LucaAltieri

I don't think that a top half finish, pushing Europe, is out of the question for this squad. I think Ashley sees the same thing. Either I'm giving him too much credit or you lot aren't giving him enough. Time will tell.

Might as well have not bothered with those first two sentences there. It's unreal. Ashley's taking money out of the club that could be spent on improving the team and you get the odd sap loving his work. Can't believe what I'm reading. If it were your 200m (or whatever the club cost him to date) I'm sure you'd not worry too much about recouping some of that cash. If I had £200m or over a billion or whatever it is then I'd be dead in a gutter after snorting 10 grams of coke from a stripper's arsehole. It's not comparable. He's in fact a very rich man, you still seem to be stuck on the idea that he'd have to spend fortunes of his own money to make us competitive when I'm saying we should have spent a bit of the club's own money to get our squad where it needs to be, but instead we might see ourselves falling even further behind the likes of Swansea and Norwich. I can see where you're coming from both with spending and with the stripper's arsehole. But I think Mike thinks he's going to see a return on the investment he made in January and he's going to want to see that return before investing further. If it gets dire and we need rescuing again in January he'll reluctantly do it. But I can see why he'd wait it out.

Might as well have not bothered with those first two sentences there. It's unreal. Ashley's taking money out of the club that could be spent on improving the team and you get the odd sap loving his work. Can't believe what I'm reading. If it were your 200m (or whatever the club cost him to date) I'm sure you'd not worry too much about recouping some of that cash.

I can't take that. I just can't. 20th richest club in the world iirc. 3rd largest crowds in the PL. But for some completely f***ed up reason you say we can't compete with the big clubs. And since not a single one of us expects to compete financially with Man City and Chelsea, I can only assume that by "big" clubs you mean the likes of Southampton, Fulham and f***ing Norwich. Just f*** off you cowardly, lying cockend. We all know that we could compete with them easily if we wanted, we're just owned by a thief who is creaming money out of the club and into his horrid, tatty, charva clothes shop. I take your points but I don't think there's anything wrong with the statement "We haven't got the finances of a big team," of itself. We're not bankrolled by Russian or Arab oil money. We don't have the commercial reach of Man United to sell an ungodly number of shirts in every corner of the globe. You're right that doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing better in transfer windows. But there's nothing wrong with the actual statement. There is something utterly wrong with the statement though. He's insinuating that there's a problem with the fans expectations. Ie that we're being unrealistic. And that's simply not what's happening, we just don't expect to have our manager come out and say we can't compete financially with f***ing Southampton ffs. The money has always been there for players the club feel are the right fit. Stop right there brah. This premise here- this is a completely unproven and unprovable proposition that just so happens to fit your agenda. It is also the claim of proven liars who admitted to deliberately misleading and deceiving fans in the past. Its a load of shit really. I'm sorry, do we not sign anyone unless it's on a free? Er not unless the money is made back in sales no. Hypothetically, if we'd taken all the Carroll money and signed say, Ozil... - Ignore that he'd probably not come here. - Ignore that he cost a bit more than we made on Carroll. - Ignore that the gap between now and selling Carroll. - Ignore the wage bill. But if we had gone out and signed a top player like that. Showing the ambition that we all want to see. A real player of Champions League quality. Would we now be a better team than picking players for 5m here, 3m there? Where do you think we'd have been finishing in the league? Not sure what question you're asking here. I demand a crack at a Europa League place (i.e. finishing in one of the positions that may open up to qualify for that competition) as an absolute bare minimum. Once we get there, then the minimum requirement changes. I'm not overly arsed about who the personnel is that gets us there. Why would I give the slightest fuck about that? I've never been in the least bit interested in getting excited about "marquee" (vomit) signings - I was fucking foaming with rage the day we signed Michael Owen because I knew the squad wasn't good enough to meet that minimum requirement. Nor is this one. Fair point. Misinterpreted what you were after. You're not so bothered about one big signing, you just would rather we have a negative net spend as a show of some kind of ambition. Personally, I don't care about that. If we make a profit or a loss doesn't bother me (so long as it's sustainable). I just want the players we bring in to improve the team. I agree that Europa League is a reasonable aim. I also think that with the likes of HBA, Cabaye (who we actively held on to), Colo (who we actively held on to), Cisse, Remy, Sissoko, etc we have the makings of a decent squad that can push towards that goal this year. Everyone dropped a bollock last season. Our January signings (despite our collective creaming over them) weren't amazing when it came down to producing results. Now with them getting bedded into the squad we can expect better. Er no, I'd rather the club was reinvesting the money that I and thousands of other supporters put into it, and reinvesting the gargantuan sums being thrown at them by the TV companies. Even if we finish second having spent nothing, it's not good enough because had we invested, it could have been first. Every single decision the club makes should be for the benefit of the football team and the betterment of results and performances. What you're looking for is socialism in the wealthiest football league in the world. You're valuing something non-tangible. Something that can't be seen on a balance sheet. You're wanting us to live up to our full potential, a benefit to our little society, rather than looking at success through the lens of profit and loss. You're valuing the art of being the best we can be above the almighty dollar. I'm with you entirely. I just don't think any owner would agree with us. Since we need to make do with someone owning us, I feel like I understand and somewhat agree with Ashley's outlook. Apart from all those that have just spent the money generated by their respective clubs to improve their teams. They're acting in the interest of their wallets, too. They think they can spend their way to making more money this season. Ashley thinks he can squeeze the most out of every pound he spends through clever scouting and/or get away with not spending anything and still reaping the rewards. There are no owners with your philosophy of poo-pooing a second place finish because if they'd just spent a chunk more they could have been #1. When you also factor in we're not competing for #1 or #2 it becomes far less enticing to spend again... Is it worth it on the balance sheet to spend 10-20mil + wages to make the difference between 12th and 8th? The vast majority of owners would look at the numbers and probably conclude not. There are no benevolent owners. They decide what is successful based on the money coming in. Sometimes that means spending. Our owner believes in spending on something only if it's value for money. Socialism doesn't exist in the Premier League.

