Unbelievable

There's no perfect way to conduct yourself in the transfer market. This is preferable to Kinnear/Roeder/Redknapp/Levy school of transfers. I'd much prefer the Levy school of transfers thank you very much...

Of course he is, he is an agent. Errrrr....

The thing with our maintained complete silence regarding our transfer policy is we look really cool and professional when we pull a player out of the hat who nobody had seen coming, but when the other club constantly blabs to the press about our peculiar negotiation style, going in low and dragging things along for as long as we can until they cave, our silence just makes us look like complete and utter idiots, especially when we fail to get the player in the end...

Maybe he expected us to substantially improve our offer as part of the negotiations, only for us to insult their intelligence..? Wouldn't surprise me one bit...

Offer too low, that is a rather elegant way of putting it considering how the OM chairman qualified it..

You don't say!? Wind your neck in. People were inferring that the apf statement was something new and it wasn't. If I chose to comment on every banal post you made you have known me well by now. Heh? What's your problem mate..? I was just inferring that some people took it as we had never made an offer. I just find the choice of words by their chairman funny; the offer we have made is apparently derisory to the point of being (almost) non existent..

You don't say!?

Lucky you.. You support two of the worst run clubs in Europe by the looks of it..

Hmmmm, they classify our "bid" as "non existant".. Aye, we are really reaping the rewards of our new "transfer policy", aren't we..? It existed on Saturday, man It's brinkmanship - they've now got an asset who has just said "he will never return." This saga is far from over. I don't think the non-existant was meant to be taken literally like...

Hmmmm, they classify our "bid" as "non existant".. Aye, we are really reaping the rewards of our new "transfer policy", aren't we..?

You wouldn't be difficult if you want to sell a player and the club the player seemingly has his mind set on only wants a loan deal. He is club contracted to OM; they are in the driving seat. Imagine a french club was trying to loan N'Zogbia for a pittance when he wanted to leave. Would Newcastle refusing to co-operate and hanging on for a better deal be seen as the club being difficult or be applauded by our fans? Exactly, it's entirely subjective. See when we sold Dyer and Ashley knocked the price up at the last minute. Cuntish but good business. OM have acted out slightly but if I was a fan of theirs I wouldn't care. That's not my point though. My point is that people said oh Ashley is being a penny pincher, yet seem totally ignorant to the fact Marseille are the ones being to quote you 'cuntish' when it comes to this deal. I'm not debating their right to mess us around, I'm saying that in many ways I'm glad we didn't just fold and say 'Ok we'll pay x amount.' I don't debate he is a fantastic talent, and I would love to have him here, I think he could potentially improve us immensely. However, I prefer the idea of a loan with first option, because as has even been proved with his potential transfer to us, his attitude is questionable. I'm very unsure of this transfer policy, it has both advantages and disadvantages. But it requires patience. Still, say Arsenal come in tomorrow and buy him for 3 million whilst we have been fannying around. Will you realistically be able to absolve most of the blame from Ashley by pointing out that l'OM have been "difficult" to negotiate with..? Thought not. Let's face it: this "transfer policy" has more disadvantages than it does advantages. It got us relegated once, and will in all likelihood again if we don't strengthen as a result of it..

Quick, we need a title change..

You wouldn't be difficult if you want to sell a player and the club the player seemingly has his mind set on only wants a loan deal. He is club contracted to OM; they are in the driving seat. Imagine a french club was trying to loan N'Zogbia for a pittance when he wanted to leave. Would Newcastle refusing to co-operate and hanging on for a better deal be seen as the club being difficult or be applauded by our fans?

Link?

If what you're trying to say is Ben Arfa > Robben you must be off your rocker... "More like Messi" - love it. Seriously though, with expectations like this people are bound to be disappointed, whether he signs in the end or not...

If what you're trying to say is Ben Arfa > Robben you must be off your rocker...

Or (far more likely) can't bear the pressure of being our number 9 at the tender age of 21, the one we are completely and utterly reliant on to keep us out of the relegation zone despite his inexperience and being completely unproven at this level...?

It isn't when you aren't given a dime to spend..

Putting it in context he also spoke of the need to strengthen. He spoke about reaslism in terms of our aims for the season. Or he's been told there will be no money available for any further strengthening and being the yes man that he is, is now proclaiming to be "pleased" that there is no or very little money available?

Absolutely!

What makes you think it would be any different?

Which is not the case, nowhere near...

What makes it decent? The fact that we haven't lost any of our better players? We are going up against opposition that is massively better than last years', promotion must have done our financial position a world of good, so I don't see why we couldn't expect a reasonable investment in the squad to give us a better chance of staying up..? What's happened is Ashley has lowered our expectations to the point where we are happy if anything but the worst happens.. Criminal how far we've fallen from grace in just a few years.. If the money's not there, it's not there though. Fullstop. At the end of the day the club is a business and if they can't afford to bring in top quality players, then we'll have to put up with that until we stabilize, or a sugar daddy decides he wants in. I respect that position from Hughton, but not from Mike Ashley. If he isn't in a position to take us forward as a football club, why did he buy us in the first place? Every fucker and their dog knows football is not a business like any other, where making a solid profit is a realistic prospect. Top level football is now a place where the mega rich invest as a pass time, like they do in arts or charity, not to make a buck or two. This type of owner is in it for the prestige that comes with it. If Mike Ashley thinks he can realistically compete with these guys whilst turning NUFC into a profitable business, then he's more deluded than I feared. I don't expect him to bankroll the club like the owner of Man City does, but I do expect him to keep this club at an even keel with its natural competitors (i.e. at the very least consolidation of our position in the Premiership) so we remain an attractive proposition for footballers, supporters and potential buyers. That is the responsibility he took upon himself the moment he bought our shares. In a way, he's very lucky, because he's made huge, huge mistakes in the past few seasons, yet he's been given another crack at it with massively deflated expectation courtesy of Hughton's hard work. The least I expect now is for him to support the manager and give him a proper chance of achieving what should be their common goal now: Premiership survival. I can't say I trust Mike Ashley enough to be confident he understands his predicament however...

What makes it decent? The fact that we haven't lost any of our better players? We are going up against opposition that is massively better than last years', promotion must have done our financial position a world of good, so I don't see why we couldn't expect a reasonable investment in the squad to give us a better chance of staying up..? What's happened is Ashley has lowered our expectations to the point where we are happy if anything but the worst happens.. Criminal how far we've fallen from grace in just a few years..

Player-for-player our relegation squad was better than a lot of teams that stayed up. Absolutely, so what makes you so confident a lesser squad will stand a better chance of survival..?