gbandit

Nah, it was dead in the water about 7 pages back. Since then I've brought lots of straw men into the argument though and childish ideas so I guess it ended up being worthwhile after all

No worries Ian, the only time I ever get properly animated when talking about Nufc is when I'm talking about the transfer window. Quite enjoy talking about it even if it descends into these types of debates

Mate, you've brought in some ridiculous, unnecessary references to Mike Ashley and Dekka. Seems like you've got a deeper problem here than the transfer dealings. Many people who support the transfer regime don't even like Ashley or Dekka, myself included. Stop bringing them into it and making pointless extraneous claims

Aye, and it would take one first teamer to go above Man City into 8th. This discussion is pointless. There are several people on here, Ian W, Gimp, myself, High Five who think that our transfer policy works just fine because we're looking at how we've moved on in the past couple of years. There are several others who have the opposing view based upon what they think will happen if we don't change our policy. We may well sign a player still, we may not. Either way, I've been happy with the signings we've made this window and am happy with the way the club is going. We are looking at sustained long-term success and if it doesn't happen in this window, maybe it will in the next or the one after. No one's apologising for anything, we've gone from getting relegated to finishing fifth. We're not going to finish fifth this year but that doesn't mean we can't build more this year upon last year. Where you finish in the table isn't completely indicative of where your club is at

Nice, let's tie this up and hopefully avoid any suicides in the 'thoughts on the summer's transfer window' thread

Love Martinez, shame he's gone to Bayern. He's a player you could see just slotting into any team and making them better

Feel sorry for him, really do but it's good news for us

Hope that's all true, hope AVB fails. Was speaking to a Portuguese lad the other day and he said that over when he was managing Porto he was incredibly arrogant. I think he really believes he's a great manager already

I remember reading people lose their heads completely like this inthe last four windows where they signed off in a rage. Things haven't worked out too badly since then though

sorry for the inaccuracy on the Pav transfer. Brinkmanship is not exactly an exact science is it. Business is often about risks and so many things in life depend on the consequences as to whether or not it proved to be a good idea. On the whole, I agree with brinkmanship because over time I think you'll benefit from it more, but in short-term terms, it can be frustrating. Dembele is a lovely player but not even close to filling Modric's shoes. We haven't however lost anyone, so we don't know whether we'd have anyone lined up to replace them. I certainly could imagine Llambias going for someone who was a bargain on deadline day as long as he had been properly scouted and was what we needed. Our transfer style is to do very long scouts on people and then make sure we get the best deal, I personally think it works We haven´t replaced the likes of Best ffs. Aye, fair point. But he only played 21 games last season, not sure how many sub appearances, but obviously a fair few. I liked him a lot but he was a huge liability with injuries. Going forward I think we have options with Marv/Ben Arfa/Sammy and to a lesser extent Obertan all able to come through and play a role there

I prefer not to detract from football debate but calling me an 'apologist' is pretty weak. I'm not an apologist for anything other than trying to actually move forward as a club on the pitch and off it

sorry for the inaccuracy on the Pav transfer. Brinkmanship is not exactly an exact science is it. Business is often about risks and so many things in life depend on the consequences as to whether or not it proved to be a good idea. On the whole, I agree with brinkmanship because over time I think you'll benefit from it more, but in short-term terms, it can be frustrating. Dembele is a lovely player but not even close to filling Modric's shoes. We haven't however lost anyone, so we don't know whether we'd have anyone lined up to replace them. I certainly could imagine Llambias going for someone who was a bargain on deadline day as long as he had been properly scouted and was what we needed. Our transfer style is to do very long scouts on people and then make sure we get the best deal, I personally think it works

This, couple of excellent posts mate

Well yeah, they lost Pavlyuchenko, Crouch and brought Ade in very late. Sure if I was a Spurs fan, I'd have been frustrated. I really liked Guthrie but can understand why he left, think Anita is a much better player than him though (certainly will become one as he's much more-rounded). I can only talk about it being fine right now and disappointed if we don't get a RB in if it doesn't happen. Do you want me to say I'm disappointed about something that hasn't happened? Spurs are in a better position to get a player like Dembele because of his London connection + their financial situation and likelihood of a top five finish. I think we operate in a very similar manner to Spurs. They've lost Modric really late in the window which a lot of fans would worry about when they'd have expected it to happen all summer. Every club has its gripes. We have been steadily improving for a while now, we have a lot of talented youngsters who I think may well make an impact this season with all the games we'll have to play

