dcmk

I'm sorry, but that's absolutely pathetic. Damaging for the morale of the entire team, watching their sometimes Captain made to train alone. Disgusting. do you believe barton is whiter than white in this? Well considering a lot of the other twitter users in the team publicly backed him in this, suggests they don't find him the main antagonist

You don't seem to be at all bothered about what the management does to the club, the promises made to the fans or the players. When the manager of a club publicly announces that every penny of the Carroll money will be invested into the team, it's pretty common knowledge that it mean's any contract renewals, transfer and agent fees so to come out of this window with a smaller squad, and making a net gain is indefensible. Why brazenly lie about it? Why not explicitly tell the fans at the time it's intentions with the money instead of intentionally misleading? FWIW Ashley was loaning the club money interest fee, so has every intention of getting every penny back, so there is no point trying to make out he is Mr Charitable.

But our wage bill

I'm staggered that people are actually sticking up for the management. From past experiences what have they ever done that would instill any trust in them? Renaming the ground? Undermining Keegan? Attempting to mislead a tribunal? Sack a popular manager in Hughton? Lie to it's players (Enrique, Nolan)? Reinvesting every single penny of £35million into the training ground and agent fees? I can't think of why anyone could defend them.

Aye. The people apologising for this 65k/week c*** make me vomit. By wanting to play out the last year of his contract and describing the atmosphere within the dressing room in a few tweets, that makes him a cunt? Ok.

This club sometimes... he was arguably our best player last season. Just ridiculous.

This is going to be a wind up.

Mm well he was buying books today.. maybe he fancy's jacking it in and then starting a career writing fantasy novels.

Must have changed his plans. Lets speculate.. a mutual termination?

I get your point, I am quite sure you don't really believe that the rest of the squad are happy though, do you really? Most players' would just get on with it however Joey Barton is similar to Bellamy in that he would speak out if aggrieved, but as I said before, i think he hasn't quite crossed the line of unacceptable just yet. I don't see any reason to believe the rest of the squad is unhappy. The ones who have just arrived and/or are on contracts they are happy with and have years left will probably be absolutely fine. Obviously they each might have some concerns, but that's normal (maybe Jonas is unhappy that Jose is leaving etc). I wouldn't be surprised if most of our players saw Barton as a bit of a mentalist who they have to humour from time to time. That doesn't quite stack up if you take into consideration Nolan's comments. He, after all, has no reason to lie about any of it, as IMO has got a very nice contract yet he accuses the club of moving the goalposts completely during negotiations and being messed around. Considering he was a very well liked member of the team and had a good season, i'm sure this would have massively upset the group. That's before we even take into account the reinvestment of the £35 million and ATM making a net profit this window. Well Nolan may have been led to believe he was getting a better deal then the goalposts moved. But I don't believe that would upset the other players, especially now he's gone. They might worry about what will happen when their own contracts come up for renewal I guess, but I would think that's a fairly normal worry in the life of a footballer. I don't for a second believe that the players' would be happy with any of it. The £35 million being reinvested, management being accused of lying and trying to replace every player nearing the end of their contract with a cheaper alternative and it can even go as far back as Hughton being forced out - when he was really well liked and was doing a good job.

I get your point, I am quite sure you don't really believe that the rest of the squad are happy though, do you really? Most players' would just get on with it however Joey Barton is similar to Bellamy in that he would speak out if aggrieved, but as I said before, i think he hasn't quite crossed the line of unacceptable just yet. I don't see any reason to believe the rest of the squad is unhappy. The ones who have just arrived and/or are on contracts they are happy with and have years left will probably be absolutely fine. Obviously they each might have some concerns, but that's normal (maybe Jonas is unhappy that Jose is leaving etc). I wouldn't be surprised if most of our players saw Barton as a bit of a mentalist who they have to humour from time to time. That doesn't quite stack up if you take into consideration Nolan's comments. He, after all, has no reason to lie about any of it, as IMO has got a very nice contract yet he accuses the club of moving the goalposts completely during negotiations and being messed around. Considering he was a very well liked member of the team and had a good season, i'm sure this would have massively upset the group. That's before we even take into account the reinvestment of the £35 million and ATM making a net profit this window.

plenty of footballers leave clubs and are refused contracts without slagging off the club. why are nufc players different? Because in their cases i'm sure they haven't been lied to.

I get your point, I am quite sure you don't really believe that the rest of the squad are happy though, do you really? Most players' would just get on with it however Joey Barton is similar to Bellamy in that he would speak out if aggrieved, but as I said before, i think he hasn't quite crossed the line of unacceptable just yet.

FWIW i think there has been a huge over-reaction on here about his comments - he is merely hinting at discontent he hasn't explicitly said anything explosive like accusing a particular individual of lying or that the whole team wants to leave ASAP for example but rather validating other peoples claims (Enrique's & Nolans) that the players' feel aggrieved.

Barton was signed under Ashley in as much as he had to agree to the transfer. You were implying that a hand shake should be enough in the Nolan thread ( a player you hated btw) and now you are using a technicality to make Barton's wage an Ashley deal when you know fine well it was a Shepherd one in all but name. At least show some consistency if you want to use the moral standpoint Mick. I fail to see how they are mutually exclusive tbh.

I thought you only judge teams after their first competitive game and in the here and now it's about fitness?

Enrique and Barton are unsettled. The rest are in long term contracts or not in the first team plans. Well Coloccini's contract will only have 12 months left to run after the upcoming season, can't imagine him wanting to stick around IMO.

Not only that but there were times last season that Barton was a f***ing clown, he is at times clearly ineptitude on a football pitch costs him big-time.

When it comes to renewing our senior players' contracts this summer, out of the 3 (Nolan, Barton and Enrique) - one has been sold, one is being forced out and the other is accusing the club of lying about 'everything'. So i wouldn't be quick to slap the 'other than Enrique, it's a happy camp' tag just yet.

The two are evidently inextricably linked. They are..Btw, right now all our stars are happy, except Enrique. ..Barton.

Wow, people turning their nose up at Bendtner... when he was playing regular football for Birmingham 4/5 seasons ago.. he contributed close to a goal every 2 games. He could have only improved from that so long ago, he needs a regular run in a side to bring out the best of him mind. We would be very lucky to have him.

Maybe it stems from the Anyone But England slogan

I have no idea what state they are in but he has failed two medicals in the past though.

Wow what a ridiculous rumour. Kinda hoping it's true, then hopefully see him get into the England team ahead of Fat Frank.