Mike Ashley and David O'Leary

[indi]

Roman Abramavich has put his coin in as you say more than anyone at any club, but do you see him going on like it..ever see him in a blue CFC shirt with JT No1 or Fat Frank on the back..NO you dont..I cannot for the life of me see why people think its cool and ok it just makes us look ridiculous and the whole episode today just sends out the message to fans of other clubs that we are a joke of one..you dont see the glazers,abramovich,randy lerner,george gillet, or any other billionaire owners behaving like this guy does, you might think its a laugh and cool that he is behaving like one of the lads..thats the whole point thats our stereotype and how the rest of the country sees us..i find it cringeworthy

 

You quite clearly haven't got a clue what you're talking about.

 

Would you prefer that our owner had links with some seriously dodgy people, murders and war-criminals and had made his money in some seriously corrupt manner, basically conning a load of poor people out of something valuable simply because they didn't know its value and were so desperate for money to survive that they were happy to get what amounted to jack shit for what it was worth?

 

Is that your idea of a perfect owner?

 

Abramovich never wears a suit either, and his fashion sense is little better than big Mike's, so your point is shite on every level.

[Wullie]

At the end of the day, if the team were doing well and we'd spent £100m, no-one would care. It's just a stick to beat him with.

 

I wouldn't enjoy sitting in the box alongside a bunch of boring corporate fuckers with no passion or interest in the game either. Good luck to him.

[kirkwdavis2001]

couldn't care less what he does at the matches, as long as he backs the manager with money, which he hasn't done since he's came in.

 

? You lot absolutely kill me!

 

I'm off to bed! Will read more of the drivel tomorrow.

[Nobby]

At the end of the day, if the team were doing well and we'd spent £100m, no-one would care. It's just a stick to beat him with.

 

I wouldn't enjoy sitting in the box alongside a bunch of boring corporate fuckers with no passion or interest in the game either. Good luck to him.

 

exactly. the whole point of him standing in the away end is for that reason. because he thought the corporate seats were boring and he wanted to join in with the songs.

[Decky]

Who gives a fuck what Ashley does on match days, its just fucking football, if he wants to drink beer and wear the shirt then fuck it, he is only being like about 45 thousand other fans in SJP. Fuck me some people would just give anything to have a dig at Ashley, KK, Wise etc, those kind of people are the fucking scum at our club tbh, they may aswell work for the Daily Star and The Sun ffs.

[Spider Jerusalem]

couldn't care less what he does at the matches, as long as he backs the manager with money, which he hasn't done since he's came in.

 

But he can neck a pint.  That's got to be worth something  .

 

He's got two days left in his third transfer window - two of which cannot be described as a great success- so after todays abbaration we should see plenty of activity.

[johnnypd]

couldn't care less what he does at the matches, as long as he backs the manager with money, which he hasn't done since he's came in.

 

But he can neck a pint.  That's got to be worth something  .

 

He's got two days left in his third transfer window - two of which cannot be described as a great success- so after todays abbaration we should see plenty of activity.

 

i hope so

[Spider Jerusalem]

couldn't care less what he does at the matches, as long as he backs the manager with money, which he hasn't done since he's came in.

 

But he can neck a pint.  That's got to be worth something  .

 

He's got two days left in his third transfer window - two of which cannot be described as a great success- so after todays abbaration we should see plenty of activity.

 

i hope so

 

Dear God so do I.

[Guest optimistic nit]

couldn't care less what he does at the matches, as long as he backs the manager with money, which he hasn't done since he's came in.

 

to be fair johnny, i'm happy with the players we've bought in this window. we need more of them, but they have been of the right quality, and i'd prefer that strategy to some of the ones we've had in the past, and other clubs have now. 10million on a defender counts a big spending in my book as well (we were not planning to sell milner at that point, i'm sure).

 

also, when you see how clubs that finished better than us last year like everton and blackburn have done, or what overspending is causing west ham to do, you see how the market has been recently. everton should have no trouble finding quality, they finished 5th, but they are, we've done better than them, much better, even without yurope, something citeh, pompey, spurs, blackburn and everton all have this season.

 

i'd love you to respond to this, because your posts are usually worth reading, but i think you're wrong here.

[sempuki]

http://i36.tinypic.com/szfwuh.gif

[Syrette]

It's debatable how many - if any - transfers Ashley himself has vetoed. The people aiming the blame for any transfer failings at him should instead be looking at the likes of Jimenez, Vetere and Keegan. Ashley just provides the money, he doesn't decide what transfers we do or don't take part in.

 

[Wullie]

It's debatable how many - if any - transfers Ashley himself has vetoed. The people aiming the blame for any transfer failings at him should instead be looking at the likes of Jimenez, Vetere and Keegan. Ashley just provides the money, he doesn't decide what transfers we do or don't take part in.

