Minhosa

I'd like to put on record how much I hate Scott Parker. Just looks a total smug cunt.

It does but he did catch him. No disputing that.

Twas a pen and he took it well.

Miss you cunt.

Ba's done well here. Good Hussle!

Can Obertan take a man on - serious question?

Most of the time there's no need for him to do it. He kills us possession wise when compared to someone like Enrique last year.

Some good touches imho but the pace seems to have him a little overawed imho.

Great pressing here. Much better in trying to dictate the tempo a bit.

Our full backs cost us way too much possession.

Have had a fiver on 3-2 NUFC and a fiver on 2-3 Spurs tomorrow. Got 36/1 on NUFC beating them and 28/1 on them turning us over.

Which is what I said - but my opinion is that the aspirations of Llambias/the club are far more heavily weighted than anything Pardew has to bring to the table. His wants/needs/desires are largely irrelevant if the 'upside/risk' box isn't ticked.

Of course my opinion is irrelevant - what would I know about the clubs structure for dealing with transfers? About the same as anybody else on here. The idea of a forum is to shoot the shit but it doesn't make either of our opinions more factually correct. I have a view as does Chez but I'd say it's unlikely we'll see either of them verified anytime soon.

Nice straw man you have there. Its not a straw-man, its the only logical conclusion when there are only 3 people involved. Llambias, Carr and Pardew. Pardew is not the highest authority, finance will trump football and he will not get what he wants all the time. However, pushing the button on a yes or a no for Cabaye or Santon etc will be down to the manager's say (if the deal is right). Selling a player for £35m is clearly a financial decision, not a footballing one. How do you know there's only three people? I counted them. You've been in France too long bonnie lad. To paraphrase' I get the feeling that you think people living in France are beneath you' - more that you seem to be throwing a strop over some trivial difference of opinion. You'll be off on strike next. What do you think am doing on here all day! Not meant to be stroppy just robust in my views, i dont think it makes sense but fair dos, its all about opinions. Not sure its trivial either, its pretty fundamental to how Pardew is perceived. I think he's done a great job in exceptionally difficult circumstances and deserves someone to argue his case in the face of some fairly illogical (imo) views on his 'puppet status' There's plenty of people who'll argue his case on here until they're blue in the face, so you needn't worry about that. It's trivial in the context of never actually knowing so our 'he's the main man/he's a puppet' discussion is largely irrelevant. I'm not saying he's got zero influence but there's no way I think he's got control/more than a smattering. Also, it's an easier argument to have when results are going well, but there's been more than a few occasions to question his integrity. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Nice straw man you have there. Its not a straw-man, its the only logical conclusion when there are only 3 people involved. Llambias, Carr and Pardew. Pardew is not the highest authority, finance will trump football and he will not get what he wants all the time. However, pushing the button on a yes or a no for Cabaye or Santon etc will be down to the manager's say (if the deal is right). Selling a player for £35m is clearly a financial decision, not a footballing one. How do you know there's only three people? I counted them. You've been in France too long bonnie lad. To paraphrase' I get the feeling that you think people living in France are beneath you' - more that you seem to be throwing a strop over some trivial difference of opinion. You'll be off on strike next.

Nice straw man you have there. Its not a straw-man, its the only logical conclusion when there are only 3 people involved. Llambias, Carr and Pardew. Pardew is not the highest authority, finance will trump football and he will not get what he wants all the time. However, pushing the button on a yes or a no for Cabaye or Santon etc will be down to the manager's say (if the deal is right). Selling a player for £35m is clearly a financial decision, not a footballing one. How do you know there's only three people? I counted them. You've been in France too long bonnie lad.

Nice straw man you have there. Its not a straw-man, its the only logical conclusion when there are only 3 people involved. Llambias, Carr and Pardew. Pardew is not the highest authority, finance will trump football and he will not get what he wants all the time. However, pushing the button on a yes or a no for Cabaye or Santon etc will be down to the manager's say (if the deal is right). Selling a player for £35m is clearly a financial decision, not a footballing one. How do you know there's only three people?

Then what's the point in giving him that 'delegated responsibility' to paraphrase your argument?

Thanks for giving me the authority to keep believing my own opinion, much appreciated. You're keen to talk up Pardews position in all of this yet wasn't it Pardew who committed to keeping Carroll (extreme example, granted), committed to getting a new striker through the door, talked Nolan's contract talks, same with Barton etc. Also when AC was sold Pardew went on record as saying he'd spoken to Ashley about the money being reinvested - at no point did he say 'I'll spend it', 'I have my players lined up', 'I know who I want etc etc' - he always talks about the 'we' or 'the club' etc etc which, to me at least, is a recognition that he doesn't have direct influence to any large extent.

Utter nonsense. You're a classic example of the backward thinking required to fit facts to the narrative. Pardew is a puppet and Carr runs NUFC. Thats what you've just said, like it or not. touched a nerve? In the example I posted earlier what would happen if Dekka says no? Does Carr still run NUFC? No. I guess it comes down to the overall transfer strategy of the club and where you stand on NUFC's ambitions in this regard. You seem to think they channel this through Pardew and he's the main man. I very much think he's got a minor influence and the strategy is one geared to upside/minimal risk. If Pardew was the main man why didn't we get a striker that he demanded? Because there wasn't one to fit the profile in terms of the financials - upside/risk. If there was he would be here, so Pardews influence can not be as significant as you seem to think it is.

We'll never know who he's wanted and who has been a 'Boardroom' signing so the discussion is largely irrelevant Ian. Santon for example, strikes me as an 'Investor' decision rather than say a Pieters would have been due to the potential upside. Llambias decided that Santon was the right signing for the club? Why not? Somebody clearly did and somebody clearly decided on him rather than Pieters - the question isn't who but why? The question i brought up and am posing in this thread is who. I've made my case for it being Pardew and its not the first time people have ignored it tbh. I'm one of the doubters to be honest. Just can't see Ashley allowing him to have that influence when it comes to transfer funds. I would imagine Dekka has the responsibility for day to day financial management of the club and would therefore have a very tight handle on all deals and potential targets with initial cost and potential upside the two key drivers and Pardews needs, wants and desires somewhere down the pecking order.

Is being talked about in some papers this morning. Too soon iyam.

For me to, Taylor is a big bonus this season. I doubted whether he's ever be a consistent player for us again, but he's done really well. So many of those pleasant surprises this season - even Raylor playing LB hasn't led to us getting hammered every week. Agree - I would have always, without fail, chosen Willo ahead of him but Taylor is the surprise of the season so far for me in terms of consistency.

We'll never know who he's wanted and who has been a 'Boardroom' signing so the discussion is largely irrelevant Ian. Santon for example, strikes me as an 'Investor' decision rather than say a Pieters would have been due to the potential upside. Llambias decided that Santon was the right signing for the club? Why not? Somebody clearly did and somebody clearly decided on him rather than Pieters - the question isn't who but why?

I don't think Pardew decides which one he wants though which was the point of my post. I think he has an influence but is not the decision maker. For example, if Carr knocked on Llambias door today and said 'I've found the next Tiote - we can buy him for peanuts and the potential upside is huge' I doubt Llambias would say 'let's go check with Alan as he's well covered in that area'. I think he'd say 'how big an upside and how long would it take us to shift Cabaye or Tiote for good dollar?'. Pardews view would then be irrelevant. IMHO of course.