Kevin Nolan

[TRon]

 

I never said it boiled down to foreigners vs English, which should be fairly fucking obvious. Players who have a clear affiliation for the club, whether it be Barton, Nolan or Solano are more likely to put their foot in, chase down a lost cause in the last minute, inspire the other players and that makes these players absolutely essential. Do you trust Cabaye to drag us out of a rut when the chips are down? Personally I wouldn't know because I've never seen a second of him in action and therefore replacing Barton or Nolan with him is a massive gamble. It shouldn't be him in and them out, he should be coming in to compliment, not replace and the amount of people happy to see the latter happen is frightening.

 

The idea of a Man Utd squad under Ferguson built mainly on foreign players or flair players is absolutely laughable. Arsenal's squad is supremely talented but until they get some spine and bottle in there, they will not win anything, their goal is not like ours at the moment, it is to win and they are failing miserably since Campbell, Vieira, Seaman, Parlour, Keown have left. I can't believe I'm having to explain this again, it really is astonishingly simple stuff.

 

Letting Barton and Nolan go this summer would be yet another ridiculous gamble.

 

It would be nice to be able to sign a blank cheque to keep everyone on long extended contracts and buy lots more expensive players at the same time. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anywhere without arab/russian billionaire owners. If there's a limit on the spending how do you propose we recruit new players at the same time as handing out long contracts to the likes of Nolan and Barton? Don't bid for Gervinho and bid for someone £4m cheaper so we can hand that money to the players already here?

 

Why is there a limit on spending when we've just sold the family silver for £35m?

 

Keeping your main first team players and buying new ones doesn't happen anywhere else? Righto.

 

 

 

But no one is bombing them out, they just aren't being given cushy long contract extensions. It's debatable whether either player can even cut it in central midfield for much longer as you yourself have pointed out pretty often. We had this business with Owen where Keegan wanted the board to hand out a mega new deal because he was so important. Sorry but for me when players are showing signs of decline, I don't want to be looking at them as long term central figures at the club.

 

Signs of decline?

 

They've just had the best seasons of their careers.

 

but you don't think Barton can play in central midfield any more? Why not? And Nolan getting on the end of a few set pieces isn't going to make me wonder why he's a stone heavier than in his Bolton days. Getting fatter is a sign of decline for me, don't know about you.

 

I don't think Barton's ever been able to play in central midfield, it's not his game. Fuck all to do with his fitness levels. He's 28 ffs not 38.

 

I'm pretty sure he made his name with City as a central midfielder. When he's slagging off Gareth Barry I doubt it's because he wants to replace him on the wing. Anyway, Barton is someone I would like to keep in the right circumstances, but not if he's tying his own deal into Nolan signing and they both want daft long term deals which makes it less likely we'll buy quality players. Squad players don't get 4 year deals on big wages.

[Dave]

Seems like a lot of people are making the usual mistake of blindly assuming that anyone we sign to replace them will fit in straight away, have the right mentality, get on well with team mates etc etc.

 

We have all this in our team right now. Yes we do need quality, but we are in a situation where it can be infused slowly. We've tried fixing everything that is wrong with the team too quickly in the past, changed too many players and it just resulted in a downwards spiral.

 

The way to improve our team is to retain Barton and Nolan and do our best to keep Enrique.

 

Players that aren't necessary invaluable would be Jonas (likely to be the fall guy for Ben Arfa), the strikers, and the other centre back (i.e. not Coloccini)

 

One striker and one attacking wide player are enough to get us from 12th to 8th. However try to replace Nolan and Barton with supposedly better players so half our first team is different could take us down from 12th to 16th.

 

Good post IMO.

[ponsaelius]

Fuck me am I seeing things. That was actually a very sensible post that I agree with.

[Wullie]

Seems like a lot of people are making the usual mistake of blindly assuming that anyone we sign to replace them will fit in straight away, have the right mentality, get on well with team mates etc etc.

 

We have all this in our team right now. Yes we do need quality, but we are in a situation where it can be infused slowly. We've tried fixing everything that is wrong with the team too quickly in the past, changed too many players and it just resulted in a downwards spiral.

 

The way to improve our team is to retain Barton and Nolan and do our best to keep Enrique.

