Can we compete with Manchester City?

[McCormick]

We should be able to compete with them but lets not compete with them for the signing of Ronaldinho, way past his best, would want a massive wage he is the kind of mercenary that we do not want..

 

Thing is though Skirge, as soon as City sign someone like Ronaldinho, then it becomes that little bit harder to compete with them for others.

 

Exactly... i'm wondering whether if we bid for ronaldinho, would we make the money back via shirt sales and foreign interest anyway (ala a certain david beckham with la galaxy)?

[Skirge]

We should be able to compete with them but lets not compete with them for the signing of Ronaldinho, way past his best, would want a massive wage he is the kind of mercenary that we do not want..

 

Thing is though Skirge, as soon as City sign someone like Ronaldinho, then it becomes that little bit harder to compete with them for others.

 

Aye maybe, but I think a lot of the footballing world do not hold him is such high regard anymore, he will join the club willing to pay him the highest wage he won't join any of the top 4-5 clubs on the Prem purely because they have no interest in signing him. For a club like Man City though signing him would help attract bigger crowds maybe more shirt sales too but I think we need to be aiming higher than that and looking at players at the top of their game or at least with their best years ahead of them.

[thenige]

I think the club are finally getting to the place where they want to be, stopping spending ridiculous wages on players - signing albeit a world class player for 200k wouldn't really make much sense to be honest.

[James]

Although Ashley is the richer owner, I suspect that both Thai Frank Sinatra and Alex Gaydamak have more cash available to freespend, whereas Ashley's wealth is within his businesses. If these suspicions are true, it means that both Portsmouth and Man City can afford bigger investments on riskier assets than we can.

[Guest optimistic nit]

Or they'd spin it into another Ashley/Wise/Vetere/Jimenez/Hitler against Keegan article.

 

 

aye, and considering citeh we're interested in rohnaldinho a long time ago, the chances of this being a hughes signing are pretty damn low.

 

 

Cracking post, Gromit.

 

I'd take Ronaldinho in a flash, and do think we'd have a chance to sign him if we bid.

 

even for 200K a week?

 

 

We should be able to compete with them but lets not compete with them for the signing of Ronaldinho, way past his best, would want a massive wage he is the kind of mercenary that we do not want..

 

Thing is though Skirge, as soon as City sign someone like Ronaldinho, then it becomes that little bit harder to compete with them for others.

 

aye but there are a lot of good players out there if you know where to look, and while sven did, i'm not convinced Hughes has as great a knowlage of the international game.

 

i'd rather we tried to make newcastle an attractive club in different ways tbh. we shouldn't be scared to sign players for 15-20 million and 70-80K a week but only if they are worth it.

if we're still in a situation whereby in 2 years we're still handing out 60K a week contracts to players such as smith then i'll probably cry myself to death.

[Kimbo]

Ronaldinho to City would be potentially the best move in history, but also potentially the biggest disaster. What if he continues his lazy party lifestyle, City would be left pissing away 200k a week.

[Cronky]

Quotes from Thaksin as well in the morning papers roday that if it is neccessary they will spend £200m over the next 3 years.

 

Mr Shinawatra doesn't seem to realise that you can easily spend £200 million over three years and still finish fifth.

 

[Guest optimistic nit]

he's worth less than 650 according to the sunday times rich list as well, or does he have a secret stash?

[Guest optimistic nit]

one of the things that i didn't mention about building a reputation this way btw, is that any potential signing from now on will cost an extra few million more than if they thought citeh were skint and will want an extra 20% or so more wages.

[Unbelievable]

I´m amazed that some people on here talk about Ronaldinho as if he´s completely finished. He´s just turned 28 ffs and is a double World Player of the Year winner. What´s more, his game was never really about pace, so I fail to see why he couldn´t be amongst the best players in Europe for years to come.. He pisses all over our squad, and I would much, much rather pay him 200k a week than spend it on Barton, Smith and Geremi..

[maze]

Ronaldinho to City would be potentially the best move in history, but also potentially the biggest disaster. What if he continues his lazy party lifestyle, City would be left pissing away 200k a week.

 

this. But just head back a season, Thaksin brought in SGE to manage City, although their form was worse after x-mas than before last season, SGE managed to finish at the best position in the club's history. Still he was sacked. Imho they should have kept SGE, and just built on that. If Man City's form (and squad) had been ours, I'd be a very happy man. To me Thaksin just seems to be the man who's gonna drive City straight to hell in the long-term.

[Skirge]

I doubt very much that Mike Ashley wants to wage bill cut so he can blow the money saved on the wages of one player, and thats what we would be doing if we signed him not to mention the stupid amount you would still have to pay Barca for him..

If thats what competing with Man City is then we are doomed..

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

We've put all our eggs in one basket before and it doesn't work. What happens if he gets injured? All that money a week for someone not playing. Spread the risk and wages across 3 or 4 good players rather than one world class one. The fact that the Barcelona fans don't seem bothered about losing Ronaldinho speaks volumes. I remember they were happy to get rid of Kluivert and we found out why.

