Toonpack

Perfect for Pardew, the timing of this, he can, quite rightly IMO, point to the fact that for a year his hands have been tied behind his back and being 8th despite all that is no small beer. Whatever happens between now and end of the season, he can also plausibly blame the Kinnear debacle. He's going nowhere folks.

They're rattled. Of course they're not, they'll have a had stock responses drafted for cancellations before and after the "small print" deadline.

I mainly go to aways. Then you're covered by the third category.

There's a simple Hierarchy: Those who go home and away Those who go home games only Those who go occasionally Those who used to go but don't now for various reasons. All of the above have an opinion and their views are important weighted in line with the above hierarchy. Then there's everyone else. Those who go are the club.

100% on Pardew today IMO We didn't have Cabaye against Norwich and played really well I thought, to revert to pre-meditated hoofball from the first minute was criminal, irrespective of Remy being out as well, played into the scums hands that did. Oh and it won't necessarily be Kinnear if (which I doubt) Pardew is sent packing, some murmurs it'll be Laurie Sanchez (allegedly)

You've kind of missed the point. Of course we should try to get the best manager possible. But what is 'possible'? Selected by Mike Ashley and Joe Kinnear? And of course we should build the best squad possible. But what is possible? Within our financial means? I think you are not getting my point, but i might misunderstood your post? My point is that you guys have accepted that the club have no ambition, and defend that on this forum. For me, as a football fan this is unbelievable. Toonpack writes this: Chelsea & Man City have near unlimited funds Spurs had the Bale money. Liverpool have a billionaire owner willing to spend plus cheapest season ticket £710 Arsenal, cheapest ticket for most games £60 Man Utd 75,000 average plus large global glory seeking fan base. You agree, almost like its not a chance in hell to compete with the top 6 in PL. Our owner is a c***, so is our director of football, and our manager is average at best. But its not impossible to compete if we went for it and ran the club like a proper football club. I accept that this very day, today, we cannot compete with the likely top four, but over time by continuing to build that we can. That's why I'm optimistic about the future.

You must be all of 13 years old I'd guess.

Based on money basically. Based on the money we are spending we are doing fantastically well, I'd agree. The problem is we have spent -38 million on transfers since Ashley came in. MINUS 38 million! To be in the top end of the table is no less than a miracle considering how we're being bled dry. Which leads to the simple conclusion our scouting is doing extremely well. Such a shame we have a billionaire owner who is unwilling to spend some money, not even money generated by the club itself. Imagine where we could be with a little bit of ambition, a little bit of trust in the scouting team and a little bit of investment in the squad and in a decent manager. We could be challenging up there, no doubt. We just choose not too. Indefensible from a fan's perspective, yet here you are, posting like a lunatic all day long on deadline telling people off who are understandably venting their frustration. I agree it would be nice if he would spend some of his own money, but unless the accounts show year-on-year profits I can't see how he isn't spending the money we generate. I agree a football club should reinvest all its profits, but we haven't really made any. Even if he spent £60 Million we'd likely be around where we are now in the league, given: Chelsea & Man City have near unlimited funds Spurs had the Bale money. Liverpool have a billionaire owner willing to spend plus cheapest season ticket £710 Arsenal, cheapest ticket for most games £60 Man Utd 75,000 average plus large global glory seeking fan base. There is that, but I didn't want to bring it up. So, in reality we should just close the shop then, whats the point? I hate a losers attitude like this. We should try to maximize our potential at all times. Get the best manager possible. Build the best squad. Do it by the means we have, but do not tell me to accept that Liverpool and Spurs are beyond our reach. FFS try to achieve something! With this attitude its impressive you guys get out of bed each morning. They're not, eventually, but they are today in terms of draw/spending power. It's not a loser mentality at all, it's a realism that progress will be slow and steady, but I do believe we are making progress, the squad of players we have would support that. There ain't no magic bullet, even if Ashley splurged £100 Mill there's nothing guaranteed.

