Thumbheed

Wait! I thought he was the butler in Fresh Prince?

I can guarantee that these signings would be welcomed with open arms by the majority if Rafa was still here. Sure, you'd get the odd few that would write them off, but that's part of football. The issue is, that your perspective is shared by a large number of fans who are still willing to see these players in flesh for the very reasons you're stating, and that is a cancer for this club.

A pointless transfer policy. Buying worse than you have already. Same was said about Fernandez, Ki and even Schaar last summer. "Buying players off relegated teams! This is terrible! What a farce!" Come on guys. It's okay to complain and be negative, but at least do it over things that deserve it. I can see your point of view but what's the point of having exciting players or players with potential when theres no sporting endeavour at the club? Every positive action the club takes (which is rare) is underpinned by the fact that they arent with the goal of winning games but making money. Its pointless. We can watch exciting players at other clubs but I dont want to, I want to watch players playing for my club with the sole purpose of winning games, when that's absent, what's the point of getting excited? I just don't think this Willems signing is one to get annoyed over. It's actually a pretty shrewd signing IMO. I'm even a bit surprised to see squad signings being brought in. Buying younger players with re-sale value, should not necessarily mean that they are flogged as soon as they do well for any money that comes in. It should really just mean that if players do well and interest comes in from outside parties, then the club can maximise the revenue from them and make huge profits, which should then go back into the team. It should then get to a stage where there is less need to sell these players on and the team should go from strength to strength. Totally understand and agree that we cannot completely trust MA to actually stick to this approach, and so we'll see what transpires. If he doesn't, it will all implode and we can all have a good laugh at that, and he'll have to sell up at some point as we go tumbling downwards. People support teams because they want them to win. When that the ambition to win games is no longer there then everything else the club does becomes pointless. Perhaps people are expressing there anger at the club in the wrong manner and writing off players before theyve started (although if you do look it's not the majority) but I certainly wouldnt call them crazy for not being able to be enthused by signings because at the end of the day we have Steve Bruce coaching these players. A manager who hasn't improved a single player. You'd be a total fool carrying on doing something that's ultimately pointless, so why should it be different supporting this club? As for the second part, well if I'm honest I think Ashley may start to invest a bit more because the numbers we've spent is unprecedented, but I refer back to the first point, they arent being signed to win games but to make money which rendered any joy out of these signings. You only have to look at the current manager and compare him the the last manager to realise what Ashley's intentions are for these players.

A pointless transfer policy. Buying worse than you have already. Same was said about Fernandez, Ki and even Schaar last summer. "Buying players off relegated teams! This is terrible! What a farce!" Come on guys. It's okay to complain and be negative, but at least do it over things that deserve it. I can see your point of view but what's the point of having exciting players or players with potential when theres no sporting endeavour at the club? Every positive action the club takes (which is rare) is underpinned by the fact that they arent with the goal of winning games but making money. Its pointless. We can watch exciting players at other clubs but I dont want to, I want to watch players playing for my club with the sole purpose of winning games, when that's absent, what's the point of getting excited?

The whole point of orchestrating a boycott is to convince those 52k not to turn up and if you cant see why Ashley may be bothered about a boycott, I'd suggest you think about what SD has to gain from a full stadium.

I'd counter that Ashley has been a scourge of NUFC, as a provider of low cost sports wear in one of the less well off areas of the country you can say he has benefited the portion of the city who have no interest in football. The Sun went beyond football with their reporting and it really was a city wide impact. As for do non-football fans in Liverpool buy the sun? When I lived there in the early 00s you couldn't find a newsagent who sold it Edit: As a football fan and a NUFC fan of course I hate everything he stands for a refuse to spend a penny in his stores. To add to this point, with a £3.3bn turnover, what impact would a city wide boycott have? I'd argue, none. Same with the boycott on The Sun. Yes, they have the moral high ground, but that's all they've got, respectfully speaking.

What pressure can we put on SD? Time to focus on the club surely? The first thing is the boycott, that's the single biggest thing we can do, but I also think we could be raising the profile of his current issues as well as stirring up the issues of the past that may not have had the exposure they deserved, more so on an international scale.

