Mattoon

A) he doesn't want to give Ashley the satisfaction or his money B) he doesn't want to let the supporters down C) he's probably holding on in the faint hope that Ashley will sell up before he goes himself I think that pretty much covers it.

Me too mate, I'm finding it impossible to enjoy Rafa's last season with us because of this leech so I'm quite happy helping with the relentless tirade of abuse heading his way and against anyone who stands on his side, I won't stop, I just hope the majority are in the same boat too. I'm in this for the long haul, I've got plenty of free time and I'm both incredibly stubborn and incredibly patient. Well that's 3 of us, have at it Ashley! [emoji23]

Me too mate, I'm finding it impossible to enjoy Rafa's last season with us because of this leech so I'm quite happy helping with the relentless tirade of abuse heading his way and against anyone who stands on his side, I won't stop, I just hope the majority are in the same boat too.

100% we're not for sale, everything is outsourced to his tat empire and NUFC makes pennies on the pound, then there's the free advertising, he's living it large on our dime. Even if someone wanted to buy the club it wouldn't be all in for that £400m, I'd imagine he wants to sell the club with all his subsidiaries still taking the brunt of the commercial revenue, who in their right mind would buy into that?? Bang on, not a soul unfortunately for us. We need someone to come in and strong arm him but the money in the PL seems to be stagnating based on this year's figures vs the last deal. The other hope is that the money in the league bottoms out and Ashley's investment becomes less and less valuable, or when Rafa leaves we crash. As much as I don't want to see us fail sometimes you have to burn the old one down to build something new. I'd rather see SJP burn to ashes than have Ashley hollow it out for any longer. Other than the usual failures being wheeled out to spout their lies though the tide is definitely turning against Ashley, like it did against Pardew towards the end, I hope we can collectively keep this pressure on as he's clearly starting to squirm, people say he doesn't care but if he didn't there wouldn't be so much pro-Ashley media forced in front of us.

100% we're not for sale, everything is outsourced to his tat empire and NUFC makes pennies on the pound, then there's the free advertising, he's living it large on our dime. Even if someone wanted to buy the club it wouldn't be all in for that £400m, I'd imagine he wants to sell the club with all his subsidiaries still taking the brunt of the commercial revenue, who in their right mind would buy into that??

This is how I read it, we pay them for the merchandise, they sell it and keep the lions share of the profits, risk free for SD and just another of the 1000 ways Ashley pockets the club's cash.

I can't bring myself in to this season, I haven't watched a game yet, no longer subscribe to Sky, I've stepped away from anything MA has his grubby mitts on but now I feel like I'm just waiting for the inevitable. It feels like, what's the point of Rafa being here when this time next year he definitely won't, waiting for the inevitable makes it impossible to enjoy the now. Rafa has tried his hand, he's tried to weed Ashley out by bringing Staveley in, but ultimately the fat guy wants to go nowhere, he's raking it in from us. No other manager worth his salt will touch the job now after seeing what they've done to him so it's back to the scrap heap to find a has been to pay pittance to and take the flack for Ashley's misgivings and move the spotlight away for another X amount of years. If Ashley doesn't go this season then NUFC will have lost it's last shred of dignity in Rafa. It seems like half the support couldn't care less though.

A video is often referred to but no one can seem to link to it. There’s a photo, supposedly a still from that vid, that is doing the rounds, but doubts have been raised as the whether it’s actually him. Either it’s real and his public life is over, or he’s been stitched up and his public life is over. “I didn’t see it, I’m sorry.” Cunt. https://www.caughtoffside.com/2018/08/17/vile-bobby-madley-dog-sex-rumour-traced-on-twitter/

Nothing to suggest for us to leave Ashley alone

From 2016 Meh...Still relevant 2 years later. Doing the rounds again on Twitter, still relevant.

