AyeDubbleYoo

We do know the real state of the clubs finances, almost breaking even plus 35 million, plus 4 million, plus 2 million, minus 4.5 million. And for the last 10 years? And our amount of debt?

Pop onto a Portsmouth or Leeds message board and tell them not to worry about how their club is run. IMO I find it weird how anyone could not be interested in how the club is being run. If you aren't bothered, why not just turn up on a Saturday and enjoy the match, it's pointless to discuss anything beyond that. And why be bothered about how much we're spending?

Can't see Wenger thinking that like. Or the rest of their players. Joey is a decent player but I really think he would look out of his depth and out of place in Arsenal's style of play. Hence why arsenal never win anything because you have who Wenger will only have certain types of players, they need a more direct midfielder. Maybe, I'm not sure. They need a couple of leaders on the pitch and certainly a more rugged defence, but I think Joey's style and personality might cause more problems than they solve.

I feel the same, don't understand why everyone hates him at all. He could resign in protest, but how would that help us? Any manager we have will have to work with Ashley and Derek.

no one is even asking for "spending big" anymore ian, just some modest investment to try and improve us on the pitch and stop us standing still or going backwards i've never had more faith in our scouting than i have at the moment but like everything with ashley it's always dysfunctional - should be an ashley meme: "ASSEMBLE CRACK SCOUTING SQUAD, DON'T BUY ANY PLAYERS" So true. We've got this amazing chief scout who the club love to praise at every turn, yet we seemingly aren't willing to back his judgement with transfer fees. What's the fucking point? If he's recommending players that will cost a fortune, then he is wasting his time. I'm sure he knows the limits he's operating under.

Fair point, as I've said it's all about balance, and Ashley could be argued to have gone too far in his cutting of costs. The thing that helps me come to terms with it is that we still have managed to sign some exciting players and get some great results.

Can't see Wenger thinking that like. Or the rest of their players. Joey is a decent player but I really think he would look out of his depth and out of place in Arsenal's style of play.

I agree that spunking massive fees on overpaid wasters is just as bad, nobody is suggesting that we do that. Not one single person that I know of in fact I know, I was just implying that big spending doesn't necessarily bring success. It might, it might not, the question is getting the balance right. As I've said loads of times, I'm not saying Ashley has set the bar at the right place, but it's not an exact science anyway.

"The one thing I said to Mike yesterday was, 'Look, if this boy is going to go, this money has to be reinvested in the team, all of it', and he has assured me of that. "For the Newcastle fan, that is the most important message I can give today, that all that money will be used. You're wasting your time Funny how both sides of this debate think they're wasting their time. How about we just discuss it instead of whinging? You will just twist and squirm and continue to ignore the facts as usual. Like I said, waste of time I don't know what facts I'm supposed to have ignored. The first six words of my previous post perfectly illustrated, thank you and goodnight Night.

flaw 1: he's not sanctioning "limited spending", we're not spending anything flaw 2: why can't we be as prudent with money as we appear to be without it? why does every call for money preclude it being spent on "overpaid wasters" nowadays? We're spending all the time, just not necessarily enough on transfer fees. The club accounts won't show £0 outgoings as far as I know. On your second point, obviously that's possible, I've never denied that more spending could lead to more success and more income. It might, it might not.

So you'll be happy for us to spend nothing until we've been running at a profit for a few years. i'm tired of this shit now, as i've just said elsewhere - when you're making losses in business you don't just stop doing the things that are likely to generate more revenue for the company yes you cut overheads and costs within reason whilst trying to maximise profit what ashley is doing now is not that, he's taking the fucking piss, no club ever had sustained success without a modicum of investment and never will Of course you don't, that's a fair point. As I've said, I'm not saying Ashley has set the spending limits at the right amount, it's not an exact science. Obviously if he spends a bit more on the right players we might do a bit better in the league and therefore earn a bit more money. Maybe even enough to offset the cost of those players. That's the decision the owner has to make.

"The one thing I said to Mike yesterday was, 'Look, if this boy is going to go, this money has to be reinvested in the team, all of it', and he has assured me of that. "For the Newcastle fan, that is the most important message I can give today, that all that money will be used. You're wasting your time Funny how both sides of this debate think they're wasting their time. How about we just discuss it instead of whinging? You will just twist and squirm and continue to ignore the facts as usual. Like I said, waste of time I don't know what facts I'm supposed to have ignored.

