AyeDubbleYoo

I reckon we could still keep Beye and Enrique, but only is Shearer is installed very shortly. Sadly it doesn't look like that's happening any time soon.

When Oba unleashed that screamer against Spurs, that was fooking brilliant.

Aye, do love that, cup of tea in a polystyrene cup! Everywhere I've lived I've checked out the local team, Maidenhead Utd were class (also called The Magpies).

Iniesta alone was reason enough to watch football.

The more players come out in public the more it seems like a coordinated effort to force some news and/or progress out of the club. Probably won't work, but it makes me object to each individual player a bit less.

That Cantona chip against Sunderland, Tino's goals against Barca, Poborski lob, Thierry Henry at his peak, Alan Shearer, Phillipe Albert against Man Utd, those moments of inspiration that take the breath away - rare but that's why I watch football.

servicing it isn't too bad if you can afford and it's not added to. the problems kick in when you have to borrow more to service the debt amongst other outgoings. And of course you would need to keep increasing the debt to remain competitive. Especially with money you could have used for players or wages now being spent on servicing debt. and meanwhile people think money to come in off transfers can only be used to bring in transfers. for example a club makes a 3mill profit on transfers but is losing 20mill a year and people wonder where the 3mill transfer profit went. So true, the amount of times I've heard "we made an £Xm profit on transfers in this window...."! FFS, it all comes of the bottom line, if the club is struggling financially the money has to go elsewhere.

We all hate what's going on, but it's ridiculous to suggest Ashley is running a major asset of his into the ground on purpose, just to spite a few Geordies. He's incompetent, naive, incapable of running a football club, but I'm sure he wants out ASAP.

I now have no doubts that Ashley has no intention of selling NUFC and that he will put the club into administration if and when it suits him. How would he benefit from that?

they will know about a possible revolt of staff in a company they are trying to buy. its truly laughable to think they arent keeping very close tabs on most aspects of the club. True, but what do footballers say when the club ownership is in question? We want it to be sorted out. No potential buyer will be surprised, worried or moved in any way by this stuff.

Looking much more likely by the day that we will start the season in exactly the position we are in now. Even if we do get a takeover, they won't have time to make the changes we need before the season starts, except maybe appoint a manager.

But it isn't professional to vent your personal feelings about the people who pay your wages in public, is it?

They should just keep the same report going and swap in the latest whinger's name.

The word Sunderland was used in the same sentence as them, that's good enough for me!

It's a well known fact that if you've performed like utter shite you should stay away from the media. He might have a point but trying to drum up sympathy for the players at the moment is an impossible task, they don't deserve any.

If Irish Sunderland fans end up owning us it'll be ridiculous.

I still think the most likely thing is that the bids/offers haven't been made yet and things aren't anywhere near as advanced as we're being led to believe.

I really like Craig Bellamy for some reason... odious little bastard but I loved it when he played for us. I was really sorry to see him go.

I wouldn't back the current squad in anything, they've got very little to be proud of.

I know he's right, but I'm not sure what he's going to achieve here other than venting his spleen. I hope these statements will speed up the takeover, but I can't see it TBH.

I wasn't saying there were any... just discussing the possibility. Not trying to move any blame away from Ashley at all, but let's face facts that a less prominent, controversial and troubled club would have been a much easier purchase for him. He might well still have fucked it up, just a thought.

Pretty harsh. NRC isn't the best but he certainly isn't the worst either. In a midfield alongside Cahill, Pienaar, Arteta and Fellaini he would be alright I think. The others would make up for his lack of technical ability and he would add a hell of a lot of aggression and drive. The guy does a lot of hard work in midfield. I think he would certainly be an upgrade on playing Phil Neville in midfield. He can tackle (well, more that he's an in your face, tenacious type), the problem is that he can't pass. These are his specialities. 1. Tackles, wins ball, tries to pass it - at most - five yards to team mate, fails. 2. Makes run, box to box style, holds on to ball too long, runs into defender, loses it. Well we don't need him, we've got a couple of players who fulfill both of those roles.

Yours looks like Usain Bolt compared to ours. Yours looks like Superman compared to ours.

Was just going to say this, he thought of a football club as a rich man's toy and amusement for the weekends. His naivety was staggering. So no one thinks that his business model could have worked for other clubs? What was Ashley's single biggest mistake? The Keegan debacle? or was it the fact that he let the club play out more than half the season with Hughton and Kinnear in charge? These weren't business mistakes. What hurt Ashley the most as owner of the club was when he started to piss on the fans from a great height thinking he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it. I think that's what we were saying... they weren't business mistakes, they were 'running a football club' mistakes. He should never have bought a football club. Obviously if he had bought a club that didn't have any problems to start with, he might have done alright.