I think this too, and it's an important point. The overwhelming majority of those who have packed it in this year won't be back next year if things are the same, yet more will reach their tipping point and join them. Eventually it'll be an empty, soulless ground with just a few happy-clapper morons. It'll take time, but it'll happen. We just need to keep plugging away at people. On paper this makes sense but I believe adding to his SD woes is vital right now. Long term if we can reduce the crowds to the point that we impact him financially then that would be great, but in the short term we need to give him another problem on top of SD, and a crowd of 42k (at worst in the current state) is not that.

Rafa at Chelsea Big Sam at Everton Allardyce at West Ham too. McLaren at Newcastle Pardew at Newcastle

just don't want to pay for it or do what is require to achieve it c*** I dont think he has any interest in excellence or quality of product at all, never has done. He only knows one way.

Yep. This also lends credence to 'takeovers' being a deliberate distraction tactic too. It's the way he rolls. Yeh, thought the line about "being outmanourvered" underpins the whole interview and a lot of his behaviours. Literally telling us all that it's his MO to manipulate a situation to his advantage.

"I'm not the thickest person in the world, why wouldnt I want excellence?" Appoints Steve Bruce.

What difference do you think it makes? I think the second delay was pre meditated because of how late they left it, which suggests this was done to take the heat away and cause a welcome distraction. Which it has done.

Got to give Ashley credit for this one. He's managed to distract both sides with this interview. The focus should still be on SD.

Aye, cant wait to about that narrative for the next few years.

I think that poses a risk in the sense that Ashley doesn't want the team to do well, he just wants a platform to market these players.

This is not the message I'm conveying so I'll quit whilst I'm this far behind.

Well yeh, but that's neither here nor there. I think you might think I'm giving Ashley credit here. I'm not.

I'm absolutely against trying to survive, and as I've mentioned before Steve Bruce will ensure that is what will happen. I want this to fail because I want Ashley to f*** off, but if I look at it objectively, sans Bruce it isn't the worst strategy. But surely it depends why you’re doing it? We shouldn’t need to sell players, keep spending minimal and never try to progress. We just let a world class manager walk out the door, that tells me the ‘strategy’ does not have any place in it for sporting success. If we had a strategy of sometimes selling an asset in order to fund improvement, you might have a point. Yeh, I agree. I dont agree with the reasons hes chosen to implent this strategy. I certainly dont agree with him choosing this strategy over Rafa, my only commentary on this is that objectively speaking it's a tried an detested strategy that it being executed wrong. I'm also saying that should it work for him than he'll keep with it because hes a money hungry cunt.

What the hell is wrong with you ? 40m is a significant outlay and it doesn't look like its gonna be the only one the next few days. There is no precedent of this type of investment so I'm unsure why my perspective is so wrong. " Think the only precedent to this is the McLaren years, where we got relegated, " Lol "Lol" ffs

I'm absolutely against trying to survive, and as I've mentioned before Steve Bruce will ensure that is what will happen. I want this to fail because I want Ashley to fuck off, but if I look at it objectively, sans Bruce it isn't the worst strategy.

I can see this kind of investment once every 2 summers. Which in terms of Ashley, is regular.

What the hell is wrong with you ? I think if people think I'm endorsing this approach, I'm not. I'm just not, and never have been against it. Again, that's not me saying I'd rather this than rafa but the principle of this strategy is tried and tested at other clubs. 40m is a significant outlay and it doesn't look like its gonna be the only one the next few days. There is no precedent of this type of investment so I'm unsure why my perspective is so wrong. So the question is, when he turns a profit on these players is he just going to stop this approach?

Lolololololololololololololololol Thought I might get this. Think £40m is just too much of a gamble to be just an isolated investment. If it works out and he increases his value, then why would Ashley just stop there? Happy to have that explained to me. History... Think the only precedent to this is the McLaren years, where we got relegated, so it's not surpirsing he didnt pursue it. Plus the market wasnt as inflated as it is now. But I'm ok with accepting that you think he'll make money then chose not to continue to make money. Sounds like he chose Joelinton over Rafa which would suggest hes keener to back his scouts. Lol , go back and understand the history ... Brillaint.

:thup: :thup: