Dr Venkman

Depends what happens during match, mate.

Left him in my team but captain's too risky incase he starts with Negredo imo.

When the window's closed we're in excellent financial health and Mike's done a great job. When it's open we're skint.

TBF it actually has only happened with Carroll. I don't doubt he would love to bring some money in, I'm just not sure you can logically extend that to mean we're actively shopping all our best players to our rivals. Do you mind if I respond to this? I don't need to logically extend the Carroll sale. The touting around of Cabaye on this occasion and Tiote last summer will do for me. Oh, and at the prices we're talking about I don't think we're likely to sell to any of our rivals.

Btw I love that it's now been called a conspiracy theory twice. As if the assertion that Ashley would rather finance new players by selling players we already have is some sort of wild, philosophical musing.

That's a fair point about reducing the wage bill by unloading those who were overpaid. I would think any club would want a "cost effective" squad. Although again I would have to say that I am really not convinced that he has much of say on transfer dealings or ever has had. Don't cloud the issue. Having a say in transfers (Golfmag explicitly told us that this part of Pardew's contract was unusual in that it spelled out that he absolutely did not have a say) is a totally different matter to inviting bids for our players via the press at the owner's demand. Forgive my ignorance of how transfer deals are conducted but, if there's an ounce of truth in this conspiracy theory, wouldn't it just be easier to send an email to Everton along the lines of "do you wanna buy Ben Arfa". Why don't we just deal with Cabaye for now? Why would that be 'easier'? Is it difficult for Pardew to talk about losing players in the press, like?

That's a fair point about reducing the wage bill by unloading those who were overpaid. I would think any club would want a "cost effective" squad. Although again I would have to say that I am really not convinced that he has much of say on transfer dealings or ever has had. Don't cloud the issue. Having a say in transfers (Golfmag explicitly told us that this part of Pardew's contract was unusual in that it spelled out that he absolutely did not have a say) is a totally different matter to inviting bids for our players via the press at the owner's demand.

I'd say that's a fair point. Given what's been going on with Cabaye though (no bids, Pardew talking about losing him.....bids) I find it borderline insulting for anyone to suggest that Pardew isn't doing Ashley's bidding through the press, particularly given the terms of his employment at the time. Do you think those terms changed when he signed a new contract? I don't. Whether Cabaye wants to leave or not isn't really the issue imo, since the bid from Arsenal we've had the player not making any appearances and detailed figures in the press about how much we will accept and when we'll accept it. And I'm supposed to believe that Pardew isn't trying to finance new players by flogging Cabaye? That's the part that rubs me up the wrong way, because we shouldn't have to be selling anyone to finance a new striker.

Basically what I've said all along. All of the conspiracy theories and PR machine concepts are ridiculous IMO, he just chats on too much in interviews. I'm staring at this wide eyed, not believing what I'm reading. Conspiracy theories for fucks sake You've had it spelled out to you by someone that knew Pardew had the job months before it happened. Your stance on this is utterly, utterly ridiculous and I really don't know what you're getting out of it. Can you stop responding to me then? I can't be bothered to explain it to you again, and your posts are really annoying. I can see why they would be annoying.

Basically what I've said all along. All of the conspiracy theories and PR machine concepts are ridiculous IMO, he just chats on too much in interviews. I'm staring at this wide eyed, not believing what I'm reading. Conspiracy theories for fucks sake You've had it spelled out to you by someone that knew Pardew had the job months before it happened. Your stance on this is utterly, utterly ridiculous and I really don't know what you're getting out of it.

It's not a vaild criticism of a bloke who's in a job he doesn't deserve and knows it. It is a vaild criticism of a man with some self respect.

He's the only one

Every manager explicitly mentions which of our players are being targeted by specific clubs, don't criticise him for it.

I think when Pardew comes out with stuff like that it's generally to prepare the fans for the loss because he knows Ashley is happy to sell. Pardew doesn't benefit from losing the players & he got stung when Derek/Mike assured him they wouldn't sell Carroll and he was fairly sure he wouldn't go...100% in fact. I think this as well, but I can't really be bothered to make the argument any more. It just seems ridiculous to me that Pardew is saying the things he does to actively shop Cabaye around. It's silly. He's just answering the fact that he can't guarantee us anything about transfers. Why is it silly? Part of Pardew's job is to do Ashley's PR through the press, if Ashley wants to sell Cabaye then Pardew's gonna talk about it. I just don't really believe PR is a big part of Pardew's job, except to the normal extent that a manager will try to make his club look good. I also don't know that Ashley wants to sell Cabaye actively, we don't really have a history of doing that. Anyway, as I said I don't expect anyone to agree or change their opinion, my view is just that Pardew waffles on a bit too much in interviews. I don't think there's a grand plan behind it.

I think when Pardew comes out with stuff like that it's generally to prepare the fans for the loss because he knows Ashley is happy to sell. Pardew doesn't benefit from losing the players & he got stung when Derek/Mike assured him they wouldn't sell Carroll and he was fairly sure he wouldn't go...100% in fact. I think this as well, but I can't really be bothered to make the argument any more. It just seems ridiculous to me that Pardew is saying the things he does to actively shop Cabaye around. It's silly. He's just answering the fact that he can't guarantee us anything about transfers. Why is it silly? Part of Pardew's job is to do Ashley's PR through the press, if Ashley wants to sell Cabaye then Pardew's gonna talk about it.

Nope. Strange that its become the truth for so many.

We'll have a significantly better chance of staying up if he joins imo. Desperately need someone to kick it at.

He could have done something to address it through team selection/tactics?

So, do we actually know that he's refused to play? At any point?

When does this bit happen? Looking forward to it.

This is an interesting development

Krul Debuchy Mbiwa Colo Santon Sissoko Anita Marveuax Ben Arfa Goufraan Cisse edit - prepare with 2.5 years of coaching passing and moving

A fair few of our fans actually wanted those headlines, that's the worrying thing. More worrying than how bad we've been for ages and the lack of investment? Really?

My sweet attempt at displaying how far past the tipping point I am didn't work. So, suffice to say that I'm really far past it.

Cheers lads, a win's a win Would be nice to play well though eh.