Stuy_O

His free kick vs Liverpool in the cup is my favourite of Roberts. Ridiculous the power he got behind it.

Thats likely to be the only way we'll spend sadly.

It happens so much though with us. Agent / additional payments blah blah. Every other club is prepared to do the necessary except us.

Those filters were just an attempt to generalise our way of doing things. Wasnt gunna go through our players but might aswell. Our transfers since the beginning of the 11/12 season plus HBA. Cabaye - 4.5 mil release clause Ba - free transfer Marv - free transfer Santon - Unwanted, available for cut price Ben Arfa - Loan initially then permanent deal, chanced it on a player who had a broken leg at the time. Sissoko - Deal Running Out, available for next to nowt. Tiote - Cheap deal Hiadara - Cheap deal Obertan - Cost nowt practically Bigi - Cheap deal Cisse - 9mil spent and an impressive signing admittedly. Anita - 6mil Debuchy and MYB - The former was brought in long after he should have been and the latter imo was frantically brought in simply to quell the threat of relegation, as were Sissoko and Gouffran This season we've had one loan deal. I'm going over old ground but it's clear there is a pattern here. Excluding the Cisse deal we've not really spent big on a player. Total opportunistic bargain hunting and never the impression of recognising what the team requires and paying the required amount. I'm not criticising those players here just I find it odd how the club called it a policy after one successful go at it when it was quite clear it was just a swipe in the dark with the aim to spend as little as possible. my opinion anyway.

Also the signings like Cabaye and Ba that summer all had some sort of catch (clause / contract expired etc). Cisse was a surprising deal to say the least and it was done as apparently Freiburg lowered their price from what they initially wanted which put us off initially (over 10mil). Cisse was a belated replacement for Carroll, if we'd got champions league that season i'm not at all convinced we'd have gone on some spending spree or Ashley's mindset would be shifted. The more money we'd have got the more he'd have pocketed imo. I agree its questionable that a boost in revenue would change his mindset on getting value for money/bargains when signing players. Though as people have said before theirs no evidence that he's pocketed anything. Maybe pocketed was an offbeat way of putting it, imo though we'd have had the same summer with only Anita coming in even with Champ League qualification. He's simply not interested in investing seriously in the squad. The 'policy' of ours is hugely misinterpreted imo. Instead of looking to see what the team actually needs we just scrat about in Ligue 1 for cheap players, and if there is none to be found well then that's fine by Ashley no doubt. No speculate to accumulate. Think 'expiring' 'french' 'interested' '2-4mil' on your champ man filters.

Also the signings like Cabaye and Ba that summer all had some sort of catch (clause / contract expired etc). Cisse was a surprising deal to say the least and it was done as apparently Freiburg lowered their price from what they initially wanted which put us off at first (over 10mil). Cisse was a belated replacement for Carroll, if we'd got champions league that season i'm not at all convinced we'd have gone on some spending spree or Ashley's mindset would be shifted. The more money we'd have got the more he'd have pocketed imo.

Leeds fans are the very definition of like Agree with both posts. As a club i'v always found them odious. Hope we really turn these over as mackemesque they'll never shut up about it if they win.

which is ashleys plan why should pardew let him win by giving him what he wants when he can continue to do his job and if ashley wants him out let him pay him off in full This is it. The situation is so ridiculous now where Pardew wont quit knowing that's what Ashley wants and at the same time Ashley wont sack him. I can't recall ever seeing such a stand-off at another club, probably because 1) most other clubs don't deal out 8 year contracts to the manager for no reason; 2) most clubs aren't as tight as us; 3) most managers have an ounce of self respect; 4) most owners put the needs of the club first, the daft f***ers. True, it's bad when a club has one of those things but we have all four ffs. What a fucking mess, scrappy single goals victories are the height of our enjoyment at this club.

which is ashleys plan why should pardew let him win by giving him what he wants when he can continue to do his job and if ashley wants him out let him pay him off in full This is it. The situation is so ridiculous now where Pardew wont quit knowing that's what Ashley wants and at the same time Ashley wont sack him.

Struggle to vent all my anger at Kinnear when its this bloke who's fully responsible.

He gets paid to watch football, travel around the world (okay France) on expenses and has absolutely zero responsibility or pressure. I wouldn't be rushing to retire if I had his job This. Free holiday for that man.

He's not here to sign players. He knows it, Pardew knows it, most of the fans should know it. This director of football nonsense was a tag given to him to suggest a professional role in the club when it's clear he's here to get rid of Pardew, a man who wants Ashley to spend money. As much as the whole thing looks stupid on Kinnear, who is a human grenade with the press, the whole scenario goes back to the owner.

suggesting on my twitter that it's done. So infuriating this.

Lukaku going to Everton?

more the latter for me. I'd be genuinely surprised if Kinnear has actually tried to sign anyone with serious intent.

I suspect he knew what he was getting in too. He's not as daft as looks. Job duties: Undermine manager - tick Take flak away from Mike - tick Unsettle key players with daft comments - tick Embarrass NUFC fans massively - tick Take money for a favour for a mate - tick Aye. The abuse he get may be misdirected but i'm sure him and Ashley discussed that. He'll know he's in for some stick but it's mission accomplished in terms of no money being spent to a) shit on Pardew b) divert abuse from our owner.

Stoke have signed Arnautovic. Good signing for them imo.

0 in 0 out in a thoroughly demoralising transfer window I reckon. Pardew will wax lyrical about it as if its been a huge success.

Also tbf to Pardew he's managed Ben Arfa really well since he's been here. There is a work rate in him now which he simply never had in his Lyon / Marseille days.

Just glad we won to install a little confidence. We weren't great at all but a good kicking around off a lower league side will do these players no harm.

Streams gone down for me. Might not be a bad thing.

The obsession with france is ludicrous to be honest and i'm not so sure we have the big appeal over there as some think we do.

Spurs are going crazy with the anticipated Bale money! Never heard of the Romanian player though. Eastern Europe is where we should shop a bit. Resonable prices. Nah lets just go French again. I agree but this would require a competent scouting network. What have we got? Some bloke in france on holiday taking in football matches.

It's a football match man not a dinner theatre What in the sweet f*** is a "dinner theatre" because it sounds fantastic and I want to be in a production at such a theatre ASAP I agree with this. They're old, was a strange example I admit. I think they were rather quiet whilst people sat there eating, so we're halfway there already at SJP.

So could we like send 40 kebab pizzas to Ashley? I deleted that post as I realised the app likely prevents it going on, but if we sent that to Ashley it wouldn't return. Theres still Tom Foolery to be had I'm sure. Without doubt. Nice to see the club hitting the burning issues anyway.