 

Players that aren't necessary invaluable would be Jonas (likely to be the fall guy for Ben Arfa), the strikers, and the other centre back (i.e. not Coloccini)

 

One striker and one attacking wide player are enough to get us from 12th to 8th. However try to replace Nolan and Barton with supposedly better players so half our first team is different could take us down from 12th to 16th.

 

Good post IMO.

 

[Baggio]

 

I never said it boiled down to foreigners vs English, which should be fairly fucking obvious. Players who have a clear affiliation for the club, whether it be Barton, Nolan or Solano are more likely to put their foot in, chase down a lost cause in the last minute, inspire the other players and that makes these players absolutely essential. Do you trust Cabaye to drag us out of a rut when the chips are down? Personally I wouldn't know because I've never seen a second of him in action and therefore replacing Barton or Nolan with him is a massive gamble. It shouldn't be him in and them out, he should be coming in to compliment, not replace and the amount of people happy to see the latter happen is frightening.

 

The idea of a Man Utd squad under Ferguson built mainly on foreign players or flair players is absolutely laughable. Arsenal's squad is supremely talented but until they get some spine and bottle in there, they will not win anything, their goal is not like ours at the moment, it is to win and they are failing miserably since Campbell, Vieira, Seaman, Parlour, Keown have left. I can't believe I'm having to explain this again, it really is astonishingly simple stuff.

 

Letting Barton and Nolan go this summer would be yet another ridiculous gamble.

 

It would be nice to be able to sign a blank cheque to keep everyone on long extended contracts and buy lots more expensive players at the same time. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anywhere without arab/russian billionaire owners. If there's a limit on the spending how do you propose we recruit new players at the same time as handing out long contracts to the likes of Nolan and Barton? Don't bid for Gervinho and bid for someone £4m cheaper so we can hand that money to the players already here?

 

Why is there a limit on spending when we've just sold the family silver for £35m?

 

Keeping your main first team players and buying new ones doesn't happen anywhere else? Righto.

 

 

 

So you're happy to blow the money we got for Carroll on long term deals for Nolan and Barton?

 

How are we supposed to progress doing that?

 

Fucking hell, how much are we planning on paying them?

 

I don't think we give them it all in one lump sum btw. Not sure, so correct me if I'm wrong.

 

As someone pointed out 4 years is worth £10.4 million, so presuming both were on £50k per week  then to give them both a 2 year extension that is what it will cost us.

 

As for paying it all at once, I haven't suggested we were, it was you who brought up the Carroll money in relation to us having a limit on spending.

 

If the club wants to move forward then it will need better than these two and we can't afford squad players to be sat on the bench earning £50k per week.

 

We've afforded Smith and Xisco for long enough. Who signed those?

 

Personally I don't think we can afford them, I don't see either getting a contract extension and both would be off the books too if we found takers for either of them.

 

 

[James]

Nplan owes us nothing. He came into a very unsettled team, and didn't settle in his first five months which is really no big deal as that can be expected. Since then he pulled the club back up by the neck, led by example and genuinely contributed to two excellent seasons. That wasn't really expected of him but now he's done it we need to make the most of what he brings the club.

[Teasy]

 

I never said it boiled down to foreigners vs English, which should be fairly fucking obvious. Players who have a clear affiliation for the club, whether it be Barton, Nolan or Solano are more likely to put their foot in, chase down a lost cause in the last minute, inspire the other players and that makes these players absolutely essential. Do you trust Cabaye to drag us out of a rut when the chips are down? Personally I wouldn't know because I've never seen a second of him in action and therefore replacing Barton or Nolan with him is a massive gamble. It shouldn't be him in and them out, he should be coming in to compliment, not replace and the amount of people happy to see the latter happen is frightening.

 

The idea of a Man Utd squad under Ferguson built mainly on foreign players or flair players is absolutely laughable. Arsenal's squad is supremely talented but until they get some spine and bottle in there, they will not win anything, their goal is not like ours at the moment, it is to win and they are failing miserably since Campbell, Vieira, Seaman, Parlour, Keown have left. I can't believe I'm having to explain this again, it really is astonishingly simple stuff.

 

Letting Barton and Nolan go this summer would be yet another ridiculous gamble.

 

It would be nice to be able to sign a blank cheque to keep everyone on long extended contracts and buy lots more expensive players at the same time. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anywhere without arab/russian billionaire owners. If there's a limit on the spending how do you propose we recruit new players at the same time as handing out long contracts to the likes of Nolan and Barton? Don't bid for Gervinho and bid for someone £4m cheaper so we can hand that money to the players already here?