Check out @elgalgojonas’s Tweet:

Are they hell. Linking the club's incoming funds with Ashley's buyout, definitely. But there's a clear and obvious link between the club's lack of spending and Ashley's investment elsewhere. Got to disagree. It's his desire to reach the aim (staying in the prem while spending as little as possible). Do you really think if the HoF deal wasn't in the offing NUFC would have spent more ? This. NUFC's transfer business does not affect whether Sports Direct acquire House of Fraser ffs. They're not all little pots of money that Ashley moves around as he sees fit Most people know this but its an emotional thing to find something else to have a go at Ashley, and my god theres a lot, but keep it factual or we look daft. Sing somerhing better, more questioning than get out of club you fat cockney bastard, then the medi may listen and ask it themselves. We all saw how Ashley doesnt like being questioned. There is a direct correlation between SD capitol and the free advertising at SJP so it's not a massive leap to suggest that money is the club's money that should have been used to pay for advertising and reinvested in the club.

Amazing I have added my rating and it felt Good, infantile, but Good!

Surely throwing our name in the hat, supporter group or not, can only be a good thing? Whatever the choice I back it 100%

The best/worst thing Ashley has ever done is hire Rafa Benitez, best because he gave us part of our cloob back, worst for Ashley because Rafa embodies something he spent years trying to extinguish, hope. Ashley and Pardew worked hard dashing hopes, dampening expectations and telling us, we can't afford, we can't compete, we are where we belong and apathy reigned. Anyone speaking out was told "support the team, not the regime" because that's what we were told to believe. In one season, with a modest squad, Rafa broke into the top 10 and showed us how we can compete, with a little investment in the right areas why couldn't we try for Europe, why can't we have a good cup run, you never know what might happen in a knockout tournament. Years of work undone in one season by one man. Ashley is trying to bring us back down to earth, undermine the man who awoke hope, dash the expectations of our support, but the damage is done. Never have I seen, under Ashley's stewardship, this amount of pressure building, the "support the team, not the regime" line touted so quietly by a minority. The anger is brewing, I hope it doesn't fizzle out, I hope a couple of deadline day anticlimax deals don't hush the crowd. This feels different, this feels like for once the whole support is pulling in the same direction. Ashley needs to go before Rafa does or we've wasted a whole generation and we might not get another chance under a manager as good as this any time soon.

I said the same on Twitter when everyone was calling out the wording of the "if Rafa goes we go" petition. It's less important what it says than what it means. Rather than argue over the intricacies of what it should/shouldn't say, threaten or offer, it's a focal point of frustration. Rather than be divided over wording we should be United by intent. People have different ideas of what might be effective but the reality is whatever we do if we do it in unison then we will be heard 50,000 with the same agenda, even if it was another mock funeral () would make people stand up and listen.

https://sillyseason.com/list/salaries/premier-league-wages-per-team-69064 Not sure how reliable the information is but it has our wages from 2014-2017 being £68m, £78.3m, £75.8m then £47m

Wasn't that including contract amortization for the likes of Colback though? They can't claim those wages twice ffs

I was just about to add, how have we got a £100m wage bill? Unless FCB is paying himself around £40m a year that is

I can see apathy overriding anger TBH, it probably will with me. Don't think I have the energy to get angry any more. How much fucking energy do you need to get angry? Never really understand that comment - how much energy have you used so far? I get the feeling of apathy in what seems like a hopeless situation that you can't control or affect. That's the inherent problem though, everyone thinking like that, we/you can make a difference by standing up together over an extended period of time, relentlessly! You're only tired when you're beat, once the adrenaline kicks in you'll not be tired anymore. Rafa leaves then there needs to be a huge backlash and one that is sustained until he's gone, not placated by MA vow to leave. It's worked before, at different clubs, it even worked on MA at Rangers, we need to do the same.

England set penis > pardspew floated set penis

Floated set penis... I rest my case your honour

That's a 4th placed team right there!

At this stage it would be more shocking if he was in for 3 months