 

Indeed. Someone must take the blame if we don't get what we need but I'm not so sure it's Ashley.

 

 

[NJS]

I think him going to the games fully backs his claim if thats how to put it that he's here to enjoy it. If he was a faceless corporate entity like Sunderland's owners then the "looking for a profit" label would fit a lot more. Of course it could all be a con trick but I don't think so.

 

People have to ask themselves if they were somehow in his position would they play the suit/directors box game or do what he does?

 

My answer would be I'd probably play the good host at home games and enjoy away games with the fans.

 

(Good point on Abramovitch above)

 

 

[colinmk]

It's debatable how many - if any - transfers Ashley himself has vetoed. The people aiming the blame for any transfer failings at him should instead be looking at the likes of Jimenez, Vetere and Keegan. Ashley just provides the money, he doesn't decide what transfers we do or don't take part in.

 

 

This shouldn't even have to be pointed out. Are people really this stupid?

[NJS]

It's debatable how many - if any - transfers Ashley himself has vetoed. The people aiming the blame for any transfer failings at him should instead be looking at the likes of Jimenez, Vetere and Keegan. Ashley just provides the money, he doesn't decide what transfers we do or don't take part in.

 

 

This shouldn't even have to be pointed out. Are people really this stupid?

 

Of course you could point out the structure/appointments are down to him though.

 

 

 

[Coco]

It's debatable how many - if any - transfers Ashley himself has vetoed. The people aiming the blame for any transfer failings at him should instead be looking at the likes of Jimenez, Vetere and Keegan. Ashley just provides the money, he doesn't decide what transfers we do or don't take part in.

 

 

This shouldn't even have to be pointed out. Are people really this stupid?

 

Yes, yes they are...

 

[johnnypd]

couldn't care less what he does at the matches, as long as he backs the manager with money, which he hasn't done since he's came in.

 

to be fair johnny, i'm happy with the players we've bought in this window. we need more of them, but they have been of the right quality, and i'd prefer that strategy to some of the ones we've had in the past, and other clubs have now. 10million on a defender counts a big spending in my book as well (we were not planning to sell milner at that point, i'm sure).

 

also, when you see how clubs that finished better than us last year like everton and blackburn have done, or what overspending is causing west ham to do, you see how the market has been recently. everton should have no trouble finding quality, they finished 5th, but they are, we've done better than them, much better, even without yurope, something citeh, pompey, spurs, blackburn and everton all have this season.

 

i'd love you to respond to this, because your posts are usually worth reading, but i think you're wrong here.

 

i'm not wrong, it's a fact that on balance we've spent nowt or next to nowt in the past 3 transfer windows. we may have even made a profit in that time. sunderland have spent something like £60m in the same time. not saying spending big buys you success, as they are hardly a great side, but you can't do much more as a chairman than back your manager and so far we've simply not done that. whether everton have spent or not is out of our control, all we can do is try to be as ambitious as we can. think that we're getting £36m extra in tv money from last season and this, plus the fact we've spent nowt for 3 transfer windows, then you'd expect we'd have a huge amount to splash out but as of yet we haven't. still time for us to go out and spend £30m or £40m in the next day and i'd love that to happen, but it's going to be a challenge.

[Spider Jerusalem]

It's debatable how many - if any - transfers Ashley himself has vetoed. The people aiming the blame for any transfer failings at him should instead be looking at the likes of Jimenez, Vetere and Keegan. Ashley just provides the money, he doesn't decide what transfers we do or don't take part in.

 

 

This shouldn't even have to be pointed out. Are people really this stupid?

 

Of course you could point out the structure/appointments are down to him though.

 

 

 

 

Doesn't matter though - Ashley saved us from the Sheppard / Hall evil so is untouchable in some people's eyes.  Plus I deride his drinking abilities - I was drinking from 3:30 to 12:00 and am still here.  Where is he the big girl?  Neck one pint and that's it you lightweight (metaphorically speaking of course).

[Guest optimistic nit]

couldn't care less what he does at the matches, as long as he backs the manager with money, which he hasn't done since he's came in.

 

to be fair johnny, i'm happy with the players we've bought in this window. we need more of them, but they have been of the right quality, and i'd prefer that strategy to some of the ones we've had in the past, and other clubs have now. 10million on a defender counts a big spending in my book as well (we were not planning to sell milner at that point, i'm sure).

 

also, when you see how clubs that finished better than us last year like everton and blackburn have done, or what overspending is causing west ham to do, you see how the market has been recently. everton should have no trouble finding quality, they finished 5th, but they are, we've done better than them, much better, even without yurope, something citeh, pompey, spurs, blackburn and everton all have this season.

 

i'd love you to respond to this, because your posts are usually worth reading, but i think you're wrong here.