I can't take that. I just can't. 20th richest club in the world iirc. 3rd largest crowds in the PL. But for some completely f***ed up reason you say we can't compete with the big clubs. And since not a single one of us expects to compete financially with Man City and Chelsea, I can only assume that by "big" clubs you mean the likes of Southampton, Fulham and f***ing Norwich. Just f*** off you cowardly, lying cockend. We all know that we could compete with them easily if we wanted, we're just owned by a thief who is creaming money out of the club and into his horrid, tatty, charva clothes shop. I take your points but I don't think there's anything wrong with the statement "We haven't got the finances of a big team," of itself. We're not bankrolled by Russian or Arab oil money. We don't have the commercial reach of Man United to sell an ungodly number of shirts in every corner of the globe. You're right that doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing better in transfer windows. But there's nothing wrong with the actual statement. There is something utterly wrong with the statement though. He's insinuating that there's a problem with the fans expectations. Ie that we're being unrealistic. And that's simply not what's happening, we just don't expect to have our manager come out and say we can't compete financially with f***ing Southampton ffs. The money has always been there for players the club feel are the right fit. Stop right there brah. This premise here- this is a completely unproven and unprovable proposition that just so happens to fit your agenda. It is also the claim of proven liars who admitted to deliberately misleading and deceiving fans in the past. Its a load of shit really. I'm sorry, do we not sign anyone unless it's on a free? Er not unless the money is made back in sales no. Hypothetically, if we'd taken all the Carroll money and signed say, Ozil... - Ignore that he'd probably not come here. - Ignore that he cost a bit more than we made on Carroll. - Ignore that the gap between now and selling Carroll. - Ignore the wage bill. But if we had gone out and signed a top player like that. Showing the ambition that we all want to see. A real player of Champions League quality. Would we now be a better team than picking players for 5m here, 3m there? Where do you think we'd have been finishing in the league? Not sure what question you're asking here. I demand a crack at a Europa League place (i.e. finishing in one of the positions that may open up to qualify for that competition) as an absolute bare minimum. Once we get there, then the minimum requirement changes. I'm not overly arsed about who the personnel is that gets us there. Why would I give the slightest fuck about that? I've never been in the least bit interested in getting excited about "marquee" (vomit) signings - I was fucking foaming with rage the day we signed Michael Owen because I knew the squad wasn't good enough to meet that minimum requirement. Nor is this one. Fair point. Misinterpreted what you were after. You're not so bothered about one big signing, you just would rather we have a negative net spend as a show of some kind of ambition. Personally, I don't care about that. If we make a profit or a loss doesn't bother me (so long as it's sustainable). I just want the players we bring in to improve the team. I agree that Europa League is a reasonable aim. I also think that with the likes of HBA, Cabaye (who we actively held on to), Colo (who we actively held on to), Cisse, Remy, Sissoko, etc we have the makings of a decent squad that can push towards that goal this year. Everyone dropped a bollock last season. Our January signings (despite our collective creaming over them) weren't amazing when it came down to producing results. Now with them getting bedded into the squad we can expect better. Er no, I'd rather the club was reinvesting the money that I and thousands of other supporters put into it, and reinvesting the gargantuan sums being thrown at them by the TV companies. Even if we finish second having spent nothing, it's not good enough because had we invested, it could have been first. Every single decision the club makes should be for the benefit of the football team and the betterment of results and performances. What you're looking for is socialism in the wealthiest football league in the world. You're valuing something non-tangible. Something that can't be seen on a balance sheet. You're wanting us to live up to our full potential, a benefit to our little society, rather than looking at success through the lens of profit and loss. You're valuing the art of being the best we can be above the almighty dollar. I'm with you entirely. I just don't think any owner would agree with us. Since we need to make do with someone owning us, I feel like I understand and somewhat agree with Ashley's outlook.