 

Why is there a limit on spending when we've just sold the family silver for £35m?

 

Keeping your main first team players and buying new ones doesn't happen anywhere else? Righto.

 

 

 

So you're happy to blow the money we got for Carroll on long term deals for Nolan and Barton?

 

How are we supposed to progress doing that?

 

Fucking hell, how much are we planning on paying them?

 

I don't think we give them it all in one lump sum btw. Not sure, so correct me if I'm wrong.

 

As someone pointed out 4 years is worth £10.4 million, so presuming both were on £50k per week  then to give them both a 2 year extension that is what it will cost us.

 

As for paying it all at once, I haven't suggested we were, it was you who brought up the Carroll money in relation to us having a limit on spending.

 

If the club wants to move forward then it will need better than these two and we can't afford squad players to be sat on the bench earning £50k per week.

 

We've afforded Smith and Xisco for long enough. Who signed those clowns?

 

What's your point?   If we're moving forward then we shouldn't be offering Smith and Xisco new deals either.

[Dave]

If Barton was to sign a 4 year deal at 50k a week - 10.4 million.

 

So quite a lot.

 

Ignoring the fact that he wants three years and you've no idea how much he wants...

 

He gets that all at once does he? And the Sky money stops coming in too does it in the next four years? And the gates dwindle to 0 in the next four years do they?

 

This idea that we have to let key players go because they might have to get paid is absolutely

 

The idea of paying players over their worth and keeping them on big contracts just to keep them happy but to the detriment of the club long term.  Is even more laughable tbh.

 

Should we assume he wants a tenner and a packet of crisps then?  It is almost certain that the figure requested (assuming the various newpaper reports are even close to being accurate) is north of 40k a week.

 

Are those the only options like? Either big contracts 'over their worth' or fuck all?

 

I always assumed most players settle for something in between.

[Wullie]

 

I never said it boiled down to foreigners vs English, which should be fairly fucking obvious. Players who have a clear affiliation for the club, whether it be Barton, Nolan or Solano are more likely to put their foot in, chase down a lost cause in the last minute, inspire the other players and that makes these players absolutely essential. Do you trust Cabaye to drag us out of a rut when the chips are down? Personally I wouldn't know because I've never seen a second of him in action and therefore replacing Barton or Nolan with him is a massive gamble. It shouldn't be him in and them out, he should be coming in to compliment, not replace and the amount of people happy to see the latter happen is frightening.

 

The idea of a Man Utd squad under Ferguson built mainly on foreign players or flair players is absolutely laughable. Arsenal's squad is supremely talented but until they get some spine and bottle in there, they will not win anything, their goal is not like ours at the moment, it is to win and they are failing miserably since Campbell, Vieira, Seaman, Parlour, Keown have left. I can't believe I'm having to explain this again, it really is astonishingly simple stuff.

 

Letting Barton and Nolan go this summer would be yet another ridiculous gamble.

 

It would be nice to be able to sign a blank cheque to keep everyone on long extended contracts and buy lots more expensive players at the same time. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anywhere without arab/russian billionaire owners. If there's a limit on the spending how do you propose we recruit new players at the same time as handing out long contracts to the likes of Nolan and Barton? Don't bid for Gervinho and bid for someone £4m cheaper so we can hand that money to the players already here?

 

Why is there a limit on spending when we've just sold the family silver for £35m?

 

Keeping your main first team players and buying new ones doesn't happen anywhere else? Righto.

 

 

 

But no one is bombing them out, they just aren't being given cushy long contract extensions. It's debatable whether either player can even cut it in central midfield for much longer as you yourself have pointed out pretty often. We had this business with Owen where Keegan wanted the board to hand out a mega new deal because he was so important. Sorry but for me when players are showing signs of decline, I don't want to be looking at them as long term central figures at the club.

 

Signs of decline?

 

They've just had the best seasons of their careers.

 

but you don't think Barton can play in central midfield any more? Why not? And Nolan getting on the end of a few set pieces isn't going to make me wonder why he's a stone heavier than in his Bolton days. Getting fatter is a sign of decline for me, don't know about you.

 

I don't think Barton's ever been able to play in central midfield, it's not his game. Fuck all to do with his fitness levels. He's 28 ffs not 38.

