Dr Venkman

Nah. Actually, despite the fact that I've stated many times of my hatred for Ashley, if you think Pardew is ok, don't really rate Hughton, think the Carroll situation was a decent deal and don't grab your pitchfork and run to the steps of SJP every day screaming "YOU FAT COCKNEY b******" then you're an Ashley sympathiser. Or even better, part of his fan club. or if you pipe up making devils advocate type comments that more often than not are in favour of ashley in every thread, like you do. you only get called things like ashley sympathiser because of that mate, i dont understand the constant denial

i for one, stand back and admire his remarkable acheivements. by paying staff less and selling players, plus transfering money between business accounts he's saved our club and got us to where we REALLY want to be. with less debt, a relegation, a charlatan for a manager and a squad who's best players wont commit to their future to the club. thanks mike, you've acheived so much in so little time.

there are different sections of thought about ashley. one that he's put more cash into the club than anyone else, another understands that right now and in the recent past we weren't in a position to spend like we had in the past, another is that his handling of the club in the remainder of the season after keegan left was the massivly major factor in us getting relegated and that last season and this he's gone a little way to digging himself out of that. however there are some for whom he can never do any good and if we won the league next season would whinge that had he done blah blah blah earlier then we'd have won it earlier and has as a result cost us 2 years on the path to world domination. Aye righto. What about the school of thought that he did indeed fuck up the relegation season and he's doing his damnedest to fuck this one up as well? Can he not just be like the owner/chairman at real football clubs and leave the fuck alone unless things are really going down the tubes? If he'd kept Carroll and kept Hughton, I'd have been absolutely dandy at this point in time. I still wouldn't like him and would happily see him thrown off the Tyne Bridge with rocks tied to him but at least make some pretense towards not making an utter arse of things just because he can. People continue to be downhearted and comment on it because he continues to make fucking ridiculous "mistakes" on a regular basis. pretty much this. swapping hughton for pardew so he could sell who he wanted when he wanted was the final straw for me. i'd been extremely understanding of him up until then.

have to say notions of ashley 'getting to know' the game more but being paranoid of getting ripped off being the reason we dont spend much is just horseshit and fucking annoying to listen to.

nice to hear him admitting to getting things wrong, refreshing from a manager.

why pay lots for good players when you can pay much less for loads of scouts and only buy a fraction of what they recommend

planning on selling carroll for 35m and looking at bargain basement signings from the lower leagues, i hate what they've done with our club (he didnt admit to planning carroll sale)

all depends on the attitude of the owner......

"Just like what's happened in Japan- two sides pulling apart" or something like that What a moron. i was charitably gonna let that one slip by, fucking idiot.

what did he say?

for making a point

no there isnt

what about betting on us to draw? i've done that quite a bit and won

oh please, please

that's fucking ridiculous

Because thinking we'll get relegated this season just isn't negative enough anymore. Surely if we survive this season we've got a great chance of pushing on next year? With Ben Arfa fit, a couple of decent new signings, we'll be alreet. Although I'm not so sure about the season after next.... eek! as always, it depends on the attitude of mike ashley. for me the question was what his policy would be once the youngsters were good players in their own right and that was answered emphatically by the carroll sale. the question now is what he wants to do with the cash, will other players be sold at a profit if possible. again though, i'm not holding out any hope of nufc being a better team being near the top of his priority list.

His desire to sell Alonso to fund a move for Barry showed how daft he was. Still one of the most inexplicable decisions in football. The only bonus for Liverpool was that they didn't actually get Barry. that was fucking bizarre like, knowing benitez i expected him to play him as a defensive left winger, complimenting kuyt on the right perfectly. god i hated watching that man's team

used to play against him regularly when i was a lad, wasnt particularly good then either.

i think the two players together, playing that way, had much more impact than that though

Indeed, a good crosser is a must for a wide player BUT they need more than that to their game, Barton is never going to beat his man and get in behind, nor will he chase back all the way and get the ball back. He was the best we had from a poor balanced squad, hate to think Pardew & Ashley are happy thinking we have the right wing position sorted because we have Barton. he's been particularly good because he's just needed to deliver it well, he hasnt had to beat the man and get the defence facing towards goal when he crosses it to make their job harder. the reason he didnt have to do this now plays for liverpool

Despite Barton being a great player on right wing? he was certainly great while carroll was here, those two were perfect for each other. whether he'll be so effective without someone as good as carroll in the air i wouldnt like to say

put the standing sections in the back rows?

worst - smith most annoying - butt with his attempted 50 yard cross fielders and deft ronaldinho style dinks that always went out of play. and shola, for everything apart from the goals. literally everything he does that isnt a goal is annoying, even some of the goals take the piss, away at wigan for a start.

they'd better start practicing their keepy ups?

So you'd rather we hadn't signed him in the first place then? Alternatively we could have not signed him then given the money saved to Keegan who may have spent it on offering a mega contract to Michael Owen. he was playing pretty well under keegan iirc