Based on money basically. Based on the money we are spending we are doing fantastically well, I'd agree. The problem is we have spent -38 million on transfers since Ashley came in. MINUS 38 million! To be in the top end of the table is no less than a miracle considering how we're being bled dry. Which leads to the simple conclusion our scouting is doing extremely well. Such a shame we have a billionaire owner who is unwilling to spend some money, not even money generated by the club itself. Imagine where we could be with a little bit of ambition, a little bit of trust in the scouting team and a little bit of investment in the squad and in a decent manager. We could be challenging up there, no doubt. We just choose not too. Indefensible from a fan's perspective, yet here you are, posting like a lunatic all day long on deadline telling people off who are understandably venting their frustration. I agree it would be nice if he would spend some of his own money, but unless the accounts show year-on-year profits I can't see how he isn't spending the money we generate. I agree a football club should reinvest all its profits, but we haven't really made any. Even if he spent £60 Million we'd likely be around where we are now in the league, given: Chelsea & Man City have near unlimited funds Spurs had the Bale money. Liverpool have a billionaire owner willing to spend plus cheapest season ticket £710 Arsenal, cheapest ticket for most games £60 Man Utd 75,000 average plus large global glory seeking fan base. Yet, and I hate to bring this up again, we're STILL only 9 points off a Champions League place. Everton, who are comparative paupers, are 4 points off. I know that, but as I said, we're about where we would likely be even if we'd spent £60 Mill, we are not going to catch Chelsea or City or Arsenal, that's one place left up for grabs between Liverpool, Man U, Spurs, Everton (who've just lost Lukaku for a spell of time) and us, we could yet finish above Everton and maybe even Spurs I doubt we finish above Liverpool (because Suarez the cheat is a world class difference maker) or Man U (Rooney, RVP and now Matta).

Based on money basically. Based on the money we are spending we are doing fantastically well, I'd agree. The problem is we have spent -38 million on transfers since Ashley came in. MINUS 38 million! To be in the top end of the table is no less than a miracle considering how we're being bled dry. Which leads to the simple conclusion our scouting is doing extremely well. Such a shame we have a billionaire owner who is unwilling to spend some money, not even money generated by the club itself. Imagine where we could be with a little bit of ambition, a little bit of trust in the scouting team and a little bit of investment in the squad and in a decent manager. We could be challenging up there, no doubt. We just choose not too. Indefensible from a fan's perspective, yet here you are, posting like a lunatic all day long on deadline telling people off who are understandably venting their frustration. I agree it would be nice if he would spend some of his own money, but unless the accounts show year-on-year profits I can't see how he isn't spending the money we generate. I agree a football club should reinvest all its profits, but we haven't really made any. Even if he spent £60 Million we'd likely be around where we are now in the league, given: Chelsea & Man City have near unlimited funds Spurs had the Bale money. Liverpool have a billionaire owner willing to spend plus cheapest season ticket £710 Arsenal, cheapest ticket for most games £60 Man Utd 75,000 average plus large global glory seeking fan base.

Apart from the likes of Mata/Man U etc, who's buying a player of the calibre we'd like (can't say I've seen any realistic name move that I'd be ecstatic about tbh)

That's some scary s***. Even scarier for the mackems mind - they've spent over 90 million more than us and are still s****! Exactly why this table means nowt the bottom 3, are just the clubs who have other many years had: A stable core squad Managers on long term contracts Success in developing players, getting the benefits on the pitch and then selling on. So the top or the bottom of that table is the place to be. Are you for real - f***ing hell man Surprised at Stoke being 4th. They're 16th in the only table that matters.

You can only do that if the players club wants to sell and the player wants to come How can you defend what is in front of your own eyes ?. What is in front of my eyes is the club better than it was, league wise, and the player we wanted not wanting (apparently) to join at this time. Simple really. Would rather we got who we wanted than spunk cash on s****. I'm as disappointed as the next man tbh but am not hysterical. If we sign no one this window, that will be 18 months without a senior permanent signing come the end of the season. How can you defend that, you talk about common sense but any fool can see that is mental in this league. It's not a policy of waiting for the right player, it's a policy of waiting for a cheap player. Good cheap player, not expensive average player. We really haven't built this squad with crap nor made many mistakes. So what, it'll be 18 months, the side has improved in those 18 months undeniably. I'd LOVE them to sign someone, but I'd rather wait for the right someone, which they seem to be able to do with some regularity (notwithstanding nowt last summer).

And that hasn't changed really for the best part of 60 years, so why it's so tragic now is beyond me.

You can only do that if the players club wants to sell and the player wants to come F**k me. What's a scout for? What utter drivel you 'contribute' to this board. To "scout" and identify targets. You can only do that if the players club wants to sell and the player wants to come mad how other clubs manage it tbh All those clubs below us in the league That doesn't make any sense and is nothing to do with what I said. Not engaging with this discussion tbh Because, in the main, the clubs who are managing it are buying poorer players than we want, and are below us in the league.

