Frazzle

2 League titles, 1 Champions League, 1 UEFA Cup and 1 FA Cup... I think Juventus could do a lot worse to be honest. I don't really like Liverpool that much but slagging of Benitez is mental IMO, he's a quality manager.

That's only because you're used to it. When we're playing football at the proper time of 3 in the afternoon, you lot are sleeping under a tree next to a donkey with a sombrero on your head.

One of the most classless and plastic clubs/teams around. I'd rather any other club (bar Sunderland) won the cup over Chelsea.

Going back to the Higuain topic, anyone know why he's played so few times for Argentina? (Four times according to wiki). Whilst I don't rate him alongside the top, top strikers (like Torres, Rooney, Drogba etc.), I would rather have him in my team than the likes of Aguero. I think I remember reading ages ago that Maradona didn't think he was patriotic enough or something? Anyone hear anything similar? I reckon Higuain-Messi will be a pretty fearsome partnership in the WC but will Aguero be in ahead of Higuain because of his connections to Maradona?

:lol: I look forward to competing with Man U and Liverpool next season then. I haven't got a clue what you're going on about. I used Man U and Liverpool as examples to illustrate a point, which you clearly missed, it could have been Mallorca's manager or Lazio's etc.

Man Utd's net spend was -£56m, hardly a board allowing a manager to do what he wants, surprisingly not many managers do... Liverpool's net spend was -£3m. As I said, most people would now say that no sane man would work under Liverpool's comedy double act in charge, hence the papers all warning Hodgson off it. Wouldn't you agree with this? Again though, despite Benitez working through all of this and having to deal with idiots like Parry you could hardly say he's not a winner despite having to toe the party line.

Liverpool are.

Scouring the region we could also have the likes of Henderson, Johnson (stolen from the mackems) and Wheater etc.

He's happy to do the job with his hands tied behind his back while being made to ride a pogo stick. That's to his credit as far a we're concerned. No manager that wants to make a fist of it would work under Ashley. The same could be said of Benitez (and Ferguson to an extent), who has been hamstrung by his club. I wouldn't say he wasn't a winner. Again, you might want to offer some evidence to the contrary... Benitez has been screwed by his board and most pundits and fans would say that no sane man would work under Gillet and whathisface. The similarities are there for all to see.

http://transferleague.co.uk/ Spurs should be achieving 4th with the money they've spent. Granted not all the spending was done by Redknapp but let's be honest, the squad was already in place for him.

He's happy to do the job with his hands tied behind his back while being made to ride a pogo stick. That's to his credit as far a we're concerned. No manager that wants to make a fist of it would work under Ashley. The same could be said of Benitez (and Ferguson to an extent), who has been hamstrung by his club. I wouldn't say he wasn't a winner.

You don't want to offer any evidence that Hughton is not a 'winner'...?

I haven't seen a manager as driven as Hughton for a while now to be honest. He wanted to get promoted, he wanted to win the league, he wanted to get 100pts and he did all this. He didn't play weakened teams and didn't ease of the players (not much anyway). Contrast this with Spurs giving up was they'd achieved CL football and I think it shows Hughton is in it to win tbh.

I've advocated not buying anyone in summer. It's not about the disappointment of not spending money as far as I'm concerned. I never expected us to spend ANYTHING given the experience of the last three years. Anyone who did was very naive. But that statement is an utter shambles from start to finish with no positives whatsoever. You can tell the media who to talk to when they contact the club. you can tell agents we aren't buying when they contact the club too. This is another in a long line of retarded statements that make the whole club look retarded. Did you say this before January? Yes. http://nufc-ashlies.blogspot.com/2010/01/following-on-from-this-recent-post.html Routledge, Simpson, Williamson... Let's be honest, it wasn't out of the realms of possibility that we'd spend a couple of million this summer, especially after we did in January. It's a bit much to call people naive for thinking that we might have. There seems to be a lot of people in this thread saying the news from the statement is not anything we didn't already know. Maybe, we're all especially cynical. You said you didn't expect to spend any money in the summer and anyone who did was naive, due to what happened in the last three years. We SPENT money in January, why is it unreasonable to think we'd spend a little amount in the summer. If you didn't think we'd spend money in January then fair enough, but you were wrong and now you're saying others are naive despite the fact that we SPENT money in the last window? I'm not defending Ashley before anyone jumps on that, I just resent people calling our fans naive, especially when its not true. Honestly, the pedantry around here is incredible. Over 3 years at the club he's £20m in profit on transfers. He spent £3m in January, I was surprised (and delighted) to be proved completely wrong, he seemed to have learned investment was required to guarantee Premier League football. In no way did that suggest to me it was the start of bigger things to come though or that he'd go the next step in the summer. I've said all along, Ashley is following the WBA model. Yo-Yo. I never called our fans naive. Most people I speak to never thought he'd be spending much. So basically, to sum up, - You said we wouldn't spend anything this summer because of what happened in the last three years. - These three years include January 2010, when we spent money on players (also the most recent window). - You think anyone who thinks we'd spend money this summer is naive because of the last three years. No pedantry, just showing that it's a bit much to call our fans naive (as a lot expected at least some money in summer, especially after January).

