mrmojorisin75

our net spend under MR SHEPHERD NE5 for the 5 seasons under robson was 10 million and that was after qualifying for the champs league and getting to the uefa cup semi finals, not much more than ashley who mentioned shepherd? not me, don't care about him he's the past mate...the present and future are important

again, can you actually read?

Dave man. What I find irritating at the moment is you can only have a wider opinion about things these days if something is "proven" to be true. What the guys sics is saying stands up outside of an individual example with or without evidence we bid for the guy. Why not try debating what he's actually talking about? I remember before the window opened myself and TT (I think) were listing the positives of making an early impact signing and were just countered with "the windows not even open yet man" or "only 2 clubs have signed anyone". That is not the nature of argument and discussion. Some of us at the moment have a belief that when it comes to negotiations the club are either inept, have no understanding of the game, or are simply unwilling to "go the extra mile" to complete a deal for the QUALITY players we all know we need. I'm not basing that on Aimar. I'm basing that on Spiderman and Guthrie. And Modric and Woodgate. really you are basing it on aimar alone as in both the latter cases it's reported that we offered more than the places they ended up. sorry like but if you can't read i'm not going to teach you, don't have time same for neesy111

"considering the billionaire owner, the net spend of just about zero last summer and the increased TV income, we should be going out and spending £50m if keegan wants to, but i can't see it." you've just summed up my feelings on the matter entirely - my personal opinion is that a net spend of anything less than 30m is fucking disgrace and an insult to the fans

Dave man. What I find irritating at the moment is you can only have a wider opinion about things these days if something is "proven" to be true. What the guys sics is saying stands up outside of an individual example with or without evidence we bid for the guy. Why not try debating what he's actually talking about? I remember before the window opened myself and TT (I think) were listing the positives of making an early impact signing and were just countered with "the windows not even open yet man" or "only 2 clubs have signed anyone". That is not the nature of argument and discussion. Some of us at the moment have a belief that when it comes to negotiations the club are either inept, have no understanding of the game, or are simply unwilling to "go the extra mile" to complete a deal for the QUALITY players we all know we need. I'm not basing that on Aimar. I'm basing that on Spiderman and Guthrie. And Modric and Woodgate.

ive also mentioned Muntari as the type of player we should be buying - a sizeable fee for a promising/developing player who the big clubs (man utd and juve in his case) are looking at but who haven't yet taken the plunge and signed. Berbatov is another example before he signed for Spurs and the likes of Turan, Pjanic, Cuellar, Montolivo, Zapata, Menez, Inler, Veloso, Romaric are examples knocking around this window. i'm thinking of players that will cost £5m-£15m, a calibre of two underneath the likes of VDV, Benzema or Diego as they will move on to big clubs and only stay put because they cost so much and because there's so few clubs who could buy these talents. though that's not to say if an experienced player comes along who would improve us, like Dunne or Fringes, that we shouldn't buy them. looking at even younger players that the likes of Vetere and Wise are supposedly tracking, it seems we haven't signed many of these, only Spear and even this isn't confirmed. even spurs have brought in 3 16 year olds like Bostock. not sure how the Modric bid fits into our overall transfer activity. it's ok saying we bid for him but for whatever reason we didn't land him. let's face it we can't offer players like that a great deal so we have to go into overdrive when it comes to attracting them here, rolling out keegan, private jet, 24/7 state of alert preparing to fly out anywhere, even if it means offering a bit extra money. i'd rather pay too much for a good team than pay the right amount for an average side. for anyone who disagrees, i'm sure hope the satisfaction of saving a few million over the course of a season compensates for poorer performances on the pitch. the modric bid does suggest we'll make one biggish signing (if we can actually close the deal) but i reckon the rest will be more along the lines of Larsson, Jonas or Guthrie ie £1m-£5m bracket and perhaps not players who you'd assume would walk into our side. not terrible buys by any means but these are the kind of transfers i'd expect a team like Middlesbrough to make, Emnes or Digard for instance. 100% agree, especially about our first 2 signings being "middlesbrough-esque" ones, at the moment us signing spiderpig isn't a million miles away from them signing that turk last summer for 0 to me

