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January - What will Ashley do?


Howaythelads

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So with 3 games to go until January we are 10 points clear of 3rd place. That gap might change up/dn between now and next month but is it better for this gap to decrease rather than increase? It seems a daft question because anyone with a brain larger than a pea would want the gap to be as large as possible, but we're dealing here with Mr M. Ashley and we know he doesn't have the faintest idea what he's doing when it comes to football.

 

We need to bring in a couple of PL quality players in January to help consolidate our lead in the Championship and prepare for the challenge of remaining in the PL next season should the club be promoted next May. This means making a decision on whether or not to spend any money next month but when faced with big decisions Ashley hasn't got a single one correct since taking over the club. This is a big decision for the wide-boy, why will he suddenly break the trend and get it right?

 

A return to the PL brings an increase in revenue and an increase in the value of the club. You would think it obvious that the best thing to do would be to spend even a little, but as his football knowledge is so limited it's doubtful he will understand this concept. Even if he does grasp the obvious there is also the problem that he's an inept gambler.  So what's the betting that with a large gap between us and 3rd place the wide-boy opts not to improve the team/squad but decides to weaken the team/squad by selling any of our players who are the subject of a decent bid of anything over a fiver? He may glance at the league table (if he knows what it is) and decide to gamble on a slump in the 2nd half of the season happening but not being severe enough to prevent us limping over the line to promotion. So revenue goes up, club value goes up and he's also won his gamble and pocketed a bit more dosh. The problem is that unless one of his chimps tells him each win is worth 3 points, the gap isn't going to be big enough with only half the season gone.

 

Does anyone else feel as depressed as I do despite being top of the division? I really can't wait for this joker to disappear from this football club. We'll go nowhere while he's running the show.

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Whatever he does will turn to shit so it doesn't matter, I hope he does nothing then nothing will go wrong.  We're more likely to lose our best player than bring in somebody who will make a difference.

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He'll dig deep into his pockets and give Hughton a pile of fluff and 3 magic beans to buy some players.

 

We'll probably sign Simpson permanently but we may get a couple more loans in till the end of the season.

 

I'm not sure whether giving Hughton no cash is a good or bad thing, I don't trust his team selections and I don't believe that he'll have enough intelligence to buy young, hungry players instead of ageing cloggers.

 

There'll probably be some interest from Premiership clubs for players like Smith & Nolan who have been performing well enough, teams like Bolton might be tempted to throw a few million £ to try and secure their league status.  If the money was well spent and we replaced them with younger players from the reserves of the Sky 4 (like Simpson & Guthrie) it'd probably be a decent trade, but I don't trust Ashley or Hughton to do so.

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Guest firetotheworks

He'll fuck it up. He's never let us down before.

 

 

He's our biggest threat to promotion. If we get through January without selling the players we need (Enrique, Taylor, Colocinni, Jonas, Nolan) and without further diminishing the squad then I'll feel confident about our chances of going up.

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Can see him flouncing on the 2nd Feb after the fans protest to us selling more players (Taylor, Enrique, Krul & Ranger) and bringing in no replacements while he reacts in turn by putting the club up for sale again, getting Lambarse to spin lies about potential bidders and reboots Moat the puppet dancing along saying he's trying to buy the club and is nearly close. The deadline of the end of the week looms and these serious bidders are running out of time, only for this to stretch till March where no one gives a shit any more, he takes the club off the market saying he wants to learn from his past mistakes, bungs an extra year on Hughton's contract to show us all he's committed to the club, while selling the naming rights to individual blades of grass on the pitch as it will help the financial stability of the club.

 

As for January? No idea.

 

 

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I fear Ashley will fuck it all up by selling at least one of Jose, Colo or Jonas.. we might even lose Carroll or Ranger.. there will surely be good offers for them

 

Then we'll sign Campbell or some other twat, start dropping points, lose the automatic promotion spots, finish 3rd, get beaten by an injury time winner in the playoff final and spent the next 15 years in the championship

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Guest BlacknWhiteArmy

We'll sign Simpson permanently and get some people on loan. That's about it. However I don't feel we'll lose Enrique or S.Taylor for example, he knows he'll get a bit more cash if we are promoted and selling our key players could hinder our chances- Something he dosen't want.

