Joey Barton

[Zero]

If QPR & West Ham had offered what the players were probably valued at in terms of wages, they'd not have joined them in a million years.

 

If we'd offered what the players were valued at in terms of wages and contracts, I believe they'd still be here.

 

You think Nolan & Barton are worth more than staying here on contracts until 2014 on £40-50k do you?

 

Money is never an issue for JH and Dave.  Give up.

[Dave]

If QPR & West Ham had offered what the players were probably valued at in terms of wages, they'd not have joined them in a million years.

 

If we'd offered what the players were valued at in terms of wages and contracts, I believe they'd still be here.

 

You think Nolan & Barton are worth more than staying here on contracts until 2014 on £40-50k do you?

 

Money is never an issue for JH and Dave.  Give up.

 

 

That's right, I long for the day we 'do a Portsmouth' etc. Keep telling yourself that.

[PineBarrens]

The worst aspect of this stuff and nonsense is we should all be basking in the warm afterglow of yet another heartening derby win against the pallion stallions, yet instead we're reduced to quibbling about the running of this football club - I detest that blubbering mess and his mute-like assistant for that alone.

[JH]

If QPR & West Ham had offered what the players were probably valued at in terms of wages, they'd not have joined them in a million years.

 

If we'd offered what the players were valued at in terms of wages and contracts, I believe they'd still be here.

 

You think Nolan & Barton are worth more than staying here on contracts until 2014 on £40-50k do you?

 

Money is never an issue for JH and Dave.  Give up.

 

I love this forum sometimes.

 

Aye, I'd have given Nolan and Barton six-year contracts on £100k per week. fuck it, might as well give Shola the same.

[Guest]

If QPR & West Ham had offered what the players were probably valued at in terms of wages, they'd not have joined them in a million years.

 

If we'd offered what the players were valued at in terms of wages and contracts, I believe they'd still be here.

 

You think Nolan & Barton are worth more than staying here on contracts until 2014 on £40-50k do you?

 

What? Where did I say that? Who knows what they were offered. We're all speculating here.

 

You've just said you think if we'd offered what they were valued at, they'd have stayed. I think it's pretty obvious from what West Ham paid Nolan, and what Barton is now on at QPR coupled with what McKay said in April/May that this isn't the case.

[Beren]

If QPR & West Ham had offered what the players were probably valued at in terms of wages, they'd not have joined them in a million years.

 

I can't see how you can say/believe that with such steadfast conviction. Especially re: Barton.

[Yorkie]

Infuriated by this. In Barton-Tiote-Cabaye we finally had a centre-mid that would absolutely dominate the majority of others in the league. Hey ho, two steps backward.

[Guest]

If QPR & West Ham had offered what the players were probably valued at in terms of wages, they'd not have joined them in a million years.

 

I can't see how you can say/believe that with such steadfast conviction. Especially re: Barton.

 

Do you think Nolan would have left for West Ham if they hadn't offered him £55k a week for 5-years?

Do you think Barton would have left for QPR if they hadn't offered him £80k a week?

[JH]

If QPR & West Ham had offered what the players were probably valued at in terms of wages, they'd not have joined them in a million years.

 

If we'd offered what the players were valued at in terms of wages and contracts, I believe they'd still be here.

 

You think Nolan & Barton are worth more than staying here on contracts until 2014 on £40-50k do you?

 

What? Where did I say that? Who knows what they were offered. We're all speculating here.

 

You've just said you think if we'd offered what they were valued at, they'd have stayed. I think it's pretty obvious from what West Ham paid Nolan, and what Barton is now on at QPR coupled with what McKay said in April/May that this isn't the case.

 

And what has what they were offered got to do with what they are worth?

 

I think both would have stayed if given a fair option to stay.

[Guest]

If QPR & West Ham had offered what the players were probably valued at in terms of wages, they'd not have joined them in a million years.

 

If we'd offered what the players were valued at in terms of wages and contracts, I believe they'd still be here.

 

You think Nolan & Barton are worth more than staying here on contracts until 2014 on £40-50k do you?

 

What? Where did I say that? Who knows what they were offered. We're all speculating here.

 

You've just said you think if we'd offered what they were valued at, they'd have stayed. I think it's pretty obvious from what West Ham paid Nolan, and what Barton is now on at QPR coupled with what McKay said in April/May that this isn't the case.

 

And what has what they were offered got to do with what they are worth?

 

I think both would have stayed if given a fair option to stay.

