Parky

Most clubs are moving towards the type of wage structure we've got now, other than those with foreign sugar daddies who will pick up the tab. The ones that don't are a ticking time bomb IMO. Maybe we could pay more, but to suggest that we just allocate £10m to Ba's wages to keep him here is just daftness of Freddy Shepherd proportions. Don't really want to go down the finances road in this thread but come on. If it wasn't for his knee then it might even be a debate. But imo the risks are too high ie he is a potential crock on high wages in the waiting. I'd rather Chelsea took that gamble and not us.

I get the gist of it, but he was never wanting to stay here long term. He engineered a move out of Hoffenheim, came to us with that ludicrous clause (cause he held all the cards and wanted a buying club not to be held to ransom) and now will be getting is one last big pay off. Nobody can begrude a player a chance to secure income for later life but to make out he we could have kept him is false imo. We'll never know for certain whether Ba could have been convinced to sign a contract without the clause as none of us are privy to information regarding the contract negotiations that went on. What we do know for certain is that Ashley has stopped investing in the club after the first two seasons or so, despite his promise of a yearly investment of 20 million. There are a lot of things to applaud in our approach to finances, but ultimately we are doomed for midtable mediocrity as long as we can't compete for players with the clubs above us. In this instance it's foohardy to give a player with a dodgy knee a 80k 3 year deal or thereabouts. That's the long and short of it.

At the end at Hoffenheim he was very disruptive iirc. Refusing to train and so on...Not glad he's gone, but if there are replacements - looking forward to getting back to football related stuff rather than what Ba thinks this week about world events.

The Pardew pimp out poll?

I get the gist of it, but he was never wanting to stay here long term. He engineered a move out of Hoffenheim, came to us with that ludicrous clause (cause he held all the cards and wanted a buying club not to be held to ransom) and now will be getting is one last big pay off. Nobody can begrude a player a chance to secure income for later life but to make out he we could have kept him is false imo.

Sorted.

Ideally just after he signs Torres goes on a goal spree and Dembenched.

Yeah and 40 million down on Torrrreeees!! Oh he's missed it! http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/05/20/article-2147073-132F21BE000005DC-233_468x360.jpg And like money mattered to the now profit turning Chelsea. Err 400m in debt mate.

Players who want to leave are no good in the long run. End of story.

Yeah and 40 million down on Torrrreeees!! Oh he's missed it!

Cisse will score goals in the middle. Not overly worried as long as Remy comes in.

Thank god it's not Liverpool. Was always going to get away sooner rather than later.

Seems to have a really good attitude as well.

Good stuff. Looks like a little relegation fear has stunned them into action.

Matched Arsenal till we got tired in the last 15min or so. Strange subs. The lads gave it everything. Marv was superb and calm on the ball again.

Not saying much really when the rest are even worse (or too old to be called 'young'). He's been fanstastic since he broke through. To say anything else is silly.

He's one of the best young right backs in the league. Silly debate.

Had his head turned?

Thought the persistent haraunging of the linesman revealed how weak Fergie really is. He would have been more enraged had we nicked the draw - no doubt about that. If only someone had closed Carrick down - it was the third little dink ball he played in a row without any harrasment.

When Pards was unemployed he used to call Fergie for advice apparently.

That's rich coming from a guy who plucks his eyebrows.

I don't doubt Ba's agents have been trying to get a big move as soon as he started scoring last year.

I like it. Club shop Ba. He hangs around the kits and takes a huge cut with each sale.

2 strikers is dark ages stuff. In the modern game the 2nd striker is a link player now between the midfield and the attack. He makes sure the team keeps posession till the attacking phase is properly supported. Nobody just kicks it up to 2 strikers. Nobody.

Needs to be tested in the international court of human rights.