For Gods sake Mike!

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Also, gambling by spending costs money, gambling by not spending costs nothing.

 

[Beren]

Also, gambling by spending costs money, gambling by not spending costs nothing.

 

 

I think the point of the 'Ben Arfa at any/all costs' camp is that relegation costs having equated his arrival with Premiership safety (or at least the increased chance of).

[Guest neesy111]

I think the risk of relegation remains with or without Ben Arfa, albeit reduced somewhat with.

 

It's easy to crucify Mike Ashley for not spending the money now, but if we buy him and get relegated he'll still be crucified so I'm personally going to withhold judgement - especially as the finances of the club are very much unclear.

 

I think we have the resources already to stay up - not because we've got a fantastic squad, but because there are squads far worse than ours about IMO. We just need to utilise what we have for the meanwhile from the looks of it. Our first XI isn't half as bad (in comparison to other relegation candidates and we have some degree of cover - it's a bit early to expect 22 solid players!) as has been made out after the Manure game.

 

Hopefully their belief and confidence doesn't drop and we endure what will almost inevitably be a very unpretty season to consoilidate our place in the top tier whilst maintaining the support of the fans.

 

then he could easily sell him on, and recoup most of our money back

 

Under that logic, what's to stop him spending £100m and then recouping back most of that money?

 

because other clubs would be onto us then!

 

burnley did it with stephen fletcher, signed him for 3M got relegated and sold him to wolves for 6M

 

My point is it's bad science to extrapolate from Burnley and Stephen Fletcher (or anyone else's for that matter) that you'd be able to necessarily recoup the money you paid on something a year on - especially if other clubs know you're desperate. It's not prudent business IMO.

 

so what's the risk if we bought the lad for 5M, he's a good enough talent to command the same price even if we get relegated!

 

so would you rather spend nothing, and put us at real risk of being relegated then?  even player that improves the team, mean's we have a better chance of staying up

 

You don't know we'd be able to command £5m though - you're guessing! Hugo Viana was eventually sold for £1.5m after we bought him for £8.5m when he was promising youngster wanted by big clubs in Europe. I'm sure this line of conversation has many more avenues to explore, but I think at the end of each of them is the conclusion that you'd be guessing we could rake the money back and as someone who is financially responsible for the club MA must ensure we're not in trouble in that respect.

 

And of course I want us to stay up, I just don't think Ben Arfa will guarantee us that, just like not getting him won't automatically condemn us to relegation.

 

spending no money is a bigger risk than actually spending money to give ourselves a fighting chance of staying up!

 

if mike wants to protect his investment and eventually make some returns on it,  he better start allowing it the possibility to stay up!

 

yes we can afford 5M as the debt is not tied to the club now, it's on the sports direct books

[Guest neesy111]

Also, gambling by spending costs money, gambling by not spending costs nothing.

 

 

I think the point of the 'Ben Arfa at any/all costs' camp is that relegation costs having equated his arrival with Premiership safety (or at least the increased chance of).

 

it's true, have you seen our central midfield it's devoid of creativity and pace, two must essential ingredients to compete in this league

[Beren]

This seems cyclical now tbh I do see where you're coming from, but still disagree - like I said, I think we have enough to stay up - but I'll sorrowfully eat my words (and a hat) if come May I'm wrong.

[Yorkie]

Remember when we got promoted many were saying we needed £20m, £30m and some even £40m just to get back to around 10th place. When you look at some deals already done and those we are linked to its pretty clear that £10m to £15m should have given us a comfortable position yet we sit here less than 2 weeks from barely trying tbh.

Hasnt anyone at the club mentioned to Mike that 3 year season ticket deals end this year? Hardly a great way to convince us to start paying again by letting us fall out the league as we easily could.

 

i made this point last night, i expect crowd's after this season to tumble

 

Urgh, no they won't man. I think it's gonna take us a while to get back to 52ks every single week but they're never gonna 'tumble' just because of Mike Ashley.

[Guest firetotheworks]

If we had the quality I'd half way understand people thinking we can stay up.

 

If we had the quantity I'd half way understand that too.

 

 

We have neither. Hughton is a fucking genius if he keeps us up with this squad tbh.

[Guest neesy111]

Urgh, no they won't man. I think it's gonna take us a while to get back to 52ks every single week but they're never gonna 'tumble' just because of Mike Ashley.

 

i think you'll find the numbers renewing the 3 year season ticket's to be quite low, I expect their to be some crowd's only round the 40K mark this season tbh

[Guest neesy111]

If we had the quality I'd half way understand people thinking we can stay up.

 

If we had the quantity I'd half way understand that too.

 

 

We have neither. Hughton is a fucking genius if he keeps us up with this squad tbh.

 

this

[JH]

Urgh, no they won't man. I think it's gonna take us a while to get back to 52ks every single week but they're never gonna 'tumble' just because of Mike Ashley.

 

i think you'll find the numbers renewing the 3 year season ticket's to be quite low, I expect their to be some crowd's only round the 40K mark this season tbh

 

We'll not hit below 45k IMO.

[Yorkie]

Urgh, no they won't man. I think it's gonna take us a while to get back to 52ks every single week but they're never gonna 'tumble' just because of Mike Ashley.

 

i think you'll find the numbers renewing the 3 year season ticket's to be quite low, I expect their to be some crowd's only round the 40K mark this season tbh

 

I think it'll be something like last season tbh. Flitting between the 40k/45k mark... i probably misunderstood what you meant by tumble. It's never gonna drop to pre-KeeganMk1 type attendances.