 

This is where we disagree then.

[Beren]

If QPR & West Ham had offered what the players were probably valued at in terms of wages, they'd not have joined them in a million years.

 

I can't see how you can say/believe that with such steadfast conviction. Especially re: Barton.

 

Do you think Nolan would have left for West Ham if they hadn't offered him £55k a week for 5-years?

Do you think Barton would have left for QPR if they hadn't offered him £80k a week?

 

Nolan - I assume not, but don't know with any certainty.

 

Barton - I assume he would have left for less - again with no certainty, but more power to him/his agent for negotiating that much.

[JH]

If QPR & West Ham had offered what the players were probably valued at in terms of wages, they'd not have joined them in a million years.

 

If we'd offered what the players were valued at in terms of wages and contracts, I believe they'd still be here.

 

You think Nolan & Barton are worth more than staying here on contracts until 2014 on £40-50k do you?

 

What? Where did I say that? Who knows what they were offered. We're all speculating here.

 

You've just said you think if we'd offered what they were valued at, they'd have stayed. I think it's pretty obvious from what West Ham paid Nolan, and what Barton is now on at QPR coupled with what McKay said in April/May that this isn't the case.

 

And what has what they were offered got to do with what they are worth?

 

I think both would have stayed if given a fair option to stay.

 

This is where we disagree then.

 

Really?!

[Sifu]

Infuriated by this. In Barton-Tiote-Cabaye we finally had a centre-mid that would absolutely dominate the majority of others in the league. Hey ho, two steps backward.

 

[powellnufc]

Would Nolan get into our first 11 team sheet right now, with Tiote and Cabaye in the centre, no chance, so why keep him in a relatively large contract when someone like Gosling would be more then adequate replacement

[Interpolic]

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 shit 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.

[Guest bimpy474]

'Bartons's greedy, Keegan's greedy, Shearer's greedy, Nolan's greedy, Carroll's greedy, Enrique's greedy...la,la,la,la,la,la,la,la,la not listening' ad f***ing infinitum.

 

Barton - Left for a much bigger wage than he merits

Keegan - The club were proven wrong here

Shearer - Contract was up, he hadn't exactly shown signs of being much of a manager to get us up, don't see an issue here.

Nolan - Left for a much bigger wage and length contract than he merits.

Carroll - We got a lot more than his market value, he got a massive payrise, joined a bigger club.

Enrique - Wouldn't sign new contract, joined a bigger club.

 

Nothing to do with the club then? Thought not...

 

Your seeing it black and white, as many have said there is blame on all sides, your just ranting away, you have some valid points but they are being lost in your anger.

 

Okay, let's take Barton. The board in a fit of pique put a valuable member of the team on what is essentially a free transfer. Nolan I wouldn't have given the length of contract, but his comments about promises made sound depressingly familiar. Keegan was vindicated by an industrial injuries tribunal. Enrique may well have refused to sign a new contract but had made it abundantly clear that he believed the club lacked ambition. The Carroll deal moneywise was a very good deal, but is looking less like one every day without an adequate strikeforce. Shearer presumably wanted more than ju-ju beans and a curly-wurly as his transfer budget (or wanted £700 million for Messi et al depending who you believe).

 

So no, it's not black and white, but with every exit through the door the ringing chimes of 'mercenary' or 'greedy' is as disheartening as it is groundhog day-esque. Yes, everyone knows footballers can be greedy and arseholes to boot, but I'd wager that the underlying problem is more to do with Ashley's complete and utter lack of ambition. And again, although there's nothing you or I can do about that does not make it right or acceptable. The t***'s making supporting this club a sufferance than a labour of love.

 

Agree with most of what you put there mate, Carroll is the only one i blame more than any other, he only just signed a new contract, hears of Liverpools interest and asked for more, i made the board right on that one, Nolan again i think they made the right decision, not sure about how it was handled, Barton didn't need to muck about in January when he could have signed but he should not have been allowed to leave for me, Jose was always off for soemone else imo.

 

Just so happens they have all secured more money elsewhere, not sure that makes them greedy as such, only at Carrolls door would i lay that.

 

I just dont lay all the blame at dumb and dumbers door, fair chunk but not all of it.

