Unbelievable

Asking price reported in Dutch media: 7 million euros.

Liverpool offered him to us as part of the deal and Ashley said no. Also Jose had told the club if they didn't let him go he would buy himself out of his contract at xmas. Surely would have made sense. dave it would make perfect sense, its a no brainer considering our squad needs TWO left backs!! Source?

Why? Who would be next? Dennis Wise?

Took Ashley just 6 months to break the spirit of the man.. If you read the interview you'll see it had nowt to do with that. He was just a realist. Only now though with City & Spurs, top 4 is top 6. Just 3 seasons ago Spurs were in the lower regions of the Premiership themselves. What makes the league so cast in stone today that with some healthy ambition and the right level of investment we can't turn the tables on the likes of them again..? Of course, without such ambition and investment you are probably even being overly optimistic with your suggestion of aiming for a top 8 position..

Contrast that to what our then manager said about us a mere 3 and a half seasons ago.. Didn't he say after the Chelsea game that we were nowhere near them either? He found out what Ashley & Co are really about by then.. The penny seemingly still hasn't dropped for you more than three years later.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7368688.stm Nothing to do with Ashley, the whole interview was spot on. Ironically, Ashley begged to differ: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/may/09/keegansurvivesashleytalks?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Took Ashley just 6 months to break the spirit of the man..

Even without the ones who have left, Krul, Coloccini, Tiote, Cabaye, Jonas, Ben Arfa, Ba, etc. is the core of a good solid top 8 squad. If players want to leave that then that's their choice but we're still attractive. Besides from Cabaye and Ben Arfa, which of those players has been proven as capable at playing consistently in a top 8 side of any European league, let alone the Premiership..? Even then, those 2 have it all to prove in the Prem.

Contrast that to what our then manager said about us a mere 3 and a half seasons ago.. Didn't he say after the Chelsea game that we were nowhere near them either? He found out what Ashley & Co are really about by then.. The penny seemingly still hasn't dropped for you more than three years later..

What gets me is all these new players coming in commenting about being impressed with the level of ambition of the club. What are they telling them to convince them to come here? Also, most of our recent departures have commented about broken promises and lies in the media regarding their contract situation etc. I find it baffling that so many on here can defend bad decision after bad decision from Ashley & Co, when it's glaringly obvious they are taking us all along for a ride..

How so?

Contrast that to what our then manager said about us a mere 3 and a half seasons ago..

Don't push your luck. We do though.. People don't realise how lucky we have been with Enrique's injury record (or lack thereof). Realistically, we need a first team left back and somebody who can cover naturally in that position.

Our "medical team" can fuck right off!

In a flash

Shambolic

Groundhog day!

Wonder what the craic with his contract situation is..

How would that work?

Shite

Excellent!

Pretty strong team that..

This confirmed then?

So, that's what, £100k a week on wages doing nowt, £5m for the season? As if we'd sanction that. Hold on a sec, I thought extra wages were coming out of the transfer funds? In which case it wouldn't matter. Now there is some barrier beyond which we can't sanction an extra signing because Alan Smith has 11 months left on his contract. this really is getting beyond ridiculous now. We're clearly penny pinching, so you honestly think we'd pay Xisco & Smith £5m for the season knowing we can't use them even in an emergency? Bollocks man. We're too tight to just give money like that away. Are you defending what you think they WILL do, or what you think they SHOULD do..? I haven't defended a thing. All I've said is until some of those senior players on the fringes go, we'll not be signing anyone. Ok, so that's what you think they WILL do. Do you personally think that is what they SHOULD do?

You want facts? Check our record for transfer spending since Ashley joined. Also, since you are suddenly so big on facts, why are you including Erdinc in our squad like he's already signed? Spent about £48m (up to now) haven't we, in the 4 season he's been here? That's not a bad outlay for someone who many claim won't spend on players. How much did we rake in in incoming transfer fees in that time? Your point seemed to be about our spending, not recouping of fees. You know what I meant, or should have..

So, that's what, £100k a week on wages doing nowt, £5m for the season? As if we'd sanction that. Hold on a sec, I thought extra wages were coming out of the transfer funds? In which case it wouldn't matter. Now there is some barrier beyond which we can't sanction an extra signing because Alan Smith has 11 months left on his contract. this really is getting beyond ridiculous now. We're clearly penny pinching, so you honestly think we'd pay Xisco & Smith £5m for the season knowing we can't use them even in an emergency? Bollocks man. We're too tight to just give money like that away. Are you defending what you think they WILL do, or what you think they SHOULD do..?