TRon

Pardew said himself we were going to strengthen. Either he was lying or..? He's being taken up the river like the rest of us? They've got a track record of lying to everyone, their managers included (see Keegan). Why is it so implausible that they're not stringing him along too? He's in an awkward position but whilst I think it was stupid to let Routledge go, I can't really blame him for Carroll going or us not signing anyone. Him sticking up for Ashley is just hot-air arse licking. Him picking shit forward line ups which can't hurt Fulham due to lack of of football common sense is due to his own incompetence. He can't live on team spirit built by someone else forever.

Why did the prick play all three big target men as first choice before reluctantly introducing Lovenkrands as a desperation sub? Doesn't he understand the concept of keeping your options open? FFS with a seven man substitute bench how hard can it be?

He said afterwards that we will need to find a new way of playing to get the best out of the strikers we have got. I would suggest hoofing the long ball against a team with a 7ft defender isn't the best way to go. Carroll got no change out of Hangeland at our place, what made Pardew think it would work with two big men at Fulham? Pardew had no answers the longer the game went on and Hughes did.

don't even bother.

He obviously doesn't give a shit about this club because I can't see him scoring too many more now his main provider is at Liverpool. But at least his home town club will reap the benefit.

Yes. Even though I don't blame either party in this too much it feels awful to have lost a young player who had his whole future here ahead of him. Can't stand Liverpool at the best of times but I won't be able to watch their games now.

I wonder how many Liverpool fans would have been so forgiving if Gerrard had given an interview on Spanish tv gushing about the delights of Real Madrid after Owen bolted there a few years ago?

Will probably be looking forward to the captain's armband next season.

Agreed. This is a massive game and nothing would lift everyone more than to see the players who are still here giving it a right go.

This is what pisses me off. What does it say about how our players view this club that they are delighted to see one of our key players leave to join a rival? People are calling Ashley but he's a businessman who isn't expected to look at anything past the money. You would have thought as captain of Newcastle Nolan would be selling Carroll on his career at this club.

Top strikers are the most valuable commodity in the game, not many can score goals year in year out. It's still to be seen whether Carroll will tbf, although I think he's got enough self belief not to be daunted at Liverpool. Pardew will have his work cut out identifying a replacement within our wage structure though.

While that's a fair point, I am pretty sure Carroll is always going to hold a certain value in the transfer market, just because he is such a menace in the air. He's reasonably quick and has a decent left peg too. I don't think he'll ever be worth more than £35m though. Will he look as good in a team passing on the deck? Liverpool have traditionally never done well with a big target man. The scousers will be calling Dalglish every name under the sun if he turns them into a dour long ball team.

Would love it if one our "not good enough strikers" scored tonight. I will be willing the ball into the net every time it drops near Shola, Lovenkrands, Best or Ranger.

He should have been supporting his mate by telling him to stay here. and he should be giving interviews to the Newcastle media telling them how gutted he was and how he'd tried to get him to stay. Fuck Liverpool and Kenny Dalglish. Fuck the Kop and Brookside. Fuck Cilla Black and the Beatles. Fuck them...fuck them all.

Might as well be his f***ing agent. I'm sorry, but that comment just makes me want to be f***ing sick. Unfortunately, we need him and his goals right now, and stripping him of the captaincy could destroy the morale. Would do it in a heartbeat otherwise. Stripping him of his captaincy would be daft, he's clearly been one our most influential players. However being a Liverpool fan first and foremost he's turned out to be the wrong fella to be Carroll's mentor. I reckon he won't be half as effective now Carroll's gone. Scouse twat.

Compiled a quick list: Joey Barton is the only member of the first team squad that Ashley hasn't bought or given a contract to (although Barton arrived around the same time that Ashley bought Shepherd's shares so even that is touch and go). The wage budget is as high as it is, because of him. Ashley did offer big wages in the 1st year of him joining the club. He stupidly trusted Allardyce for his signings and then wise. Since we signed Coloccini though in 2008 we haven't put a single player on above 50k IIRC until Ben Arfa has signed. Once players are on big wages it's impossible to get them off their contracts unless we somehow sell them. Our wage bill this season will be decent imo to put the club on a good financial footing going forward. I think people tend to gloss over the fact that Ashley did dole out big wage contracts for the first year but most of the big time charlies didn't deliver. Owen? Viduka? Martins? Smith? Even if that's true, it doesn't mean his current policy is worse or should be constantly ridiculed. We seem to be saying if you've made a mistake in the past you should never be allowed to correct it. I agree. I was just pointing out that Ashley hasn't always been a miser when it comes to wages. It was for the benefit of those convinced he's never spent big on players.

Andy Carroll's 11 goals will be a bigger miss, especially since he probably created half of Nolan's goals as well. IMO Nolan was in a position to offer better advice to Carroll but was obviously more delighted to see him at Liverpool. He takes a fair bit of the blame for the Carroll sale in my book.

We should have made it part of the deal that Liverpool would have to buy Nolan as well. Not that they'd want the fat bastard.

They didn't want to pay him 80k/week because as has been explained it would have meant an explosion in salaries throughout the squad. Unlike Liverpool and Spurs we aren't competing in Europe so we can't afford those type of wages yet. So if there's an unhappy player who is being denied big money then you can either keep him and hope he doesn't extend his "injury" or take the money.

Compiled a quick list: Joey Barton is the only member of the first team squad that Ashley hasn't bought or given a contract to (although Barton arrived around the same time that Ashley bought Shepherd's shares so even that is touch and go). The wage budget is as high as it is, because of him. Ashley did offer big wages in the 1st year of him joining the club. He stupidly trusted Allardyce for his signings and then wise. Since we signed Coloccini though in 2008 we haven't put a single player on above 50k IIRC until Ben Arfa has signed. Once players are on big wages it's impossible to get them off their contracts unless we somehow sell them. Our wage bill this season will be decent imo to put the club on a good financial footing going forward. I think people tend to gloss over the fact that Ashley did dole out big wage contracts for the first year but most of the big time charlies didn't deliver. Owen? Viduka? Martins? Smith?

I think you're being a touch pedantic Dave, the club position is pretty clear on this one. Personally for me the real issue is whether we should have done more to keep Carroll here. He had just signed a 5 year contract so we didn't have to sell him, transfer request or not. All things considered though it was probably the right decision.

Someone explain the difference to me please. Particularly when related to the last line. What is it you find confusing?

I think if we give Ranger a run of games he will cause significant havoc in the opposition penalty area. Maybe not on a Carroll scale but he has some ability, just hasn't grabbed his opportunity yet.

Agree that clubs will be in for him first who can offer better wages and does anybody really exp[ect him to come back when he was desperate to get away in the first place . He wanted to get away because he couldn't get a starting role in the midfield. We were playing him at left back or on the bench while Duff picked up 80k a week for running round in circles on the left wing.

Doesn't the club have any other income to fund wages other than transfer fees? Doesn't that come out of gate money and tv cash?