Dr Venkman

It's pre season

Bringing in 2 of Bent, Remy and Gomis would be great if Cisse stays. If he goes though it's a bit meh again, although still an improvement, particularly if it's Remy and Gomis.

It's now been edited to remove that part, fair play to the Independent, you can't ruthlessly edit everything and have to trust your reporters to a certain extent. Hopefully he'll be getting significantly less work from them now that he's betrayed that trust.

We played this guy on the wing

i'm not necessarily against that but would it lead to others doing the same thing and in the end the sponsors not bothering (not too bad a thing) or paying the players directly to "persuade" them which means more money leaving the game to the players. What if the club lets players choose their sponsors, every player. give players a % cut based on the deal to discourage any excessive brown paper enveloping might be a bit of hassle for the club if they have to manage it mind. (I doubt we'd adopt this but I mean more generally across the board) Williamson would be sponsored by B&M bargains or Munchies 2 Jonas - Discount UK Ben Arfa - Spice of Punjab

Don't get involved if you can't explain yourself.

What are you on about now? One person makes up (for example) that someone else thinks that Pardew is brilliant, then that person makes up something else about the opposite position. Vintage stuff. I still don't know what you're talking about.

What are you on about now?

See above. I didn't say you had, in fact I explicitly stated who had said it. I didn't say anything about Pardew loving, I was merely pointing out that it's two sides of the same coin, and that anyone can 'sigh' at either side of the discussion. My reasons for thinking we'll have an underwhelming season are based on last season and Pardew's average record before he was our manager. That's just a straw man, and a shit one.

I was just shitting you, but fair play for remembering that too! I think I remember that now, though. Sounds like the kind of devilishly handsome and suave things I would say. FWIW, I'm in no way 'dragging' up these posts of yours to try and prove anything btw, just that this conversation did actually happen, and that I wasn't making it up. Mick - His CV suggests that last season wasn't the norm, why should we go through another season like this one to find out what we already know? Inochi - I don't care about his CV, mate. I'll make my own judgement. Mick - I don't think you can ignore the past just because it wasn't with us, he has a history and he's repeating it here. Even our good season was more down to results than performances. You don't have to make every mistake possible in life, you can see others make them and learn from them. Inochi - Right, fair enough, you don't have to ignore it. I'm not pretending to not at least be aware of it, but I obviously don't think it has as much of a bearing on what wi happen here. I've made my judgements on him based on his time here, that won't change.

Hi. I don't remember the exact context but I seem to remember the conversation was with Mick and it was one of those 'which season is his true ability' discussions. He was saying that his record before he came here wasn't great so we could assume that last season was closer to the truth, you said you didn't care about his record before he came here as it was irrelevant and that you'd judge him solely on what he did as our manager. I was part of the conversation too

It's not 'too much' for me, although I do think that writing off last season is ridiculous, even more ridiculous than Inochi stating that Pardew's record before he came here counted for nothing. Between the two of you we've got a fucking class manager like. My initial 'sigh' was in response to Ian, purely because he supposedly thinks it's fine to write off last season but not the season before it, just sounds stupid to me. As for loving the players, I've got a lot of time for most of our lot so I'm not sure where you're going with that one, it's the goon giving them instructions that's spoiling the party.

Ahh ok. I'm completely writing off the season before, it was plain to see everything went our way and we finished in a false position considering how we played as a team. We're going down. Sigh. His post made me sigh. Well you just keep fuelling the negativity around the upcoming season. Entirely your choice to do so if that's how you wish to get through what are clearly difficult times at the club. I'd rather just be more optimistic in that next season will be a turnaround. I'm not really fussed if i'm one of few walking into SJP come WH game thoroughly expecting a win and loving the new season has arrived and hope to get good results. Others will be walking in saying we are going to get beat and Pardew will be gone by Xmas. Each to their own, keep sighing. You're choosing to be optimistic, I'm not choosing to think Pardew's shit, it just seems that way to me.

