Joey Barton (now retired)

[JH]

Whilst I see where you're coming from midds, the biggest issue here is the influence those two had on the dressing room and our last couple of seasons. Alongside Carroll and Enrique, they were two of our better players.

 

At the very least we should be replacing them. But we won't see a right winger this Summer, I'm sure of it. Or a striker.

[MW]

Must admit I've got less of a problem seeing Barton and Nolan leave than I have of seeing Enrique and Carroll leave. Mostly due to their respective ages and wages.

 

Barton and Nolan are getting on a bit, have the best years of their careers behind them and are were on pretty big money. Giving them extensions (on their current terms or better) would have been mad. I'll admit that we could have been a bit more flexible when trying to keep them on but if they had dug their heels in and not been willing to take a cut in wages then fair enough - it's lunacy to pay older players massive money.

 

Carroll and Enrique are different. They're much younger, they've got the best years of their career ahead of them. Giving them a big money contract would have been more appropriate. We should have been building the team around these 2.

 

 

 

Everyone knew Enrique was off,Nolan was a bit out of the blue but meh, barton was disappointing, but can't say i was overly shocked, Carroll leaving was possibly my worst feeling as an NUFC fan, absolutely gutting, really didn't think he was off.

 

I agree with the sale of Nolan (considering what he wanted/money got for/better replacement hopefully)

 

The others should all be here if we were a club going forward. its shite but we need to accept we're a 100% selling club.

 

1 year ago i was adamant that we have a tight group of lads who were dedicated to the cause, and would be here for years. now I don't expect anyone to stay, as I know as soon as a decent offer comes in, we'll sell, and I don't blame them for leaving.

 

sad times

[Interpolic]

I think Obertan is Barton's replacement.  Will be fuming if we don't get a left back and striker.

[MW]

#attheendoftheday

 

we've probably improved where we wanted had we kept out squad from 2011.

 

however, we've also sold people who were indispensable imo and it will be tough to improve

[midds]

Whilst I see where you're coming from midds, the biggest issue here is the influence those two had on the dressing room and our last couple of seasons.

 

At least we should be replacing them. But we won't see a right winger this Summer, I'm sure of it. Or a striker.

 

I honestly think it's a little bit overplayed tbh.

 

"Just because you are a character doesn't mean that you have character..."

[ponsaelius]

I think Obertan is Barton's replacement.  Will be fuming if we don't get a left back and striker.

 

Honestly think we'll get a left back and a striker. Barton going doesn't change that for me.

 

Like you say though, will literally be spitting fire if we don't.

[JH]

Whilst I see where you're coming from midds, the biggest issue here is the influence those two had on the dressing room and our last couple of seasons.

 

At least we should be replacing them. But we won't see a right winger this Summer, I'm sure of it. Or a striker.

 

I honestly think it's a little bit overplayed tbh.

 

"Just because you are a character doesn't mean that you have character..."

 

See the edit. I meant being amongst our best players

[Interpolic]

#attheendoftheday

 

we've probably improved where we wanted had we kept out squad from 2011.

 

however, we've also sold people who were indispensable imo and it will be tough to improve

 

Our set of strikers is absolutely appalling, probably worse than what we started the Championship season with.

[JH]

We're two bodies (at least) down on what was our already quality-thin squad.

 

That's an issue.

[MW]

#attheendoftheday

 

we've probably improved where we wanted had we kept out squad from 2011.

 

however, we've also sold people who were indispensable imo and it will be tough to improve

 

Our set of strikers is absolutely appalling, probably worse than what we started the Championship season with.

 

Exactly, what I mean is Ba is the minimum improvement we would have hoped for at the start of 2011, with Carroll

[Guest Haris Vuckic]

Whilst I see where you're coming from midds, the biggest issue here is the influence those two had on the dressing room and our last couple of seasons.

 

At least we should be replacing them. But we won't see a right winger this Summer, I'm sure of it. Or a striker.

 

I honestly think it's a little bit overplayed tbh.

 

"Just because you are a character doesn't mean that you have character..."

 

A quote!

 

MIDDS IS JOEY

 

http://memeshack.com/myfacewhen/MyFaceWhen_1300827047813.png

 

 

[tmonkey]

I think it's a bit rich to assume that Barton and Nolan wouldn't have taken similar wages for modest extentions to their contracts without taking into account all of the other s*** that's clearly went on here.

 

Nolan was promised a certain deal in early-ish 2011 and that promise was broken and an entirely different offer was made in the summer.  Barton wasn't signing his deal so the club took the huff and publically withdrew it, later making him available for a free transfer.

 

People saying "Barton/Nolan have been given a 5 year deal on £60k a week, we could never match that" are totally missing the point.  We don't necessarily need to have matched what they've now been given.  A bit of honesty, respect and even charm in negotiations would have went a long way, but our board don't possess these attributes.  Completely fed up with the classless way the club conducts itself.

 

I think Ashley and Llambias are c***s. But, I wonder if they act this way because they view everybody in the entire business as c***s? We all know the owners, agents, journalists and the majority of players in this business are absolute pricks - so I wonder if these 2 don't feel the need to give anybody any form of respect or class but just crash around being c***s to everybody?