 

As for signing Ronaldinho helping attracting other good players to a club, isn't Michael Owen supposed to do that for us?

[1878]

Can you really see Ronaldinho, who was indulged and allowed to miss training at one of the biggest clubs in the world, stepping down to Man City and having a good working relationship with Mark Hughes?

 

It'll all end in tears. They'll sell a shitload of merchandise along the way though.

[Ericz]

Thaksin is a shrewd businessman. I am sure he knows what he is doing. Right or wrong, only time will tell. At the moment, all I can say is he must have done some maths.

 

On the other hand, it can also be down to management style and business philosophy. Yellow-skins are willing to take more risks than Europeans in general. Mike Ashley tends to be more cautious in his approach in managing the club. Again, right or wrong, only time will tell.

 

As for Ronaldinho, whilst he is a good player in the past, currently, he may not be the best and will he return to the best is a big question mark? His shirts are certainly not the best seller too. David Beckam in the past commanded a lot more shirt sales and advertising opportunities and that is why Real Madrid was smart to sign him. Also there are other questions to be asked in Ronaldinho's situation... i.e. How many clubs are willing and able to pay his transfer fees and wage demands? Manchester City are willing to because they have an agenda behind. (What calculations they are making? I'm not intelligent enough to tell the whole story to be honest. I don't think it's that simple.)

 

Personally, I would rather Newcastle United steer clear of Ronaldinho (but partly because I'm not a very big risk taker). I still lament the fact that we missed out on Lassana Diarra. With the amount of money splashed out for Ronaldinho, we can perhaps do more with new and young upcoming players who have unfulfilled potential. Money makes the world goes round and I strongly believe in that. It's the same with soccer today. Soccer is run as a business now.

 

(Edited my post - PS: I'm a yellow-skin. It's a fact. I don't think there's anything racist in it. (Or maybe I should use the term 'Oriental in descend'? - Don't wish to do double-posting in such a short period of time.)

[Kimbo]

He's a shrewd businessman but he can't get away with what he did in Thailand over here. In Thailand he would just eliminate the competition and threaten Ronaldinho with death if he didn't join.

[Fugazi]

Thaksin is a shrewd businessman. I am sure he knows what he is doing. Right or wrong, only time will tell. At the moment, all I can say is he must have done some maths.

 

On the other hand, it can also be down to management style and business philosophy. Yellow-skins are willing to take more risks than Europeans in general. Mike Ashley tends to be more cautious in his approach in managing the club. Again, right or wrong, only time will tell.

 

As for Ronaldinho, whilst he is a good player in the past, currently, he may not be the best and will he return to the best is a big question mark? Also there are other questions to be asked... i.e. How many clubs are willing and able to pay his transfer fees and wage demands? Manchester City are willing to because they have an agenda behind. (What calculations they are making? I'm not intelligent enough to tell the whole story to be honest. I don't think it's that simple.)

 

Personally, I would rather Newcastle United steer clear of Ronaldinho (but partly because I'm not a very big risk taker). I still lament the fact that we missed out on Lassana Diarra. With the amount of money splashed out for Ronaldinho, we can perhaps do more with new and young upcoming players who have unfulfilled potential. Money makes the world goes round and I strongly believe in that. It's the same with soccer today.

 

[Skeletor]

I wouldn't buy him. He's past it and umotivated.

[Dokko]

Us sign Ronaldinho?  mackems.gif

 

Us signing a player of any worth right now would be a near miracle.

 

 

 

 

[Unbelievable]

Ashley and Co have got you all exactly where they want it seems with the braindrain of keeping the wage bill under control and putting in place a sensible scouting approach. Rather than wanting to see the best possible players appear in the black and white shirt the majority of the fans is more concerned with keeping the wage bill neat and tidy and the balance in check. Whilst I admit it is important to be financially intelligent in planning for success and a good scouting team can yield important results, there is no denying the players we put out every week are below par if we (and Ashley) want to achieve our aims. Scouting youngsters is by no means an easy way to success as well. Almost all other clubs do it, so what´s to say we will achieve in attracting the best possible talents in the world to here instead of to the big four or in the first team of their current club?

 

Other clubs that we are in direct competition with are taking risks and spending big, which means we will only fall further behind the ones that succeed if we don´t. Of course some will fail, but you have to be in it to win it, and at this point in time if we are not prepared to take some risks we will go nowhere. There is still time in this transfer window, and I´m not saying we will not attract any quality players, but if Man City get Ronaldinho the way Spurs got Modric we will have to spend big to consolidate our midtable status, let alone move forward. When Ashley first came here people were adament the only way Ashley could get a profit from us was by bringing us success and that big spendings were going to be needed. Things have changed in the minds of people apparently, and now it is other clubs deploying the strategy that seemed appropriate for us at the time, yet somehow they are being ridiculed for taking risks because they may not pay off. So far, I am impressed by the levels of ambitions shown by other clubs outside the top 4 (Spurs, Portsmouth, City) and slightly underwhelmed by our own. I hope the board prove me wrong.