 

Oh I concur, it would be nonsensical to lay the blame for every single thing that's gone wrong with NUFC, and actually believe it's a sensible thing to try and reduce the wage bill to a manageable level (even though such prudent measures are probably more to do with NUFC being primed for a sale at some point), but seemingly everytime things seem to be going okay at the club he, intentionally or otherwise, sticks his fat, useless oar in and makes a balls up of it - Kinnear, the Keegan fiasco, sports direct signage, re-naming rights, no capital outlay, binning Hughton etc. He's obviously a very successful businessman, but when it comes to running this football club he's like the anti-midas - everything he touches turns to s***.

 

Oh hell yeah, Ashley does indeed have the fuck things up for no reason gene flowing through him, the man does take idiot to a new level, if only he would just talk to us and some of the flak he gets would ease.

[jdckelly]

if you believe the sun Barton is hopeful the club turns around last minute and offers him a new deal

[Cajun]

'Bartons's greedy, Keegan's greedy, Shearer's greedy, Nolan's greedy, Carroll's greedy, Enrique's greedy...la,la,la,la,la,la,la,la,la not listening' ad f***ing infinitum.

 

Barton - Left for a much bigger wage than he merits

Keegan - The club were proven wrong here

Shearer - Contract was up, he hadn't exactly shown signs of being much of a manager to get us up, don't see an issue here.

Nolan - Left for a much bigger wage and length contract than he merits.

Carroll - We got a lot more than his market value, he got a massive payrise, joined a bigger club.

Enrique - Wouldn't sign new contract, joined a bigger club.

 

Nothing to do with the club then? Thought not...

 

Your seeing it black and white, as many have said there is blame on all sides, your just ranting away, you have some valid points but they are being lost in your anger.

 

Okay, let's take Barton. The board in a fit of pique put a valuable member of the team on what is essentially a free transfer. Nolan I wouldn't have given the length of contract, but his comments about promises made sound depressingly familiar. Keegan was vindicated by an industrial injuries tribunal. Enrique may well have refused to sign a new contract but had made it abundantly clear that he believed the club lacked ambition. The Carroll deal moneywise was a very good deal, but is looking less like one every day without an adequate strikeforce. Shearer presumably wanted more than ju-ju beans and a curly-wurly as his transfer budget (or wanted £700 million for Messi et al depending who you believe).

 

So no, it's not black and white, but with every exit through the door the ringing chimes of 'mercenary' or 'greedy' is as disheartening as it is groundhog day-esque. Yes, everyone knows footballers can be greedy and arseholes to boot, but I'd wager that the underlying problem is more to do with Ashley's complete and utter lack of ambition. And again, although there's nothing you or I can do about that does not make it right or acceptable. The t***'s making supporting this club a sufferance than a labour of love.

 

I'm yet to see one person call them greedy or a mercenary btw. Plenty of people understanding why they'd take a payrise in two cases, or join a bigger club in the other two.

 

You only need to look at previous posts on this very forum to see Enrique, Carroll and Nolan having those very same epiphets tossed in their general direction, liberally or otherwise. Again though, it's missing the underlying reason why - Ashley has no ambition for this club and seemingly could not care less where the club finishes as long as we avoid relegation.

 

And yet two of those players are quite happy to join a recently relegated team, and a team who'll be lucky to survive...cool.

 

Which reinforces my point - they'd rather join such clubs that at least have a sliver of ambition than stay at a club they know, or at least feel, won't be going anywhere. No alarms and no suprises, as Mr Yorke once opined.

 

I'll bet you £50 that QPR & West Ham don't finish above Newcastle for as long as Barton & Nolan are there.

 

As long as Warlock Warnock and Easter Island noggin are in charge of those respective clubs, I wouldn't even bet you a pair of orthopaedic shoes that even Norwich won't finish ahead of them. If you're going to question the stature or current staus of the clubs they've joined or about to join, what on earth does that say about us? It's the equivalent of your lass finishing you for a speccy 18 stone geek with a WOW obsession, laughing heartily at him then thinking to yourself, 'hang on...'

 

These ambitious clubs have managers that won't progress them? Hmm surely ambitious clubs won't accept that?

 

And who's to say they'll last long there? As long as Ashley remains in charge of NUFC this club will get nowhere. The model was Arsenal, now we're Wigan Athletic with a cold breeze.

 

See these 'dramatic' over reactions make any debates pointless. First we are less ambitious than West Ham and QPR, now are are the new Wigan. Next we will be the team Stevenage dreaded they could become or the place Luton fought against becoming.

