AyeDubbleYoo

I'll be watching it like, invited my hot Ghana-fan friend over but she can't make it. Obviously will be pointless, and I hate Gareth Barry with a passion, but it's a football game that's on TV. And Ghana sound well up for it, they've sold 21,000 tickets apparently, which is a decent effort.

Ashley has made no money from his association from NUFC, and most likely never will. So any discussion of transfer policy can't be had based on whether it will benefit Mike Ashley financially, because it won't except possibly by reducing the amount he needs to subsidise us by. I think the "NUFC as a business opportunity" is a bit misleading in that respect. I still think Ashley bought NUFC just for something to do on a weekend. I don't see how signing players with resale value can be anything other than positive. It's definitely preferable to signing players past their peak and who will only decline to worthlessness while collecting massive wages. The real issue is whether we buy players solely because they have resale value or if it's just one criteria we use to select players for real needs that we've already identified. I don't think buying players to sell for profit is one of our objectives, it's just that Ashley is treating NUFC more like a business in buying assets that have long-term value.

I thought I better just answer.

Go into central London and you'll see why. Swear there's one every 80 yards in places. I live in central London, what I meant was that it was ironic that a company that everyone hates they also use a lot. Their coffee is pants mind, Caffe Nero for life. You live in London? Yup, Camden.

I agree if the resale value is the reason for buying them, but if it's more a side effect of buying younger players with more potential then I'm all for it. I'm not listening to the interview BTW. IMO it was the sole reason for getting Gosling and hugely affected the thinking behind making the Ben Arfa deal permanent when we did. Aye, possibly, the Gosling deal was definitely a bit of opportunism but I hope it was as much about getting a promising young player cheap as it was about resale. If another club had pounced to get him we would have been saying it should have been us. The Ben Arfa deal was so immense that I don't actually care about the reason! Let's hope we don't sell him to Real Madrid for £30m until he's ripped the league up for us for a while.

Me too, I'm very pessimistic with Tiote missing.

I agree if the resale value is the reason for buying them, but if it's more a side effect of buying younger players with more potential then I'm all for it. I'm not listening to the interview BTW.

Go into central London and you'll see why. Swear there's one every 80 yards in places. I live in central London, what I meant was that it was ironic that a company that everyone hates they also use a lot. Their coffee is pants mind, Caffe Nero for life.

Funny how all the companies people hate are the ones they use the most. Starbucks FFS.

Why? And do the reasons not apply to football in general (e.g. Newcastle)?

He's been here 3 months which has included a transfer window and he's had both league and cup games. When will you start to judge him and what has he to do which he hasn't been able to do yet? He hasn't had a summer with the players and I haven't seen anything yet to suggest that a pre-season under him will provide any benefit. I just think 3 months is too short a time to judge a manager either way, it's no time at all in football and the influence of luck is huge. He needs all of next season at least IMO. I don't expect anyone to agree with me BTW, especially after a run of poor results.

Fair enough. Admittedly though, I think it's too soon to judge Pardew properly and I also think he might still do well, so I tend to pipe up in his defence more than in criticism.

People compared it when Pardew had a better record so does it only work one way? Did you question the purpose then? Can't remember really, I always thought it was pointless though.

Does Dalglish have any expertise in stadium design like?

Is there actually any purpose in comparing Pardew's record with Hughton's at this point?

It's easy. Jonas - Barton - Nolan - Ferguson. If Ferguson ever is going to get his chance, it's now. That's the obvious answer for me, there's no better options with the players we have available.

He might still be allowed to spend the money though, so it might end up being an asset.

5Live last night had at least three Ghana fans calling about how many people they had bought tickets for, and some were paying hundreds of pounds to fly in for this match. Obviously they should've expected some players not to be playing I guess, you could argue that. They obviously didn't though.

If any of that article is true then it would be one of the worst decisions in recent memory, and that's saying something. We should be holding onto both Krul and Forster for the forseeable future. Whether we buy a short-term number one if we don't rate Harper and think the other 2 aren't ready I don't know, but long-term Forster and Krul should be the answer.

I'd be surprised if we sign any 35 year-olds TBH.

BTW, totally scandalous that those players have been released from the Ghana friendly because their clubs are in the Champions League. What about people like Scott Parker who are involved in crucial relegation battles? And what about the Ghana fans and players who have travelled for this game and paid big money? Will Ghana be releasing Michael Essien, I think not.

Do thousands of witnesses not count as evidence?

mine's the 6th Mine's the 6th as well! Bon anniversaire! Some photos of Hatem in the training kit would be a sweet present... even if he's not actually out there with the squad.

Heard great things about him, not sure if they were all from you!

If we could afford it I would love us to be signing big players on massive contracts and huge wages. Love nothing more than lining the pockets of footballers, especially if they're actually any good. I'm just not going to criticise us for not doing that if it isn't sustainable.