TRon

I wonder who'll get the goals next week against WBA? £9m quid is fine but until it's on the pitch we won't see any benefit.

I don't know why people find it so difficult to engage their brain before making such assumptions. Does anyone seriously think someone will invest £100m in a football club then turn it into a training academy for a country thousands of miles away? Did you seriously think some London businessman would pay hundreds of millions and pay off debts only to destroy the club and get it relegated ? Why not try engaging YOUR brain - it's fun. Try it. With respect, whatever we think of Ashley I don't believe for a minute that his intention when he bought the club was to destroy NUFC and get us relegated. That has been a consequence of his poor management and bad decisions. Yes that's a reasoned view, but not everyone wants to see the situation in context, for some it's more important to push their point relevant or not...as we'll probably see in subsequent replies.

Jonas and Bassong. Can't think of anyone elsee. Habib Beye possibly. Quality never costs you much in the long run. As for the rest of the "loyal" players I think I've had my say on that.

Beautifully put. Nice one Jose, summed up everything about the man.

I don't know why people find it so difficult to engage their brain before making such assumptions. Does anyone seriously think someone will invest £100m in a football club then turn it into a training academy for a country thousands of miles away?

Exactly. This is the same situation as Bassong, they are under contract and that means if we are going to be pushed to sell them we should get top dollar. I said exactly the same thing last season when we sold Faye...people were arguing that £2m was a good fee for a 30 yr old but I think Stoke got the best of that deal.

How fitting that he was still with us for the Charity match on Sunday. No one ever deserved a knighthood more, he will be greatly missed.

I've read all this stuff about how certain players will be fine at this level, players like Nolan, Smith, Butt and Ryan Taylor come to mind and I can't say I'm as confident. This division is full of players with that sort of limited ability, I would think that the main difference will be hunger and fitness. I can see the leading teams in the division having more of it than us unless some signings are made. Birmingham went up with a team of Carr's, Taylor's & Carsley's. Think people are crazily over-rating the ability of this division tbh. It's the Birmingham players you didn't mention that probably made the difference. It's ok having one or two plodders, a team of them is going to go nowhere.

The thing that strikes me about him is his lack of confidence. He looked terrified at times last season.

Think either will do a stand up job tbh. I would prefer Keegan if he was backed with enough money to keep him happy, the one thing you are guaranteed with him is a good football passing game. It would be tough on Shearer though, I still think he'll turn out to be a good manager given a decent shot at it.

I've read all this stuff about how certain players will be fine at this level, players like Nolan, Smith, Butt and Ryan Taylor come to mind and I can't say I'm as confident. This division is full of players with that sort of limited ability, I would think that the main difference will be hunger and fitness. I can see the leading teams in the division having more of it than us unless some signings are made.

I think Wullie and tmonkey are the only ones showing real perspective here. There aren't many quality players prepared to step down into a lower division when when they were not the reason we got relegated. Two questions need to be answered: 1) Did he give 100% for the club during which we were mostly struggling with a shit team? 2) Would he have stayed if there was a Manager and a serious intent to get straight back in the premier? For me the answer to both questions is yes. The truth is the only players who are happy to play for a club going nowhere in the Championship are the over-paid wasters like Smith, Duff, Geremi and Nolan..and that's because no one wants them because they are ...SHIT

I don't think the team spirit's any worse than anywhere else tbh, it's just a particularly bad set of players, too many of whom have seen their best days. I expect this season to be similar to last, we'll get out run and out-worked in most matches unless there are changes.

Not a peep in any of today's papers more than 24 hrs after the story broke. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Ok I have just seen the quotes on page 233. Strange that no other news sites have picked up on them.

The only people getting excited are those that think they're somehow being daring and original by claiming it's bollocks tbh. Unless you missed the direct quotes? Yeah I missed the quotes I think. I scrolled back a few pages and saw some arabic site which looked like it had been translated...but I need a the translation of the translation tbh. It looked like gobbledygook.

Is there actually any genuine basis why everyone is getting excited about this? I wasn't here earlier in the day so I might have missed something.

Exactly what I thought http://www.husseinandterror.com/jpeg%20pics/68sized.jpg http://www.ilna.ir/uploads/1388-3-3/47.jpg Air-brushed Atta buys Toon!!!11 [/The Sun] 9/11 hijacker goes into hiding as new Toon owner but is still at more games than Ashley and Lambarse and more welcome it has to be said.

Isn't that Mohamed Atta? He's got the same colour hair....you might be onto something

At the same time last night everyone was getting excited about some American take over, today it's Iranian...tomorrow it will probably be Dame Edna Everage from Australia. I'll wait another 12 hrs before I get my hopes up I think.

It won't be. We're talking about Ashley et al remember. FFS, he hasn't taken any money out of the club. To suggest every penny that comes in from transfers should go out on transfers is stupid, the bottom line is what counts. The bottom line is we have one less striker. Way to switch angles on me. My focus is on getting back to the premier next season. At the moment there is now less chance of that happening, obviously if we buy a replacement who can do the business for less money then that's great, but if and when that happens I'll change my view accordingly. Fine, but I was responding about finances. If money wasn't an issue obviously I would rather keep every decent player we have, but sadly it is. With finances there's a short term view and a long term view though. Ashley chose short term last season and it backfired with relegation. I'm concerned weakening the team to a point where promotion is unlikely will lead to us becoming a permanently crap team. I would rather we invested and got promotion and won financially long term.

Bossed a midfield full of players from newcastle who were are paid probably 10 times his wages? Fuck me, if thats all you need to do to be rated at £8m then expect the prices of Championship midfielders to rocket up in the next 12 months I know. I was just using this as yet another opportunity to underline just how shit our players really are despite their big name reputations.

It won't be. We're talking about Ashley et al remember. FFS, he hasn't taken any money out of the club. To suggest every penny that comes in from transfers should go out on transfers is stupid, the bottom line is what counts. The bottom line is we have one less striker. Way to switch angles on me. My focus is on getting back to the premier next season. At the moment there is now less chance of that happening, obviously if we buy a replacement who can do the business for less money then that's great, but if and when that happens I'll change my view accordingly.

In any case, the player hasn't agreed terms with Wolfsberg yet, I wouldn't have thought it's a foregone conclusion they'll match his wages here. From the reports in the Chronicle Oba wasn't desperate to leave like Bassong or Beye so it's not a done deal yet.

It won't be. We're talking about Ashley et al remember. FFS, he hasn't taken any money out of the club. To suggest every penny that comes in from transfers should go out on transfers is stupid, the bottom line is what counts. The bottom line is we have one less striker.