Mast-nailing with thy colours

[Guest secteur2010]

Hope I'm wrong but I think we're done for unless we add a creative midfielder and a decent striker.

[Mr Logic]

Definitely stay up but expecting some miserable results here and there.

[Unbelievable]

I actually think we've had a pretty decent transfer window for a team with no money and no short-to-medium-term prospects whatsoever.

 

What makes it decent? The fact that we haven't lost any of our better players? We are going up against opposition that is massively better than last years', promotion must have done our financial position a world of good, so I don't see why we couldn't expect a reasonable investment in the squad to give us a better chance of staying up..? What's happened is Ashley has lowered our expectations to the point where we are happy if anything but the worst happens.. Criminal how far we've fallen from grace in just a few years..

 

If the money's not there, it's not there though. Fullstop. At the end of the day the club is a business and if they can't afford to bring in top quality players, then we'll have to put up with that until we stabilize, or a sugar daddy decides he wants in.

 

I respect that position from Hughton, but not from Mike Ashley. If he isn't in a position to take us forward as a football club, why did he buy us in the first place? Every fucker and their dog knows football is not a business like any other, where making a solid profit is a realistic prospect. Top level football is now a place where the mega rich invest as a pass time, like they do in arts or charity, not to make a buck or two. This type of owner is in it for the prestige that comes with it.

 

If Mike Ashley thinks he can realistically compete with these guys whilst turning NUFC into a profitable business, then he's more deluded than I feared. I don't expect him to bankroll the club like the owner of Man City does, but I do expect him to keep this club at an even keel with its natural competitors (i.e. at the very least consolidation of our position in the Premiership) so we remain an attractive proposition for footballers, supporters and potential buyers. That is the responsibility he took upon himself the moment he bought our shares.

 

In a way, he's very lucky, because he's made huge, huge mistakes in the past few seasons, yet he's been given another crack at it with massively deflated expectation courtesy of Hughton's hard work. The least I expect now is for him to support the manager and give him a proper chance of achieving what should be their common goal now: Premiership survival.

 

I can't say I trust Mike Ashley enough to be confident he understands his predicament however...

[Dave]

Am I the only person who thinks we actually played some good football today? It looked to me for chunks of the game that we were dominating, and there was some good fast football towards the end of the match that was unlucky not to be rewarded. If we play like that away from home against Rangers, I think we'll be OK against teams like Wigan, Wolves, Blackpool, West Brom etc.

 

Nope.

[madras]

yes....cos of blackpool,west brom and one other (likely to be wolves or wigan....hopefully)

[Guest]

Player for player we're worse than two years ago, however I still think player for player we're not that worse off than clubs like Bolton, Stoke & Wigan. I think we'll stay up.

[MKSC]

I change my mind on this every day. One thing is certain, we'll be closer in points to 20th than we will be to 8th.

 

Right now I'm thinking that a lack of goals is going to cost us in games where we have reasonable possession. But I think we will just scrape enough points to stay ahead of three from  Blackpool, West Brom, Wigan and Bolton and Wolves. But it'll be tight. Very, Very, Very tight. Like a tiger.

[madras]

I change my mind on this every day. One thing is certain, we'll be closer in points to 20th than we will be to 8th.

 

Right now I'm thinking that a lack of goals is going to cost us in games where we have reasonable possession. But I think we will just scrape enough points to stay ahead of three from  Blackpool, West Brom, Wigan and Bolton and Wolves. But it'll be tight. Very, Very, Very tight. Like a tiger.

tigers aren't tight,they just play very hard to get.

[Colos Short and Curlies]

Staying up.

 

Blackpool are down before we start, we just have to make sure we get at least 4 points from them

WBA will give it a good go but will fall just short

Wigan will be bottom 5 all season

Gold and Sullivan will make sure that West Ham are in turmoil all season and will struggle

Bolton (see Wigan)

 

No one knows how Fulham will be post Woy, but if I had to pt money on them I'd say they will be safe

 

Then you've still got Blackburn and Wolves who will be in a fight all season, with Stoke due a struggle season

[Guest]

I think Fulham will be 13th to 15th and could be the surprise real relegation candidate.

[Robster]

I can't see Bolton struggling this season.

[Cronky]

Yes. Just.

 

The right addition to the squad would make it a lot easier though.

[macphisto]

Going down with the way things stand, haven't got a lot of confidence in the strikers, midfield and manager, all Championship standard. We need a big, big season from Barton  for us to stay up but how likely is that to happen?

[adam1]

Ever the pessimist... Were going down

[Peder75]

We'll get the 40 points needed to stay up. I guess we end up somewhere between 11th and 16th place. Two years ago we were 1 point short. We had 4 different managers, unrest at every level, didn't know if the club would be sold or not, and no confidence at all. Even if we have a similar squad today as we had then, we should be able to do better then that.

[Guest BooBoo]

It's pretty imperative that we see at least two new signings incoming before the end of the month, ideally before the Villa game.

[JCONA]

there are enough worse teams than ourselves not to worry (too much)

[spizz energi]

We'll survive. But only just.

[midds]

there are enough worse teams than ourselves not to worry (too much)

 

That's EXACTLY what I thought 18 months ago.

 

Looking on the bright side might make it easier to deal with but since we went down I've looked at things in a different light. We're not quite good enough to stay up atm. Hopefully that will change but I'm not convinced it will. 

[Incognito]

Yes,we'll stay up and comfortably so.

There will be a signing or 2 I'm sure to strengthen us and I'm pretty confident.

I just hope there will be no repeat of the managerial/boardroom shenanigans which tainted us 2 years ago.

[Guest taps01]

Be far more confident if we had a decent natural goalscorer.

[Guest BlacknWhiteArmy]

I think we can survive, but it will be a long and hard season the way things stand. A few more signings, and we make it easier on ourselves (If they are of the right quality, ie Ben Arfa)

[Cheshire Mag]

Going to be a long hard season but I think we will stay up.

[Guest malandro]

there are enough worse teams than ourselves not to worry (too much)

Hull and Burnley both won today against two of last season’s promotion challengers. It might mean nothing or it might mean the two of the worst teams in the PL last season are better than the best the CC has to offer.

 

I think we’ll be OK but injuries to key players, a drop in confidence or plain old bad luck could see us struggle very badly.

 

[Mr Logic]

Player for player we're worse than two years ago, however I still think player for player we're not that worse off than clubs like Bolton, Stoke & Wigan. I think we'll stay up.

 

Conversely, team for team we're better.