tmonkey

Thought "a genital robber" and "a granite lobber" were pretty decent. Makes you wonder, what kind of sick fuck would rob someone's genitals and lob granite at people? Gabriel Obertan of course.

Hope you're wrong, but what you've described sounds a bit like the winger equivalent of Alan Smith. And not meaining to mock Smith further, but we do need to remember that whenever Smith has been linked to another club, the messageboards for that club tend to be filled with hopeful posts of Smith still being a decent, hard working player who just hasn't been given a chance here. This is despite every NUFC fan in the universe knowing what a disaster of a footballer Alan Smith is. At the same time though, wouldn't you have said the same about Diego Forlan, who couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo when he was shipped out to Atletico?

Gerrard Pique Guiseppe Rossi Gabriel Obertan?

With Giggs on the precipice of claiming his winter fuel allowance at the post office, Nani being a bit of a dickhead, and Ji Sung Park being Ji Sung Park, it's a case of either Fergie knowing Obertan is a headless chicken with artifical cheetah legs or Fergie himself losing the plot entirely. A gamble that probably has casino-addict Ashley foaming at the mouth.

2009's matchday/commercial is significantly lower than the other years', would it be fair to say that much of this is down to the negative press, boycotts, etc, which happened that year? Amortisation, as others have said, is a non-cash expense, which is not relevant here imo as I'm looking at a basic cash flow to see what the company can/can't invest in. The net cash flow from 2009/10 was more than £20m, and that was in the Championship, so it'd make sense that we'd be in a net position of £60m for 2010/11 given the increase in TV money. Does "other expenses" not include fees for players signed, as we pay cash up front for our signings? I assumed it did as iirc the notes to the accounts don't clearly indicate where they've put transfer fees for incoming players in the P&L? Would appreciate anyone pointing this out to me. Also, would Keegan's tribunal, which iirc cost the club about £5m, not be in there too? But even so, the wage bill for 2009/10 was £47m - I've probably over-estimated the bill for 10/11 at £60m, as we only added Kuqi, Tiote, Ben Arfa and Gosling (with Butt leaving).

I realise this is a highly inaccurate guesstimate, but looking at the 2008 income and just thinking about our 10/11 income and expenditure, I'd have it at: £47 million in TV money as per the Premier League's PDF above. Let's add another £60m in gate receipts, season tickets, merchandising/match day revenue and sponsorship (this is what we had in 2008), £35m from the Carroll sale, plus additional income from the installment payments of transfers for Bassong, Martins, Duff, Beye, Zog, Given, Milner (much of which we should still be receiving - let's say the total of those sales were £45m, spread over 5 years, we should be getting £9m for the season). All of which comes to: TV money £47m Other income £60m Player sales £44m Total = £151m Less the wages for the season (£60m), signings of Tiote (£3m) and Ben Arfa (£5m), new contracts/loan/signing on fees (£10m), running costs and other expenditure (£10m), and we have costs of nearly £88m. That leaves a rough estimate of profit for 10/11 before this summer's transfer activities as being £151m - £88m = £63m. So, where's all this money going?