I can't take that. I just can't. 20th richest club in the world iirc. 3rd largest crowds in the PL. But for some completely f***ed up reason you say we can't compete with the big clubs. And since not a single one of us expects to compete financially with Man City and Chelsea, I can only assume that by "big" clubs you mean the likes of Southampton, Fulham and f***ing Norwich. Just f*** off you cowardly, lying cockend. We all know that we could compete with them easily if we wanted, we're just owned by a thief who is creaming money out of the club and into his horrid, tatty, charva clothes shop. I take your points but I don't think there's anything wrong with the statement "We haven't got the finances of a big team," of itself. We're not bankrolled by Russian or Arab oil money. We don't have the commercial reach of Man United to sell an ungodly number of shirts in every corner of the globe. You're right that doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing better in transfer windows. But there's nothing wrong with the actual statement. There is something utterly wrong with the statement though. He's insinuating that there's a problem with the fans expectations. Ie that we're being unrealistic. And that's simply not what's happening, we just don't expect to have our manager come out and say we can't compete financially with f***ing Southampton ffs. The money has always been there for players the club feel are the right fit. Stop right there brah. This premise here- this is a completely unproven and unprovable proposition that just so happens to fit your agenda. It is also the claim of proven liars who admitted to deliberately misleading and deceiving fans in the past. Its a load of shit really. I'm sorry, do we not sign anyone unless it's on a free? Er not unless the money is made back in sales no. Hypothetically, if we'd taken all the Carroll money and signed say, Ozil... - Ignore that he'd probably not come here. - Ignore that he cost a bit more than we made on Carroll. - Ignore that the gap between now and selling Carroll. - Ignore the wage bill. But if we had gone out and signed a top player like that. Showing the ambition that we all want to see. A real player of Champions League quality. Would we now be a better team than picking players for 5m here, 3m there? Where do you think we'd have been finishing in the league? Not sure what question you're asking here. I demand a crack at a Europa League place (i.e. finishing in one of the positions that may open up to qualify for that competition) as an absolute bare minimum. Once we get there, then the minimum requirement changes. I'm not overly arsed about who the personnel is that gets us there. Why would I give the slightest fuck about that? I've never been in the least bit interested in getting excited about "marquee" (vomit) signings - I was fucking foaming with rage the day we signed Michael Owen because I knew the squad wasn't good enough to meet that minimum requirement. Nor is this one. Fair point. Misinterpreted what you were after. You're not so bothered about one big signing, you just would rather we have a negative net spend as a show of some kind of ambition. Personally, I don't care about that. If we make a profit or a loss doesn't bother me (so long as it's sustainable). I just want the players we bring in to improve the team. I agree that Europa League is a reasonable aim. I also think that with the likes of HBA, Cabaye (who we actively held on to), Colo (who we actively held on to), Cisse, Remy, Sissoko, etc we have the makings of a decent squad that can push towards that goal this year. Everyone dropped a bollock last season. Our January signings (despite our collective creaming over them) weren't amazing when it came down to producing results. Now with them getting bedded into the squad we can expect better.