 

I'm pretty sure he made his name with City as a central midfielder. When he's slagging off Gareth Barry I doubt it's because he wants to replace him on the wing. Anyway, Barton is someone I would like to keep in the right circumstances, but not if he's tying his own deal into Nolan signing and they both want daft long term deals which makes it less likely we'll buy quality players. Squad players don't get 4 year deals on big wages.

 

How do you know it's either a 4 year deal or big wages?

[Guest neesy111]

If Barton was to sign a 4 year deal at 50k a week - 10.4 million.

 

So quite a lot.

 

Ignoring the fact that he wants three years and you've no idea how much he wants...

 

He gets that all at once does he? And the Sky money stops coming in too does it in the next four years? And the gates dwindle to 0 in the next four years do they?

 

This idea that we have to let key players go because they might have to get paid is absolutely

 

The idea of paying players over their worth and keeping them on big contracts just to keep them happy but to the detriment of the club long term.  Is even more laughable tbh.

 

All footballers are greedy cunts.  If believe they are not, then you really need your head checking.

[STM]

I agree with Taylor27 but think the club are taking the gamble that both players will see out their contracts.

[ponsaelius]

Alreet neesy.

[Wullie]

If Barton was to sign a 4 year deal at 50k a week - 10.4 million.

 

So quite a lot.

 

Ignoring the fact that he wants three years and you've no idea how much he wants...

 

He gets that all at once does he? And the Sky money stops coming in too does it in the next four years? And the gates dwindle to 0 in the next four years do they?

 

This idea that we have to let key players go because they might have to get paid is absolutely

 

The idea of paying players over their worth and keeping them on big contracts just to keep them happy but to the detriment of the club long term.  Is even more laughable tbh.

 

All footballers are greedy cunts.  If believe they are not, then you really need your head checking.

 

You've just destroyed your own point, you halfwit, unless you're advocating that the players we sign to replace them are not footballers.

 

Fucking hell, honestly.

[Dave]

 

I never said it boiled down to foreigners vs English, which should be fairly fucking obvious. Players who have a clear affiliation for the club, whether it be Barton, Nolan or Solano are more likely to put their foot in, chase down a lost cause in the last minute, inspire the other players and that makes these players absolutely essential. Do you trust Cabaye to drag us out of a rut when the chips are down? Personally I wouldn't know because I've never seen a second of him in action and therefore replacing Barton or Nolan with him is a massive gamble. It shouldn't be him in and them out, he should be coming in to compliment, not replace and the amount of people happy to see the latter happen is frightening.

 

The idea of a Man Utd squad under Ferguson built mainly on foreign players or flair players is absolutely laughable. Arsenal's squad is supremely talented but until they get some spine and bottle in there, they will not win anything, their goal is not like ours at the moment, it is to win and they are failing miserably since Campbell, Vieira, Seaman, Parlour, Keown have left. I can't believe I'm having to explain this again, it really is astonishingly simple stuff.

 

Letting Barton and Nolan go this summer would be yet another ridiculous gamble.

 

It would be nice to be able to sign a blank cheque to keep everyone on long extended contracts and buy lots more expensive players at the same time. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anywhere without arab/russian billionaire owners. If there's a limit on the spending how do you propose we recruit new players at the same time as handing out long contracts to the likes of Nolan and Barton? Don't bid for Gervinho and bid for someone £4m cheaper so we can hand that money to the players already here?

 

Why is there a limit on spending when we've just sold the family silver for £35m?

 

Keeping your main first team players and buying new ones doesn't happen anywhere else? Righto.

 

 

 

So you're happy to blow the money we got for Carroll on long term deals for Nolan and Barton?

 

How are we supposed to progress doing that?

 

Fucking hell, how much are we planning on paying them?

 

I don't think we give them it all in one lump sum btw. Not sure, so correct me if I'm wrong.

 

As someone pointed out 4 years is worth £10.4 million, so presuming both were on £50k per week  then to give them both a 2 year extension that is what it will cost us.

 

As for paying it all at once, I haven't suggested we were, it was you who brought up the Carroll money in relation to us having a limit on spending.

 

If the club wants to move forward then it will need better than these two and we can't afford squad players to be sat on the bench earning £50k per week.

 

We've afforded Smith and Xisco for long enough. Who signed those clowns?

 

What's your point?

 

You asked me this before. Do I even have to have one?