Spot on. A vocal minority of posters on here are sounding like EDL members in my opinion. Cisse is entitled to his beliefs, and has the human right to say no to anything that affects his ability to practice his faith. The real minefield, is having established that right can he still play for us in his terms, or does the club have the right to suspend him until they can make the sale? Really shite bit that. There has not been one bit of racism or EDL nonsense, anti religion yes. I detest religion in all guises, absolute hogwash and complete bollocks of a thing. It's not about his complaint which is perfectly valid, it's the hypocrisy in some of our eyes when he gambles. As some have said, he can pick and choose as he pleases from his religion, to what he agrees with and what he doesn't, that's the bit i don't agree with. It's not that simple, there isn't usually one version of religion. I would think even in Christianity there will be some opinions which are more hardcore than others. 7th Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Protestants, Lesbian Women for Christ etc. The Judean People's Front.

POTY Agreed. Cheered me up more than it should. I have to stop myself from posting the second line of that in this thread every day.

Ahh ok. I'm completely writing off the season before, it was plain to see everything went our way and we finished in a false position considering how we played as a team. We're going down. Sigh. His post made me sigh.

POTY

Ahh ok. I'm completely writing off the season before, it was plain to see everything went our way and we finished in a false position considering how we played as a team. We're going down.

Let's hope it's because he's selling up.

I wouldn't assume that Cisse has the support of the other players. The other Muslim players aren't raising the same objection, and I would imagine a large part of the squad feel that Cisse is being hypocritical, for the same reasons as several on here. Well you are assuming same as everyone else if you think they will regard it as hypocrisy. For all those saying Wonga is just like Barclays, I'm sorry it's not. I'll bet no major club would touch Wonga with a shitty stick and it's bad enough we stooped to that level, now it's costing us our better players. Just a word on this, they're one of the largest global investors in the arms trade. Mind, those who give so much importance to a book that glorifies holy war might not object to that as much as large interest rates. Well now I am more educated on the nuances of Barclays global profit strategy. Maybe someone from the club should send Cisse's advisors a dossier on comparative financial corporations and their suitability for their client. Although realistically I think it would be better to keep it simple. I didn't mention Cisse, it was a response to you and others saying Wonga are so much worse than Barclays. Obviously that's down to interpretation, but there's lots more to Barclays than charging interest, that's all I'm saying.

I’m curious to see how they not only cope in Europe but how they handle playing Thursday/Sunday on a regular basis, there squad is of a similar stature to ours so lets see if it affects there game which a lot on here think was irrelevant to Pardew and only an excuse so i think it will be very interesting to see how Laudrup copes with it. My guess is these could be in for an early exit and have another decent season or they go far and they have a poor league finish. Regardless of how the likes of Swansea/Southampton want to play/do play and who Norwich have signed, our first 11 is still far superior to there’s and I expect us to finish above all of said clubs with relative ease. How come? Our home form is a huge advantage as we don't lose many, and if Man City game doesn't have a negative affect if we get humped then i can see us start very well and away wins will come with confidence like they did season before last. I look at our team on paper and it excites me. Even if we signed nobody, which does sound a bit daunting, however if we kept our current squad and likes of Cisse/HBA/Cabaye all stayed, the team in terms of quality is still of a very high order. You can look at the other said clubs and point out well he's shit, he's bang average, he's lucky to be playing in the prem....that is far from the case with out starting 11 even as it stands. A good start is crucial, that's most important thing for us, it would take all negativity away from the fans towards JFK/Ashley/Pardew for a little while and it will help players build confidence and forget about last season. As far as opening sentences go, that's as bad as it could have been. We lost 9 games at home last season.

I wouldn't assume that Cisse has the support of the other players. The other Muslim players aren't raising the same objection, and I would imagine a large part of the squad feel that Cisse is being hypocritical, for the same reasons as several on here. Well you are assuming same as everyone else if you think they will regard it as hypocrisy. For all those saying Wonga is just like Barclays, I'm sorry it's not. I'll bet no major club would touch Wonga with a shitty stick and it's bad enough we stooped to that level, now it's costing us our better players. Just a word on this, they're one of the largest global investors in the arms trade. Mind, those who give so much importance to a book that glorifies holy war might not object to that as much as large interest rates.

I think he's using it to leave, did he look happy last season to you? Nope, he look fecked off. We didn't give him decent service virtually all season long, can't blame him for that. If this is true and he does want to leave, and in that he is indeed using his religion as the lever. He can fuck off, as he's a coward and liar. Think there's more to it tbh. He'd probably have to film himself taking a shit on our club badge for me to have any ill will towards him after his form in the first half season here tbh. I could never hate the man that scored those two goals at Stamford Bridge.

I think he's using it to leave, did he look happy last season to you?