AyeDubbleYoo

I guess we'll play hardball with Enrique just like we did with Carroll. The club now have an idea what they think is fair pay, and they won't budge on it for anyone. Has positives and negatives.

I wish someone had thought to post that earlier in the thread.

I agree, in normal world Enrique has done more than enough to be offered a new contract and a decent pay rise. The problem is, what if his current salary is already outside of the club's new pay policy? He'll be offered either the same money or possibly a pay cut. Now I can't really blame NUFC for that as the wages policy is clear... but it might lead to Enrique thinking twicwe about signing on again.

Head of Customer Relations offers to speak to customers! Disgraceful!!!!

Would be a major disappointment if he isn't.

Negativity, or reality? In this case, negativity. That True Faith article gets worse with every read. Just out of interest, what is it from that article that you disagree with? The points made, or the tone? A bit of both really, basically I can't stand this self-flagellating assumption that every player is leaving, and the criticism of the club for not discussing season ticket deals and transfer plans with the fans/media is ludicrous. Also the incredibly smug tone that suggests everyone should agree with their attitude if they're a proper fan. FWIW I understand that people are pissed off (rightly) about almost everything to do with NUFC... but I don't see the point in inventing reasons to criticise them when there are so many real ones. Before the Carroll sale everything was looking up again, now suddenly it's apocalypse. I can't keep up.

We all know he won't spend another season in the Championship, so I just hope that's the only reason behind his putting off talks.

Funny how there were different managers involved - but maybe you were a fan of Souness ?? And until Shepherd fired SBR without a suitable replacement lined up, we actually WERE doing better on the field than under Ashley. Maybe you can produce a set of your famous stats to back up your argument...... Yes, until all the mistakes we were doing fine!

Can't understand why he was sent out on loan either, very strange indeed.

Negativity, or reality? In this case, negativity. That True Faith article gets worse with every read.

Try spending hundreds or more likely, thousands of pounds of money you can't really afford, just to have the piss taken out of you then you might understand the negativity Try being a bit less patronising, and maybe actually address my argument.

You're right, the only thing wrong with the cup is that people don't take it seriously any more. Probably because the bottom teams have to avoid relegation and the top teams have to qualify for the CL. That's all they care about. Unless we can address that then the FA Cup will get more and more meaningless until it is killed completely. That's not far away from happening IMO.

I wonder if we'll ever just wait until a player is actually sold before whinging that he's being sold? It's getting fucking unbearable... every player thread is just about how he's leaving.

More extreme negativity masquerading as being a true fan. Some people must be loving the fact we've been through a bad few seasons, if we did well they'd have nothing at all to whine about. FFS, when does a club ever consult with fans or local journalists about season ticket prices? And comment on the strategy for the upcoming transfer window? I doubt it has ever happened.

Now we've brought in £35m for Carroll we shouldn't even need to listen to offers for anyone else. Hopefully we'll have someone manning the fax machine that can tear the bids up before they get to Derek and Mike.

What I was suggesting is that if Nolan continues to struggle for goals and contribution now Carroll isn't there to help him (and he can only perform when Tiote is playing) then his position needs to be questioned. And if given the choice I would probably leave him out for HBA rather than Jonas.

We are neither Spurs nor Arsenal and good young players with potential will not see it your way - they will simply see a club selling its best players,so how do you replace them unless you pay decent wages ? This has been NUFC's problem over the past 7 years - they have only been able to attract players that other clubs didn't want to pay big wages to(like Owen and Martins)because NUFC WERE prepared to pay under Shepherd...success didn't follow so the club built up a huge debt. Ashley's method prevents big debt but it also leaves the club likely to lose its best players over time. I really don't think that players are as concerned about previous player sales as you think. I mean, if we want to spend £7m of the Carroll money on a new player, I doubt that player is thinking the Carroll sale was a bad thing. This might change if we go on to sell Colo, Tiote, Enrique etc, but at the moment I think everyone in football just thinks the Carroll sale was one of the those freak deals that happens now and again.

The definition of 'unplayable' at his peak, the guy was like a force of nature. Don't think I've enjoyed watching many players more, his power and pace combined with awesome technique were unbelievable.

Spurs are NOT going to win the league - either this season, next or the one after that - why ? because they also have a wage cap and the best players will always go to clubs that both pay them the best rate and also sign OTHER top class players. Spurs ARE an example of the best NUFC could achieve unless taken over by ultra-rich owners. Its a fact of life and no amount of wishing will make it different - NOBODY who supports NUFC is in any doubt about the club's potential but unless the thousands(yes, thousands)of fans who have become disillusioned with the club see genuine signs of ambition, they aint coming back any time soon. The Europeanisation of the English game now means that foreign players form a large part of PL top sides and most of these either want to live in London or Manchester because of the better transport links and perception as places with more facilities of all kinds - even if this is not entirely true, so the club face enough problems geographically without the added handicap of being perceived as always being run controversially and on the cheap, which is how NUFC is seen by many players now. We have been able to sign the likes of Enrique and Tiote because they were YOUNG players, still unknown in the game and therefore a gamble for the top clubs. Now they have been seen to be top class themselves, they will be poached away if offered better deals/careers. A TRULY top club would have little fear of losing these guys unless someone like Real Madrid came knocking with megabucks because they are ALREADY offering them success and the rewards that go with them. Whether you, I or anyone else likes it(and obviously we don't), its a fact of life and until the way NUFC is run changes, we will continue to lose our best players....'.big fleas have littler fleas upon their back to bite 'em...little fleas have littler fleas and so ad infinitum' Its the law of the jungle and the guys with the biggest teeth keep winning unfortunately. The rest all keep running and hoping those teeth don't grab their best bits....! I don't really disagree with any of that, I just think that it is possible for the hierarchy in the Premier League to change. It already has pretty often over the last few years (outside of the top 3 or 4 always being the same). If by 'the way NUFC is run changes' you mean taking big financial risks to try and break into the elite, we've tried that and it didn't exactly turn out great. If you mean we need a mega-rich owner who's prepared to spunk his private money on players and wages, I probably agree that's the best chance for progress in the current system. All I really want is for us to keep making solid, quality signings of players who actually want to play for us, and hopefully that will lead to steady progress. Then we'll see what happens to the other clubs in the league and if they fall back. We did, they can to.

I probably would drop Nolan before Jonas TBH, if he continues his lack of contribution since Carroll left.

A very average end to the season was exactly what I was hoping for TBH.

That's why I used the , failsafe device if you're not sure a post is terrible or funny!

We look like a better team with him in general. The only way we can have Nolan in the team is with Tiote there too. Without him, we might as well be playing with no midfield. True, I actually think that Nolan's days in the first team are numbered now Carroll has left. Without the knock-downs and chaos Carroll causes in the defence Nolan has very little role left. I know about his excellent leadership qualities etc etc, but I really think that if he relies so much on Carroll and Tiote to contribute anything then we need to be looking elsewhere pretty soon.