 

But generally, the point is the hypocrisy and stupid, reckless decision-making of the club. Despite numerous incidents of clueless behaviour, so many expect them to become footballing geniuses when it comes to replacing our best players, trading up and paying less every time. It baffles me.

[Hughesy]

If Barton was to sign a 4 year deal at 50k a week - 10.4 million.

 

So quite a lot.

 

Ignoring the fact that he wants three years and you've no idea how much he wants...

 

He gets that all at once does he? And the Sky money stops coming in too does it in the next four years? And the gates dwindle to 0 in the next four years do they?

 

This idea that we have to let key players go because they might have to get paid is absolutely

 

The idea of paying players over their worth and keeping them on big contracts just to keep them happy but to the detriment of the club long term.  Is even more laughable tbh.

 

Should we assume he wants a tenner and a packet of crisps then?  It is almost certain that the figure requested (assuming the various newpaper reports are even close to being accurate) is north of 40k a week.

 

Are those the only options like? Either big contracts 'over their worth' or f*** all?

 

I always assumed most players settle for something in between.

 

Right - assumption time.

 

Can we agree that Barton is probably on between 55-65k a week?  Pretty much every newspaper has reported this and I think this is pretty much accepted?

 

Barton seems to have suggested he is willing to take a paycut.  Do you genuinely think that he is going to accept being on 25k to 35k?  I don't.  Not for England's best midfielder.  He needs more than that.

 

I reckon 40k absolute minimum.

[The Prophet]

Again people seem to be overlooking the fact Nolan has two years left on his contract and there is no indication of his imminent deprture. Any talk of 'replacing' him is premature at the moment.

[Baggio]

Seems like a lot of people are making the usual mistake of blindly assuming that anyone we sign to replace them will fit in straight away, have the right mentality, get on well with team mates etc etc.We have all this in our team right now. Yes we do need quality, but we are in a situation where it can be infused slowly. We've tried fixing everything that is wrong with the team too quickly in the past, changed too many players and it just resulted in a downwards spiral.

 

The way to improve our team is to retain Barton and Nolan and do our best to keep Enrique.

 

Players that aren't necessary invaluable would be Jonas (likely to be the fall guy for Ben Arfa), the strikers, and the other centre back (i.e. not Coloccini)

 

One striker and one attacking wide player are enough to get us from 12th to 8th. However try to replace Nolan and Barton with supposedly better players so half our first team is different could take us down from 12th to 16th.

 

Who is assuming that?

 

I don't think anyone is.

 

[Wullie]

Again people seem to be overlooking the fact Nolan has two years left on his contract and there is no indication of his imminent deprture. Any talk of 'replacing' him is premature at the moment.

 

I agree and it begs the question of why the issue has been brought up in the first place. Something very suspicious about it iyam.

[STM]

Again people seem to be overlooking the fact Nolan has two years left on his contract and there is no indication of his imminent deprture. Any talk of 'replacing' him is premature at the moment.

 

This, Nolan himself said that he would need replacing in a couple of years time. No need for the club to extend his contract longer.

[TRon]

 

I never said it boiled down to foreigners vs English, which should be fairly fucking obvious. Players who have a clear affiliation for the club, whether it be Barton, Nolan or Solano are more likely to put their foot in, chase down a lost cause in the last minute, inspire the other players and that makes these players absolutely essential. Do you trust Cabaye to drag us out of a rut when the chips are down? Personally I wouldn't know because I've never seen a second of him in action and therefore replacing Barton or Nolan with him is a massive gamble. It shouldn't be him in and them out, he should be coming in to compliment, not replace and the amount of people happy to see the latter happen is frightening.

 

The idea of a Man Utd squad under Ferguson built mainly on foreign players or flair players is absolutely laughable. Arsenal's squad is supremely talented but until they get some spine and bottle in there, they will not win anything, their goal is not like ours at the moment, it is to win and they are failing miserably since Campbell, Vieira, Seaman, Parlour, Keown have left. I can't believe I'm having to explain this again, it really is astonishingly simple stuff.

 

Letting Barton and Nolan go this summer would be yet another ridiculous gamble.

 

It would be nice to be able to sign a blank cheque to keep everyone on long extended contracts and buy lots more expensive players at the same time. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anywhere without arab/russian billionaire owners. If there's a limit on the spending how do you propose we recruit new players at the same time as handing out long contracts to the likes of Nolan and Barton? Don't bid for Gervinho and bid for someone £4m cheaper so we can hand that money to the players already here?