So you'll be happy for us to spend nothing until we've been running at a profit for a few years. Not at all, but I accept that limited spending is that way that Ashley is going to run the club, and I don't think it's a bad thing in principle. Spunking massive fees on overpaid wasters is just as bad IMO.

"The one thing I said to Mike yesterday was, 'Look, if this boy is going to go, this money has to be reinvested in the team, all of it', and he has assured me of that. "For the Newcastle fan, that is the most important message I can give today, that all that money will be used. You're wasting your time Funny how both sides of this debate think they're wasting their time. How about we just discuss it instead of whinging?

"The one thing I said to Mike yesterday was, 'Look, if this boy is going to go, this money has to be reinvested in the team, all of it', and he has assured me of that. "For the Newcastle fan, that is the most important message I can give today, that all that money will be used. The mistake was saying that, not refusing to do it.

You're going on about past losses and Ashley not wanting to put any more money into the club while ignoring that Llambias said we were close to breaking even long before we sold Carroll. People aren't expecting Ashley to dip into his own pocket, we want the income to be spent on the squad, like they promised when we sold Caroll. But the only way we can spend while making a loss is for Ashley to dip into his own pockets. Either he finances the spending or he lends us more money to cover our losses. But the income can only be spent on the squad if doing so doesn't create a debt position that's unsustainable. Previously that meant not lending more than Barclays would allow, now the decision is down to Mike. I'm not saying Ashley's definition of how big the debt is or how much we should be spending is correct, but it is what it is. When we post a few years of accounts where we're in the black then obviously I'll have to change my mind about the situation, but I think that's a fair way off. At the end of the day the accounts will speak for themselves.

FFS man, nobody is making a profit. If we didn't make a profit last year, I'd like to know how the hell we didn't considering our wages are down to 2006 levels, but TV revenues have almost doubled since then, that's without even considering the Carroll money. What's more, if you think we still made a loss last year, I don't know how you can say with a straight face you think that Ashley is running the club well financially. How do you think we're going to start making profits in the future? Even more cost cutting in wages? Finding more players to sell for more than £35m? More free advertising for Sports Direct? We have a top half of the league turnover, a bottom half of the league wage bill, have something like a £40m profit from transfers over his tenure, and you think we're still making a loss? Great financial management that is if so. Almost every Premier League club makes a loss, the difference is that all our debts are owed to Ashley and he's not prepared to keep seeing them grow. I wish he would subsidise bigger spending out of his own pocket, but he won't. One season of profit doesn't offset the last decade off loss making, surely that's obvious. We'll see what has happened to all the money and whether we make a profit or loss in the accounts. The last few sets don't make great reading - but everyone seems happy to ignore that.

FFS man, nobody is making a profit.

I think he was incentivised to make money for the club by way of sales and reduction in wage bill Ian. I think he took the job on the understanding that he must sell Carroll. Fair enough I suppose, I think he was as surprised about the Carroll sale as anyone else. Just to clear up though, he surely shouldn't resign over something he knew was going to happen and signed up for, so is your criticism really that he took the job in the first place? Will be hard for us to get any manager that doesn't accept the conditions and restrictions.

Wonder if Joey would be happy with our ambition if we'd signed a £10m winger to take his place in the side. Seems to me to be all about his own deal.

I love Sammy like, imagine if Twitter had been around when Shola was a lad... would have been class!

So you actually think Pardew wanted to sell Carroll (for example) or is your criticism just that he hasn't resigned in protest?

Well, it would be if he wasn't complicit in them Ian, but let's overlook that. Not resigning over something isn't the same as agreeing with it. Fair enough, he is agreeing to work with Ashley and Llambias and he should attract whatever criticism you attach to that. But any manager we have will have to work with this regime, the alternative is constant resignations and chaos. That's why I don't see the point in constantly blaming Pardew.

The players would want to win for Pardew if they were getting the contracts they wanted, and most of them still probably do. It's stupid to take Ashley/Llambias' mistakes and blame them on Pardew.