ikri

I hope that he's already had a real offer and that by releasing this statement now he's just trying to spark a bit of a bidding war. The club cannot afford yet another 2-3 months of ownership uncertainty.

Needs to be a really quick sale to someone with plenty of cash to spare, not just to fund the rebuilding of the squad but to ensure that the club isn't saddled with a huge debt to Ashley for years to come.

A big name who knows absolutely nothing about the league other than the four games he played for Leicester back in 2001. Could struggle massively with a team that lacks the finances or pulling power of Inter or Lazio. Unfortunately, they have decent finances. Their finances may be OK & a lot better than many others in the Premiership, but they're not at the same league as a team like Inter.

A big name who knows absolutely nothing about the league other than the four games he played for Leicester back in 2001. Could struggle massively with a team that lacks the finances or pulling power of Inter or Lazio.

Er, what? There was a rumour that a certain Manchester club were paying one of their player's taxes for them too. It hardly matters I seriously doubt that's the case here, we have no one in the same wage bracket here. But, it does raise another point, what's the employer's national insurance contribution to someone's weekly wage when that wage is £100k per week? Perhaps that's where the missing millions are.

It'd really make my night if he got a 2nd yellow now

fuck me.. who are all these people? Match day staff for the most part probably, turnstile operators, safety stewards, etc. They won't be full time employees.

Owen, Coloccini, Cacapa, Barton, Martins, Duff, Smith, Jonas, Geremi & Viduka. Think their combined wages come to well over £600k per week. Barton, Duff and Smith are likely to stay imo. I bloody hope not. They're earning £185k per week between them and they've been garbage for us. Lunatic, waste of skin & past it. I'll let you decide which description fits which player. Barton's apparently squred things out with Shearer and apologized his behaviour. Duff has said he wants to stay. Who'd want Smith? Stuck with them. Barton's reputation precedes him, just like Bowyer's did, he'll never get fair treatment from the referees and every challenge he makes will be picked over by the media. The best thing we could do would be to accept any offer for him and let some other mug club take the risk. Duff may want to stay, but how much of that is down to him earning £60k per week in the full knowledge that he'll never get that from another club? He's been abysmal for us for far too long, he has so little movement he could have been replaced by a traffic cone in most of the games he played last season. He gives the ball away amazingly easily, he can't cross for shit and he's lost what pace he once had. He'll be a liability in the Championship. Smith's lack of games this season may actually work in our advantage. There are enough managers out there who will think they can turn him around and make him the player he was before his injury. His passing is limited, he doesn't take shots on goal any more and his tackling is dangerous at best. Again, let someone else take the risk.

Owen, Coloccini, Cacapa, Barton, Martins, Duff, Smith, Jonas, Geremi & Viduka. Think their combined wages come to well over £600k per week. Barton, Duff and Smith are likely to stay imo. I bloody hope not. They're earning £185k per week between them and they've been garbage for us. Lunatic, waste of skin & past it. I'll let you decide which description fits which player.

Owen, Coloccini, Cacapa, Barton, Martins, Duff, Smith, Jonas, Geremi & Viduka. Think their combined wages come to well over £600k per week.

Why would it matter if they are paying back the loan immediately or in installments. If they are buying the club they will know they are in debt - and would be a factor in their decision making. Right now we're not paying the loan back at all. It would have a pretty significant impact on our finances if we suddenly had to start repaying it all.

True. But on occasion they are actually correct Mick Wadsworth springs to mind Who's been a disaster everywhere he's been after us. How often do you hear from PLAYERS that a bad coach can screw a good team ? Or that a good coach can revitaize a sagging squad ? The names you mention were all jobs for mates anyway. Our best times were when this didn't apply. Steve Clarke, during his brief time here, and that feller from Blackburn whose name I forget in the early Keegan years. Derek Fazackerley? Currently working at Huddersfield with Clarkie

It would depend on who the buyer was, how much cash they have, whether they'd be paying off that loan to Ashley or just leaving the club to pay it back over the years, whether they have enough cash spare for transfers. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.

Bonuses & appearance fees.

Enrique - £3m Coloccini - £5m Bassong - £7m Beye - £1m Jonas - £5m Barton - £1m Martins - £5m Smith - £1m Around £28m, might manage a little more but it would depend if we wanted quick sale or were willing to wait. It would trim at least £18m from the wage bill, even before taking Cacapa, Owen, Viduka, Lovenkrands & Geremi into the equation who are earning at least £15m between them

Assuming Shearer is in charge then you can probably save a few quid on a train ticket to Ipswich if you book now, because you know that the fixture computer is somehow going to find a way to make Shearer vs Keane the 1st game of the season.

His contract at Portsmouth is/was worth over £100k per week by all reports. Think he's going to take a £75k drop in wages and drop down a league?

Is he going to be good enough to play in the Premiership in a couple of seasons (assuming we can bounce right back)? If not then don't bother. We need to be building a team that isn't just capable of achieving promotion but of competing in the Premiership again.

Going to out on a limb here & say that I don't think that Sam Allardyce is on Sir John Hall's Christmas card list.

Owen - 105k Coloccini - 60k Cacapa - 50k Barton - 65k Martins - ? Duff - 60k Smith - 60k Jonas - ? Geremi - 60k Those are the only ones I can think of that are likely to be on more than 50k, there are a few others who might be approaching that. There's easily 15 players earning over 25k

Alternatively it could be that we've not had a solid midfield in 5 years & end up inviting pressure on our defence leading to more & more last ditch tackles, etc. When a striker makes a mistake it doesn't usually get punished too badly, but when a defender makes an error it usually leads to an opposing player being put through on goal. You can get away sometimes, but constant pressure means more potential mistakes and when you have players like Titus did I leave the iron on? Bramble in your defence those mistakes get magnified more often. Bramble has looked alright this season because he's not been put under that pressure since the Wigan midfield has been capable of keeping hold of the ball when required and offering an outlet when necessary. He's still made the same mistakes, it just hasn't happened as often. How often this season did our defenders clear the ball to the midfield only to see it fly right back at our defence because the midfield wasn't there? Too often our players were sitting so deeply they could be classed as defenders or alternatively they'd find a warm spot on the pitch and stay there despite being marked by a defender twice their size. It's why Jonas was important to the team this season, he was actually capable of running with the ball and alleviating pressure, it would have worked better if the rest of the midfield had thought about trying to keep up with him to offer an outlet for him when he got into trouble, but too often they were still wandering around the centre of defence 50 yards away from the ball. It winds me up no end when the media go on about our frail defence. It isn't really that bad, the problem is in the midfield and has been in the midfield since Speed left.

If we keep him I cannot see him changing his game at all. He'll spend most of every game he plays stood on the wing waiting for someone to give him the ball, he won't bother trying to move into space & when he does get hold of the ball he'll surprisingly find himself surrounded by opposition players who have miraculously figured out that he keeps standing still. All these players suddenly coming out to show how loyal they are and how determined they are to fix things. IT WAS YOUR FUCKING FAULT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Bye then.

Of course he's going to stay. Who else is going to pay him £60000 every week so he can be carried in almost every game he plays in. For what we're paying him we could pick up 6 players 10 years his junior with 10x his ambition and determination.

If they won games then no one would care, but that they lost and still didn't look like they were bothered that they'd managed to get a club relegated. Most of the players that got us relegated will find themselves new clubs, they'll get similar wages & a signing on fee, they'll still be playing Premiership football. None of us get that option, we can't change our allegiance, Man City aren't going to come in & buy our support. I care that they feel some responsibility, I care that they understand what this club, or any club, means to the fans. The only thing those players look like they care about is their own wallets.