quayside

Ashley ever spent 20m on a player? No. Is that the test? Ffs they are all cunts, he won't get anything better from West Ham than he did from us. If a proper football club wanted him I would get it.

What exactly have the Gold|Sullivan|Brady axis got that is better than Ashley? Perhaps Rafa gets the "f*ck you I am off" factor. Other than that they are equally as shit as Ashley imo. This is the world we live in..

That sounds familiar. Indeed. Hope he gets as much of the fat c***'s money as possible. If this whole thing has been orchestrated by Ashley (as opposed to being down to sheer incompetence) then Rafa won't have a leg to stand on. The lawyer Ashley put in place to supervise will have covered all the bases.

I think you have two of a kind here. Tony Jimenez worked for the club on player recruitment in the KK era and was largely responsible for the player transactions that led to KK walking out. He also told KK that Luka Modric was not good enough for us...allegedly. Dennis Wise also got stung by Jimenez on the golf course development scheme and sued successfully for the return of his money. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2454112/Dennis-Wise-wins-500-000-claim-Charlton-owner-Jimenez-High-Court.html Edit: just saw Fenham's post and agree

Again, why do people think that we'll have that money? We sell players in installments and buy them upfront. If we sell Gayle now Rafa will see about £5m of the fee. We used to buy up front but the latest accounts suggest we have stopped doing that to some extent. As at 30th June 2016 we owed £38 million on players we had bought in.

Would be a classic PR tactic to put his hands up and fully admit to one of the f*ck ups where he has had second thoughts and reversed his original decision. This creates a false impression of integrity and ignores the effect of the many other f*ck ups that he cannot reverse (Kinnear etc). Let's see. I will watch it for sure, I expect to see something orchestrated by Keith f*cking Bishop but may get a surprise......

RIP big man :'(

:thup: :thup: :thup: :thup: :thup: :thup: Pulis would use him off the bench at 80 minutes when the game is a bit stretched.

So we set up: Murphy Gayle Atsu Diame (or Perez) Ritchie Shelvey Dumett Clark Lascelles Anita/Yedlin/Jesus Darlow For a home match - is that worth a shot? I have never managed a Champs League winning side - or even come close. But as regards what I (and many others) have suggested, if not why not? We have been humped at SJP by several teams below us so something is not right. Football intellectuals on this forum talk me through it. BTW I love Rafa etc...

Well yes, other than a panic tactic when we are behind with not long to go - there is no indication that Rafa sees it like that. A great manager for sure, but Christ is he cautious until he has no other option...

Is the heartbeat of this team. But has a unique talent for finding ways to get booked (or banned) - a virtuoso in that particular art no less...

I thought it was a huge act of faith by Rafa that Mitrovic was still on the pitch in the 44th minute when he scored the goal. He had to go at half time. Rightly or wrongly all three (maybe four) officials were on his case and, in their eyes, he had no lives left. If we went down to ten players it is highly unlikely to have ended up well for us. Correct call by Rafa and imo not the end of Mitro - this season...

I think that is Mickel Anita.

Clearly got a lot of talent but it does worry me a bit that he is such an influential player in our squad and yet is such a tit. And it seems to me not much evidence that he is a "team" player. Saw him dishing a fair amount of criticism tonight (in particular one incident with Murphy comes to mind). Got to learn to work with those around him, who may be less gifted, and get the best out of them - but then that is probably why he us here and not with a Prem club....

Some good posts on here. Totally get the idea that, in this last transfer window, we could and should have got a player or players in who can compete at the next level. But Benitez + our squad of players should piss promotion tbh. And we may weĺl do that. But if we don't he has f*cked up.

Oliver certainly did have an agenda. Martins was another of his targets. According to Luque himself he was a Shepherd signing and I freely admit I thought he would be great for us. He really wasn't worth £9 million (think that was the fee). Under Roeder he played in all our European matches. As I said, whilst he scored with that header in the Palermo game he was shyte for the rest of his time on the pitch. He also scored against Sunderland so respect for that, also a decent volley in the Shearer testimonial. But overall he was big money badly spent...

I remember I was in a bar in Majorca watching that game - Oliver was not wide of the mark.

Love having Benitez as our manager, and all that... BUT Blackburn are in the relegation zone and are not very good (have beaten us twice mind) and today they were beyond crap for 75% of the game. Never got into our half for most of it. Yet we still give them the respect of playing one striker. We created many chances for sure and their keeper was on it and we were probably a bit unlucky - but with one small mobile striker most of what we do is going to be down the same channels. Why not funk it up a bit? Frustrated tbh...

If they sacked him, who could they possibly turn to ? I am a big Ancelotti fan. He was badly screwed over by Abramovich and might fancy another go over here. He would not come cheap of course but neither did that tit Mourinho.

With regard to Newcastle, strikes me as somewhat odd that he signed Bolton players and was signing players he had initially planned to sign for Bolton. He was also sacked during a period where Chris Mort and his team we auditing all of the clubs accounts and business dealings. Who was that terrible defender that Allardyce signed from Rangers that we all thought was a dodgy deal at the time? Boumsong. Signed for 8m six months after he signed for Rangers on a free. tbf it was a Bosman free and before rangers offered a bigger bung he was widely rumoured to be going to Liverpool Wasn't Boumsong signed when Sourness was our manager?

Never been a time like it for me. Keegan was different in that it was an emotional high and something that will never be topped, he just fit. SBR was the same if slightly less giddy. Rafa is different though in that it's the first time I've ever seen such a master tactician at this club, one of the all time great managers and he's here. I almost feel pity for the opposition because you know that as the game unfolds he will dismantle them with a tweak here or a sub there. Honestly, usually I think I know more about the game than some of the managers we've employed, but I'm in awe of Rafa. I'll actually be surprised if by the time he leaves we haven't won a major trophy unless he falls out with the hierarchy. The only thing that bothers me this, Ashley would be f***ing stupid to do anything but we've seen him screw over managers like Keegan and Hughton, I just hope this time is different and that Rafa gets the chance to leave his legacy on our cloob.

So many purples.....

Surely he doesn't head off to Turkey (and China?) for a medical without knowing what the f*cking contract is worth. This being a knowledgeable forum someone probably remembers situations where a player gets as far as a medical and then the deal breaks down over personal terms. I can't. And for those that can name situations where it has happened you would have to agree it is "abnormal". Perhaps once Gala met him they didn't like him? Perhaps Tiote and his posse are thick as mince? WTF is going on here?

No idea if he is going or not. My perception from talking to people that have supported Rafa's teams is that he wants defenders whose first instinct is to defend. Janmaat is not that. Plus his crossing so far does not suggest he could do okay as a winger.

Ryan Giggs just said winning the Premier League is "a war of nutrition".