Tsunami

Must have been a hell of a 6 months to change his mind. He was clearly pissed off at how Wigan settled for survival and gave up playing. S'land are also a much bigger club. Let's hope he fails.

I'm really not sure why Bruce always gets shown the plastic geordie card. He's always said he's proud of where he's from and didn't hide that fact in his press conference today. Yes he played for Man U and shown loyalty to his pay masters (as he will with the mackems) but he's a geordie. Being away for so long and playing elsewhere doesn't change that and nor will managing that lot down the road.

Ranger misses from a yard out - open goal. First time I've seen the kid play.......

Would be a massive step backwards. FS had his time - move on.

I'd love to see NE5's take on all this (so long as it didn't descend into the usual custard pie event - which wasn't always his fault btw).

They just bought a PL club. It makes a hell of difference.

I live in false hope that MA has a buyer in line. If he hasn't we are in deep shit. If the club is for sale at such a low price MA has clearly given up on us and if things drag on what price going into Adminstration? Seriously; you may not think it yet but it wouldn't take much. We will get a buyer at some point but there is a real risk our new owner/s will have precious little cash and we could end up in the back waters and wannabees. I hold little hope in finding a multi billionnaire buyer willing to plough cash in; we are a Championship club and a club with a poor reputation for giving people a chance. MA you fucking cunt.

I spend 5 hours with him and then he calls me a Fat Cockney Twat.

Agreed - end of thread really.

What, you mean that Man U aren't playing Barca in the Champion Ship final tonight and that we will be playing Scunthorpe next year? Crazeeeee

Tonight, I couldn't give a shit.

Agree with the sentiment, but in actual fact I seem to remember Bracewell was injured for much of the first part of the season, and Sellars and Lee came in about halfway through. We put together that record breaking start without any of them (or Andy Cole). I use this point when anyone criticises Keegan as a manager as requiring money. In that promotion season, the only players he added to the first team to get the 11 league game unbeaten run were Venison and Beresford. This is probably a lesson in itself - you can't underestimate the value of proper full back to the rest of the team. Playing players out of position there just leads to disaster.... Bracewell started the season and scored the winner in the first game of the season against Southend. It was a fantastic strike in a hard fought game. We had lost 4-0 at Southend the previous New Year & I remember Jimmy Greaves tossing himself off over it. That promotion team puts the present team to shame and whilst the 11 on the spin was great, the way we finished the season was perhaps better. We simply tore teams apart culminating in the first half performance against Leicester. If Al can go anywhere near getting a team spirit like that we'll be ok.

If this is his recovering alcoholic type admission of a problem and wish to put it right then I'll try and lend my support. Trouble is he has shown himself as a habitual liar and is liable to fall of the rails again at some point. We now must wait and see what has been agreed.

I didn't read this from the Telegraph. We picked up Geremi and Cacapa on frees; they'll be on 50k plus and Geremi still has a year left!!!

Which ever you cut it; it is shambolic and cuts across owners and managers. I can't think of another club that would have given contracts of more than a year to Geremi or Cacapa given their weekly wage/ age. Such decisions have no doubt cost us over the passed couple of seasons when it has come to getting new players in and the budget available. We couldn't give away such players if we wanted to and have simply invited them to see out their "top flight" careers here and then have a season or two in some joke league.

I've read that we have 15 players on more than 50k per week and I've tried to think who they are; possible this lot: Owen, Martins, Viduka, Duff, Barton, Geremi, Enrique, Beye, Nolan, Jonas, Colo, Smith, Guthrie, Butt, Cacapa, Taylor? I've named 16 but if there is an odd one out it'll not be by much. It really is frightening and what's more looking at our wage bill it certainly rings true. That really is gross mis-management. It also lends an argument that relegation has given the club an opportunity to make sweeping changes. It gets more unbelievable the more you look at it.

I can't see us having that back 4. We may keep 3 at best but Enrique will go back to Spain and Bassong will go to another PL club. Losing Bassong would be a blow, losing Enrique will at least ease the wage bill.

Like or not but Butt has shown more energy in midfield than those around in these last few games. Yes it shows the crap we've got and yes his passing has been woeful but if we can get players in around him he will do a job next year. He'll win the ball and give it to somone better - he didn't have this option in the current team.

Get Al to sign on the dotted line & give him the mandate to be what he thinks best. He knows the club and he knows the players. I believe once he signs he'll get the players together and tell those he wants rid of to go find a club asap and for those he wants to stay and who say yes he'll immediately try to bond them together. Those players who are non committal will go if decent money comes. Al has to be brutal with the current squad - 15 players earning over 50k per week is horrendous & just shows we have some real shit earning obscene money. If relegation is a path to stop paying stupid money and building a proper team I'm more than happy to spend a year in the Championship. Been there before and that path is preferable to another few years struggling in the PL stuck with most of these players. Even if we don't go up at the first time of asking so long as we are building correctly I'll still be reasonably happy. I'm trying not to think about Ashley in all of this. I get the feeling he will stay and that being the case I hope he has learned his lessons and becomes a proper owner. Wont stop me detesting the bloke; he has a long way to go on that one.

Barton, we can't afford his wage and we don't want him. Shame he'd have done a job next year/ or gone back to jail etc

If he'll take a wage cut we should keep him; we're unlikely to attract better. If he wants to keep his current wage he'll be told to go and find another club - Sunderland we're after him if I remember.

Bump. A whole new world now. Take a look at some of the names bandied around last year and weep. I haven't got a fucking clue this time!

My, how the Villa fans are gloating on their forum; they think they've killed the devil team & a region of fat bastards.

I know it's early days and there are a lot of imponderables but I'll be there and I hope at least 35,000-40,000 others will be with me.

and will he be looking for one? We may well find ourselves between a rock and a hard place. We have an opportunity to clear the decks and get the club on a proper footing with sensible wages but we also have a tight fisted owner who is struggling in the recession and will not want to spend big in the Championship. He'd sell if he could but would have to take a huge loss and potential buyers may not have the money we will need. I see positives in this dark hour but it is all dependent on what Ashley does next. The up coming weeks and pre-season will be huge for us. If Ashley stays we must get behind him. I detest the man with a passion but the club comes first.