Nolan was sold this summer, Barton has been released this summer, and the Carroll money has not been invested adequately this summer. All of that has occured this summer, yet Jose has looked like a player who has wanted out for the past 8 months at the very least, something that turned into a running gag on here but imo had some substance. I have very little doubt that his mind was made up long before this summer's "inactivity", which has merely turned out to be a very convenient excuse where he can turn round and say "it's not me who wants out, it's the owner/chairman who is forcing me out!!!". Said at the time that his most recent twitter outburst looked like being an attempt to force a sale without handing a transfer request in, i.e. rip into the owner knowing full well what he's like, and given what the Star has said about the price dropping (yes, I know it's the Star), nothing about that opinion has changed on this front. Do you not think that it entirely plausible, nay probable, that the reason Enrique wanted out for such a long time was because he knew earlier than the fans/the public/the media what Ashley was and how little ambition he had for the club? So rather than this summer being the excuse, as you suggest, it is the inexorable next phase of the plan which he knew when Hughton was sacked and Carroll was sold etc In terms of fact pattern, that fits better than what you're suggesting IMO. Really don't see how someone who gave his heart and soul sticking it out with us during our CC season can reasonably face such unjustified criticism. Firstly, I don't think any of the players who stayed with us after relegation did so out of choice. Those who could be sold were sold, the rest were flops on big contracts who other clubs didn't want to touch with a bargepole. The likes of Enrique and Coloccini only actually started looking like decent players once we had a dozen games in the Championship. So I personally don't buy this "loyalty" or "righting a wrong" line some of them have peddled. I certainly remember Colo talking about keeping his options open after relegation, the club trying to loan him out (allegedly) and failing, and then half a year later we get "I choose to stay" quotes. Bollocks, noone wanted someone who had looked like an £80k per week clown the last time he had played Premiership football. Regarding the possibility of Enrique knowing what Ashley is like, sure, that's a possibility. But then I'm not convinced Enrique would have wanted to stay even if we had managed to sign Gervinho and Gameiro for example. The reason I'm not convinced is down to basic player nature, i.e. Enrique imo is no different to any other player who moves from a bog standard mid table club to one capable of challenging for the CL spots and capable of offering CL wages. After 6 quality months in the Premiership where it became very clear that he was a top fullback, a number of clubs in that bracket will have been interested in him. Hence, short of a miracle where we turn into a top 6 side overnight, I think Enrique leaving was only ever going to be inevitable (just like Carrick leaving Spurs, or Barry leaving Villa, or Milner leaving Villa, etc etc), and that's why many of us on here were referring to his body language, performances, change in communication with the fans (where he went from giving weekly in-depth captain-material interviews to maintaining near radio silence), as pointing to a player who's head had already been turned and so was set to leave. It's no different to the way Owen for example acted in the last 6 months of his contract here. I've been convinced all summer that Enrique will be leaving irrespective of what happens, as there's no way we'll ever offer him the sort of contract some of the big boys will be offering, and I think if you look past all of the BS flying out from both camps that this is the ultimate reason for him wanting out.

Nolan was sold this summer, Barton has been released this summer, and the Carroll money has not been invested adequately this summer. All of that has occured this summer (bar the Houghton sacking), yet Jose has looked like a player who has wanted out for the past 8 months at the very least, something that turned into a running gag on here but imo had some substance. I have very little doubt that his mind was made up long before this summer's "inactivity", which has merely turned out to be a very convenient excuse where he can turn round and say "it's not me who wants out, it's the owner/chairman who is forcing me out!!!". Said at the time that his most recent twitter outburst looked like being an attempt to force a sale without handing a transfer request in, i.e. rip into the owner knowing full well what he's like, and given what the Star has said about the price dropping (yes, I know it's the Star), nothing about that opinion has changed on this front. There's nothing wrong with him wanting out, I'm sure Liverpool with their new owners are going to be offering him a much better contract than what we can afford to pay him, and that is almost certainly the biggest factor here. But the way he's done it has been a tad pathetic, especially this outburst - where's the transfer request, Jose? I don't see what's wrong with both "sides" of the debate being correct here. IMO the club is being run by utter twats who have no idea what they're doing and have no qualms with lying to fans about things (and most likely are happy to mislead fans regarding "pursuits" of various transfer targets, e.g. Zog), yet at the same time the likes of Barton, Nolan and Enrique have used the board's incompetence to further their own selfish agenda, an agenda which involves bullshitting to the fans about things like their desire to stay here.

