Dr Venkman

meh, really mate?

i dont expect carroll leaving will have any effect on this game whatsoever, the character in the team simply isnt in question anymore.

I can understand this viewpoint but when Sunderland sold Bent I can remember saying that a cold hard look at it would suggest that Sunderland had sold him at his optimum value and personally I felt he was on a downward spiral at Sunderland anyway. While Carroll is a different case there was always a part of me that wondered if he didn't continue in this vein next season we would never get this sort of money for him again. Unfortunately to keep players when the big clubs come calling will mean smashing our wage structure which we obviously aren't prepared to do yet. This round of transfer activity is driven by Chelsea's willingness to spend big before the impact of the finical fair play rules. There's no guarantee that once the roundabout stops spinning now, anyone will be driving it with such big investments in the future. are the fair play rules actually coming into effect? and what do they mean? From 2011-2012 season the operating loss made over each three year period will not be able to break a certain level. In the initial period (up to 2015) that will be £38 million, so one contemporary Andy Carroll blows it all. Of course, Liverpool wouldn't be in trouble, because they sold Torres for the money. But Chelsea would not have been able to roll the first stone by magicking up £50 million if the rules were in place now. Once the loss making clubs are no longer in a position to drive the market, there should be some deflation in fees. right. so whatever you bring in, you can only spend 38m more than that? is that it?

sky had the fee at 30m before i noticed

just imagine how many kids with 6 months left on their contract we can get for 35m

I can understand this viewpoint but when Sunderland sold Bent I can remember saying that a cold hard look at it would suggest that Sunderland had sold him at his optimum value and personally I felt he was on a downward spiral at Sunderland anyway. While Carroll is a different case there was always a part of me that wondered if he didn't continue in this vein next season we would never get this sort of money for him again. Unfortunately to keep players when the big clubs come calling will mean smashing our wage structure which we obviously aren't prepared to do yet. This round of transfer activity is driven by Chelsea's willingness to spend big before the impact of the finical fair play rules. There's no guarantee that once the roundabout stops spinning now, anyone will be driving it with such big investments in the future. are the fair play rules actually coming into effect? and what do they mean?

was just thinking about this yesterday. they way i see it he'd be well within his rights to ask for a pay rise at the end of the season unless his form drops drastically. Would have thought he got that in the contract he just signed? aye mate. but if he keeps going the way he has been he's significantly more important to us than he was at the start of the season, top scorer, england striker, essential to the way we play, only getting better etc etc. i'm a firm believer in players getting paid what they're worth and i'd hate to see us try and rely on the fact that he's just signed a new deal to not give him what he deserves, coz he'll just f*** off. Agree with the paying what he's worth comment.My biggest concern is that M.A cashes in on his ever increasing value come the summer. i remember reading keegan's book and him talking about giving players pay rises when they didnt even ask for them! chairman's nightmare i'm sure and i'm not necessarily saying do that but if the club can afford it, do it. i wouldnt wanna see players being penalised financially for wanting to play for newcastle. regardless of whatever else he gets up to, on the pitch carroll's been sensational for us this season and i want us to keep him if he wants to stay. eurgh

i'd like to think it wont have a knock on effect with barton and enrique, but thats the risk we're taking.

we'd have to spend at least 50 million to make this worthwhile imo, unless you'd have been happy with a net spend of nowt in the summer with carroll still here?

Still no explanation for the transfer request in those quotes? Hmm, wonder why... i can see where you're going with that, but ashley's got a track record of engineering things to his (and i do mean his and not nufc's) advantage. they admitted in court they'd mis-lead the fans. its all about context, and the spurs bids being denied by harry and the press (sunday supplement). the fact that it came so late we couldnt replace AND with a token bid that we've seen them attempt before, the fact that shearer's now said 'knowing him as i do, i'm not convinced he wanted to leave'. none of this has alarm bells ringing? even though ashley just sacked hughton and APPOINTED PARDEW? none of this seems weird to you? its really a case of oh 35 million is a lot of money for carroll? fucking hell man, i wish life was as simple.

shearer 'not convinced' carroll wanted to leave, incidentally.

the worst thing about this will be when we sign him back in ten years after he's been to jail/ gotten injured/ declined rapidly/ not scored in a year and he 'comes home with un-finished business'

What's your opinion on Area 51? ashley would appoint pardew and sell all the aliens

just remembered harry saying they hadnt bid for carroll and the bloke on sunday supplement saying spurs definitely haven't bid. at the time i thought it was pr by ashley to make it seem like we've had a good window when we dont sell carroll, but now its pretty obvious. put out the bid story, invite offers, get cash. would follow that harry would then give that interview saying he was 'having a good laugh at how newcastle did everything they could to keep him'. wonder why pardew was brought in?

we're gonna be fucking shit on fifa now

i'd leave a newcastle united owned by ashley and managed by his mate

wonder why pardew was brought in then?

i'd be very surprised if he wanted to go to liverpool, VERY surprised

saw that. ashley puts out rumours of bids so that after a disapointing window we can say 'at least we didnt sell carroll'? just a thought.

We should just do this tbh. Everytime the saggy scrotum faced wankbag talks about Carroll, talk about Bale. Everytime the saggy scrotum faced wankbag puts in a bid for Carroll, put in a piss-takingly derisory bid for Bale. Just show them up for the pieces of shit they are and irritate the fuck out of them. Hell, I'd be so immature I'd put someone on the payroll to contact Spurs every one minute, placing new bids for Bale, upping the offer by 1p everytime. I was thinking something similar. why dont we all start e mailing bids to spurs? or we could bid through ssn?

i dunno like. he's recently said he wants to stay here for his whole career. spurs? cant see it like. man u maybe.

that's a stupid idea

offer officially rejected says stelling, good, keep it that way

i agree dave, i always give credit where it's due and since i've stated that i reckon pardew was brought in so ashley can have a clearer road to ,making cash i'll be impressed if we keep him. that said i still think the summer will be the real test.

The word is that Sky aren't interested in who leaked the clips, which says something. how many times am i going to have to post news of the world court case in this thread? Nothing to do with at all in fairness. There was just as much footage getting released about Keys as there was Gray. It does make a good angle though especially on left wing blogs. it 'makes a good angle' because it's beyond obvious. since you're being 'fair', go on then humor me........ Did the Dark Forces get a female linsewoman sorted for the weekend? Did Steve the camerman get Sian Massey warming up, then told Burton she was a looker, then Burton did the rest. There was stuff released about Keys who is not suing NOTW. while ultimately the answer to all that is 'i dont know' i think its naive in the extreme to think sky haven't released these tapes because they want him out. imo its completely irrelevant that keys wasnt involved in the court case, he's gray's sidekick and its easier for them to dismiss them both. whilst it seems a large step for you to accept that they engineered the episode from the outset, is it really that hard to believe that they were just waiting for him/them to fuck up so they had their opportunity? over-thinking things doesnt necessarily lead you to the right answer, sometimes simple works.