows judgement though.

I'd have gladly taken £3million that we originally turned down. Says more about you tbh. Yeah dumb old me who didn't want to sell Zog for £6million and now we are looking at paying double to buy him back.

Oh noes! let's reduce the fee to £1.5 million!

I'd have gladly taken £3million that we originally turned down.

Because on his day, he's invaluable. As rare as those days are. He's worth keeping for the goals. But if you are running a football club you have to weigh up how valuable and over how many years. Would he be valuable enough to keep in the first team next season and not have bought Cabaye? Nope, always thought we needed a CM upgrade. But how often have we played our 1st choice side this season? We need options and he's a pretty decent one to turn to when you're chasing a goal. Other people have said it and I agree...he's not a player that would be effective coming off the bench. Not that I think Nolan would have stayed anyway if he wasn't going to be a first team player as has been proved by the move to West Ham.

Because on his day, he's invaluable. As rare as those days are. He's worth keeping for the goals. But if you are running a football club you have to weigh up how valuable and over how many years. Would he be valuable enough to keep in the first team next season and not have bought Cabaye?

It's getting so daft now that Johnny Hall is taking sides despite being one of those who wasn't even a fan of Nolan for most of the season.

Well not really, as it depends which journo's opinion you listen to. Funny how reliable Douglas has been made out to be with all the good stuff he's "broke" yet as soon as this comes out, no chance. Fuking gospel till it suits. Pathetic defence of the player on here, to be expected though. It's not even a defence of the player for the most part. It's just a convenient excuse to have a dig at Fat Ashley and speccy Dekka. Yup. Got nothing at all to do with selling our top goalscorer and club captain. All just an excuse to slag off Ashley... I wish someone could convince me of a scenario where we could buy Cabaye and keep Nolan on the bench on 40-50k a week for the next 4 years. Because that's how you would have to plan it if you were running the club and intending to buy Cabaye. Otherwise you wouldn't buy him. How come no one has said that's what we should have done?

You've got to be on the pitch to lead, and if Cabaye is starting next season Nolan wouldn't be. That's fairly obvious as well.

Well not really, as it depends which journo's opinion you listen to. Funny how reliable Douglas has been made out to be with all the good stuff he's "broke" yet as soon as this comes out, no chance. Fuking gospel till it suits. Pathetic defence of the player on here, to be expected though. It's not even a defence of the player for the most part. It's just a convenient excuse to have a dig at Fat Ashley and speccy Dekka.

We had a good, mostly English team under SBR. The key though is they were all young, hungry and mobile. To buy those players these days is virtually impossible for a club like us. We are even getting quoted £20million for Shane Long ffs.

WH are spending daft money but the type of players they are buying and their style under Fat Sham should see them back up imo. I suppose it will be worth it if they bounce straight back up.

Just confirms what I said before. The group of lads is centred round the British players, and tbf they've done a good job. But it reminds me of what happened when Arsenal and Chelsea started buying foreign players, there were lots of similar noises from the British players who got sidelined. Unfortunately we haven't got the money to spend on players like Henderson and Jones. or even if we have I wouldn't back it. Funny how Arsenal putting their experience out to pasture has coincided with winning fuck all for six years isn't it? Funny how Alex Ferguson packs his squad with British squad players for that very reason isn't it? I'm sure Arsenal fans would love to go back to the side that Bruce Rioch left them. They wish their squad had some leadership if that's what your straw man is trying to say. Well straw men tend to pick the points they want and ignore the rest of the message. When I pointed out that Barton had only mentioned the British players in his "team spirit" quote it sort of showed that he's part of a clique himself. Nothing wrong with that, I'm sure the spanish speaking trio are closer and the same will happen when the french legion arrives. There's no reason there still can't be a team spirit it just won't be exclusively British origin.

Just confirms what I said before. The group of lads is centred round the British players, and tbf they've done a good job. But it reminds me of what happened when Arsenal and Chelsea started buying foreign players, there were lots of similar noises from the British players who got sidelined. Unfortunately we haven't got the money to spend on players like Henderson and Jones. or even if we have I wouldn't back it. Funny how Arsenal putting their experience out to pasture has coincided with winning fuck all for six years isn't it? Funny how Alex Ferguson packs his squad with British squad players for that very reason isn't it? I'm sure Arsenal fans would love to go back to the side that Bruce Rioch left them.

It's fair enough that there are people for and against Nolan being sold. It's a risk to some extent but for me the club is doing the right thing by trying to move on. If I'm wrong and things go tits up I'll hold my hands up and say I was wrong and the critics were right. If the new players come in and do well, I hope those people who are slating the club now will do the same.

Well Carroll's not here for a start so that's a fair reason to suppose he won't be as prolific again in the premier.

I would have some concerns about whether we will be as defensively solid next season. We might concede a few more from set pieces if we overload the team with smaller skilful types. Hopefully we'll keep the ball better and rape teams on the break to make up for it though.

Just confirms what I said before. The group of lads is centred round the British players, and tbf they've done a good job. But it reminds me of what happened when Arsenal and Chelsea started buying foreign players, there were lots of similar noises from the British players who got sidelined. Unfortunately we haven't got the money to spend on players like Henderson and Jones. or even if we have I wouldn't back it.

Perhaps if his negotiation tactic had been a bit more realistic, rather than going straight in asking for 5 years, then it may have been more successful. Is that how your negotiations work like? In mine, one party says what they want, the other says what they want and they meet in the middle. Nolan was well within his rights to demand anything. 5/10/20 year extensions. I wouldn't give it to him, but there's no reason why he can't start high. He's entitled to ask for whatever he wants, but its certainly not a good starting point IMO. Even 4 years would be a terrible deal for the club IMO. He's entitled to ask for what he wants, but the club is just as entitled not to give him it. You can't blame him for trying to cash in on last season but there wasn't exactly a stampede of premier clubs rushing to offer him a better deal than we did.

and then dump him as soon as they get promoted.

Nolan obviously didn't fancy starting next season on the bench or he could easily have refused to move like Smith and Barton are threatening to do. It's not all the club's fault. Unless you consider the Cabaye deal was unnecessary, but not many people are saying that.