In this summer transfer window, I agree. January; they were ace. Summer before that; shite again. Different situations, innit. If we're struggling in January we'll try to bail ourselves out again to preserve Premier League status, if we're midtable we'll plod along. Agreed. And it's frustrating. As fans we want to see the team go for broke. We want them to take the risks that might propel us back into the champions league where we feel we belong. I get it. I also get that it's much more sensible to build slowly and purposefully. I don't like us not bringing in the players required to improve us. I'm just saying I understand why it's is the way it is. Ultimately, if it were my cash on the line, I'd probably play it a little safer than my FM save too. "Going for broke" is a million miles off what anyone hopes or expects these days, improving on a squad that nearly got relegated did feature in most fans' expectations though. Seriously, why do all of these conversations fail to understand the happy medium which would make all of us, erm, happy? My point being that there's a philosophy at play and it somewhat makes sense. Yes, we want to see more players come in and do well, but at the same time that squad that almost got relegated massively under performed. Even if we'd signed no one whatsoever I'd have hoped those same players would have done better this season. We still added to the squad with Remy. I know you'll criticize it only being a loan signing. But frankly, would anyone want to have paid 8m (or whatever the asking price was) with a rape charge hanging over him? Also, if he's cleared and then signs on permanently, will we finally acknowledge his existence as a transfer deal?

I can't take that. I just can't. 20th richest club in the world iirc. 3rd largest crowds in the PL. But for some completely f***ed up reason you say we can't compete with the big clubs. And since not a single one of us expects to compete financially with Man City and Chelsea, I can only assume that by "big" clubs you mean the likes of Southampton, Fulham and f***ing Norwich. Just f*** off you cowardly, lying cockend. We all know that we could compete with them easily if we wanted, we're just owned by a thief who is creaming money out of the club and into his horrid, tatty, charva clothes shop. I take your points but I don't think there's anything wrong with the statement "We haven't got the finances of a big team," of itself. We're not bankrolled by Russian or Arab oil money. We don't have the commercial reach of Man United to sell an ungodly number of shirts in every corner of the globe. You're right that doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing better in transfer windows. But there's nothing wrong with the actual statement. There is something utterly wrong with the statement though. He's insinuating that there's a problem with the fans expectations. Ie that we're being unrealistic. And that's simply not what's happening, we just don't expect to have our manager come out and say we can't compete financially with f***ing Southampton ffs. The money has always been there for players the club feel are the right fit. Stop right there brah. This premise here- this is a completely unproven and unprovable proposition that just so happens to fit your agenda. It is also the claim of proven liars who admitted to deliberately misleading and deceiving fans in the past. Its a load of shit really. I'm sorry, do we not sign anyone unless it's on a free? Er not unless the money is made back in sales no. Hypothetically, if we'd taken all the Carroll money and signed say, Ozil... - Ignore that he'd probably not come here. - Ignore that he cost a bit more than we made on Carroll. - Ignore that the gap between now and selling Carroll. - Ignore the wage bill. But if we had gone out and signed a top player like that. Showing the ambition that we all want to see. A real player of Champions League quality. Would we now be a better team than picking players for 5m here, 3m there? Where do you think we'd have been finishing in the league?