there's a level of player we need & have to be aiming at right now to make this "long term strategy" successful both in the long term and NOW seems that people see the two as mutually exclusive, to have the LTS we have to endure 3-5 years of dogshit and buying reserve players from liverpool etc... for me the type of player we need to target this summer are the sagnas & muntaris of this world - players who've appeared on the radar but crucially play for clubs we can sign players from (auxerre/udinese) and who won't consider themselves above us....i know sagna went to arsenal but when he signed for them if it had been us who bid the 7m with no other challengers i reckon he'd have come at that time there must be plenty of players of this level around european football, and i honestly assumed this was the type of player we'd be aiming for...the boy arda was another example of that but it seems gala have priced him out perhaps? although that's all speculation of course that's what i think about it anyhow, can't see how anyone could realistically expect us to blow 17m on bentley or something this summer 'cause he wouldn't come first and foremost (see above) and because it wouldn't be a sensible use of our resources given our squad size and depth if we continue filling the squad up with frees and 1m reserve players we'll get what we deserve imo

well, I've news for you. More crap? Shepherd and Cushing went to do the deal. See 3rd link. All that way to back the manager for a player he wanted and get him before others. And cut an agent out too. FAncy that eh http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20001007/ai_n14349875 http://archive.thenorthernecho.co.uk/2000/10/4/190390.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2000/oct/10/newsstory.sport2 Benfica flew a delegation out when they heard we were in the running. That was it..game over. MA has to come to terms with the fact that we will initially have to pay over the odds in wages for good players. Later when we are more competitive is the time to attract them with other reasons. Well put VERY well put, yes

can't say it bob, not allowed, everythings fine...next seasons gonna be mint

so which is it NE5? I'm not a fence sitter myself, but it appears you're swinging your views back and forth as it suits. Please clarify if you've got the time. Thanks just read his posts and it seems to me he's spot on - the ambition he refers to is to complete deals isn't? he says something is wrong, ambition or whatever woodgate, modric, aimar have all been moved for and turned us down to some degree so he's right, something is missing - whether ambition is the right word is neither here nor there my opinion, however, is that a bid for aimar shouldn't be considered ambitious - we've just lost him to benfica if reports are correct, wasn't so long ago they were picking up our cast offs for nothing... EDIT: also meant to say in that last part about his career appearing to be on the decline as well, but forgot The club has been on the decline since the appointment of Souness. What I mean by that is our league finishes have been largely shit since SBR's last season in charge. Ashley, Keegan and co have come into this club well aware of the need to REBUILD its stature. No wonder players turn us down when they have witnessed the last 3 or 4 years of total shambles. not disagreeing, but we've been this bad before and still managed to get the players we wanted - as ATB says by offering money basically it still makes NE5 right, somethings missing, call it money if you want You can't blame the club for missing out on the three players for not showing the money, when you imply in other posts that we showed them the money and they didn't come for other reasons? Stop moving the goalposts. you and your fucking goalposts James, doesn't wash as I'm moving nothing - you seem fond of pointing out deals are complicated so what's so complicated about making the leap to; one deal we might match a fee but not wages, lose the player...another deal we might be willing to pay the wages but not the fee? same result {before you start these are example of possibilites, rather than extact examples} the reports of aimar, be they true, say we matched the valuation that benfica had to then match to conclude the deal - so what went wrong? reports also said they dispatched rui costa on a jet to make sure the deal happened, did we urgently dispatch anyone if we wanted him that badly? i don't know do i, i wasn't there, but i'm with NE5 in saying "something" isn't right at the moment but i don't know what it is, there are many possibilities money being one of them Again, a complete contradiction, as I'm sure if we were interested in that situation, Keegan would be on a plane to Portugal. piss poor James, look up what contradiction means and try again [you've used goalposts already, by the way]