Nolan is full of s*** imo. "Forced out"? He had 2 years left, he could have stayed if he wanted to and earnt that new contract by continuing his form and proving his doubters wrong regarding his apalling fitness (and the notion that he'd turn into another Geremi or Nicky Butt within a few seasons). But he clearly knew his time was coming to an end, as he pretty much stated this in that interview he did earlier in the season where he talks about stepping aside in the first team in the near future (or something along those lines), hence why he was desperate enough to go to a Champoinship club who were themselves desperate enough to give him a 5 year contract. He wasn't forced out, he choose to leave because he wasn't up to fighting for an extension here, he wanted the extension given to him now and on a silver platter as a "thank you for helping us get back to the Premiership" present. I also think the club were spot on in terms of changing their mind regarding a new deal. January/February was the start of his slide in form imo, as previously he had looked decent thanks to his high return in goals (which masked his ridiculous lack of mobility and creativity). Between February and the end of the season his form then takes a nosedive without Carroll around to set him up, and he already starts looking washed up. So his own form during this period would explain why the club may have had a change of heart. Combine this with our successful pursuit of Cabaye and I don't see anything wrong with the club changing it's mind about Nolan's contract.

MA does watch the matches but it is Llambias who handles the day to day running of the club. As such he is the one charged with implementing the financial policy and also fronting dealings with players and agents. I'm sure the job can be done without pissing everyone off and, without doubt, he is a massive failure. Things were much better when Mort was in charge imo.

Bit of a pointless afterthought, but have to wonder whether those post-relegation sackings by Ashley/Llambias have had any impact here. Didn't the club sack half it's administrative staff or something? Wonder whether any of them were given their jobs back (or replacements recruited) after promotion too. Not that we have any idea what any of them did or what the situation is like, but given how retail outlets like Sports Direct are run I wouldn't be suprised at all if there's a serious lack of manpower on the administrative side of things at the club.

Except that none of us are worth £20m+ to our employers. The club should have an army of staff working for it on peanuts (in footballing terms, what's £25k per annum to the club?) making sure things like this go as smoothly as possible. It's a Premiership club with multi million pound players ffs. You'd think we were running this tour like a PE teacher arranging a foreign trip for his school's A-side to play in some crappy tournament, with his responsibility being limited to getting permission slips from the players' parents and telling his lads to meet at an airport at a set date/time with their passport in hand - any of the lads who can't get permission or aren't at the airport on time won't get to play. It's pathetic.

Zog's a bit of an enigma. Don't rate him particularly highly because of his inconsistency and generally being a "run into brick walls until something comes off" type of player, but at the same time he's someone you don't really want playing for the other team as he's capable of tearing a team apart/scoring a goal from nothing at any given moment. Should be £9.5m extremely well spent for an upper mid table side though.

My money is on the club rejecting a few cheapo bids for Enrique which has pissed him off, hence the outburst being an attempt to force the sale.

It's because he's shit and the Scandinavian equivalent of Shola Ameobi.

On the subject of overrated players, step forward Cesc. He's good when pissing over the likes of Bolton, Blackburn, etc, but has done sod all in big games for donkey years now. Isn't fast, isn't slippery like Xavi, doesn't dribble all that well (like Iniesta), hit a purple patch 2 seasons ago in terms of goals from midfield which I'm not sure he can reproduce, gets reduced to constantly trying desperate through balls in said big games (especially CL ones), and when wound up he looks and acts like what I'd imagine a 5 foot 9 giant rodent able to play football to look/act like.

I hope we get rid. Total prick, exactly like Owen in the way he's keeping quiet whilst his agent whores his services around.

He's going to be for us what Maradona was for Napoli.

Probably that perceived bad boy "Le Sulk" attitude putting a few of the bigger clubs off. Also a bit selfish on the ball imo. He's a bargain for £10m though, certainly for a club like ours who could do with the unpredictable goals he can provide. Stick him on the right and do what Bayern did with Robben, i.e. have the rest of the team play a normal team passing game, then when he gets the ball let him motor his way towards goal.

Add Gervinho (and Arsenal's interest) to that too.

This.

It's still a bit risky banking on Ben Arfa being the same player. We need someone like Zog to cover for the possibility that it'll take Arfa a while to get back to form, he may even have to adjust his game.

The teamsheet is the smiley. On matchday the manager chooses 10 players to play with Cheik.

First name on the teamsheet for me, after Tiote of course but then that's irrelevant because Cheik is the teamsheet.

His full name is Blastoise Matuidi.