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Massimo Taibi worth a shout? Played twice and obviously had a bit of a nightmare in his last game...

Yet The Chronicle know about it.

Bit sexist that isn't it? Assuming every single woman holds that opinion? You think it’s sexist of me to assume that women are anti-rape? Righto. As previous posters have pointed out, you do seem to have major comprehension problems. You probably shouldn't be bandying around terms like "thick as pigshit" about others. To clarify, I think it's sexist of you to assume that all women think the same way about this case. Specifically that they all a) agree that this is a clear cut case of rape b) think that after serving the time in prison dictated by the British justice system he hasn't been punished enough and should not be able to resume his career with someone who is willing to employ him It is also ignorant to think that only men without wives or sisters could possibly think that he should be left alone to get on with his life after serving his sentence. I didn’t say ‘all women’, I said female Oldham fans. The guy was sentenced to prison time, clear cut or not based on what you and I read about it, he was found guilty in court. Yes he served his time, but his profession is a specialist one, a privileged one. I work for Social Services, if I had a rape conviction and prison time to my name, I’d struggle to find employment. Lastly, when did I say that only men without wives or sisters could possibly think he should be left alone to get on with his life? I was merely implying that potential team mates of his who do, may feel more strongly against him due to pressures from their loved ones. Nothing remotely sexist or ignorant about that.

We signed this bastard yet?

Bit sexist that isn't it? Assuming every single woman holds that opinion? You think it’s sexist of me to assume that women are anti-rape? Righto.

Depends on what your definition of 'worked' is. He's had tens of millions of pounds in free advertising for his retail business in one of the most high profile leagues on the planet and won't lose a single penny when he sells the club. He might even walk away with a profit. OK, so the entirety of Newcastle thinks he's a cunt. I doubt he gives a shit to be honest. For us it hasn't 'worked' but our measurement of success is very different to his. Well ok ,it's maybe worked in some aspects, but I bet when we fucked Montpellier over for MYM, Ashley didn't foresee him being shipped out on loan to a Champions League team. Or a £12m summer signing spending the majority of the time on the bench?

Frank's flying in to get his money back for his cancelled hotel booking.

No, he shouldn't have. I think it just goes to show he has a streak of naivety in there somewhere. He's tried to do things on the cheap here and it's not worked. Maybe he's changing his mind now? I'll be fucked if he is, but you never know...

I didn’t call them thick as pig shit for wanting Evans to play for their club, he’d have been an excellent signing – but like I said above, it goes well beyond just signing a player who would tear up the league. The guy has serious baggage. I was calling them thick as pig shit for parading the banner – it draws more attention to the whole situation and to themselves too, I just think it was a little ill advised. Sure, be frustrated that a goal scorer could have been obtained on a free, but keep opinions on things like that away from the public eye. For many football fans I’m sure they’ve come across in a light far worse than I portrayed them in… Fair enough on that, didn't read like that to me, but that's likely down to my reading more than your writing Maybe both

I think Ashley's problem, or one of them, with football comes back to that Pardew quote about not understanding football and it making him angry. I reckon in Ashley's mind if 10m GUARANTEED a good manager with competent backroom staff who will be GUARANTEED to increase the value of at least one player per season plus develop a good youth system he'd do it tomorrow. The problem is he knows it can't be guaranteed, or even close to it being a dead cert. In football management failure is the norm, not success. In Ashley world I imagine that's his biggest nightmare, having to pay people off millions for failing at their job. He's just had a daft cunt doing the job for 4 years on relative buttons, taking all the shit for doom with backroom staff of clowns and managing to not get relegated. Why fork out to get rid of 'performing' staff and replace them with unknowns at great cost? Which is maybe why it’s been claimed that Graham Carr will play a big part in the recruitment process. Let’s be honest, he seems to trust Carr’s judgement when shelling out for players so hopefully he’ll do the same with a manager. Like you said though, no manager is a guaranteed success but £10m is a drop in the ocean for him. I wouldn’t class a promising manager and back room staff as a gamble as such, but hey, who knows when it comes to this guy?

