Jayson

Why is the debt that we had under Freddy able to be used by Ashley as an excuse for our lack of spending though.. If we hadnt of had debt then wouldnt any new owner have just had to pay more for the club based on whats being said here ? Its all the same in the end right Ashley knew what he was getting when he bought us.. ?

I think Ashley is under the assumption that we will stay in the league regardless...so wouldnt spend much even if he had it. Thats the feeling i get....Kinnear claimed he had to have a meeting with Ashley & Wise two weeks into the transfer window to "explain" how bad our situation was. That fills me with a lot of doubt over their awareness of how dangerously close we are to getting relegated this season. We're playing badly now against bad teams...we have Everton, Arsenal, Chelsea & Man Utd home games all in a row coming up. We're 2 points off the very bottom.....a bad run for us with other teams picking up points...we could be out of it soon. Thats a far far to realistic possiblity. Especially when you imagine the negative reaction that would create in the fans faith in the management, the players, the players own confidence etc. Last season the boost of Keegan got us going again.....this season...the way newcastle play.....if we hit bottom....i dont see us as a side that will be able to pull ourselves out of that on our performances over the last few seasons. No one except Barton looks to have any real passion.....as Kinnear has said he could be key for us. Its clear that a lot of criticism directed towards Ashley has been unfair now these accounts have come out. But when you get back to the core of the situation at present, the choices he makes in this transfer window will ultimately determine peoples perception of him. If he fails to risk some investment in the first team to stop us from being relegated because of our tiny squad... or the mental boost some new players might give the others around them and we do get relegated... Only he can be blamed...and he'll lose a whole lot of money while we suffer the consequences with him. If we dont get anyone else in this window, we're in serious danger surely.

What i dont understand is that surely we've had some form of scouting system set in place for a long long time now. Yet it comes time to get into it and theres nothing happening. Lovenkrands is the best we can do ? We're bringing in so many youngsters at a time when surely that isnt a priority, that is something that could be done in the summer ? Seems like Wise is focusing on scouting kids instead of finding more Bassongs. If he has to fork out 2/3 mill here and there...just do it...you have to take the risk. He must be clearly biased towards paying as little as possible, yet realistically when you look at our injury situation...discontented players & general level of crap (Butt) in the team now......he has to spend atleast something. It cant be that with an entire seasons preperation they cannot find a single other player worthy enough to give a chance to thats under 5 mill. The scouting system cant be up to much if thats true.

Would anyone else have bought us if Ashley hadnt ?