 

Why is there a limit on spending when we've just sold the family silver for £35m?

 

Keeping your main first team players and buying new ones doesn't happen anywhere else? Righto.

 

 

 

But no one is bombing them out, they just aren't being given cushy long contract extensions. It's debatable whether either player can even cut it in central midfield for much longer as you yourself have pointed out pretty often. We had this business with Owen where Keegan wanted the board to hand out a mega new deal because he was so important. Sorry but for me when players are showing signs of decline, I don't want to be looking at them as long term central figures at the club.

 

Signs of decline?

 

They've just had the best seasons of their careers.

 

but you don't think Barton can play in central midfield any more? Why not? And Nolan getting on the end of a few set pieces isn't going to make me wonder why he's a stone heavier than in his Bolton days. Getting fatter is a sign of decline for me, don't know about you.

 

I don't think Barton's ever been able to play in central midfield, it's not his game. Fuck all to do with his fitness levels. He's 28 ffs not 38.

 

I'm pretty sure he made his name with City as a central midfielder. When he's slagging off Gareth Barry I doubt it's because he wants to replace him on the wing. Anyway, Barton is someone I would like to keep in the right circumstances, but not if he's tying his own deal into Nolan signing and they both want daft long term deals which makes it less likely we'll buy quality players. Squad players don't get 4 year deals on big wages.

 

How do you know it's either a 4 year deal or big wages?

 

WE could argue semantics but let's simplify it. Nolan and Barton aren't just squad players. If they want longer contracts (better?) then they will expect to either be first team regulars or relatively low paid reserves. I'm more than happy for Nolan to be a squad player and be paid as such. I'm pretty sure the club would be ok with that as well. So where's the likely sticking point?

[Wil]

However this has come about, the situation has now been created for bids to arrive for both Barton and Nolan.

I'm sure they would be seen as valued players for a number of prem clubs.

I'd be surprised if the board have any thoughts whatsoever about holding onto them for team spirit reasons, so if the bids are decent I'd expect them to be accepted.

I also think the dynamic from the players point of view will have changed, and they may well feel they want to play for another cause elsewhere.

[David28]

If Barton was to sign a 4 year deal at 50k a week - 10.4 million.

 

So quite a lot.

 

Ignoring the fact that he wants three years and you've no idea how much he wants...

 

He gets that all at once does he? And the Sky money stops coming in too does it in the next four years? And the gates dwindle to 0 in the next four years do they?

 

This idea that we have to let key players go because they might have to get paid is absolutely

 

The idea of paying players over their worth and keeping them on big contracts just to keep them happy but to the detriment of the club long term.  Is even more laughable tbh.

 

Should we assume he wants a tenner and a packet of crisps then?  It is almost certain that the figure requested (assuming the various newpaper reports are even close to being accurate) is north of 40k a week.

 

Are those the only options like? Either big contracts 'over their worth' or f*** all?

 

I always assumed most players settle for something in between.

 

Right - assumption time.

 

Can we agree that Barton is probably on between 55-65k a week?  Pretty much every newspaper has reported this and I think this is pretty much accepted?

 

Barton seems to have suggested he is willing to take a paycut.  Do you genuinely think that he is going to accept being on 25k to 35k?  I don't.  Not for England's best midfielder.  He needs more than that.

 

I reckon 40k absolute minimum.

 

And 40k is what he deserves. I mean, no football player in the world 'deserves' this kind of money, but if the likes of Carrick, Gareth Barry or Scott Parker are on twice that (or at least on more than 40k) than Joey Barton absolutely deserves this.

[The Prophet]

Seems like a lot of people are making the usual mistake of blindly assuming that anyone we sign to replace them will fit in straight away, have the right mentality, get on well with team mates etc etc.

 

We have all this in our team right now. Yes we do need quality, but we are in a situation where it can be infused slowly. We've tried fixing everything that is wrong with the team too quickly in the past, changed too many players and it just resulted in a downwards spiral.

 

The way to improve our team is to retain Barton and Nolan and do our best to keep Enrique.

 

Players that aren't necessary invaluable would be Jonas (likely to be the fall guy for Ben Arfa), the strikers, and the other centre back (i.e. not Coloccini)

 

One striker and one attacking wide player are enough to get us from 12th to 8th. However try to replace Nolan and Barton with supposedly better players so half our first team is different could take us down from 12th to 16th.

