jdckelly

really don't think there was ever a chance once he was free of the charges this was always a temporary stop for him to try and get into world cup squad and advertise himself to all these big clubs.

he's gone full stop regardless of who's in charge. How? A new manager would want to keep him I'd assume? a manager at our club having a legitimate say in who's sold or not he's gone and has been since the moment he went behind the clubs back to the media that will not have gone down well with ashley and co. Disagree tbh. I don't think it's that cut and dry at all. Didn't a recent article say he was Ashley's favourite player? 1 year left on contract no sign of a new one any time soon and with the club hierarchy's fairly poor opinion of the media (putting it mildly) I think its about as nailed on a certainty as you get in football he's off. The one thing I did find curious is the locals didn't seem to get the call for that interview (or did I miss that?) He was in the stands with the locals. Were you expecting a different kind of call? local papers I meant were they invited?

he's gone full stop regardless of who's in charge. How? A new manager would want to keep him I'd assume? a manager at our club having a legitimate say in who's sold or not he's gone and has been since the moment he went behind the clubs back to the media that will not have gone down well with ashley and co. Disagree tbh. I don't think it's that cut and dry at all. Didn't a recent article say he was Ashley's favourite player? 1 year left on contract no sign of a new one any time soon and with the club hierarchy's fairly poor opinion of the media (putting it mildly) I think its about as nailed on a certainty as you get in football he's off. The one thing I did find curious is the locals didn't seem to get the call for that interview (or did I miss that?)

disagree, he was great for us but that time is past. I'd much rather take a chance on someone young and ambitious.

he did basically the same job by a different name at first at Fulham, brought in the players for a head coach.

don't really care beyond not QPR

he's gone full stop regardless of who's in charge. How? A new manager would want to keep him I'd assume? a manager at our club having a legitimate say in who's sold or not he's gone and has been since the moment he went behind the clubs back to the media that will not have gone down well with ashley and co.

he's gone full stop regardless of who's in charge.

well that was inevitable

ah yes the insight of shearer who will put anyone watching to sleep. (don't get me wrong love him as a player but what a useless pundit)

They'll gloss over it, don't worry. focus on the relegation brief line about deluded geordies next match

disagree, from ashleys pov he's completed the "perfect" season, top 10 (barring some kind of freakish results for palace) with very minimum levels of cash spent (2 loan fees) and the best player flogged for a nice profit mid season. Why would he get rid of him right now? What incentive is there for Ashley as someone who really doesn't give 2 s***s for the club beyond the bottom line to fork out a large enough payoff to pardew and try and get a new guy who will match the same criteria as Pardew already does? To stay a premier league club. This and just looking at some of the players reactions today there's clearly a divide in opinion on Pardew in the dressing room, clearly unrest. I imagine there'll be a fair few players knocking on Ashley's door by the end of the season with a him or me ultimatum, doesn't bode well for the coffers if you're replacing half a team like! or he'll look at it as a chance to get more money by flogging them and replacing them with cheaper ones.

disagree, from ashleys pov he's completed the "perfect" season, top 10 (barring some kind of freakish results for palace) with very minimum levels of cash spent (2 loan fees) and the best player flogged for a nice profit mid season. Why would he get rid of him right now? What incentive is there for Ashley as someone who really doesn't give 2 shits for the club beyond the bottom line to fork out a large enough payoff to pardew and try and get a new guy who will match the same criteria as Pardew already does?

this, can't say I'd do anything different myself if I'm perfectly honest.

Nah, it's a brilliant header. Perfectly placed with the right pace. It was a good header but Howard did not need to dive like that should have been a routine stop. Something going on today with Howard. Him being fairly shit probably has something to do with it. He's been excellent all season. Those aren't even the mistakes he usually makes, generally a good shot stopper with weaknesses in other areas. I know what you mean but that phrase bugs me in reference to goalkeepers, surely being a good shot stopper is the very minimum requirement of any goalkeeper at any level and saying they're a good shot stopper always sounds like damning them with faint praise to me.

mixture of safety achieved and fa cup final in prospect I'd say.

what a header

I like fulham personally.

anyone else get the feeling we're just decoration for this game?

It's not his decision. the guy making the decision is impossible to predict however. My feeling is he'll still be in charge, after all its pretty much the perfect season for Ashley why change?

Well Pardew and the club are putting a lot of negative stuff into the press about him. Whether it is true or not, it is damaging his reputation especially if he has to find another club. caulkin sums up the possible other side to it pretty well George Caulkin @CaulkinTheTimes · 14h You can look at Ben Arfa from another angle, of course: 1 year left on contract, likely to leave, important to show he's not a bad-boy... George Caulkin @CaulkinTheTimes · 14h If he's being left out of squad because of "team unity" reasons, as is the suggestion, it doesn't reflect well. So ... smoke and mirrors.

I like it

bingo. The frustration is if our fanbase were more united we'd have a lot of control over Ashley's decisions. He gets away with this stuff only because he thinks he can without it coming back on him. This whole "Ashley doesnt care" thing is a bluff, he uses it to keep control. His actions & whole persona are not that of someone who doesnt care. I highly doubt even a completely united fanbase (which is unlikely at the best of times) it would make that much difference. He's never going to start basing decisions on what the crowd want it will be based on £££ nothing more nothing less. Logic like that is why he is where he is. "We can't really do anything". The fans clearly affect the team & the teams performance controls the worth of Mike Ashleys asset. Why do you think they continually try to keep fans onside? Season ticket sales, and most of that is centered around price rather than any attempt to keep the fans onside. Well thats still keeping fans onside isn't it? You can't say hes not worried about fan opinion, yet really wants to sell season tickets. Anyway beyond that you an go back to the Keegan trial when it came out that they lied to us. The stadium renaming was explained away as much as possible to be for the club. They changed it back with Wonga to get people onside about that. The accounts are constantly used to keep the fanbase happy. Pardew is quite clearly continually lowering expectation, excusing Ashley & trying to keep fans onside. Its all over the place. Yet people still come out with "He doesnt care about the fans". If he didn't we'd not have heard half the BS we've had to. he hasn't been in the slightest bit popular since the keegan debacle, had some signs of recovery in levels of tolerance but whenever he was on such a path he made some other decision like renaming SJP or Wonga, these are not decisions of someone who is that bothered about public opinion of him. I'm sure he'd like to be popular, who wouldn't? But his decision making isn't based on populism. It often isn't based in logic either but thats a separate point altogether. Now a collective complete boycott of season tickets and matchs in general might make some difference (as it would hit in the pocket) but the probability of that is next to nil and my suspicion is it wouldn't cause a turnaround in policy but more price cuts for tickets and a cut in the budget.

same difference his contracts up at the end of next season anyway and I thought it was clear by now the managers opinion is irrelevant to whats done with transfers in and out If a new manager came in and wanted him to stay or had a say in whether he could stay or not, it sounds clear from the interview quotes he would be open to staying for whatever crazy reason. He deserves so much better than this. whomevers in charge won't have a say we all know this. Even if its a new manager (which I consider very unlikely) it will be some guy who will be grateful for the job and will just go along with ashleys decisions.

same difference his contracts up at the end of next season anyway and I thought it was clear by now the managers opinion is irrelevant to whats done with transfers in and out