Ishmael

Not sure that offering a player who is interested in signing for us what we are able to afford is idiotic

We knew he was on more, why would he take less to come here? Did we? He doesn't appear to want to take less, so let's move on somehow.

Does it look like one? I only ask because if it was then it's a tad idiotic.

Who says we're playing hardball? I'd assume that we offered him his worth based on our current wage structure. Seems fair.

Is Hughesy an anagram for Derek? Is this seriously a criticism?

Course not, but agents can be prone to exaggerating in the media to achieve what they want. No idea whether £40k a week is what he's worth, what he should be paid, too much or too little. All football wages are mental. But I wouldn't go as far as to say that means we should pay every player whatever it takes to get them. Do you? Would we be having this debate if we'd offered him 50k, or 60k? Just seems like a discussion that's purely subjective. Say we've offered him the same as Cabaye is on, that seems fair to me. If we genuinely want a player then we have to pay what is necessary, both to satisfy his club and the player (plus his agent I guess). What that figure actually is, and what other players like Cabaye are on is totally irrelevant; each is its own case. If we want him, we'll have to pay what it takes. If it's too much for us, the transfer simply isn't happening. This is apparently the player's agent, how often do you hear agents come out with reactions like this? It's not common to deride an offer like this. He claims we've known what he's on for some time. Perhaps foolishly I assume Llambias can operate Google and knows his current club is in the Champions League and has far better prospects than us. To therefore not offer somewhere near what it takes to get him is just stupid. Like we did for Owen, Duff, Geremi etc etc. Don't get me wrong - offering less than someone is on is stupid. But we shouldn't pay whatever a player asks for and should be within our wage structure. Amen.

If he's demanding a salary outside our limits then we must simply move on and let Barnetta pick us his paycheck whilst not getting that much in the way of game time.

So is our current wage bill 50-60% or 80-90% of turnover?

Sounds like you have shit mates.

Haha, we up it (or get rid) and it will kill us...

It is a bit premature to change the title on the basis of 1 story, which doesn't even have quotes.

Another failed Arsenal -10. Bog standard youngster, nowhere near special.

matching wet-suites is super gay imo

I haven't got one. I'd end up writing one solid piece and that would be it.

I really like this. I mean it just states facts, well facts about fiction, but it's actually critical. Maybe an opportunity to extend it further? B-

We wont be able to get near the money Colo is on in the space of a year.

Read a couple of paragraphs of his Leeds preview. Self indulgent and nowhere near insightful. If I carry on will I only be wasting my time further? F

http://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2011/08/02/can-we-live-without-joey-barton/ read that. Was OK I guess. Didn't quiet follow his working for the co-op metaphor. I mean, it would work if people grew up supporting specific food outlets. Or if people were to do their job at food outlets in front of 50,000 fans every other weekend, whilst traveling to away stores in between. You get where I'm going with this... Still prodded, vaguely, implying that there is a debt that Barton should be paying back to the club for all the 'loyalty' he had been shown over the years. Didn't like that it skirts around the actual issue of Joey's unrest and it's conclusions on his worth to the team isn't particularly backed up in any way other than personal opinion (shudder). D+

Must be well written, well informed and insightful. Anybody know if such a thing exists?

£8m rejected

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/14366574.stm How embarassing. Maybe we hadn't finalized our prices when they asked?

So you don't know colinmk. Move along guys.

12m for Milner. Great business sense. 14m lost on Milner (to be worth 26m) + 30m lost from relegation + at least 10m lost from crowds, sponsorship and merchandising = Clueless football business sense. It's all just a little bit of history repeating. Beginning to wonder why the club didn't send a man to guard Maddie the night she disappeared as well.

You know that as a fact colinmk?

Easy, because nobody wants him.