 

We have players like Krul, Colo, Taylor, Williamson, Marveaux, Jonas, Cabaye, Gosling, Obertan, Tiote, Ba, Ben Arfa etc.. who would walk into these "ambitious" sides (and I have missed a few), in fact they would wank themselves to death to get a sniff of a few of them because they would never get a chance.

 

A lot really put us down and have little respect for a lot of the fantastic players we have attracted despite out horrendous lack of ambition.

[PineBarrens]

'Bartons's greedy, Keegan's greedy, Shearer's greedy, Nolan's greedy, Carroll's greedy, Enrique's greedy...la,la,la,la,la,la,la,la,la not listening' ad f***ing infinitum.

 

Barton - Left for a much bigger wage than he merits

Keegan - The club were proven wrong here

Shearer - Contract was up, he hadn't exactly shown signs of being much of a manager to get us up, don't see an issue here.

Nolan - Left for a much bigger wage and length contract than he merits.

Carroll - We got a lot more than his market value, he got a massive payrise, joined a bigger club.

Enrique - Wouldn't sign new contract, joined a bigger club.

 

Nothing to do with the club then? Thought not...

 

Your seeing it black and white, as many have said there is blame on all sides, your just ranting away, you have some valid points but they are being lost in your anger.

 

Okay, let's take Barton. The board in a fit of pique put a valuable member of the team on what is essentially a free transfer. Nolan I wouldn't have given the length of contract, but his comments about promises made sound depressingly familiar. Keegan was vindicated by an industrial injuries tribunal. Enrique may well have refused to sign a new contract but had made it abundantly clear that he believed the club lacked ambition. The Carroll deal moneywise was a very good deal, but is looking less like one every day without an adequate strikeforce. Shearer presumably wanted more than ju-ju beans and a curly-wurly as his transfer budget (or wanted £700 million for Messi et al depending who you believe).

 

So no, it's not black and white, but with every exit through the door the ringing chimes of 'mercenary' or 'greedy' is as disheartening as it is groundhog day-esque. Yes, everyone knows footballers can be greedy and arseholes to boot, but I'd wager that the underlying problem is more to do with Ashley's complete and utter lack of ambition. And again, although there's nothing you or I can do about that does not make it right or acceptable. The t***'s making supporting this club a sufferance than a labour of love.

 

Agree with most of what you put there mate, Carroll is the only one i blame more than any other, he only just signed a new contract, hears of Liverpools interest and asked for more, i made the board right on that one, Nolan again i think they made the right decision, not sure about how it was handled, Barton didn't need to muck about in January when he could have signed but he should not have been allowed to leave for me, Jose was always off for soemone else imo.

 

Just so happens they have all secured more money elsewhere, not sure that makes them greedy as such, only at Carrolls door would i lay that.

 

I just dont lay all the blame at dumb and dumbers door, fair chunk but not all of it.

 

Oh I concur, it would be nonsensical to lay the blame for every single thing that's gone wrong with NUFC, and actually believe it's a sensible thing to try and reduce the wage bill to a manageable level (even though such prudent measures are probably more to do with NUFC being primed for a sale at some point), but seemingly everytime things seem to be going okay at the club he, intentionally or otherwise, sticks his fat, useless oar in and makes a balls up of it - Kinnear, the Keegan fiasco, sports direct signage, re-naming rights, no capital outlay, binning Hughton etc. He's obviously a very successful businessman, but when it comes to running this football club he's like the anti-midas - everything he touches turns to s***.

 

Oh hell yeah, Ashley does indeed have the f*** things up for no reason gene flowing through him, the man does take idiot to a new level, if only he would just talk to us and some of the flak he gets would ease.

 

I know he won't and it wouldn't solves all the problems overnight, but I do believe that a lot of ire would be curtailed by appointing someone decent in Dekka's position. Mort was no saint, but at least he communicated every now and then.

[Beren]

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 shit 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.

 

 

If offered 81k in two months time, Barton would come back - under some of the logic in here.

[Guest Mantis]

Clearly QPR and West Ham have gone for players who were pretty instumental to our season last year.  Ambitious?  We on the other hand have sold four of our best players and weakened the squad.  Ambitious?  And before we get on the HBA and Marveaux train, I'll wait until they've both managed 25 games without doing a Dyer. I'm intrigued to see who in the side is going to get 10 goals or more this season. 

[ponsaelius]

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 shit 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 cunts. But, I wonder if they act this way because they view everybody in the entire business as cunts? 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 cunts 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.