You can only do that if the players club wants to sell and the player wants to come laughable No, common sense. Ah yes, common sense. Like checking to see if your only target has any interest in coming to the club before selling the man you want him to replace. What if the indication was he would, but then he (or his agent) says no, but maybe in the summer. When the bid story broke the noises from the player were not "no" they were the standard non-committal so as to not burn bridges, so that is perhaps an encouragement/indication of interest to consider coming, now he's said no apparently, things change. As soon as PSG came in we had lost Cabaye, do you think keeping him was a viable option given his summer strop ?? He got his "dream" post world cup move in January.

You can only do that if the players club wants to sell and the player wants to come How can you defend what is in front of your own eyes ?. What is in front of my eyes is the club better than it was, league wise, and the player we wanted not wanting (apparently) to join at this time. Simple really. Would rather we got who we wanted than spunk cash on shite. I'm as disappointed as the next man tbh but am not hysterical.

You can only do that if the players club wants to sell and the player wants to come laughable No, common sense.

You can only do that if the players club wants to sell and the player wants to come F**k me. What's a scout for? What utter drivel you 'contribute' to this board. To "scout" and identify targets. You can only do that if the players club wants to sell and the player wants to come mad how other clubs manage it tbh All those clubs below us in the league

And that buying to compete worked ever so well didn't it (short period with SBR aside - and he fell into Shepherd's lap). We are built to improve steadily, we won't spunk cash on an instant hit, because whatever we did spunk would be trumped times 10 by the City's and Chelsea's etc. I knew ToonPap would be in here. Telling us that, although he doesn't know Ashley, he knows men like him. Strong, powerful, alluring, success driven types, who never accept second best. Who shoot for the very top and never fall short. How we're so lucky so sit within the quivering folds of his obesity. How selling your best performers without replacing them is how every great sporting endevour should be run. Mug. OOOOH how grown up we are. We haven't replaced him yet, we will I am sure, the squad has undeniably improved over the last few years. I'd rather wait for the right player (and our hit rate is good) than some placebo type signing. The fact that the team is better, and playing better stuff, than it has for a very long time is vindication of the policy IMO. Mug. And where have the current squad (one of the best we've had for ages) come from ?? It's a mystery to me, reading here we never sign anyone. You simply have to be in their employ. Because no fan with 2 stones between his legs could think like you. On to ignore. Thank fuck for that.

And that buying to compete worked ever so well didn't it (short period with SBR aside - and he fell into Shepherd's lap). We are built to improve steadily, we won't spunk cash on an instant hit, because whatever we did spunk would be trumped times 10 by the City's and Chelsea's etc. I knew ToonPap would be in here. Telling us that, although he doesn't know Ashley, he knows men like him. Strong, powerful, alluring, success driven types, who never accept second best. Who shoot for the very top and never fall short. How we're so lucky so sit within the quivering folds of his obesity. How selling your best performers without replacing them is how every great sporting endevour should be run. Mug. OOOOH how grown up we are. We haven't replaced him yet, we will I am sure, the squad has undeniably improved over the last few years. I'd rather wait for the right player (and our hit rate is good) than some placebo type signing. The fact that the team is better, and playing better stuff, than it has for a very long time is vindication of the policy IMO. Mug. And where have the current squad (one of the best we've had for ages) come from ?? It's a mystery to me, reading here we never sign anyone.

You can only do that if the players club wants to sell and the player wants to come

And that buying to compete worked ever so well didn't it (short period with SBR aside - and he fell into Shepherd's lap). We are built to improve steadily, we won't spunk cash on an instant hit, because whatever we did spunk would be trumped times 10 by the City's and Chelsea's etc. I knew ToonPap would be in here. Telling us that, although he doesn't know Ashley, he knows men like him. Strong, powerful, alluring, success driven types, who never accept second best. Who shoot for the very top and never fall short. How we're so lucky so sit within the quivering folds of his obesity. How selling your best performers without replacing them is how every great sporting endevour should be run. Mug. OOOOH how grown up we are. We haven't replaced him yet, we will I am sure, the squad has undeniably improved over the last few years. I'd rather wait for the right player (and our hit rate is good) than some placebo type signing. The fact that the team is better, and playing better stuff, than it has for a very long time is vindication of the policy IMO.

That's where everyone would like to be but how many clubs have the middle ground? I'd have thought every club in the Prem. None of them that i know of are in liquidation due to over spending and all of them have bought players. Am i wrong? Hey and we're above/better than most of them.

That's where everyone would like to be but how many clubs have the middle ground? Quite a few actually. Look at Spurs for one. They spend what they earn on sales. Because after years of prudence and profits they are in the position where they can.