so which is it NE5? I'm not a fence sitter myself, but it appears you're swinging your views back and forth as it suits. Please clarify if you've got the time. Thanks just read his posts and it seems to me he's spot on - the ambition he refers to is to complete deals isn't? he says something is wrong, ambition or whatever woodgate, modric, aimar have all been moved for and turned us down to some degree so he's right, something is missing - whether ambition is the right word is neither here nor there my opinion, however, is that a bid for aimar shouldn't be considered ambitious - we've just lost him to benfica if reports are correct, wasn't so long ago they were picking up our cast offs for nothing... EDIT: also meant to say in that last part about his career appearing to be on the decline as well, but forgot The club has been on the decline since the appointment of Souness. What I mean by that is our league finishes have been largely shit since SBR's last season in charge. Ashley, Keegan and co have come into this club well aware of the need to REBUILD its stature. No wonder players turn us down when they have witnessed the last 3 or 4 years of total shambles. not disagreeing, but we've been this bad before and still managed to get the players we wanted - as ATB says by offering money basically it still makes NE5 right, somethings missing, call it money if you want You can't blame the club for missing out on the three players for not showing the money, when you imply in other posts that we showed them the money and they didn't come for other reasons? Stop moving the goalposts. you and your fucking goalposts James, doesn't wash as I'm moving nothing - you seem fond of pointing out deals are complicated so what's so complicated about making the leap to; one deal we might match a fee but not wages, lose the player...another deal we might be willing to pay the wages but not the fee? same result {before you start these are example of possibilites, rather than extact examples} the reports of aimar, be they true, say we matched the valuation that benfica had to then match to conclude the deal - so what went wrong? reports also said they dispatched rui costa on a jet to make sure the deal happened, did we urgently dispatch anyone if we wanted him that badly? i don't know do i, i wasn't there, but i'm with NE5 in saying "something" isn't right at the moment but i don't know what it is, there are many possibilities money being one of them

so which is it NE5? I'm not a fence sitter myself, but it appears you're swinging your views back and forth as it suits. Please clarify if you've got the time. Thanks just read his posts and it seems to me he's spot on - the ambition he refers to is to complete deals isn't? he says something is wrong, ambition or whatever woodgate, modric, aimar have all been moved for and turned us down to some degree so he's right, something is missing - whether ambition is the right word is neither here nor there my opinion, however, is that a bid for aimar shouldn't be considered ambitious - we've just lost him to benfica if reports are correct, wasn't so long ago they were picking up our cast offs for nothing... Or perhaps we were never interested in Aimar, Woodgate had already agreed to go to Spurs before Keegan came calling, and Modric was made to go to Spurs because the Mamic brothers could get a bigger slice of the cake. so does that still make NE5 wrong then? and if we were interested in Aimar James? just if, and he rejected us for benfica what does it say to you anything, nothing? how long do we keep losing out on players before it becomes a pattern of failure and rejection? this is ashleys 3rd transfer window by the way i know one thing, if FS was still chairman he'd be getting torn apart by the people on here for signing a liverpool cast off and a "free" winger from mallorca why? FS didn´t get torn apart for the players we brought in (it was the managers choice, hopfully as we have heard otherwise). it was their method to bring them in. what? he'd be getting torn apart because we have no midfield, no cover in defence, suspect attack (injuries) and no squad depth and so far we've brought in the aforementioned players on the cheap always comes back to expectations - mine are for us not to get left behind by the clubs around us, unless we sign some quality football players this is exactly what is going to happen, then it's going to be even harder to sign players vicious circle - our stock has rightly fallen these days in the game, do we want it to continue to fall or do we expect our owner to take steps to arrest the slide?