Does no capital outlay also mean there will be no investment in the academy player wise? Even the likes of Vuckic, Adjei etc. cost money. If Ashley thinks he can build a PL team from just players from the North East he's in for a shock. Probably been mentioned before as well...but what about our first five year plan? We've made a few additions to the academy but its hardly been a complete makeover and it still seems like its jobs for the boys rather than bringing in the worlds best like Liverpool have done (bringing in Barcelona's youth team coaches). It's just a complete mess.

Weiss and Wilshere went to Bolton, so I think you're allowed more than one. Dunno about three though.

I've advocated not buying anyone in summer. It's not about the disappointment of not spending money as far as I'm concerned. I never expected us to spend ANYTHING given the experience of the last three years. Anyone who did was very naive. But that statement is an utter shambles from start to finish with no positives whatsoever. You can tell the media who to talk to when they contact the club. you can tell agents we aren't buying when they contact the club too. This is another in a long line of retarded statements that make the whole club look retarded. Did you say this before January? Yes. http://nufc-ashlies.blogspot.com/2010/01/following-on-from-this-recent-post.html Routledge, Simpson, Williamson... Let's be honest, it wasn't out of the realms of possibility that we'd spend a couple of million this summer, especially after we did in January. It's a bit much to call people naive for thinking that we might have. There seems to be a lot of people in this thread saying the news from the statement is not anything we didn't already know. Maybe, we're all especially cynical. You said you didn't expect to spend any money in the summer and anyone who did was naive, due to what happened in the last three years. We SPENT money in January, why is it unreasonable to think we'd spend a little amount in the summer. If you didn't think we'd spend money in January then fair enough, but you were wrong and now you're saying others are naive despite the fact that we SPENT money in the last window? I'm not defending Ashley before anyone jumps on that, I just resent people calling our fans naive, especially when its not true.

I've advocated not buying anyone in summer. It's not about the disappointment of not spending money as far as I'm concerned. I never expected us to spend ANYTHING given the experience of the last three years. Anyone who did was very naive. But that statement is an utter shambles from start to finish with no positives whatsoever. You can tell the media who to talk to when they contact the club. you can tell agents we aren't buying when they contact the club too. This is another in a long line of retarded statements that make the whole club look retarded. Did you say this before January? Yes. http://nufc-ashlies.blogspot.com/2010/01/following-on-from-this-recent-post.html Routledge, Simpson, Williamson... Let's be honest, it wasn't out of the realms of possibility that we'd spend a couple of million this summer, especially after we did in January. It's a bit much to call people naive for thinking that we might have.

I've advocated not buying anyone in summer. It's not about the disappointment of not spending money as far as I'm concerned. I never expected us to spend ANYTHING given the experience of the last three years. Anyone who did was very naive. But that statement is an utter shambles from start to finish with no positives whatsoever. You can tell the media who to talk to when they contact the club. you can tell agents we aren't buying when they contact the club too. This is another in a long line of retarded statements that make the whole club look retarded. Did you say this before January?

I remember when he was on Footballer's Cribs ages ago and his car was a Corsa.

Ferguson wasn't strong enough to get the Glazer's to re-invest the Ronaldo money, I don't know what you expect Hughton to do.

http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20100506/magpies-to-face-canaries-in-pre-season-friendly_2240137_2044821

Are there? Even if there is, that alone wont be sufficient to keep us in the league. Birmingham finished 9th(?) with Stephen Carr as a first choice RB. I agree it's going to be a massive struggle but with a bit of luck the squad we've got now plus a couple of frees and loans we could still realistically finish 17th. Stephen Carr has been class for Birmingham this season, they also spent around 16M this season and thats before fee's for the loans of the likes of Hart, Chucho, Vignal and Tainio. If we spend 16M If we spend anywhere near 16M I'll be massively shocked. Carr may have been class (never watched them really) but that's my point, hopefully Simpson can be class for us. Carr was **** when he left us 4(?) years ago. I checked before and they spent £5m on Johnson and £1.5m on Ferguson and that was it (excluding sales as well). Our squad is better than Birmingham's championship squad as well IMO, so as I say, I don't think its unreasonable to think we'll finish 17th. Add Dann; 4m, Gardner; 3.5M and Michel 3M and thats where I got the around 16M from. Of course it's not unreasonable to say we'll finish 17th but you can forgive me and many others for fearing the worst if we spend next to nowt. Agreed. I was just playing devil's advocate really.

I must be wrong about the money spent. My point still stands though. I reckon our team now is still better than Birmingham's after those signings, on paper at least. As for Hull's team that stayed up in 2008/09, that has to be one of the worst in PL history and much worse than ours now.