AyeDubbleYoo

We really need a few + signs though.

If you're talking about me, I was talking about Barton's twitter comments only. Nothing to do with Nolan's sale.

Only you could make such a sweeping generalisation based on selective reading of posts.

I never quite get used to how authoritarian you English are. Nice. I'm not authoritarian at all, but Barton is a proven mental case who NUFC stood by when they should/could have sacked him on the spot. He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Twitter, the lad is liability every time he opens his mouth. The man is upset because his captain and probably best mate at the club has been sold. Surprise surprise footballers are people with emotions. I'm not arguing about that, I'm arguing about whether he should be spouting his opinions in public. Surprise surprise Joey Barton is man without two braincells to rub together.

Wrong. FFS, I just believe that Barton owes the club a lot and that he's only making things worse by coming out with this bollocks on twitter, you condescending man you.

I never quite get used to how authoritarian you English are. Nice. I'm not authoritarian at all, but Barton is a proven mental case who NUFC stood by when they should/could have sacked him on the spot. He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Twitter, the lad is liability every time he opens his mouth.

And what's wrong with the two years he has left? He might want an extension now for job security, or we might not want to let his value decrease further.

What an unbelievable tit. He wants to leave for free, Jose wants to leave as well, more to do with them than the club. Should boot Barton out just for tweeting that TBH. The club make mistakes, but he's still employed by them and needs to act with a bit of class and respect. Nobody is bigger than NUFC.

And? He still had two years to go on his current deal. There was no need to do anything until next Summer at least. That's debatable, surely, either Nolan was asking for an extension now or the club would be reluctant to let his contract run down and reduce his value further. This time next year he might be completely useless as a footballer as well, not impossible given his condition now. But what does it matter? He's our player regardless. There's no difference to giving him an extension now and in 12 months time. Unless he wants one now or he'll seek career security by signing a longer deal somewhere else. Obviously we could force him to stay even in those circumstances, but we obviously won't.

I think the vast majority of people recognise Nolan's importance off the field.

And? He still had two years to go on his current deal. There was no need to do anything until next Summer at least. That's debatable, surely, either Nolan was asking for an extension now or the club would be reluctant to let his contract run down and reduce his value further. This time next year he might be completely useless as a footballer as well, not impossible given his condition now.

Isn't it? Mind if I ask why? Or have I missed some sarcasm?

Jump to conclusions much?

I think even the people who didn't necessarily want Nolan in the starting XI wanted him at the club. And Nolan probably didn't want to be at a club where he wasn't guaranteed to start. Chicken/egg Well if that's true it would be his own fault, he's not good enough to guarantee a start.

Straight choice between Smith and Shola.

I think even the people who didn't necessarily want Nolan in the starting XI wanted him at the club.

So far two midfielders in, one out. Not forgetting Ben Arfa and Gosling who didn't play last season.

As devil's advocate, we do already have 3 midfielders we didn't have last year (Gosling, Ben Arfa, Cabaye), so on the pitch we shouldn't be that much worse off.

Whoever we sign, I'd rather keep Nolan around the place. Even as club captain and a sub when we need to nick a goal, he's worth another season here. I guess we're worried about letting contracts run down and losing a player's resale value. Not happy at this at all.

Basically how I feel, sad to see him go. Don't rate him highly as a player but we should be building on last season's squad not dismantling it. Unless we have a number of excellent signings in the pipeline this could turn out to be a worrying summer.

If Pards is talking like that he must be pretty confident this will happen.

True, if you follow on that logic it might also be possible to say we should keep him until next summer anyway, and hope we're more successful and he has a couple of Spain caps by then. Bit risky obviously.

Fair point.

I wouldn't say an unsupported hint in the local paper is worthy of getting to worried about TBH. Still think it would be a good solution for him and us to get him, but we'll see if the cost is going to put us off.

Yeah, but surely they can't expect it just to be handed to them? If Forster is confident of his ability, why not stay for a season and try to get Krul out of the team?