Pardew's quotes don't sound great but then his quotes are mostly meaningless. You make a good point Loki, that is a pretty key difference but I really don't think the squad is in dire straits (even regarding the extra games we'll have to play.) We need a RB, no question but it may still happen

Nothing wrong with brinkmanship? What happens if we end up with only Anita because of brinkmanship? Is it still fine then? I think Anita looks excellent and perfectly suited to the PL, great piece of business. If we don't end up with Debuchy/other RB then I'll be really disappointed. The point I'm making is, we really don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Your points about Tottenham are all good, they're incredibly well run but then I think they're run better than pretty much the whole league so it's tough competition. Levy is a brilliant businessman who is constantly looking at loads of different ideas on how to bring in money/ensure they get the best deals. Look at that last season though, Defoe and Adebayor (on one of the last days of the window? Last in fact?). Not exactly an amazing strikeforce was it, certainly not until the last day. They do similar things to us, we're just not as sensitive to it as we don't give a shit about them

I personally think the squad is stronger than last year but the problem is we have to play more games. I'm expecting our squad players to come through more in those. I do want an RB like you Eric and everyone else on here but I'm sure Pardew/Carr and everyone at the club is trying to get one in, nothing wrong with brinkmanship

It's not as simple as that. For long-term success, I think clubs need to be balanced (unless of course you're a Man City/PSG). I really hope the financial restrictions come in and football becomes more economically sound. We have gotten where we are since the relegation season by following this model, if we continue with it, we can go further. But that means, sometimes you have to compromise on not getting a deal through because it's more than you're willing to pay. I believe MA wants to make NUFC successful but only his way. I still think we're getting someone in before the end of the window If we continue with it, we're going to flal behind the clubs investing, it's the complete opposite of having a long term plan, for a long term plan you have lots of short term plans that are continually evaluated, this is the complete opposite of what you're talking about. We had an unexpected head-start on some sides last season, we're wasting this opportunity and it wouldn't cost an awful lot of money. Our head-start on other teams came from this type of doing business, we're just carrying it on. Of course, Spurs/Chelsea/Liverpool have spent more money on us, but they can. They have a lot more money coming in than us. I still think they're operating in a stupid manner though. We quite obviously do have a long-term plan, it can be risky but it worked out last season, I have no reason to believe it won't work out this season

I don't know about getting shit but it's just a general debate that will crop up every window about how we should deal financially. I remember getting a load of shit in the 2011/12 window for saying that our buying frugally was great, where people said we should have been pumping more money in but it worked out fine. I do think people forget that Football is a business (the money side of things has ruined parts of the game over the last 20 years) and that you need to make sure you're not losing money year on year if you want to push on long-term

Eric, we've gotten where we are over the past couple of years by getting the best deals possible. Who's to say what will happen now or in January? High Five is completely right about us not knowing what's going on at all. We all would like to see a RB/FW come in, we have no idea whether it'll happen or not and can't talk about complex deals with any accuracy at all

It's not as simple as that. For long-term success, I think clubs need to be balanced (unless of course you're a Man City/PSG). I really hope the financial restrictions come in and football becomes more economically sound. We have gotten where we are since the relegation season by following this model, if we continue with it, we can go further. But that means, sometimes you have to compromise on not getting a deal through because it's more than you're willing to pay. I believe MA wants to make NUFC successful but only his way. I still think we're getting someone in before the end of the window

Don't ever see Ajax play but his goalscoring record is pretty poor, especially for that league. Is he technically gifted, fast, mainly a link-up player?

This, we're in a fine position. Of course we need to strengthen like everyone does but not going to lose my head before the end of the window

Think that's in doubt, Perch is a much better footballer. He hasn't played there much for a long time so obviously he'll be rusty in some respects but the difference in quality is enough to make me want him to go there for a few games and show what he's made of there

Hope he never comes back