Crayola Kid

Leeds situation was unique, in as much as the players Ridsdale brought in were 'leased' and not owned by the club IIRC. They've never recovered from that. Look, I'd rather we didn't go down, but we have too many s*** players on ridiculous wages, and getting relegated would be the ideal opportunity to offload them and start again, as Newcastle found out not too long ago. there was an article in the summer we went down (an agent interviewed by the northern echo, if memory serves), which spelled out some of the less obvious financial implications of selling high earners after relegation. brief example was coloccini. signed for ten mil one year before, paid across 4 years. so we had paid 2.5m, at the time of relegation. the article explained that to sell him, we would have to pay the rest of his fee in full, so 7.5m to pay (fifa regs, no pay, no transfer). then, we'd have to pay a loyalty bonus, likely to be a years wages, to the player if he had not asked to leave - which he would not as he would want the contractual bonus. thats likely to take our outlay to 10m, just to get him to leave. if we got 6m that summer, we'd have paid 4m to weaken our squad, albeit for a wages saving of around 2m (guess). if you want to get any players to leave, they will all cost money to shift if they are under contract. a tricky business, in some situations you will be better off keeping them on your books, maybe hoping for a loan, but this doesnt put anything towards new transfers or wages.

7th is the lowest place that can get Europa, but that means two top 6 clubs getting to the FA cup final - not many of them left, is there?

We were good and pleasing to watch. The only negative today was the defending on crosses. Still can't remember them creating a single chance that wasn't from a cross (freekick aside) which really shows how much Tiote and Anita bossed it. I suppose that's the compromise of asking the fullbacks to push up and provide width, the gaps in behind will be massive if we lose the ball at the wrong moment. The Everton away match was one of the most glaring examples of this, and we have played with this risk 'built in' to whichever formation we have used this season. It's great when it works, I guess!?

I pointed that out earlier, he helped out Anita and Tiote really well today, dropping in the space between their defence and midfield. and fed Remy from not great positions more than once, too. There was one header he dropped perfectly for the striker when it seemed a nothing ball forward (one of the few punts in the game)

I thought we had several long passages of smart one touch play which often threatened to open Hull up. Central midfield was ours, not easily but we won the battle with passing and movement, how often can we say that after a match? Hull don't often give teams more than the odd chance, but today we had 17 shots, so we were doing things right against a team set up to not concede first and foremost. Really enjoyed watching the game for a change, and whilst teams who are better and more attacking than Hull will make more of the gaps we leave, this post-cabaye shape shows promise. I'd like to see them approach Fulham in the exact same way, to see if we can pass around them as well. Even if we go behind, this system is worth persevering with for the foreseeable just to assess it's potential for next season (unless HBA can get back on the pitch, that would require a rethink but would be worth it)

It may be a fraction of the loan but that is not the point, would it be a fraction of the interest? we were paying the bank 6m a year interest before ashley (- by memory alone mind you). that was on less than the current loan to ashley. we couldnt borrow 100m for 6pc, so quite possibly more than that would be payable on a commercial loan.

I tend to agree with a lot of this, but you look like you have talked yourself out of the original sentiment by the end, just a bit?!?

Conspiracy level 2.0 says the secret footballer is actually agent John Colquhoun (sp?), and that the whole of the guardians footballing output is controlled by this agent and his stooges, to their own agenda. 'arf. http://footballisfixed.blogspot.co.uk/

Nah, I'm not. The column suggests that 'a club' did this to 'a player' at some point. Being the source which it is, there always seems to be a pro-player angle, perhaps naturally. We do appear to have been through a similar situation as far as bidding goes, but what we got was a re-focussed player who has hit great form since. That said, I have no idea whether our player refused to play against City, and would like to know what effect Wenger's comments may have had. People have said further up that players 'dont think like that' when others have suggested they would struggle to displace a regular at a new club. Well, Cabaye would have had to think about this, even if to dismiss the suggestion to himself

