GuyP

couldnt help quoting this tbh, 20:20 hindsight and all that

so far we have got by due to a decent defence and keeper (mainly the defence mind), Leon Best having 1 moment of class against Fulham and Ryan Taylor having a moment of class against the mackems....even against the likes of Arsenal where we had a good point, Tiote hasnt hit form yet (remains to be seen if its the fasting) and Ba (same possibly) hasnt hit the ground running... Ben Arfa being back will enable us to win the league tbf, minimum expectation, so am optomistic...

I'm in id be more proud with "erect" there than "sports direct" any day...

we could have a new striker by then man.

Doesn't get more simple than the tune of Vindaloo for Demba Ba I'm afraid. Anyone heard it sung yet? bang, we have a winner

Saw the tarpaulin myself, said to a mate that it wouldnt surprise me if they phased out a few seats purely to add soem advertising space...essentially he sees empty seats as advertising opportunity! a minor complaint but it is the cherry on top of a very shit cake with them...

The problem is that saying he is taking cash out of the club...he cleared alot of the debt effectively, so he is within his power to want the money back...problem is the lying! If they said "look, we're in the financial crapper, we need to be a selling club until we're on an even footing" but then sacking a manager for being in the bottom half and saying we'd spend all the £35mil but being dodgy about it including the contract's wages, it just smacks of someone who isnt used to such scrutiny. The whole situation kinda brings conflicting feelings out of me really

Footy Man says £85k so im taking that as definite

do you think she means surprised like "ugly" surprise or "hot" surprise? either way, some people wanting to e-bone her do come off a bit desperate like... http://www.lowbird.com/data/images/2010/04/img4bbc33d3a4167.jpg

forums arent used to any notable level of oestrogen... Ben Arfa will be good in a Trequartista role, but seeing as we're not really capable of playing 2 men ahead of him, we need to hope Ba can shoulder alot of our need for goals. The thought of Cabaye and Ben Arfa both slipping in through balls excites me alot...

everyone did, I may be in the minority but i thought he was gash until that loan spell at Bolton...uninformed maybe but i didnt see enough to make me think he'd have been better than a (at the time) well scoring Owen or Oba...

If he wasnt apparently confirmed by that story with the porn star, id reckon it was just a massive pisstake, but christ, sad really...

Im here to be proven wrong but in 08/09 im pretty sure he looked 2-footed to me like...havent seen much of him since 2010 tbh, but he looked very assured on both...every player favours one foot but he has a very decent left foot, can deffs cross with it...

tbf, Jose on the left and Santon on the right would =

cant remember where i heard it but apparently he is a "student of the game" which always says to me that they have a basic interest in football and want to improve...quite rare nowadays really, in England atleast...

I looked at a couple of them and it seems they played him on the right right back but can play on the left, 2-footed

Massive claim...depends whether you include transfers in or not but id say that is a massive overexaggeration... I'm sure there are quite a few clubs who, by remaining within their means, are able to turn a small profit now and then. What distinguishes Man U is their huge income, based on their world-wide fan base, large stadium and regular success on the field. They haven't depended on sugardaddies or going into debt, like other major clubs. Unfortunately, that made them prey to the kind of takeover that the Glazers instigated. Hicks and Gillett thought that Liverpool, who have a similarly huge following and potential commercial income, could be taken over by the same method. However, although they've got the following, they don't have the stadium or the on-field success, and they came a cropper. The profitability of other clubs is so slight that a buyer would be mad to go into significant debt to make the purchase, and a lender would be made to lend the money. aye i agree there, the way you put it first was very binary, but i full agree with what you put here...the margins alot of clubs operate on is £0-£5mil profit...in teh context of a £100+ football club, that is a 20 year commitment which makes it a long term proposition, especially if you consider you could get those as interest rates at banks over a 5 year period...what would you rather do, trust the banks or football? (an easy question until 2008 i guess!)

the skepticism on this board towards him is due to not having seen him i guess, but id put him above Jose when he joined by quite a long way, so imagine if he develops anywhere near as much as Jose did...

The only hole in that argument would be the fact that he never looks to strengthen the squad for that purpose alone, its all just part of a bigger plan to sell them on for a profit. As a result of that we have a very narrow view of potential signings, instead of mixing up young talent with more experienced "work horses" for example. Yes they would cost more in wages but would make for a more balanced team imo. nailed it

Massive claim...depends whether you include transfers in or not but id say that is a massive overexaggeration...

It is not. Why do people still discuss this? Mike Ashley bought the club with his own money, then he paid the clubs debts of with his own money, this as a interest free loan which he wants to get back over time. The only way he will get his money back is by selling the club for a very high price or running the club with profit for a number of years. This is technically the best we could have hoped for, barring a ridiculous Man City-esque buyout where debt just doesnt exist...this does mean we may suffer more Carroll-esque problems where we become a selling club but the problem isnt the selling, its the not replacing...the board think we are demanding they spend £35mil, we demand they just replace players going out with quality... but yeah i think there is some knee-jerk to some figures in this thread tbh...

there is the potential to be feeding not just one Ameobi, but 2 Ameobis if Sammy shifts up the pitch, career completed tbh.

Tbh i still dont see this as a leveraged buyout a la Man United...we're not paying interest on a loan to a bank...Mike Ashley floated Sports Direct for alot more than he bought us for so he bought us outright, unless ive missed something it seems legit...

United, City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs... Then a gap down to the likes of Villa and Everton, though i think Villa may be closer to the top 6 than some may guess... Stoke, Bolton, S*nderland and maybe even West Brom are in a group with us that will be going for midtable spots of 9th downwards, though I reckon this year Everton will fall towards this group, maybe even one of us overtaking them... essentially 8th-9th is what we can do, 7th if we perform exceptionally

It is the case that someone can invest in Everton and get the investment back...when you pump a billion into a club like they have at City, youre getting a tiny bit back (not that they care really) but Everton are in the position i say we were in the 90's, investment can lead to a rejuvination of the club. That being said, we went a bit far by the time we entered the mid 00's...Id worry if nowt happened in the next 2 or 3 years though as the likes of Cahill, Saha, Jagielka and Phil Neville are getting old and you will struggle to replace that core...