Taylor Swift

Ben Arfa and N'Zogbia (if we sign him, which I think is likely) will be better than whoever Liverpool played in midfield last year, and they easily got 6th place. We're honestly not far away.

Of course we are. How far do you think we're away then? How many players do we need to replace for us to compete with Liverpool and Spurs?

We're four players away (CM, RM, ST and another winger) from competing for the top six. Spurs got fifth having their strikers combine for something like 3.2 goals in the Premiership. We're not far away. And it's not like we have to spend £10m on each player, too. Someone to work the channels up front and create space for our midfield to operate.. £6m on Erdinc? Someone to pass the ball to our midfielders and dictate the game.. £5m on Cabaye done. Now two midfielders to create havoc. £9m on Zoggy? Yet to be named winger? Barnetta maybe? We'll also have HBA back, and in six months time he'll be our best player.

It's ironic that a lot of people think Ashley and Llambias are selfish and will do whatever it is that's in their best interests yet ignore the fact that Barton's just selfishly dragged two of his teammates into his own mess, as if Jose's and Jonas' situations are anything like his. Jonas doesn't even have a fucking situation, for fuck's sake. And for what it's worth, you don't have to trawl through too many of my posts to find that I've been as harsh on the regime as anyone else, yet this is clearly unacceptable behaviour from Barton. He's just another footballer who thinks he's better than he actually is, so he'll be replaced and end up regretting leaving the club and forgoing the wages he could have had if he had signed a new contract six months ago when he truly had leverage. Now that the fact we have signed a CM and look to be signing at least one more, his leverage has all but disappeared.

Time to kick ass.

You don't criticise your boss' decision in public. It's completely unacceptable for someone like Barton to do it. I said it a few months back but he started to mouth off as soon as people started to acknowledge the good season he was having. Just shut the fuck up and play, you tit. You've had one good season in four and suddenly you think you're the fan's spokesman? He's an idiot who's too far up his own ass to realise that there is no such thing as being a hero in football. Players who mark themselves out from the rest on the pitch and who create the best memories will be loved by fans. Everyone else is forgotten with time. He'll be forgotten, and probably quickly too since he's not even close to earning his wages over the past four years, let alone the £5.8m we paid for him. I haven't forgotten the extra £0.3m that we had to pay because he wouldn't give up his loyalty bonus, either (and that kind of behaviour is certainly ringing a lot of bells). :lol: Since when was that a criticism? All he said was that he'll miss a good friend and a good player. You should find yourself a job in The Sun somewhere.... I think you would get in. 'SOLD!'... 'mejoseandjonasnext' Can you fucking read? If that is not criticism (whether veiled or not) and publicly positioning himself against the club on an issue that clearly he has no say on - and no player should ever have a public say in this - then I don't know what is. Why couldn't he have just whinged like fuck to whoever he wanted but keep it private and limit the controversy? It's his M.O. to publicise everything. Have a good game? I'm the best midfielder in England. Offered a paycut since he's hardly earned his CL wages over the past four years? They want me out. Remember that we offered him a deal which he had intimated that he was going to sign, until Carroll was sold and he said he would until the end of the season. He thought he had way more leverage than he did and he's going to be replaced. He's a good player who I think should be able to repeat his performances next year, but it's obvious that he's not easy to handle and he's not good enough to have to put up with all the shit. He's not a Bellamy-type game-changer who needs to be pampered. He's a decent mid-table midfielder who has to play in a certain formation to be effective, but he doesn't realise this.

You don't criticise your boss' decision in public. It's completely unacceptable for someone like Barton to do it. I said it a few months back but he started to mouth off as soon as people started to acknowledge the good season he was having. Just shut the fuck up and play, you tit. You've had one good season in four and suddenly you think you're the fan's spokesman? He's an idiot who's too far up his own ass to realise that there is no such thing as being a hero in football. Players who mark themselves out from the rest on the pitch and who create the best memories will be loved by fans. Everyone else is forgotten with time. He'll be forgotten, and probably quickly too since he's not even close to earning his wages over the past four years, let alone the £5.8m we paid for him. I haven't forgotten the extra £0.3m that we had to pay because he wouldn't give up his loyalty bonus, either (and that kind of behaviour is certainly ringing a lot of bells).

This will be done on the last day because of the price issue. Wigan won't sell unless they have to, we won't buy unless we have to.

I'm not surprised that this has happened. For what it's worth, we'll be fine in the long run. Spirit is made by winning. Our team had a great spirit because we won a bunch of games in the Championship and started to win games when we got promoted. If we are able to improve the quality of the first team this summer, I'm sure we'll be better off in the long run with players who are better than Nolan. I don't know his influence off the pitch so there's no way to evaluate his effect, but we've already bought a double-winning classy CM, who I'm sure will bring his own leadership and 'spirit' into the club. I am honestly fine with Nolan leaving as long as he is replaced. Hopefully it isn't Gardner because he's not good enough. Hopefully it's someone like Matuidi (who I haven't seen much, but from the limited amount that I've seen, would be better than Nolan). I think we have to realise that Nolan was very limited on the pitch. His stamina and fitness means that he's a liability late in matches, and his form also markedly dropped after Carroll left. Whether that's due to us playing the ball on the ground more or because we didn't create as many chances as we did, I'm not quite sure. The only thing I suppose I'm sure about is that if we're planning on changing formation and changing our style of play then it is better that we acquire players who have experience in that formation or who have the skill and ability to play it in, rather than do it half-arsed and end up with an unbalanced team.

How the hell is he going to train?

He's worth a hell of a lot more than £7m.

Gomez is clearly worth far more than £20m. His goalscoring record is pretty fucking amazing. So it took him a season to settle at Bayern, but he had a great, great year and I'd bet that his next year will be more similar to his last than his first.

Twelve million here and a bunch of skyscrapers.

They've probably made that bid because they know that not a lot more will be needed to complete the deal. Clubs usually have a general idea of how much players are valued. WH wouldn't have made this bid if they knew they were very far off. The 'derisory' thing is just a negotiation tactic. I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see £3m-ish, maybe £3.5m straight be the deal.

That deal would be as good as the Carroll deal.

If you compare football to other popular sports, there is still a lot of room for revenue growth. I think you could see broadcasting revenues increasing significantly in the future, and broadcasting revenue from abroad will come to dominate revenue growth, much as foreign box office sales are increasingly becoming more important for film companies. But with increasing revenue, you can guarantee that wages will continue to increase, which is why it might be a smart thing for Ashley to tie all our players to long-term deals.

Mceveley tbh.

It's gonna be fucking annoying when the rest of the world realises what a fucking awesome left back he is.

Only for a friendly, though. He won't start in a competitive game because they have stekelenburg.

save krul

pitch is fucking shit

This is N-O

transfer request

is that really you in your avatar?