 

I'd love to be a fly on the wall and see the way some of the people involved in the game go on behind close doors.

 

Of course they do man. The majority of people in the business are c***s. You've nailed it mate. Include supporters in that as well though.

 

100% agree.

 

Just playing devil's advocate here, so don't shoot me down, but if I were Ashley I'd simply laugh at all of these fans whinging about lack of squad depth, not spending money, etc etc. Remember the start of the Championship season when we spent literally nowt on new players (just Lovenkrands on a free iirc) and sold off every bit of valuable talent this club had? Internet boards like these were filled with doom and gloom, and practically everyone, even the "experts" in the media (pundits, ex-players, ex-managers, etc etc) were saying we'd struggle badly in the "tough" Championship with no manager and a squad with gaping holes (complimented by the unwanted dross on high wages that no other club wanted to touch with a barge pole). Yet we coasted to promotion at the first attempt without even so much as a bump.

 

The exact same set of criticisms were then out in force again the following summer, albiet to a lesser extent due to the sheer thrill of being back in the Premiership. E.g. many people were concerned about our attacking options given that Carroll was as of yet unproven at that level, the need to bring proven goalscorers in, etc etc. Pretty soon things went from "zomg we're not spending adequately, we're relying on s*** on Championship players, etc etc" to "wow, we actually have a decent Premiership squad". By the end of the season after the Carroll sale (£35m for a player who many thought wouldn't be good enough at this level only 6 months ago, and then these same people moan about the sale, lololol you fucktard fans), after being told the club has no good strikers, suddenly everyone realises that Leon Best is actually decent in the Premiership. So it's just the same story all over again - "not good enough, criminal lack of spending" in the summer, followed by "wow, the team is alright, I didn't realise player X/Y/Z would be decent" a few months later.

 

So yeah, if I were Ashley, I'd question the judgement of the fans/experts, because twice in a row I've been told I'm doing everything wrong yet in reality things have gone pretty well. And fwiw I'd also blame the relegation season as being a one-off extraordinary event kick started by Keegan walking out on "me" and the fans acting like dicks with their death threats. Even if you want to blame the relegation on "me", on a season-by-season basis it's still 2-1 in my favour in terms of who's getting things right.

 

http://www.retail-week.com/pictures/586xAny/9/7/8/1245978_Mike_Ashley_2007.jpg

 

"Fans. All you do is whinge. You have zero experience of running or owning a club. You whinge even when you're wrong. STFU".

[Interpolic]

#attheendoftheday

 

we've probably improved where we wanted had we kept out squad from 2011.

 

however, we've also sold people who were indispensable imo and it will be tough to improve

 

Our set of strikers is absolutely appalling, probably worse than what we started the Championship season with.

 

Exactly, what I mean is Ba is the minimum improvement we would have hoped for at the start of 2011, with Carroll

 

Ah I see, fair enough.

[TRon]

Piss off Barton, you won't be missed.

 

Please quote me on that in 12 months time anyone who disagrees.

 

Otherwise kindly fuck off.

 

 

[TaylorJ_01]

annoyance disapproval disdain

[ponsaelius]

[Guest bimpy474]

[Guest Haris Vuckic]

:dance: :dance: :yorkie: :yorkie: :wave:

[Ikon]

I just got the William Wallace feeling in this thread, almost everyone on the battlefield is dead and it's just soo calm and quiet right now.

[Interpolic]

It's TRon man, people have been shocked into silence.

[Nobody]

Piss off Barton, you won't be missed.

 

Please quote me on that in 12 months time anyone who disagrees.

 

Otherwise kindly fuck off.

 

 

Can't believe I'm the first one to quote this!

Of course we'll miss him, as we won't replace him. Utter disgrace to let him go after the games he has had, by now all parties should have left the past behind us.

[ohmelads]

Couldn't care less about the politics. We're losing a good player who produced on the pitch for us. He won't be replaced. Not now, and probably not in 5 months time.

 

We need a striker, left back, right winger - all Premier League first team quality. 3 signings, 6 days left. Does anyone seriously think we'll find better than Carroll, Enrique and Barton? Does anyone even think we'll sign 3 more players?? This is a massive blow, no point pretending otherwise.

[chicago_shearer]

The last straw was many, many straws ago, so it's difficult to care about this one.

[johnnypd]

Couldn't care less about the politics. We're losing a good player who produced on the pitch for us. He won't be replaced. Not now, and probably not in 5 months time.

 

We need a striker, left back, right winger - all Premier League first team quality. 3 signings, 6 days left. Does anyone seriously think we'll find better than Carroll, Enrique and Barton? Does anyone even think we'll sign 3 more players?? This is a massive blow, no point pretending otherwise.

 

spot on as usual.

[Ameritoon]

The last straw was many, many straws ago, so it's difficult to care about this one.

 

Is a straw ever really cared about though? I mean, what kind of straw are we talking about. A straw of wheat? Because that has huge implications on your local farmer, but your typical straw? The only time I care about those is if the Albanian lady at Taco Bell forgets to give me one.