 

1. No one's assuming that, Nolan will remain at the club for the short term at least, who's to say we're not coming back with another offer?

 

2. Again where's this talk of changing too many players too quickly come from? Barton has said he is going to see out his contract and Nolan may be here for a while yet. Even then that's two players.

 

3. Jonas is a valuable member of the squad, he was one of our best players in the latter half of the season. Flogging him would be moronic.

 

4. League rankings are dependant on other factors too. What a pointless set of assumptions.

[James]

Seems like a lot of people are making the usual mistake of blindly assuming that anyone we sign to replace them will fit in straight away, have the right mentality, get on well with team mates etc etc.We have all this in our team right now. Yes we do need quality, but we are in a situation where it can be infused slowly. We've tried fixing everything that is wrong with the team too quickly in the past, changed too many players and it just resulted in a downwards spiral.

 

The way to improve our team is to retain Barton and Nolan and do our best to keep Enrique.

 

Players that aren't necessary invaluable would be Jonas (likely to be the fall guy for Ben Arfa), the strikers, and the other centre back (i.e. not Coloccini)

 

One striker and one attacking wide player are enough to get us from 12th to 8th. However try to replace Nolan and Barton with supposedly better players so half our first team is different could take us down from 12th to 16th.

 

Who is assuming that?

 

I don't think anyone is.

 

 

Have neither of you two seen those endless team lineups going about in numerous threads on here?

 

Just to refresh your memory:

 

Cabaye Tiote

Gervinho Ben Arfa Jonas

Gameiro

 

Of that front six, the two players who have played together most often have never played for Newcastle!

[Teasy]

 

I never said it boiled down to foreigners vs English, which should be fairly fucking obvious. Players who have a clear affiliation for the club, whether it be Barton, Nolan or Solano are more likely to put their foot in, chase down a lost cause in the last minute, inspire the other players and that makes these players absolutely essential. Do you trust Cabaye to drag us out of a rut when the chips are down? Personally I wouldn't know because I've never seen a second of him in action and therefore replacing Barton or Nolan with him is a massive gamble. It shouldn't be him in and them out, he should be coming in to compliment, not replace and the amount of people happy to see the latter happen is frightening.

 

The idea of a Man Utd squad under Ferguson built mainly on foreign players or flair players is absolutely laughable. Arsenal's squad is supremely talented but until they get some spine and bottle in there, they will not win anything, their goal is not like ours at the moment, it is to win and they are failing miserably since Campbell, Vieira, Seaman, Parlour, Keown have left. I can't believe I'm having to explain this again, it really is astonishingly simple stuff.

 

Letting Barton and Nolan go this summer would be yet another ridiculous gamble.

 

It would be nice to be able to sign a blank cheque to keep everyone on long extended contracts and buy lots more expensive players at the same time. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anywhere without arab/russian billionaire owners. If there's a limit on the spending how do you propose we recruit new players at the same time as handing out long contracts to the likes of Nolan and Barton? Don't bid for Gervinho and bid for someone £4m cheaper so we can hand that money to the players already here?

 

Why is there a limit on spending when we've just sold the family silver for £35m?

 

Keeping your main first team players and buying new ones doesn't happen anywhere else? Righto.

 

 

 

So you're happy to blow the money we got for Carroll on long term deals for Nolan and Barton?

 

How are we supposed to progress doing that?

 

Fucking hell, how much are we planning on paying them?

 

I don't think we give them it all in one lump sum btw. Not sure, so correct me if I'm wrong.

 

As someone pointed out 4 years is worth £10.4 million, so presuming both were on £50k per week  then to give them both a 2 year extension that is what it will cost us.

 

As for paying it all at once, I haven't suggested we were, it was you who brought up the Carroll money in relation to us having a limit on spending.

 

If the club wants to move forward then it will need better than these two and we can't afford squad players to be sat on the bench earning £50k per week.

 

We've afforded Smith and Xisco for long enough. Who signed those clowns?

 

What's your point?

 

You asked me this before. Do I even have to have one?

 

But generally, the point is the hypocrisy and stupid, reckless decision-making of the club. Despite numerous incidents of clueless behaviour, so many expect them to become footballing geniuses when it comes to replacing our best players, trading up and paying less every time. It baffles me.

 

I was just wondering if it really was just a cheap shot or if I'd missed the point