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For all the mistakes that made it necessary, I think the club has actually handled the situation we're in pretty well. We've downsized the wage bill by getting rid of underperforming high-earners who didn't want to be here anyway. We haven't brought anyone in, and probably won't bring in anyone in during the January window, but the £20 million per annum that Ashley is still bunging in has been enough to allow us to keep the players we've got, and there has been no fire sale or general meltdown, despite some melodramatic predictions on here. Instead the set-up we currently have is manifestly good enough to get us back up into the Prem and we're on top of the table with a gap beginning to develop between us and the rest.

 

There are, in short, some reasons to be cheerful, no matter how much people enjoy entertaining worst-case scenarios and moaning like a bunch of auld wifies.

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I'm resigned to life under the current regime for now. It would have been nice if someone had bought the club but obviously no one was willing to take a risk on promotion and now the price will be higher so can't see much happening. At least we aren't heading for financial crisis like some clubs, even mighty Liverpool are heading for the rocks if they don't qualify for the CL, and Man U are paying debilitating interest on their loans.

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Forgive my ignorance because I don't really know the finances in-depth, but am I right in saying your general financial position is actually not too bad? My dad was telling me he'd read a quote on t'internet from someone saying a lot of clubs would like be in your position? (You know what I mean).

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Forgive my ignorance because I don't really know the finances in-depth, but am I right in saying your general financial position is actually not too bad? My dad was telling me he'd read a quote on t'internet from someone saying a lot of clubs would like be in your position? (You know what I mean).

 

Depends whether you believe Ashley when he's boasting about the club being in a great position financially or whether you believe Ashley when he's moaning about having to pump in £20m a year to keep it going and doing things like flogging the name of the stadium.

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Why would we want to sign PL players?

 

The only players likely to want to join a club which doesn't have guaranteed promotion aren't going to be good enough when we get up there, and what we've currently got is good enough for where we want to be (unless there is an injury in which case a loan is easy to make this year), so if we don't go up it is because Hughton, Ashley, or a group of players have gone and done something completely stupid.

 

So what do I want to see Ashley do in January? Absolutely nothing with regards to running the football side of things.

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So with 3 games to go until January we are 10 points clear of 3rd place. That gap might change up/dn between now and next month but is it better for this gap to decrease rather than increase? It seems a daft question because anyone with a brain larger than a pea would want the gap to be as large as possible, but we're dealing here with Mr M. Ashley and we know he doesn't have the faintest idea what he's doing when it comes to football.

 

We need to bring in a couple of PL quality players in January to help consolidate our lead in the Championship and prepare for the challenge of remaining in the PL next season should the club be promoted next May. This means making a decision on whether or not to spend any money next month but when faced with big decisions Ashley hasn't got a single one correct since taking over the club. This is a big decision for the wide-boy, why will he suddenly break the trend and get it right?

 

A return to the PL brings an increase in revenue and an increase in the value of the club. You would think it obvious that the best thing to do would be to spend even a little, but as his football knowledge is so limited it's doubtful he will understand this concept. Even if he does grasp the obvious there is also the problem that he's an inept gambler.  So what's the betting that with a large gap between us and 3rd place the wide-boy opts not to improve the team/squad but decides to weaken the team/squad by selling any of our players who are the subject of a decent bid of anything over a fiver? He may glance at the league table (if he knows what it is) and decide to gamble on a slump in the 2nd half of the season happening but not being severe enough to prevent us limping over the line to promotion. So revenue goes up, club value goes up and he's also won his gamble and pocketed a bit more dosh. The problem is that unless one of his chimps tells him each win is worth 3 points, the gap isn't going to be big enough with only half the season gone.

 

Does anyone else feel as depressed as I do despite being top of the division? I really can't wait for this joker to disappear from this football club. We'll go nowhere while he's running the show.

 

Why?

 

Pay them a Premiership wage, whilst we are in the Championship??  Where is the sense in that exactly.  We are better than the entire league right now.

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