Sean

Aren't Ashley and Karen Brady quite pally? Pretty sure they know each other, think she's said as much herself in some newspaper column in the past. Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Ashley's encouraging this supposed interest.

Commentators just said Everton substitute Besics' dad was shot yesterday in Bosnia!

Guessing that's just for us? https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1190199/Live/England-Premier-League-2017-2018-Newcastle-United-West-Ham Dunno, from twitter so take it with a pinch of salt obviously.

From twitter: No player played more total passes, forward passes, produced more successful dribbles or won back possession more than Mikel Merino.

I work in Birmingham and a few lads who support Villa and who's opinions on football I'd respect said they were pretty gutted he was going and that apart from the odd mistake they thought he was fairly solid. Fortunately, debut aside, he's very rarely put a foot wrong for us so far.

It wasn't even deserved during the time But people say stupid shit during defeats, i thought he was really good as much as someone can in that shower of shit. This place drives you nuts sometimes. Great performance today from the lad.

Oh West Ham were worse than fucking shite too

Yes Rafa! Clark was excellent. As was Merino. Joselu too. How many fucking shots did we have? Must be more than 20 easily. Some great passing and movement and counter attacking stuff too. But Rafa plays boring football of course Get in!

He's clearly a quality player. Can't believe some fans were having a go at him for silly reasons last week

Seems to always be the story with Perez tbf.

I think this as well. He also needs good service as he's not really the type who can create something for himself. Really worrying if he doesn't trust his body though as he might as well be injured if so.

Please just fucking win. Hope Joselu plays well as it looks like we're going to need him to this season.

Merson and McInally on Soccer Saturday are saying the same now, that Rafa's too good for this shit show basically.

At least someone seems to get it in the media.

I think someone needs to create a ismikeashleydeadyet.com website tbh, can keep everyone informed if/when it happens and could even be used as a place to organise street parties Lets face it, it's war from his side so fuck him.

Yeah he clearly enjoys this shit.

I'll be amazed if he doesn't end up as the legues top scorer this year. It would be just our luck. I'm just amazed we've managed to get rid of him. Don't give a fuck what happens to him now

It's really not. I'd be happy with someone who wanted the best for the club and was prepared to try to grow the club, not scale it back and sabotage it.

Stabilising the club in the premier league would increase the value of his asset. The first season back is always going to be the most expensive however once he has a squad fit for the PL the spending can be scaled back. Yup, but what if your manager tell you give me money or we must relegate then? In fans perspective it must be give. What if it's your own money? Any contingency plan you can do? ? Loves Pardew and Ashley and seems to have something against Rafa?

As far as I know, kit sponsorship should be the most expensive. I really doubt our club sponsorship could be more than what we got from northern rock wonga 888 etc. Sean, listen to the points rather than trying to win an argument, of your own making. Ashley is not a 'sugar daddy' is not going to take a loss. The Sports Direct shit-smear across the stadium isn't going to make-up 40 million. Keep telling yourself that then if it keeps you happy. Where has 40 million came from anyway? I've never mentioned a figure.

As far as I know, kit sponsorship should be the most expensive. I really doubt our club sponsorship could be more than what we got from northern rock wonga 888 etc.

Please explain what is loan from club owner and why it has increased to 129m term loan + 33m further loan = 164m as per latest account A loan is money owed (to Ashley), which needs to be paid back at some stage and is interest bearing (we pay for it in free advertising). It is not the same as putting money in and expecting nothing in return. The debt was 70m when he bought us (mainly related to late 90's stadium extension as a 57m mortgage which had to be repaid in the event of a change in ownership). He then added 29m to pay off existing player transfer fees that were spread out in one go, another 29m as the cost of the first relegation (his mistake) and another 33m after the second relegation (again his mistake). He also profits from this loan fiscally as he offsets it in his holding company, hence paying less tax over his profits. So in short: no, a loan is entirely different to putting his own money in (as most other club owners have done by the way). Give me examples that a normal club in EPL would have an income item called "owners donation". He could have signed a sponsorship deal with sports direct and funded us that way. You know, pay for the advertising space. Yea, by market price, additional 4m per year? unless it is the difference between relegation or not, would this help to give us an additional Batshuayi? Have you got evidence to back up your £4m a year figure? Preferable using a similar sized club, and a similar amount of sponsorship granted (including the team going to do meet and greets at Sports Direct and also the huge roof advertising)?

Not defending him? OK then.

Please explain what is loan from club owner and why it has increased to 129m term loan + 33m further loan = 164m as per latest account A loan is money owed (to Ashley), which needs to be paid back at some stage and is interest bearing (we pay for it in free advertising). It is not the same as putting money in and expecting nothing in return. The debt was 70m when he bought us (mainly related to late 90's stadium extension as a 57m mortgage which had to be repaid in the event of a change in ownership). He then added 29m to pay off existing player transfer fees that were spread out in one go, another 29m as the cost of the first relegation (his mistake) and another 33m after the second relegation (again his mistake). He also profits from this loan fiscally as he offsets it in his holding company, hence paying less tax over his profits. So in short: no, a loan is entirely different to putting his own money in (as most other club owners have done by the way). I'll never ever get the Ashley line about not knowing about the repayment of the debt to fund the stadium. Change of control provision is included in pretty much every loan agreement - even if you did no due diligence at all, you would expect there to be one. In any event, it's relatively common to speak to a bank and ask them to continue to provide the loan. 100%, he knew all about it. It's just a great excuse to not invest and to get some simpletons to agree with that.