[Guest bimpy474]

'Bartons's greedy, Keegan's greedy, Shearer's greedy, Nolan's greedy, Carroll's greedy, Enrique's greedy...la,la,la,la,la,la,la,la,la not listening' ad f***ing infinitum.

 

Barton - Left for a much bigger wage than he merits

Keegan - The club were proven wrong here

Shearer - Contract was up, he hadn't exactly shown signs of being much of a manager to get us up, don't see an issue here.

Nolan - Left for a much bigger wage and length contract than he merits.

Carroll - We got a lot more than his market value, he got a massive payrise, joined a bigger club.

Enrique - Wouldn't sign new contract, joined a bigger club.

 

Nothing to do with the club then? Thought not...

 

Your seeing it black and white, as many have said there is blame on all sides, your just ranting away, you have some valid points but they are being lost in your anger.

 

Okay, let's take Barton. The board in a fit of pique put a valuable member of the team on what is essentially a free transfer. Nolan I wouldn't have given the length of contract, but his comments about promises made sound depressingly familiar. Keegan was vindicated by an industrial injuries tribunal. Enrique may well have refused to sign a new contract but had made it abundantly clear that he believed the club lacked ambition. The Carroll deal moneywise was a very good deal, but is looking less like one every day without an adequate strikeforce. Shearer presumably wanted more than ju-ju beans and a curly-wurly as his transfer budget (or wanted £700 million for Messi et al depending who you believe).

 

So no, it's not black and white, but with every exit through the door the ringing chimes of 'mercenary' or 'greedy' is as disheartening as it is groundhog day-esque. Yes, everyone knows footballers can be greedy and arseholes to boot, but I'd wager that the underlying problem is more to do with Ashley's complete and utter lack of ambition. And again, although there's nothing you or I can do about that does not make it right or acceptable. The t***'s making supporting this club a sufferance than a labour of love.

 

I'm yet to see one person call them greedy or a mercenary btw. Plenty of people understanding why they'd take a payrise in two cases, or join a bigger club in the other two.

 

You only need to look at previous posts on this very forum to see Enrique, Carroll and Nolan having those very same epiphets tossed in their general direction, liberally or otherwise. Again though, it's missing the underlying reason why - Ashley has no ambition for this club and seemingly could not care less where the club finishes as long as we avoid relegation.

 

And yet two of those players are quite happy to join a recently relegated team, and a team who'll be lucky to survive...cool.

 

Which reinforces my point - they'd rather join such clubs that at least have a sliver of ambition than stay at a club they know, or at least feel, won't be going anywhere. No alarms and no suprises, as Mr Yorke once opined.

 

I'll bet you £50 that QPR & West Ham don't finish above Newcastle for as long as Barton & Nolan are there.

 

As long as Warlock Warnock and Easter Island noggin are in charge of those respective clubs, I wouldn't even bet you a pair of orthopaedic shoes that even Norwich won't finish ahead of them. If you're going to question the stature or current staus of the clubs they've joined or about to join, what on earth does that say about us? It's the equivalent of your lass finishing you for a speccy 18 stone geek with a WOW obsession, laughing heartily at him then thinking to yourself, 'hang on...'

 

These ambitious clubs have managers that won't progress them? Hmm surely ambitious clubs won't accept that?

 

And who's to say they'll last long there? As long as Ashley remains in charge of NUFC this club will get nowhere. The model was Arsenal, now we're Wigan Athletic with a cold breeze.

 

See these 'dramatic' over reactions make any debates pointless. First we are less ambitious than West Ham and QPR, now are are the new Wigan. Next we will be the team Stevenage dreaded they could become or the place Luton fought against becoming.

 

We have players like Krul, Colo, Taylor, Williamson, Marveaux, Jonas, Cabaye, Gosling, Obertan, Tiote, Ba, Ben Arfa etc.. who would walk into these "ambitious" sides (and I have missed a few), in fact they would w*** themselves to death to get a sniff of a few of them because they would never get a chance.

 

A lot really put us down and have little respect for a lot of the fantastic players we have attracted despite out horrendous lack of ambition.

 

[Guest]

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.

 

 

If offered 81k in two months time, Barton would come back - under some of the logic in here.

 

If we'd offered Barton £80k a week in May even for 3 years he'd have snapped our hands off. I also bet if we'd given Nolan the same deal West Ham have offered he'd have signed it, and we'd not have heard a peep of "no ambition" out of the two.

[JH]

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.

 

 

Especially the bit in bold.