ikri

Ashley's a self made billionaire, well OK, millionaire now but he was a billionaire when he bought us. He didn't blink when he lost £400m on HBOS shares, he probably believes, or believed, that he's able to make a success of anything that he puts his hand to, even running a very expensive football club on a shoestring budget. He'll have believed that he'd be able to make a success of it, if anything, he'll probably blame the failure on those that he placed his trust in - Llambias & Keegan are the most obvious scapegoats and if the rumours about him ditching Llambias are true then it would seem to add credence to that line of thinking.

It was laughable. It's hardly a secret that Taylor runs to the far post at corners, he's been doing it for a few years now and you'd assume that defending set pieces would be part of their match preparation yet they missed Taylor then and could have easily conceded more from the same position as they failed to pick up Taylor's runs time after time. They were there for the taking yesterday and if we'd pushed on more after going 1 up we'd have demolished them.

Nolan and Simpson better than Coloccini? Honestly, says it all Coloccini did his job fine, but he didn't do a lot else. Not sure if you noticed, but Nolan scored. What else would you be hoping for him to do, out of interest? Join the attack, possibly score, you know, like his defensive partner did? Coloccini did everything he was asked of, but he wasn't really called on to do much more and didn't really stand out during the game.

Nolan and Simpson better than Coloccini? Honestly, says it all Coloccini did his job fine, but he didn't do a lot else. Not sure if you noticed, but Nolan scored.

Steve Harper - 6 not a lot to do for much of the game Danny Simpson - 6.5 was doing OK & linking well with Geremi on the right Steven Taylor - 7 well taken goal, could have got another Fabricio Coloccini - 6 steady(ish) Jose Enrique - 6 could have done better for their goal Geremi - with Simpson 7, without Simpson 5. Started well but faded almost as soon as Simpson went off Alan Smith - 6 broke up play OK but didn't support the attack well enough Kevin Nolan - 7 better playing off the forward than playing in midfield Joey Barton - 3 woeful Peter Lovenkrands - 5 invisible for most of the time he was on the pitch, didn't really get the ball enough Andy Carroll - 7 looked a hell of a lot better once Ranger came on, not at his best up front on his own Danny Guthrie - 7.5 did everything that Barton didn't Ryan Taylor - 6 nowt special Nile Ranger - 7 linked up well with Carroll Hughton - 6.5 dropped Butt The Ref - 8 kept play going & wasn't scared to play advantages Until the 2nd half subs the midfield was pretty poor. They were so complacent, failing to push up to help out the attack often enough and too slow to offer an outlet for counter-attacks. Can't wait till Jonas is back.

Moat claimed to have backing from a US source who isn't willing to deal with Ashley at all & won't surface until the takeover is complete. With decent backing we should have the funds to buy some new players in January to push for promotion & then again to build the squad up when we get promoted. Could be bollocks though. If it is just Moat on his own then it'll be difficult, he certainly doesn't have a lot of cash of his own so the purchase of the club would be funded by loans which would need repaying which could leave us in a hole, needing to sell more players to cover costs & with no additional funds for new players.

Haven't they spent about £200m in the last 12 months? They'd have a hard time spending much more than that. The academy spending is just bullshit, Chelsea said the same thing but to this day not a single academy player has made it into their first team. When your owner decides to spend as much as City & Chelsea have on players they'll simply spend a few £million more to purchase a trusted, experienced player rather than risk their investment on a youngster.

-------------------------Harper------------------------- -----Simpson-----Taylor-----Colo-----Enrique----- -----Barton------Smith-----Guthrie------Jonas----- ---------------Lovenkrands----Ranger--------------- Is what it should be. Hughton however will have perfected human cloning by Saturday and will go for -------------------------Butt------------------------- -------Butt-------Butt-------Butt-------Butt------- -------Butt-------Butt-------Butt-------Butt------- -------------------Butt--------Butt-------------------

Fucking hell What the fuck was Hughton playing at with those subs? Totally unbalanced team tonight, nowhere near enough movement from the midfield. And why the fuck did Nicky Fucking Butt not get taken off? He simply isn't capable of playing at this level any more and ruins the balance of the team by playing. Plus, he's a fucking jinx.

Ranger on but Butt still stays on the pitch?

oh ffs

ffs

Carroll!

Compare & Contrast Parody Site landoverbaptist.net batshit insane and very real raptureready.net (they also have forums)

Did he not have such an opportunity in May but decided to put the club up for sale yet again making the same old mistakes and if the clubs not sold soon have we just more of the same from him to look forward to in January/Summer 2010? Ashley is never going to invest in the team. He needs to go as quickly as possible Someone should let him know and I'm sure he'll do the the decent and and proper thing.... http://chattahbox.com/images/2009/03/hari-kari.jpg ?

Spot on, looks like a big shake up but is not. Also "Clubs can also supplement their 25- man squad with a B-list, featuring as many players as they want who were under the age of 21 at the start of the previous January. " As for the financial stuff the tax man was chasing football anyway. I guess the PL will read the Chelsea & Man City accounts think these clubs are fucked & then on last page it will say "that owner Roman Abramovich/Sheikh Mansour are not about to call in there loans" Is there anyway to stop the Arabs just forming some company and sponsering Man City for 200 million pounds a year? I'd have always chosen the really cheeky route of having a couple of very special season tickets for one or two gold plated seats that could sell for £100 million per season to get around the rules. I'd hope that any rules that are brought in to curtail the extravagant unearned spending would include a taking the piss clause to prevent abuse like that, but the FA & Premier League are so in awe of large wads of cash they'd never do anything that might upset money.

I agree with the 25 player squad limit, it brings it into line with other European leagues and UEFA competitions, but the rest just seem like a crass attempt to head off UEFA's proposals as bobyule has said.

He's out of contract at the end of the season, if anything Fergie will (hopefully) allow him to leave for a nominal fee in January

Ironically, the games last season when he did look a bit shit where when Duff was ahead of him on the left wing, losing possession cheaply and making little effort to track back.

Nice result Can't fault Smith for the sending off, he did exactly what he needed to do. Reminiscent of Solskjaer vs Lee at Old Trafford. Also, it really helped today that Chopra is psychologically incapable of scoring against us.

Duff's effort was nothing. FYP

Yup. Would make more sense, just a bastard for anyone born in Africa with disgraceful facilities and living conditions which would no doubt set their progress back maybe even stop it. For the most part though over 18 is the best idea thf Perhaps clubs would be more inclined to set up facilities in other countries or establish partnerships with clubs outside this country to ensure that they would still have access to young, foreign players. A (relatively) rich club could set up a partnership with a small African club, where the European club pays for upgrading the facilities in exchange for first dibs on their players, it would benefit both clubs.

Isn't he supposed to have some mystery US investor who is only willing to reveal himself once Ashley is gone? Probably be George W Bush knowing our luck.