so which is it NE5? I'm not a fence sitter myself, but it appears you're swinging your views back and forth as it suits. Please clarify if you've got the time. Thanks just read his posts and it seems to me he's spot on - the ambition he refers to is to complete deals isn't? he says something is wrong, ambition or whatever woodgate, modric, aimar have all been moved for and turned us down to some degree so he's right, something is missing - whether ambition is the right word is neither here nor there my opinion, however, is that a bid for aimar shouldn't be considered ambitious - we've just lost him to benfica if reports are correct, wasn't so long ago they were picking up our cast offs for nothing... EDIT: also meant to say in that last part about his career appearing to be on the decline as well, but forgot The club has been on the decline since the appointment of Souness. What I mean by that is our league finishes have been largely shit since SBR's last season in charge. Ashley, Keegan and co have come into this club well aware of the need to REBUILD its stature. No wonder players turn us down when they have witnessed the last 3 or 4 years of total shambles. not disagreeing, but we've been this bad before and still managed to get the players we wanted - as ATB says by offering money basically it still makes NE5 right, somethings missing, call it money if you want

so which is it NE5? I'm not a fence sitter myself, but it appears you're swinging your views back and forth as it suits. Please clarify if you've got the time. Thanks just read his posts and it seems to me he's spot on - the ambition he refers to is to complete deals isn't? he says something is wrong, ambition or whatever woodgate, modric, aimar have all been moved for and turned us down to some degree so he's right, something is missing - whether ambition is the right word is neither here nor there my opinion, however, is that a bid for aimar shouldn't be considered ambitious - we've just lost him to benfica if reports are correct, wasn't so long ago they were picking up our cast offs for nothing... Or perhaps we were never interested in Aimar, Woodgate had already agreed to go to Spurs before Keegan came calling, and Modric was made to go to Spurs because the Mamic brothers could get a bigger slice of the cake. so does that still make NE5 wrong then? and if we were interested in Aimar James? just if, and he rejected us for benfica what does it say to you anything, nothing? how long do we keep losing out on players before it becomes a pattern of failure and rejection? this is ashleys 3rd transfer window by the way i know one thing, if FS was still chairman he'd be getting torn apart by the people on here for signing a liverpool cast off and a "free" winger from mallorca

so which is it NE5? I'm not a fence sitter myself, but it appears you're swinging your views back and forth as it suits. Please clarify if you've got the time. Thanks just read his posts and it seems to me he's spot on - the ambition he refers to is to complete deals isn't? he says something is wrong, ambition or whatever woodgate, modric, aimar have all been moved for and turned us down to some degree so he's right, something is missing - whether ambition is the right word is neither here nor there my opinion, however, is that a bid for aimar shouldn't be considered ambitious - we've just lost him to benfica if reports are correct, wasn't so long ago they were picking up our cast offs for nothing... EDIT: also meant to say in that last part about his career appearing to be on the decline as well, but forgot

that's called blind hope mate, or whatever the next step up from that is - assuming you're referring to top quality players here Just trying to be positive today mate. aye i know, harder by the day though....

no right enough, granted...still believe a buying club can make any deal happen if they want/need it enough, i.e. pay a good fee to the selling club, i mean liverpool let crouch talk to pompey pretty fucking sharpish once the 11m bid was lodged didn't they? and it all happened very fast then re guthrie wonder why liverpool sat back and waited? not like anything changed with their own transfers, they're no further on any of them are they? still, behind the scenes who knows?

that's called blind hope mate, or whatever the next step up from that is - assuming you're referring to top quality players here

it'd be fucking idiotic to sign someone of warnocks age to challenge enrique - he'd want regular games and to be a starter otherwise why move? assuming you sign him on that proviso he's then taking the games enrique NEEDS to continue improving warnock can play both sides right? same principle applies though, he wouldn't and should be brought in to challenge beye either the lad insua or whatever seems the better, more likely option as he's 19 and won't be demanding/expecting anything...if not him someone of his age and stature in the game; thought that was the fucking point of all this "4 first team" & "4 younger players to challenge" bullshit we've been span anyways? not sign a 26 year old to unsettle our just settling down LB a la the damien duff and charlie n'zog summer so i'm not believing it, 'cause it's stupid

was anyone asking for that dave?