In this summer transfer window, I agree. January; they were ace. Summer before that; shite again. Different situations, innit. If we're struggling in January we'll try to bail ourselves out again to preserve Premier League status, if we're midtable we'll plod along. Agreed. And it's frustrating. As fans we want to see the team go for broke. We want them to take the risks that might propel us back into the champions league where we feel we belong. I get it. I also get that it's much more sensible to build slowly and purposefully. I don't like us not bringing in the players required to improve us. I'm just saying I understand why it's is the way it is. Ultimately, if it were my cash on the line, I'd probably play it a little safer than my FM save too.

I can't take that. I just can't. 20th richest club in the world iirc. 3rd largest crowds in the PL. But for some completely f***ed up reason you say we can't compete with the big clubs. And since not a single one of us expects to compete financially with Man City and Chelsea, I can only assume that by "big" clubs you mean the likes of Southampton, Fulham and f***ing Norwich. Just f*** off you cowardly, lying cockend. We all know that we could compete with them easily if we wanted, we're just owned by a thief who is creaming money out of the club and into his horrid, tatty, charva clothes shop. I take your points but I don't think there's anything wrong with the statement "We haven't got the finances of a big team," of itself. We're not bankrolled by Russian or Arab oil money. We don't have the commercial reach of Man United to sell an ungodly number of shirts in every corner of the globe. You're right that doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing better in transfer windows. But there's nothing wrong with the actual statement. There is something utterly wrong with the statement though. He's insinuating that there's a problem with the fans expectations. Ie that we're being unrealistic. And that's simply not what's happening, we just don't expect to have our manager come out and say we can't compete financially with f***ing Southampton ffs. The money has always been there for players the club feel are the right fit. Stop right there brah. This premise here- this is a completely unproven and unprovable proposition that just so happens to fit your agenda. It is also the claim of proven liars who admitted to deliberately misleading and deceiving fans in the past. Its a load of shit really. I'm sorry, do we not sign anyone unless it's on a free?

I can't take that. I just can't. 20th richest club in the world iirc. 3rd largest crowds in the PL. But for some completely f***ed up reason you say we can't compete with the big clubs. And since not a single one of us expects to compete financially with Man City and Chelsea, I can only assume that by "big" clubs you mean the likes of Southampton, Fulham and f***ing Norwich. Just f*** off you cowardly, lying cockend. We all know that we could compete with them easily if we wanted, we're just owned by a thief who is creaming money out of the club and into his horrid, tatty, charva clothes shop. I take your points but I don't think there's anything wrong with the statement "We haven't got the finances of a big team," of itself. We're not bankrolled by Russian or Arab oil money. We don't have the commercial reach of Man United to sell an ungodly number of shirts in every corner of the globe. You're right that doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing better in transfer windows. But there's nothing wrong with the actual statement. There is something utterly wrong with the statement though. He's insinuating that there's a problem with the fans expectations. Ie that we're being unrealistic. And that's simply not what's happening, we just don't expect to have our manager come out and say we can't compete financially with fucking Southampton ffs. The money has always been there for players the club feel are the right fit. Part of being the right fit is not paying over the odds. If the players aren't available for what they want to pay then we just go without and make do. I can see why this frustrates some people. But the alternative is paying over the odds for players we might not want all that much. I don't think anyone on here would be in favour of another Albert Luque. That kind of transfer isn't sustainable for a club of our size. Man United/City/Chelsea etc can afford to spunk away money on players who may or may not turn out to be good enough. We can't. I believe that's more what he's getting at. I don't think even Pards is saying we can't compete with Southampton financially. We just have a different philosophy. I see this stuff getting trotted out now and again and don't understand why intelligent people can't see the trend that our outlay on transfers under Ashley's ownership is always basically nil at best overall. We won't simply pay out on transfers if the value is there, not if it's not taken back with sales. Christ, the desperate attempt to sell Cabaye should tell you that, we must be at a stage again now where we need a big transfer fee for an outgoing transfer to justify us spending any more money. We rejected 1 bid. Accepted 0 bids. Can't have been that desperate to sell him.