 

i'm not wrong, it's a fact that on balance we've spent nowt or next to nowt in the past 3 transfer windows. we may have even made a profit in that time. sunderland have spent something like £60m in the same time. not saying spending big buys you success, as they are hardly a great side, but you can't do much more as a chairman than back your manager and so far we've simply not done that. whether everton have spent or not is out of our control, all we can do is try to be as ambitious as we can. think that we're getting £36m extra in tv money from last season and this, plus the fact we've spent nowt for 3 transfer windows, then you'd expect we'd have a huge amount to splash out but as of yet we haven't. still time for us to go out and spend £30m or £40m in the next day and i'd love that to happen, but it's going to be a challenge.

 

i think we're the 4th highest spenders on wages though, and we don't even have european football. blackburn are a club with all the advantages we have and europe and are afraid to spend more than 10.

 

we have spent no money, i suppose you're right there, but i have confidence that we will spend it if we need too. around july i was thinking the same thing, that we were afraid to spend 10million on a player, but buying colo has eased those fears somewhat. keegan is always stressing that we need quality, and that we won't buy players who are not good enough, when we bought guthrie i thought that those claims were false and lies, but he's turned out to be a tidy little player.

 

maybe you are right, but i have confidence that ashley will spend if the player is there to spend it on, and until that confidence goes i'll be happy.

[johnnypd]

we spent £10m on Coloccini but then got more back by selling Faye and Milner. i really didnt think we'd be in this situation with a day or two to go in the window. we do have the 5th highest wage bill (allegedly) though there's not a great deal we can do about that in the short-term, all we can reasonably do is still spend what we would anyway and gradually shift the high earners that dont represent value for money (butt, smith, carr, duff etc) as & when we find buyers for them. clamping down on spending in the short term in order to alleviate the wage bill is imo very counter productive.

 

anyway i'm still hoping we can bring in the quality we need, surely we'll be hearing news tomorrow. if we dont i'd question how long we can keep players like martins, owen, jonas and coloccini at this club, i dont think theyd be sticking around at a club breaking even.

[Guest Coubury]

http://i36.tinypic.com/szfwuh.gif

 

already posted

[Guest optimistic nit]

we spent £10m on Coloccini but then got more back by selling Faye and Milner. i really didnt think we'd be in this situation with a day or two to go in the window. we do have the 5th highest wage bill (allegedly) though there's not a great deal we can do about that in the short-term, all we can reasonably do is still spend what we would anyway and gradually shift the high earners that dont represent value for money (butt, smith, carr, duff etc) as & when we find buyers for them. clamping down on spending in the short term in order to alleviate the wage bill is imo very counter productive.

 

anyway i'm still hoping we can bring in the quality we need, surely we'll be hearing news tomorrow. if we dont i'd question how long we can keep players like martins, owen, jonas and coloccini at this club, i dont think theyd be sticking around at a club breaking even.

 

but we wern't planning to sell either at the time, i am confident of that. i dont need us to spend money, i just need to be confident that we will spend money if we need too. spurs will have a net income from transfers if they sell berb to manure, but i still think they will spend 15million if they need too, as the sales of keane and berb are out of their control.

 

if we start selling players that i believe should have stayed at the club to finance other transfers then i will start to worry. (i believe faye should have stayed, but something is not right there imo, he wanted to go for some reason, he could have gone to many better clubs than stoke).

[Wullie]

we spent £10m on Coloccini but then got more back by selling Faye and Milner. i really didnt think we'd be in this situation with a day or two to go in the window. we do have the 5th highest wage bill (allegedly) though there's not a great deal we can do about that in the short-term, all we can reasonably do is still spend what we would anyway and gradually shift the high earners that dont represent value for money (butt, smith, carr, duff etc) as & when we find buyers for them. clamping down on spending in the short term in order to alleviate the wage bill is imo very counter productive.

 

anyway i'm still hoping we can bring in the quality we need, surely we'll be hearing news tomorrow. if we dont i'd question how long we can keep players like martins, owen, jonas and coloccini at this club, i dont think theyd be sticking around at a club breaking even.

 

Indeed. We need, at the very least, two players by Monday night who will walk into the first team and immediately improve it. That doesn't necessarily mean spending money (Jonas) but it's generally a pretty good indicator. The time for scouting and picking up cheap quality is gone and if we have to break the bank on Monday, so be it. No excuses.

[NE5]

The Ashley pint-necking/ shudder clip was cringe inducing. Just put a suit on and sit in the directors box man!

 

what was that like?

 

 

Camera focused on Ashley just after half time necking half a pint and then shuddering.

 

Did Ashley ask for the camera to focus on him at that exact point in time?

 

It just makes us look mickey mouse in my opinion.

 

the double standards of some people never ceases to amaze me always makes me smile

[Guest optimistic nit]

and i do think we need 4 more players in before we are comfortable, but personally i think we've left to little time to find the right replacements, unless we already know who we want. i think that is an error, but not one i'm going to change my opinion on ashley for.