AyeDubbleYoo

It makes perfect sense. Now the club can come out of this pretending they didn't want to sell him. It's PR. Sure there's no force involved, but does it really have to be? On the one hand, you're asked to leave. On the other hand, you have an offer to triple your wages. You're missing the point, I'm asking why Carroll would have submitted a transfer request if he didn't want to go.

yep- how i see it. How could he have made Carroll hand in a transfer request though? It doesn't make sense. The only situation would be that Carroll made it clear he wanted to leave and the club said they wouldn't sell him unless he officially asked to go. That makes sense, nothing else.

Agreed as well, you can argue about the limits being set too low, but you can't argue with the club having a financial policy and sticking to it.

Same, good post and pretty much how I reckon Carroll was thinking. The truth is that he wanted to go once his mind was opened to the possibility. If he wasn't a geordie it would be a very easy thing to accept. Apart from the local connection it's a good move for him.

But it's the same with virtually every club sadly. I know this has been mentioned before but it's worth reiterating that in the last couple of years Everton have lost Rooney, Tottenham have lost Berbatov & Carrick, Liverpool now Torres, Arsenal have lost a load of players and same will happen again with Fabregas at some point, even the Mancs lost Ronaldo. Would you describe all of these clubs as selling clubs? The only two not listed are City and Chelsea, and City almost lost Tevez when he kicked up. These two are the only two, due to their owners, that have the power to ensure their best stay put simply through huge finances. So, do we start dreaming of a Qatari takeover? Then we have the opposite problem of having a bunch of mercenaries whose sole purpose on tyneside is picking up a pay cheque. I think you summed it up best in the other thread, football is fucked whichever side of the fence you're on for very different reasons. Being a fan is a pretty fucking miserable lot with the game as it is right now. Two great posts that sum up the situation well. We'll never be able to resist massive bids like this for players, especially unproven ones like Carroll. But we shouldn't feel too bad, that's the case with all clubs that don't have owners with limitless wealth and a willingness to spend it.

It can't be, there must be a Rush, Guivarch, Tomasson permutation in there somewhere! I remember the season when John Barnes was our top scorer with 6 goals.

Sadly I agree Dave, the club's policy on transfers and contracts is hard-line and Ashley is immovable in his view that players should fall into line. He was never going to improve Carroll's contract again so soon after doing it the first time. As much as I don't like the result, the policy is clear and at least they have some sort of plan for how the finances are managed.

Those Pardew quotes are pretty much what I guessed the situation was. We all know the club are playing hardball over transfers and contracts now... not spending big money and trying to cut wages. Therefore offering Carroll another new contract would never be on the cards for them.

I think us actually spending £12m on NZogbia would have been one of the few things that would have made this transfer window worse.

If crazy bids come in then we'll sell, but most clubs would. It's just a demonstration of the fact that success in the PL is now impossible unless you're prepared to spend way beyond your means.

True if he's getting anywhere near the full amount to spend. I doubt he is, but if he is I'll happily take all this back. Don't know if that's what will actually happen or not but it's probably what he's been promised. I hope you're right. If it is then Ashley would have to stick to it, otherwise he'd have another resigning manager on his hands.

I don't think anyone thinks he's 'good'. I think he has popped up with some important goals, tried his best for the team and been average his whole career. I just like him for some reason, it's not because he's very good at football.

True if he's getting anywhere near the full amount to spend. I doubt he is, but if he is I'll happily take all this back.

I'm still just about prepared to believe that Carroll is an exception rather than an example that we're desperate to sell players. Mainly because the fact Liverpool had ridiculous money to spend so the fee was mental (we had already knocked back £20m+ from Spurs). Obviously if someone came in with an equally ridiculous fee for another player then we would probably do the same, but you could say that about most clubs. And maybe some of the contracts are to protect the players' values, but again, many contracts in football are signed for that reason. (We all know that contracts in football are basically meaningless in terms of intention to stay at a club).

You're both right, I just think in this case it's too big a legal risk to lie about the transfer request, and they would be so easily exposed by Carroll or one of his crew. That said, you're also right about the KK case so I guess they are even prepared to libel people.

He'll probably spout some shit about being dissapointed and will only want to talk about the players who remain at the club. Yeah, I think stonewalling it is the only way he can avoid letting it slip that he obviously wanted Carroll to stay. No doubt he'll be repeatedly asked "did you want to keep Andy Carroll?" and "what did Andy say to you about leaving for Liverpool?". Refusing to comment on it seems to be the only way to go, but then again he is a charismatic devil.

I don't trust Ashley either, but I don't believe there's any way the club would publicly state that Carroll handed in a transfer request if it wasn't fact.

Also, I didn't know that.

I'm actually an optimist, I've just heard us linked with Skjelbred so many times it's getting hilarious.

I don't see how there's any argument that Shearer was world class when we bought him, or that it was an amazing signing that more than repaid its cost.

Yep, and I've heard that Dirk Kuyt's a decent player, we should send someone to scout him.

No idea of what striker I want TBH, ideally we need to sell one or two and buy three! And a RW and a backup LB.

Blackburn buying the title was before the modern media revolution and therefore independent from this discussion. What does Blackpool have to do with any of this other than they've moved up from lower league club to being part of the "Premiership rabble" like us? The difference between Chelsea and Man City should actually show you the power of "brand value" that I'm talking about. Chelsea spent their money at the right time and bought a spot in the "big club culture." Man City are struggling despite the fact that they have enough money to make Roman look like a pauper because they're trying to break into an established market. It would be like opening a new fast food franchise and trying to beat McDonalds and Burger King. Man City aren't struggling though, are they? They've gone from mid-table into the top 3 or 4 and they've only been spending for a couple of seasons. Very similar trajectory to when Abramovich took over Chelsea IIRC, except that they have slightly tougher competition now. Man Utd are in decline and will hit critical point within a couple of seasons, it wouldn't surprise me if City won the league either next season or the one after.

It's his biggest test for ages, selling this transfer to the fans without slagging off the owner. It'll take Malcolm Tucker-esque powers of spin, he'll get thoroughly probed in his next interview.