In this summer transfer window, I agree. January; they were ace. Summer before that; shite again.

I can't take that. I just can't. 20th richest club in the world iirc. 3rd largest crowds in the PL. But for some completely f***ed up reason you say we can't compete with the big clubs. And since not a single one of us expects to compete financially with Man City and Chelsea, I can only assume that by "big" clubs you mean the likes of Southampton, Fulham and f***ing Norwich. Just f*** off you cowardly, lying cockend. We all know that we could compete with them easily if we wanted, we're just owned by a thief who is creaming money out of the club and into his horrid, tatty, charva clothes shop. I take your points but I don't think there's anything wrong with the statement "We haven't got the finances of a big team," of itself. We're not bankrolled by Russian or Arab oil money. We don't have the commercial reach of Man United to sell an ungodly number of shirts in every corner of the globe. You're right that doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing better in transfer windows. But there's nothing wrong with the actual statement. There is something utterly wrong with the statement though. He's insinuating that there's a problem with the fans expectations. Ie that we're being unrealistic. And that's simply not what's happening, we just don't expect to have our manager come out and say we can't compete financially with fucking Southampton ffs. The money has always been there for players the club feel are the right fit. Part of being the right fit is not paying over the odds. If the players aren't available for what they want to pay then we just go without and make do. I can see why this frustrates some people. But the alternative is paying over the odds for players we might not want all that much. I don't think anyone on here would be in favour of another Albert Luque. That kind of transfer isn't sustainable for a club of our size. Man United/City/Chelsea etc can afford to spunk away money on players who may or may not turn out to be good enough. We can't. I believe that's more what he's getting at. I don't think even Pards is saying we can't compete with Southampton financially. We just have a different philosophy.

I can't take that. I just can't. 20th richest club in the world iirc. 3rd largest crowds in the PL. But for some completely fucked up reason you say we can't compete with the big clubs. And since not a single one of us expects to compete financially with Man City and Chelsea, I can only assume that by "big" clubs you mean the likes of Southampton, Fulham and fucking Norwich. Just fuck off you cowardly, lying cockend. We all know that we could compete with them easily if we wanted, we're just owned by a thief who is creaming money out of the club and into his horrid, tatty, charva clothes shop. I take your points but I don't think there's anything wrong with the statement "We haven't got the finances of a big team," of itself. We're not bankrolled by Russian or Arab oil money. We don't have the commercial reach of Man United to sell an ungodly number of shirts in every corner of the globe. You're right that doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing better in transfer windows. But there's nothing wrong with the actual statement.

Can't be having a manager low on self dignity.

Would a 35 year old Klose be good for MLS? http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/09/11/rumor-central-germany-striker-miroslav-klose-says-he-has-received-two-very-g?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=News&utm_campaign=Unpaid

New owners lowering our expectations etc...

It's weird how the ire of Ronaldo feels like a compliment. It's like being hated by Ann Coulter.

Another free-scoring international game.

First, who wants constant, unrelenting heat? Isn't that the very definition of hell? A never ending inferno. Then there's hurricanes, sink holes, snakes, George Zimmerman, voter ID laws, Gloria fucking Estefan, alligators, shark attacks, and all these cunts.... http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-40-most-insane-things-that-happened-in-florida If I wanted to visit some place warm I'd choose Syria over Florida.

Why wouldn't they? On top of the reasons already mentioned we have arguably the best beaches in the world, a few natural wonders that are only here (Everglades), and some of the most interesting culture in the country due to our melting-pot of a population. There's a reason that Orlando is the #1 tourist destination in the country and its not just for the nice weather (which there is, almost entirely year-round). Yes, but it's full of shitheads.

Not enough for me.

Why the fuck does anyone go to Florida?

I was at this one. Second half sucked but we're still grinding out wins with our best players missing. If Dempsey and Johnson start firing when they come back this may well be our year. http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m298/europawpw/IMG_20130907_224527.jpg Boom.

I hate when our own manager makes us sound like a small time outfit, writing us off before a ball has been kicked. It's got to sap team morale.