[Beren]

If we had the quality I'd half way understand people thinking we can stay up.

 

If we had the quantity I'd half way understand that too.

 

 

We have neither. Hughton is a fucking genius if he keeps us up with this squad tbh.

 

You picked us to finish 15th this season man! What's changed between before the Man Utd game and now?!

[Wullie]

Absolutely astonished that anyone can feel comfortable of this squad staying up to the point where we don't need to strengthen. Also did someone say this squad is significantly stronger than that which went down? Where?? Please don't say team spirit, this is the Premier League, not the pub darts team.

[oldtype]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/SNsCHS5b8mI/AAAAAAAACko/D4mzfM601tw/s320/panic+button.jpg

 

I could sum up half the threads on the first page with this pic.

[Guest neesy111]

Urgh, no they won't man. I think it's gonna take us a while to get back to 52ks every single week but they're never gonna 'tumble' just because of Mike Ashley.

 

i think you'll find the numbers renewing the 3 year season ticket's to be quite low, I expect their to be some crowd's only round the 40K mark this season tbh

 

I think it'll be something like last season tbh. Flitting between the 40k/45k mark... i probably misunderstood what you meant by tumble. It's never gonna drop to pre-KeeganMk1 type attendances.

 

yeap, it's next season when we'll see how things are?  because i know load's of people who did the 3 year season ticket and have completely regretted doing it

[Yorkie]

If we had the quality I'd half way understand people thinking we can stay up.

 

If we had the quantity I'd half way understand that too.

 

 

We have neither. Hughton is a fucking genius if he keeps us up with this squad tbh.

 

You picked us to finish 15th this season man! What's changed between before the Man Utd game and now?!

 

The bench at the Manu game was a reality check for a few of us i think. I still reckon we'll stay up but Christ - that was fairly horrifying viewing. I think we'll get two or three that will ensure that we sneak survival. If we don't (i honestly can't see us bringing in nowt else), Hughton's got the job of his life on his hands - there's no doubt about it.

[Guest neesy111]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/SNsCHS5b8mI/AAAAAAAACko/D4mzfM601tw/s320/panic+button.jpg

 

I could sum up half the threads on the first page with this pic.

 

when does everyone panic, 31st august perhaps

[AyeDubbleYoo]

TBH, we could easily have ended up with a 3-1 or 4-2 result against Man Utd, and we could end up with another couple of good players by the end of the window.

 

I'm not saying we're great, but it seems the mood has gone sour pretty quickly because of the (apparent) failure to sign Ben Arfa when we were all excited about it.

[Guest neesy111]

TBH, we could easily have ended up with a 3-1 or 4-2 result against Man Utd, and we could end up with another couple of good players by the end of the window.

 

I'm not saying we're great, but it seems the mood has gone sour pretty quickly because of the (apparent) failure to sign Ben Arfa when we were all excited about it.

 

it's just not that, it's because it looks like we have absolutely no-one else lined up

[JH]

Absolutely astonished that anyone can feel comfortable of this squad staying up to the point where we don't need to strengthen. Also did someone say this squad is significantly stronger than that which went down? Where?? Please don't say team spirit, this is the Premier League, not the pub darts team.

 

That always got me

[Beren]

Absolutely astonished that anyone can feel comfortable of this squad staying up to the point where we don't need to strengthen. Also did someone say this squad is significantly stronger than that which went down? Where?? Please don't say team spirit, this is the Premier League, not the pub darts team.

 

Don't think anyone is saying that - just that if we can't run the club in a financially responsible way we shouldn't spend the money - especially as strengthening doesn't ensure Premiership survival, whereas financial responsibility will ensure the club's survival at the very least. (I don't think for one second £5m will jeopardise the club's survival btw, just that spending beyond your means is potentially a bad precedent to set).

[Guest neesy111]

Absolutely astonished that anyone can feel comfortable of this squad staying up to the point where we don't need to strengthen. Also did someone say this squad is significantly stronger than that which went down? Where?? Please don't say team spirit, this is the Premier League, not the pub darts team.

 

Don't think anyone is saying that - just that if we can't run the club in a financially responsible way we shouldn't spend the money - especially as strengthening doesn't ensure Premiership survival, whereas financial responsibility will ensure the club's survival at the very least. (I don't think for one second £5m will jeopardise the club's survival btw, just that spending beyond your means is potentially a bad precedent to set).

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Absolutely astonished that anyone can feel comfortable of this squad staying up to the point where we don't need to strengthen. Also did someone say this squad is significantly stronger than that which went down? Where?? Please don't say team spirit, this is the Premier League, not the pub darts team.

 

That always got me

 

So it's terrible and unforgivable when we have no fight and no team spirit, but when we do have some it doesn't make any difference?

 

That's weird.

[JH]

Absolutely astonished that anyone can feel comfortable of this squad staying up to the point where we don't need to strengthen. Also did someone say this squad is significantly stronger than that which went down? Where?? Please don't say team spirit, this is the Premier League, not the pub darts team.

 

That always got me

 

So it's terrible and unforgivable when we have no fight and no team spirit, but when we do have some it doesn't make any difference?

 

That's weird.

 

It's nice to have fight and team spirit, but it doesn't act as a substitute for quality.

[oldtype]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/SNsCHS5b8mI/AAAAAAAACko/D4mzfM601tw/s320/panic+button.jpg

 

I could sum up half the threads on the first page with this pic.

 

when does everyone panic, 31st august perhaps

 

That's actually not a bad idea, actually waiting to see whether or not we'll make more signings rather than automatically assume that we won't.