aye, that tells the story...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/07/16/sfnjim116.xml Ronaldinho Manchester City fantasy sells season tickets even if he fails to turn up By Jim White Last Updated: 11:45pm BST 15/07/2008 Hands up anybody who seriously believes that Ronaldinho will be slipping on a sky blue shirt over the next week and parading himself as Manchester City's latest signing. Frankly, anyone who reckons that the gap-toothed Brazilian will take up a job in Manchester when there is one on offer in Milan might be wise to seek medical help. Not even Noel Gallagher, whose enthusiasm for all things City is unimpeachable, can see it happening. "If he can't pull his finger out for Barcelona he's not going to do it away against West Bromwich, is he?" says the Oasis guitarist, a man who has family experience of those unwilling to extract a digit for the cause. But in a sense it doesn't really matter that the former best player in the world is in all probability heading for the San Siro. City's officials will have done what they set out to do: reassure fans dismayed at the sacking of Sven-Goran Eriksson that it is worth renewing their season ticket. There was the club's owner at the tail-end of last season cast as a man with about as much idea of how to run a football club as the average City fan has of how to operate a military dictatorship. And now suddenly, thanks to the unlikely pursuit of a fallen idol, he is being cast as having sky blue blood coursing through his veins. As a City source said this week: "Can anyone question the ambition of the owner now?" To be fair, City are by no means alone in such fantasy bidding. The summer transfer merry-go-round has long been fuelled by tales of improbable movement. Every day we read that X is going to Y and Z is staying put when the fact is, come the start of the season, Z will be at Y, while X remains where he is, contemplating a future in the reserves. This is a month of shenanigans which have nothing to do with genuine playing requirements (it is telling that City's shrewd manager, Mark Hughes, has kept his counsel throughout the Ronaldinho saga). Rather, it is all about marketing. And for chairmen, the delicious thing about summer transfers is that they don't have to be completed to accrue helpful headlines. Spurs used to be the masters at the unlikely July transfer bid, their name linked to the most glamorous of names, only for reality to dawn come early August with the signing of Ruel Fox. The summer transfer market is like a reworking of the game played by Hollywood casting agents called you want, you'd settle for, you get. Normally it relates to movie issues: you want Brad Pitt to star in your film, you'd settle for Edward Norton, but you get Danny Dyer. In City's case, the fans want Ronaldinho, they'd settle for Robinho, but even as they dream they somehow know they'll end up with David Nugent. Unfortunately, by the time he is paraded on Aug 9 it will be too late for them to do anything about it. By then they will have bought their season tickets. And in all this, that is the real ambition of their owner. _______________ As this is taken from a paper it patently can't have any truth, sense or relevance to NO posters but I honestly think it makes interesting reading as an NUFC fan this summer. Lots of it I see as applicable to us at the moment, minus the obvious fact we appear to not have even made half the effort Citeh have so far in the window. Been wanting to post something reflecting my feelings at the moment (resignation of impending mediocrity I suppose), think this just did it for me - Danny Dyer, coming to a cinema near you!!!

should be all or nothing for me; any quotes involving foreigner players/foreign media etc... should be totally taken with a pinch of salt imo unless i see charlie nzog, for example, standing on the telly and saying in english "i want to leave NUFC and go to spurs" them i'm not fucking believing it!!! Walking out of the stadium 10 times was enough for me. what?

should be all or nothing for me; any quotes involving foreigner players/foreign media etc... should be totally taken with a pinch of salt imo unless i see charlie nzog, for example, standing on the telly and saying in english "i want to leave NUFC and go to spurs" them i'm not fucking believing it!!!

Its Okay to believe the media if we want the club to sign the player in question and its a favourable piece