Unbelievable

That's what you get for asking to be kept in the loop, unsurprisingly..

Why? Because it will have saved money we won't spend elsewhere?

Tbf he have a back up. Obviously the fact the backup looks to be signing for another club and we will sit on our hands holding out for Gomis kind of negates the point of having a backup but not every plan is perfect.

Wow, so we'll be spending that extra 40 million TV money next summer. The Championship won't know what hit them..

So you end up butt naked at your interview?

That's probably fair, although I do think we exaggerate the progress of other clubs sometimes. Hopefully success that is based on short term thinking or unsustainable spending will be short-lived. Also, financial fair play is meant to reign in the clubs that rely too much on the personal wealth of the owner, although it remains to be seen whether that will work. It's hard to underestimate the progress of clubs like Swansea and Southampton during the 6 years Ashley has been in charge of us, looking at our own "progress". They're on the up, yet both spent a significant amount despite having excellent seasons, while we're on the slide. It's all good and well looking at our squad of players and saying they're all internationals (the absolute progress) and should see us comfortably above these clubs, but they're also chock full of internationals. The average level in the Premiership has gone up much more than our own imho (the relative lack of progress).

Plenty of clubs that finished above us have invested significantly. If they needed to, why don't we? Because the policy now is to only spend what we generate? Does that make it acceptable, because it's our policy? It is what it is. We are unlikely to see Ashley ploughing extra money in to facilitate a signing so we don't have much choice, but if that meant we had no money and couldn't compete then of course it wouldn't be acceptable for us as supporters. But that's by the by, we should be generating money, and we do have a budget. What it may mean though is that we have to use what money we have fairly carefully and might struggle to increase an offer for Gomis without affecting our chances of getting the right left winger in. This is possibly why Kinnear made the point that they needed to get the striker situation sorted before moving on to other areas. If we come out of this window with just Monsieur Remy mind, the whole fkn lot of them need pelting with s***. IF?! Yeah, if. I don't see it myself as I think it's pretty reasonable to suggest that we have a fair of money allocated for this window. We're just having a 'mare trying to get the players we want for the prices we feel comfortable with. It's like going to Saville Row with 100 GBP (a "fair amount of money" some would say) and not being able to get yourself a bespoke suit. We undervalue other club's players (and constantly say it would take a king's randsom to buy one of our own), and indeed actually target players that we believe we can get under market value. It's not really surprising that other clubs often won't play ball, or that we are not seen as an ambitious club heading in the right direction by some of the players we target, because we're not and we're trying to take other clubs for a ride by targetting players with contractual issues etc. On the one hand this is clever, but not so much when it's the only policy you know, regardless of the needs of the squad or the manager.

Why are you sad about it? You've already said you take pleasure in us making shrewd signings. I just mean it's a shame that spending is so important for competing at the top of the league. And that the amount available depends totally on the owner. I do think we can make progress with our approach, but not quickly. I do take pleasure in shrewd signings, I don't see how any fan wouldn't. I would take pleasure in signing Bale for £85m as well like, if it was possible. If we are making any progress at all (have we since Ashley took over? I wouldn't say so), you could only classify it as "absolute" progress (if such a thing exists), not relative, because other, smaller clubs are overtaking us left, right and center.

Plenty of clubs that finished above us have invested significantly. If they needed to, why don't we? Because the policy now is to only spend what we generate? Does that make it acceptable, because it's our policy? It is what it is. We are unlikely to see Ashley ploughing extra money in to facilitate a signing so we don't have much choice, but if that meant we had no money and couldn't compete then of course it wouldn't be acceptable for us as supporters. But that's by the by, we should be generating money, and we do have a budget. What it may mean though is that we have to use what money we have fairly carefully and might struggle to increase an offer for Gomis without affecting our chances of getting the right left winger in. This is possibly why Kinnear made the point that they needed to get the striker situation sorted before moving on to other areas. IF?!

You have nothing to worry about Shola..

The expertise point is definitely valid, Kinnear and (to a lesser extent) Pardew are bad appointments. Saying that, I'm not sure the point about finance is that good, because if we speculated in the market more we might end up with more players on long contracts that we can't get rid of. What kind of argument is this? Better not seriously invest, because it might not work out for each and every player we buy?

Plenty of clubs that finished above us have invested significantly. If they needed to, why don't we? Because the policy now is to only spend what we generate? Does that make it acceptable, because it's our policy?

Plenty of clubs that finished above us have in invested significantly. If they needed to, why don't we? Because they don't have a squad of the same talent as ours? Because they overperformed last season? Because we underperformed last season? Because Pardew? Pardew is here though. We could have invested in a replacement for him if we felt he was what was holding us back, but chose not to. This is not just about the players, it's about having just come off a season where we survived by the skin of our teeth, coming out with noises about lessons learned and yet going into the new season with near enough the same setup. It's indefensible.

Plenty of clubs that finished above us have invested significantly. If they needed to, why don't we?

I've seen this term used a few times on here recently. When did the UK abandon GBP and introduce GBB? Is it worth me investing in a bean farm?

Same old debate every fucking transfer window. Wish Ashley would finally up sticks.

Cronaldo 1-1

Strootman scores! Holland 1 v 0 Portugal

Our work on set pieces paying off..

Looks like an owner worse than Ashley actually exists..

We're ready for the season..

I agree, except I think Ashley can only make money indirectly through promotion of Sports Direct etc. It's extremely unlikely he's ever going to make any money through NUFC from the actual running of the club - he just doesn't want to subsidise us. We were in the black on the last accounts and we stand to gain a 40million per season windfall which it doesn't look like we're going to invest in the squad, so I don't see why not.