[Guest MaetihS]

He's a shrewd businessman but he can't get away with what he did in Thailand over here. In Thailand he would just eliminate the competition and threaten Ronaldinho with death if he didn't join.

 

This is a very foolish statement. I have businesses in Thailand and my feedback/feel is that he was a very good prime minister, steering the economy to one of its best runs in recent history. The foreigners including myself have a lot of confidence in him when the country is under his stewardship. After he was forced out by the military coup, i pulled out my investments as many of the foreigners did. I remembered i was in a taxi on the way to the airport, the thai taxi driver was lamenting that he was forced out, interestingly, he said he knows that there is some kind of corruption in terms of benefiting his family but he does not care if the country is growing strongly. He gathers a lot of support from the poor while the middle-high income are not happy with him cos he favours the poor, distributing wealth from the rich to the poor in his many policies. In any case, he is a very smart man and am sure if he wants the Ron and pay him loads, he has his sums. His record of business is almost 100%, a record of successes.

[Guest MaetihS]

Ashley and Co have got you all exactly where they want it seems with the braindrain of keeping the wage bill under control and putting in place a sensible scouting approach. Rather than wanting to see the best possible players appear in the black and white shirt the majority of the fans is more concerned with keeping the wage bill neat and tidy and the balance in check. Whilst I admit it is important to be financially intelligent in planning for success and a good scouting team can yield important results, there is no denying the players we put out every week are below par if we (and Ashley) want to achieve our aims. Scouting youngsters is by no means an easy way to success as well. Almost all other clubs do it, so what´s to say we will achieve in attracting the best possible talents in the world to here instead of to the big four or in the first team of their current club?

 

Other clubs that we are in direct competition with are taking risks and spending big, which means we will only fall further behind the ones that succeed if we don´t. Of course some will fail, but you have to be in it to win it, and at this point in time if we are not prepared to take some risks we will go nowhere. There is still time in this transfer window, and I´m not saying we will not attract any quality players, but if Man City get Ronaldinho the way Spurs got Modric we will have to spend big to consolidate our midtable status, let alone move forward. When Ashley first came here people were adament the only way Ashley could get a profit from us was by bringing us success and that big spendings were going to be needed. Things have changed in the minds of people apparently, and now it is other clubs deploying the strategy that seemed appropriate for us at the time, yet somehow they are being ridiculed for taking risks because they may not pay off. So far, I am impressed by the levels of ambitions shown by other clubs outside the top 4 (Spurs, Portsmouth, City) and slightly underwhelmed by our own. I hope the board prove me wrong.

 

agreed.

[Parky]

I wouldn't buy him. He's past it and umotivated.

[Liam Liam Liam O]

He's a shrewd businessman but he can't get away with what he did in Thailand over here. In Thailand he would just eliminate the competition and threaten Ronaldinho with death if he didn't join.

 

This is a very foolish statement. I have businesses in Thailand and my feedback/feel is that he was a very good prime minister, steering the economy to one of its best runs in recent history. The foreigners including myself have a lot of confidence in him when the country is under his stewardship. After he was forced out by the military coup, i pulled out my investments as many of the foreigners did. I remembered i was in a taxi on the way to the airport, the thai taxi driver was lamenting that he was forced out, interestingly, he said he knows that there is some kind of corruption in terms of benefiting his family but he does not care if the country is growing strongly. He gathers a lot of support from the poor while the middle-high income are not happy with him cos he favours the poor, distributing wealth from the rich to the poor in his many policies. In any case, he is a very smart man and am sure if he wants the Ron and pay him loads, he has his sums. His record of business is almost 100%, a record of successes.

 

This bloke yeah?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaksin_Shinawatra

[Guest MaetihS]

He's a shrewd businessman but he can't get away with what he did in Thailand over here. In Thailand he would just eliminate the competition and threaten Ronaldinho with death if he didn't join.

 

This is a very foolish statement. I have businesses in Thailand and my feedback/feel is that he was a very good prime minister, steering the economy to one of its best runs in recent history. The foreigners including myself have a lot of confidence in him when the country is under his stewardship. After he was forced out by the military coup, i pulled out my investments as many of the foreigners did. I remembered i was in a taxi on the way to the airport, the thai taxi driver was lamenting that he was forced out, interestingly, he said he knows that there is some kind of corruption in terms of benefiting his family but he does not care if the country is growing strongly. He gathers a lot of support from the poor while the middle-high income are not happy with him cos he favours the poor, distributing wealth from the rich to the poor in his many policies. In any case, he is a very smart man and am sure if he wants the Ron and pay him loads, he has his sums. His record of business is almost 100%, a record of successes.

 

This bloke yeah?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaksin_Shinawatra

not even bothered to read the wiki. no offence, some of the stuff written are just plain rubbish so have stopped reading stuff from Wiki. In any case, do not believe everything u read especially asian politics whereby the media is very much controlled by the government.