ikri

If our lot had to sign performance related contracts 2-3 of them wouldn't have been paid in 2 years.

Krul's the obvious choice since it would only take an injury to Harper to get him in the team. Kadar's similarly close but it would take injuries to Enrique, Bassong and probably Duff to get him in the team. Lua Lua is close but he's not there yet. Again, despite the overwhelming mediocrity of our midfield it would take injuries to about 6 players before he would be considered as in the starting XI. If Lua Lua wants to be considered a starting player he needs to show that he's worth choosing ahead of anyone else, something that he's not really not done in his substitute appearances so far.

Non of those, excluding possibly Sunny, would ever, ever come to us in this situation. Ever! I think some way could be found to persuade them. http://www.pfadvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/cash.jpg That's not an option anymore though. I don't think that Jonas or Coloccini are earning peanuts here. Even though there may be moves to get rid of the high earners who don't justify their wages I think there's still probably enough cash for players who do justify their pay packets.

Non of those, excluding possibly Sunny, would ever, ever come to us in this situation. Ever! I think some way could be found to persuade them. http://www.pfadvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/cash.jpg

There's not a player at the club who wouldn't leave if Arsenal came in for them. We're just not in the position to compete with Champion's League clubs at the moment.

In other news today, the pope has said that he's not catholic and a bear has denied responsibility for taking a shit in the woods.

Worst case scenario (worst for them anyway, quite good for us)? Yes. They've already got some pretty nasty debts from throwing money around on wages to get them out of the shit when they nearly went down. If all of the claims go to court & West Ham end up losing or settling out of court they could be looking at an additional £10-20million debt, on top of what they've agreed to pay Sheffield United already. With their wage bill already at a massive level they've got to lose their top wage earners to just break even again, with a potential £25million to pay out to Sheffield United over the next few seasons + whatever comes from these court cases they may be looking at having to find upwards of £50million to cover wage debts & whatever they're sued for. Their owners have no more money to throw at the club and thanks to the credit crunch there's not much likelihood of a new buyer appearing for them. Oh, and the Tevez affair still isn't over. West Ham may simply reach the point at which administration really is the best option for the club.

Leeds are now thinking of legal action against West Ham too:

No one that fits that description in this country really, at least no one that would be accepted by the fans. Redknapp & Venables are the only highly experienced managers that could be tempted up here with a sack full of cash. Steve Bruce is less experienced but might be willing & he'd get enough time. We'd have to look abroad, which is something we should have done post-SBR.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/images/2005/09/20/graeme_souness_300x300.jpg Wanna bet?

They should probably expect to double that figure since they're now likely to be sued by every player & staff member who was at Sheffield United at the time for loss of earnings.

:clap: :clap:

I could no more swap my allegiance than I could swap my blood type.

Yesterday highlighted the reason why, in my opinion, we need to lose Owen in the summer. When Owen is anywhere near fit every manager we've had has tried to shoehorn him into the side regardless of whether he's the best option. Had Owen not been fit for yesterday's game, or if we ever had a manager willing to leave him out of the side, we'd have played Lovenkrands who has looked a far better option for the team whenever he's played up front. He's got the pace that Owen no longer has & he works harder for the team. Owen is a great player, but he's a luxury who disrupts the balance of the team far too much.

know exactly what you mean and have been saying this for 4 years. However, to think we'd be a league below the mackems League below, class above....

Weren't there loads of rumours about him having a real attitude problem when he was at Preston? He was a Premiership player & far too good for the Championship, etc.

I'll probably end up attending more home games than I've managed over recent seasons. Not living in Newcastle & not having my own transport has often meant that any games not played on a Saturday have been off limits to me, but with more Championship games taking place on Saturdays (& having my own transport now too) I'll be able to see more games.

Yes. But I think there are a few people who might dispute the association of the word "talent" with Andy Carroll.

And Martins using that logic. There's nothing stopping us selling Ameobi or Carroll this summer, its happened loads in the past, players signing new contracts then leaving at the end of the season. I wouldn't say it's definite that Martins will be here. I'd say it's definite that neither of those two will be sold. Only my opinion obviously and I hope you're right. I'd like to know how our crack recruitment team can't find anyone better than the likes of Ameobi, Carroll and Butt though. Dave, you know the answer to that, they give their all in training! Wish they'd stop giving their all in training & save some of it for the actual matches

Hasn't he repeatedly said that he has absolutely no interest in leaving & if he was forced to leave he'd only leave for another Spanish club? Not much choice for Villa as Valencia has debts around 500million euros if I'm correct...and the players haven't been paid their salaries for couple of months Yup, this. Valenica could well go kaput, and are pretty much nailed-on being forced to sell their big names for big cash to stave it off. If they've not been paying the players it'll be a moot point anyway assuming that there are similar laws in Spain as there are in the UK where players can walk out of their contracts if they haven't been paid for a certain period, 12 weeks I think it is over here.

Very mediocre player with a shit attitude

Hasn't he repeatedly said that he has absolutely no interest in leaving & if he was forced to leave he'd only leave for another Spanish club?

In case anyone's interested, Forbes Magazine have released their list of the world's billionaires. According to Forbes, Mike Ashley is now worth $1.1 billion (works out about £800 million on today's exchange rate) down from about $2.6 billion when he first bought the club. Mike Ashley's profile on Forbes.com

This. what if the player sticks out for a term contract ? Say no?

This.