TRon

That's the only reason we are even able to go for a player of his ability. If he was perfect temperament we wouldn't even have a look in. Ashley is spending no money so we can hardly be picky about the imperfections of young international prospects. That's how you end up buying Leon Bests and Kevin Nolans. What a fucking genius Ashley is in the transfer market.

I don't know, we could stay up but I admit we are in real danger of being a club going down. Yes we need an attacking midfielder, alongside other players but I don't go round saying Ashley is a cunt because he hasn't signed Ben Arfa. At the start of the transfer window I wanted O'Hara, it doesn't look like we are going to get him but I'm not coming on here calling Ashley all the names under the sun for it. That's because you're retarded. If Ashley doesn't sign Ben Arfa then of course he's a cunt. Aye, I guess I am, but where does it stop?, sign Ben Arfa, you will want Keane next, sign Keane you will want Messi after that. I said earlier, a modest investment of £15m this season would be more than enough to give us a side worth watching. Is that really too much to ask? In what way does that mean we want every player under the sun?

Great post Parky.

I don't know, we could stay up but I admit we are in real danger of being a club going down. Yes we need an attacking midfielder, alongside other players but I don't go round saying Ashley is a cunt because he hasn't signed Ben Arfa. At the start of the transfer window I wanted O'Hara, it doesn't look like we are going to get him but I'm not coming on here calling Ashley all the names under the sun for it. That's because you're retarded. If Ashley doesn't sign Ben Arfa then of course he's a cunt.

He didn't realise what a bell end Ashley was. Now he knows better he's staying quiet.

Something else to consider: if Ashley gets his signings in early it gives us time to offload players who would then become surplus. If we signed Ben Arfa clubs would probably be encouraged to bid for Nolan, Barton or Guthrie. By dragging this out Ashley is probably getting exactly what he wants - keep the players we've got and the wage bill down.

when does everyone panic, 31st august perhaps That's actually not a bad idea, actually waiting to see whether or not we'll make more signings rather than automatically assume that we won't. remember january 2009, that's exactly what happened - No signings and we got relegated So? no lessons seem to have been learnt then The lesson from the fact that a year and a half ago, we signed two players who unfortunately turned out to be less than satisfactory is that we'll never make any good signings again? The problem is that those two signings were made because Ashley refused to pay the money for our top targets, allegedly M'Bia and Veloso. The same happened with Victor Moses when we plumped for Leon Best as a cheap alternative. Can you honestly say this won't happen again in the next two weeks if the Arfa deal is allowed to die? No, I don't like our owner either and I realistically I think this transfer window will end with us getting a few signings at nominal cost who will boost numbers. I haven't convinced myself that "we're not going to make any singings, our current squad is going to fail miserably, and we're nailed on to be relegated so we might as well all go top ourselves now" though. How does criticising Ashley's miserly approach in the transfer market equate to topping yourself? You should seek help if these thoughts are coming up for no reason.

when does everyone panic, 31st august perhaps That's actually not a bad idea, actually waiting to see whether or not we'll make more signings rather than automatically assume that we won't. remember january 2009, that's exactly what happened - No signings and we got relegated So? no lessons seem to have been learnt then The lesson from the fact that a year and a half ago, we signed two players who unfortunately turned out to be less than satisfactory is that we'll never make any good signings again? The problem is that those two signings were made because Ashley refused to pay the money for our top targets, allegedly M'Bia and Veloso. The same happened with Victor Moses when we plumped for Leon Best as a cheap alternative. Can you honestly say this won't happen again in the next two weeks if the Arfa deal is allowed to die?

i think you'll find the numbers renewing the 3 year season ticket's to be quite low, I expect their to be some crowd's only round the 40K mark this season tbh We'll not hit below 45k IMO. Maybe not this season but next season I can't imagine why people would fork out good money to watch a Championship team. That goes even if we stay up btw. We go to these games in the hope of some entertainment not to watch eleven try-hards struggle to keep up with teams who can't command 15,000 gates.

I think the fans have been treated with contempt by Ashley. The feelgood factor after promotion is rapidly going to dwindle if we don't get two or three quality signings through the door and I would expect team morale to drop as well. We can easily do well this season given a modest investment of £15m but without it all the will in the world won't help at this level. Maybe we are in for a pleasant surprise with those signings arriving soon but the Ben Arfa business makes me fear we will lose out on any genuinely good players.

"Santa Claus doesn't exist" would be more appropriate. It's clear this would be news to many posters. Or "Scrooge lives 4EVA. Bah humbug" How about that?

It's worth remembering that Victor Moses was going for a song last season and Hughton wanted him badly. Where did he end up? Wigan. Despite wanting to come here by some accounts. If you still believe Ashley will bring off this signing you are deluded my friends.

Hatem Ben Arfa. Too much of a rated prospect to have ever ended up here.

What exactly have Marseille done wrong? Ben Arfa is their player, if other clubs are willing to buy him for a reasonable fee why would they agree to sell him to us for less? I don't think they have done anything wrong (except being cnuts to us) but as the sellers it's their perogative to try an get as much money for any asset they want to sell. The point was really that despite everyone screaming for torches and pitchforks and wanting Ashley's head on a pike, if Marseille wanted to jerk us around then they could do that. Nothing that NUFC could do to get them to accept an offer today if they thought that they "might" get more money for it tomorrow. Nothing Mike Ashley could do? How about put in an offer that would actually get the player here? It might surprise some people but clubs don't usually let their best players go cheaply and quickly. The only players who they will ditch at the first offer are the likes of Nolan, Best and Ryan Taylor. Because they are shit.

I think his posts are mint. Love the way he even types in broken english

What exactly have Marseille done wrong? Ben Arfa is their player, if other clubs are willing to buy him for a reasonable fee why would they agree to sell him to us for less?

That's basically what Hitler's saying in that video as well. Even the Nazis are more clued up than Fat Ashley

I am not interested in moving on, I have no interest in signing some 2nd rate back up player who will turn out to be another Leon Best or Kevin Nolan. Just fuck off Ashley and stick your cash up your arse. Nolan was actually first choice signing at that time, wasn't he? We made a lot of noise about signing M'Bia and Veloso for £10million beforehand. Sound familiar?

I am not interested in moving on, I have no interest in signing some 2nd rate back up player who will turn out to be another Leon Best or Kevin Nolan. Just fuck off Ashley and stick your cash up your arse.

This is what I meant earlier when I said the only reason this deal had a chance of going through was HBA was desperate to come here, it had nothing to do with us pulling out the stops to get him in. We dithered, we lost...again.

I wouldn't even use the Villa game as a yardstick, I think we'll struggle against sides who can afford quality players and Villa are one of those. Against the poorer teams our midfield might be able to compete and those are the games we should be able to get points.

still stands a good chance of being better than smith. edit....still has a chance of being better than smith. ...and running faster than Nolan.

So if it goes through it's nothing to do with Ashley, and if it doesn't then Ashley's cocked it up? Basically yes.

If he signs it will be more down to his desperation to come here than Ashley's making sure we get our man. If it falls through it will probably be the biggest transfer cock up since signing Taylor and Nolan last Xmas. That French journalist on Talksport reckons it would be a massive coup for us to sign him, he's that good.

I was talking in relative terms to the rest of his midfield pals. Obviously he was shite by any half decent standard.