I didn’t call them thick as pig shit for wanting Evans to play for their club, he’d have been an excellent signing – but like I said above, it goes well beyond just signing a player who would tear up the league. The guy has serious baggage. I was calling them thick as pig shit for parading the banner – it draws more attention to the whole situation and to themselves too, I just think it was a little ill advised. Sure, be frustrated that a goal scorer could have been obtained on a free, but keep opinions on things like that away from the public eye. For many football fans I’m sure they’ve come across in a light far worse than I portrayed them in…

Same. I wouldn’t want him here either. It obviously goes a lot deeper than just the signing of a player. Team mates, married ones, ones with sisters – would they want to be involved with a guy like this? Also Oldham’s female fan base, sure they supported the petition whether the signed it or not. Having said that, these particular fans obviously have a very different view and are seeing an opportunity for a goalscorer on a free transfer slip through their fingers – I can understand their frustrations. It’s a difficult one to call, not just the banner – the situation as a whole.

I get that they understand not all 70,000 are Oldham fans and, as pointed out, presumably have little or nothing to do with the club. I’m sure some of the petition signees have got young kids they maybe take to matches, if they took them to the football and their team played Oldham, would they want them exposed to the kind of abuse that would be hurled towards Evans? The guy was in a privileged position and has been convicted of rape, I understand the argument that he could play again, but I also understand the argument against him playing again, hence why I said it’s not clear to me.

I wouldn't say it's pretty clear at all

The banner is surely implying that whilst 70,000 people sgined a petition dissuading Oldham from signing a convicted rapist, the attendances continued to be poor. The banner chaps are implying that whilst these 70,000 give enough of a shit to sign the petition, they don't give enoguh of a shit to attend Oldham's matches. How exactly do you interpret it?

naive in a lot of ways. Look at his SD stores and talk about speculate to accumulate. Pile it high, sell it cheap. Have as low costs as possible for a retial outlet - that's his business model. We'll never get every transfer right nor development. Pardew had a few misses but he had some big scores too. Not sure it's naive at all to be honest. Simplistic maybe, but not naive. You think Ashley shelled out £12m on Cabella to sell him for £8m in a couple of years? £6m on Yanga-Mbiwa to sell him for the same price?

Thus reiterating my point that they're advocating a rapist and coming across thick as pig shit. 70,000 people against a convicted rapist playing football again isn't exactly an enormous amount. How many fans WOULD want him playing for their club? So you agree that the chances are they probably aren't "assuming every single person who signed the petition is an Oldham fan"? Oh absolutely, but they're obviously assuming that enough of them are to be attending matches?

If I knew Garde would be in post at the end of the window I can't honestly say I'd be that arsed about spending money in January.

I'm sure it goes without saying but surely Mike Ashley, as a businessman, would know you have to speculate to accumulate? Bringing in Garde and forking out for his back room team would surely make financial sense in the long run? Our coaching set up seems completely shite. If we are buying players on the cheap to sell them on for profit, it makes sense to have the coaching and managerial set up in place to ensure these players hit their potential and maximise the profit? Look at players that have been scouted by Carr and brought in, only to be ruined under Pardew, Carver, Stone etc. Ben Arfa, Marveaux, Yanga-Mbiwa - Ashley must look at them and wonder what went wrong. Then look at the likes of Abeid, promising player brought in, given cup games and the odd Europa League run out then shipped out on loan to Pana, where he was fantastic. Comes back here having developed and looks very good in our team. Bigi, Vuckic, Campbell - all touted as having potential but all have stagnated under this current lot.

It's been said a thousand times before but how in god's name has Lee Ryder managed to forge a career in media? The guy is a complete retard.

2 seconds in it

Winston Bogarde fucking mercenary

Thus reiterating my point that they're advocating a rapist and coming across thick as pig shit. 70,000 people against a convicted rapist playing football again isn't exactly an enormous amount. How many fans WOULD want him playing for their club?

Even so, surely he's worth a go on the bench at least? Just seems strange. Perhaps not a coincidence that the move happened in the midst of the issues with the Ukraine and Russia?

That's what it'll be known as for years.