Deuce

No less than he deserves.

http://i.imgur.com/APAVqhl.jpg well played.

http://i.imgur.com/APAVqhl.jpg

I'll wait for the definitive answer from Montpellier CEO Loic Nicollin, grandson of Louis, son of Laurent.

it's the three of them communicating in grunts and swears, probably plastered.

Love to get him here. Very good player.

Sounds like someone we know.

Strange signing, that. Quite overrated, imo. I don't know about that. He is what he is, a hard-working midfielder, makes up for technical deficiencies with pure motor. Though that means he's not on the same level as Vidal, Pogba or Marchisio, of course.

http://i.imgur.com/FTpiJtE.png

At first it was just Parky's lamentations, but I'm starting to get a bit unnerved by the pointed aggression at Arab owners in particular. As if they're any different than any other wealthy people.

Nah that's Fernando Torres.

Did we magic up a top 5 quality side (according to some) out of thin air? Ashley's not some evil lunatic ffs. If we can get better players for a realistic price, of course we'll invest. I think we hit a perfect storm of conditions that season. Best way I can put it. He's not some mad scientist, but it's pretty widely accepted that he doesn't accept 5th place, and since he won't commit to pushing us above that, we have to settle for 6th-mid-table. And a half-assed attempts in the cups, which amount to nothing. The 5th thing's tongue in cheek. Chopey believes the current first team to be top 5 quality as it stands. Chopey's been huffing fairy farts lately. WTF

It's fantastic if your greatest ambition is a mid-table club with ship-shape finances. I suppose the alternative, a mid-table club with loads tied-up in mediocre players, is worse, but... I'd be okay with it if we had assurances from Ashley that he intended to get everything financially sound before dropping big money, when it might do less damage were it to fail. But that's not really his ambition, I don't think.

Did we magic up a top 5 quality side (according to some) out of thin air? Ashley's not some evil lunatic ffs. If we can get better players for a realistic price, of course we'll invest. I think we hit a perfect storm of conditions that season. Best way I can put it. He's not some mad scientist, but it's pretty widely accepted that he doesn't accept 5th place, and since he won't commit to pushing us above that, we have to settle for 6th-mid-table. And a half-assed attempts in the cups, which amount to nothing. The 5th thing's tongue in cheek. Chopey believes the current first team to be top 5 quality as it stands. Chopey's been huffing fairy farts lately.

Agreed. Remy's raised his profile considerably since joining. Joint-3rd in the league in scoring. He'll get offers from clubs with deeper pockets and we won't put up a fight with QPR. Chelsea doled out the cash for Ba and Remy's a better player than that.

Did we magic up a top 5 quality side (according to some) out of thin air? Ashley's not some evil lunatic ffs. If we can get better players for a realistic price, of course we'll invest. I think we hit a perfect storm of conditions that season. Best way I can put it. He's not some mad scientist, but it's pretty widely accepted that he doesn't accept 5th place, and since he won't commit to pushing us above that, we have to settle for 6th-mid-table. And a half-assed attempts in the cups, which amount to nothing.

I do think he has an interest in maintaining a reasonably competitive squad in the 8th~10th range through minimal investment so he maximizes positive exposure for his brand (better image, more TV games) and doesn't risk future relegation. Where we are about now is the "sweet spot" where Ashley would like us to be. So I guess we'd have to hope again for relegation flirtation to spur him on. Great. I know I'm rehashing old debates here, but it's still depressing.

What incentive is there for Ashley to make an investment at this point? Barring losses in every match until the end of the season, we're staying up rather comfortably with the squad we have and even if we flog Cabaye. If we go through with the latter and still manage to finish around mid-table, I'm not sure they'd be looking to invest in the summer either, unless we depleted the squad depth further (which isn't outside the realm of possibilities, dropping Marveaux, Obertan, etc.)

Fellaini had a 1 in 3 record the season he left. He looked awesome, not many people predicted he would flop Yes they did.... anyone that watched Fellaini play CM before knew he was crap there and he would never have the opportunity to play his favourite role because Rooney was there. It was a stupid purchase. As ever, their chief problem remains in central midfield, where they have no truly great player to dictate matches. But I digress, because we're about to have our own share of issues there too.

On the bright side, maybe Anita would finally get 90 minutes every week.

Genuinely don't understand this attitude. Small-time pettiness at best.

He's definitely worth far more.

It's pretty disappointing no matter how you slice it, primarily because it further signals a total lack of ambition from the club. The money is a small consolation.