Did anyone read this column from the Secret Footballer? http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/the-secret-footballer/14959/text-what-text-kenwyne-jones-the-truth/ "Clubs feed the public domain with stories like this all the time. I can remember a similar thing happening to a goalkeeper who I used to play with – the nicest, most professional and seriously talented player you could ever wish to meet. He did extremely well for our club and, as a result, he attracted a lot of interest from clubs in the top four. Eventually, one of those clubs put some serious money on the table. Understandably, our club did not want to sell him but, instead of rejecting the offer and releasing a statement, they rejected the offer and came up with their own plan. These days, it is not enough to simply reject an offer because there is so much money in the game that clubs are rarely put off by the size of a transfer fee alone. Our club knew that their goalkeeper would be the subject of further bids if it did not nip the situation in the bud immediately. On the Friday before a big game, the manager asked our goalkeeper if he was OK to play? Perhaps his heart was elsewhere, maybe he needed to have a weekend on his own to take his mind off things? “No,” replied our goalkeeper, “I’m fine with everything and looking forward to the game.” The following day the papers were littered with one quote from our manager: “We dropped the player for the weekend’s match,” he said, “because it was clear that his head was all over the place and he couldn’t deal with all the speculation.” And that was it. No more bids from the interested club; in fact, no more bids from anybody. Who wants a player, especially a goalkeeper, who crumbles under a bit of pressure? It was very clever and, at the same time, extremely vindictive." Add to this Wenger's comments about not paying so much for a 'squad player', and in August at least we had our player put perfectly in his place. Could this be happening again (if you think it could have happened then)?

Doesnt have to be nasty to be a red. This could very easily have been a red. Not the worst you'll ever see, but a poor tackle compounded by the second sweep he took as Nasri looked to have ridden the first. I cant be the only one who enjoyed seeing Nasri take a hit mind, for all the diving and whining, and not just today

It took about five passes I'm sure to get out of the pressure created by the pass inside from Hatem

He's been here ages and the team still can't read him. He made one run inside from halfway, beating a couple of men, but his lay off not far from the city box was disguised and played so quickly that we had to pass the ball back to the centre halves to keep control of the ball, taking the momentum out of the attack and allowing city to get back. Frustrating, we could make so more of the little situations he creates if we knew just what he was about to do. Coaching issue for me, which after so long with this club it's hard to see ever being resolved here

The ref wound the players up. It's impossible to play in a match like that where the referee is actively cheating against you and expect to be able to keep your cool throughout. aye, but a red card wouldnt have helped. i'd have subbed him, keep him for next week

i had the commentary turned off - thought cabaye could have had his second yellow for two different tackles today. would have subbed him after the second, looked like a red would follow

cheers. pesky internet kids

is the official twitter announcement, on the nufc account, about pardew leaving a wind up? anyone see it?

What a great pic! He certainly showed that ref, eh?!

St James when Ruud Gullit was manager, shortly after watching some Muhammed Ali film (not sure which). There was a belting round of 'Ruud Gullits Black and White Army' which sounded so much like 'Ali Bomaye' from that film. Loudest chant I can remember, though these things are impossible to judge, obvs. With the Ali thing, it gave me goosebumps and still does

265 games in sir Alex's first team, he's got to be ok?! Then Madrid for over a hundred, same for England. He was great man and if he was like another player, I'd throw in Kevin Keegan, as he has pushed himself to the limit of his talent, followed success at home by moving to another challenge abroad also successfully, and embraced the media opportunities that came his way. Wor Kev could have had a very similar career if he had been born later (without the kegs adverts, ugly get tbf)

98-02 Speed is better. Brilliant box-to-box midfielder. More suited to the PL than Cabaye, tbh. Solano-Speed-Dyer-Robert It wouldnt be Speed making way for Cabaye, IMO. He'd be fighting it out with Dyer Wouldn't be much of a fight, tbh. When that midfield was available I fancied us to beat anyone. Would surely have beeen Jenas-Speed-Cabaye-Dyer-Bellamy with Shearer up front alone, if we had had the current manager, arf

98-02 Speed is better. Brilliant box-to-box midfielder. More suited to the PL than Cabaye, tbh. Solano-Speed-Dyer-Robert It wouldnt be Speed making way for Cabaye, IMO. He'd be fighting it out with Dyer

If you had been told in may 2012 that we'd have HBA, Colo and Cisse on our bench in november 2013, you'd have been drooling at the thought of who we'd bought for the first team! This club man Howay Shola son!

Negative stories about NUFC? It's almost as if the club have done something to p*ss them off...oh wait... yeah, of course, but what do you want to see when you pick the paper up after a win? after a week of crap results, especially. the same paper will no doubt put themselves forward as fighting some principled cause in the name of the fans, well, dont spit in our eye like this, it doesnt affect anyone on either 'side' to throw a dumb non-story in like this. the paper just looked small-minded today, like i say, i dont often read it. without the current backdrop, it's the kind of article louise taylor may pop up with after a good result, and that aint a compliment

I dont often pay too much attention, having not bought a paper regularly for years and years, but the Journal today had a sour look about it. The front and back pages get 'previewed' on twitter, and Mondays front page had a coloured header strip screaming that THEY DIDNT KNOW WHETHER REMY WOULD STAY!!!! and the back page main story was the same, just a blah blah blah about a situation which wont change for some time. This is a non-story for me, in the first issue of that paper after a fine win at home. Reckon it would have been all about the match if we'd been smashed by chelsea.