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I was desperate for us to keep Townsend as I’ve always rated him because he could carry the the ball up the pitch, provide an outlet, worked hard, was a goal threat and fitted the Rafa way. But he left and for dumb reasons. Had he had the intelligence he would have realised what a good thing he had here and with Rafa who could have developed him into a top player. Who knows he may have went to the WC had he stayed and starred for us in the PL. he went to a Pardew Palace and has regressed and for what it would take to bring him back, we could do better and again I’d rather we gave Murphy a chance.

 

Sort of playing devils advocate here, but might be biased because I like Andros as a winger and want to give him a second chance if he were to sign for NUFC. So, is it really fair to hold Andros' departure after only 6 months against him? He had plenty of justifiable reasons for wanting to leave to be fair:

 

- Ashley. That alone is potentially enough.

- No guarantee of instant promotion and having to spend at least a year in the Championship, a dire league with more fixtures and where there's a reputation of more tough tackling.

- Fear of missing out on getting into the England squad.

- Profile and sponsorship lowering.

- Probably more money on offer from Palace.

- Seeing Palace assemble a decent squad and looking like a club with alot more ambition than us (at the time).

- Family and friends probably in London.

- Maybe he has ambition to win trophies, which was never going to be matched here.

- He had given 100% whilst with us, so did he really owe us anything? He was comfortably the one player keeping any hope of staying up alive.

- He's a human being, a big part of which is making mistakes.

- Maybe he's a thick footballer and just does whatever the agent says?

 

In terms of Rafa and the positives of staying and being a real part of a club for once instead of a journeyman, at the time of leaving Andros stated it was a very hard decision he had made, so clearly knew about and weighed up the positives of staying with NUFC. He must have just decided, or been advised, that the risks were too great.

 

Also, to be really fair to him he probably would have had no idea what Pardew was like given that it's only really supporters of the teams Pardew has managed who know how destructive the guy is. Many people within the sport had zero clue about this, probably not until Pardew failed at West Brom. They won't have followed Pardew or clubs like NUFC much if at all. So from our point of view Andros' decision was stupid because we knew what he was getting himself into, but from his perspective he's signing for a highly rated (in some camps) British manager who had recently finished 5th and won the PL Manager of the Year, and was seemingly doing alright at Palace.

 

Having said all this, if there's zero truth in us being back in for him, then yes, he was a stupid twat for leaving NUFC.

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I was desperate for us to keep Townsend as I’ve always rated him because he could carry the the ball up the pitch, provide an outlet, worked hard, was a goal threat and fitted the Rafa way. But he left and for dumb reasons. Had he had the intelligence he would have realised what a good thing he had here and with Rafa who could have developed him into a top player. Who knows he may have went to the WC had he stayed and starred for us in the PL. he went to a Pardew Palace and has regressed and for what it would take to bring him back, we could do better and again I’d rather we gave Murphy a chance.

 

Sort of playing devils advocate here, but might be biased because I like Andros as a winger and want to give him a second chance if he were to sign for NUFC. So, is it really fair to hold Andros' departure after only 6 months against him? He had plenty of justifiable reasons for wanting to leave to be fair:

 

- Ashley. That alone is potentially enough.

- No guarantee of instant promotion and having to spend at least a year in the Championship, a dire league with more fixtures and where there's a reputation of more tough tackling.

- Fear of missing out on getting into the England squad.

- Profile and sponsorship lowering.

- Probably more money on offer from Palace.

- Seeing Palace assemble a decent squad and looking like a club with alot more ambition than us (at the time).

- Family and friends probably in London.

- Maybe he has ambition to win trophies, which was never going to be matched here.

- He had given 100% whilst with us, so did he really owe us anything? He was comfortably the one player keeping any hope of staying up alive.

- He's a human being, a big part of which is making mistakes.

- Maybe he's a thick footballer and just does whatever the agent says?

 

In terms of Rafa and the positives of staying and being a real part of a club for once instead of a journeyman, at the time of leaving Andros stated it was a very hard decision he had made, so clearly knew about and weighed up the positives of staying with NUFC. He must have just decided, or been advised, that the risks were too great.

 

Also, to be really fair to him he probably would have had no idea what Pardew was like given that it's only really supporters of the teams Pardew has managed who know how destructive the guy is. Many people within the sport had zero clue about this, probably not until Pardew failed at West Brom. They won't have followed Pardew or clubs like NUFC much if at all. So from our point of view Andros' decision was stupid because we knew what he was getting himself into, but from his perspective he's signing for a highly rated (in some camps) British manager who had recently finished 5th and won the PL Manager of the Year, and was seemingly doing alright at Palace.

 

Having said all this, if there's zero truth in us being back in for him, then yes, he was a stupid twat for leaving NUFC.

 

All that and more could be said about Rafa staying when we went down, he was even here for less time and had a far greater reputation to uphold. But he stayed, became and idol for the fans and loved again at another club. Townsend is thought of highly in his own head, no one cares about his career apart from his inner circle (mainly his agents) and as an asset to sell.

 

He can get fucked. Rather sign no one.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

If we can get £15M for Ritchie then £18M for Townsend (without that cushion under his shirt) is ok with me. From a professional point of view I’ve no problem leaving when he did and he genuinely appeared to enjoy it here so settling in shouldn’t be a problem. Rafa knows what he’ll bring.

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Rafa is obviously desperate to get him, they worked well together in a short space of time. Seems a no brainer. 

 

This is my reason for being happy about it.

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As long as we got Kenedy in as well. And we also have to get a striker in; Mitro's sale will fund that I suppose. But Ryder tweeted Mitrovic won't be sold until a replacement is brought in, so. :dontknow:

 

This is so backwards. Rafa will never give him a game so why the desperation to replace first? He won't even make the 25.

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I'd be amazed if we got Townsend and Kenedy. Most of us would probably be surprised with one of them. The only chance of both happening is if Ritchie left. We will potentially have the money to make this a decent summer, but it's down to Ashley allowing Rafa to spend where he wants. If there's £40m budget there now, then you add the potential sales of Mbemba, Ritchie and Mitrovic, we should be looking at over £80m. Then there's the players we won't get much for, but hopefully we can free there wages off the bill.

 

If it's true that Townsend and Kenedy are available, you would expect them to take up half of that budget, leaving £40m for a striker(s), and a defender.

 

Things just don't work out for us that way though. I reckon we might get Kenedy back on loan if we're lucky, and we'll fuck about trying to find a striker in a cut price deal. We'll probably end up knocking on Chelsea's door for Abraham again on loan.

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Might be just me but i don't think there's a cat in hells chance we'll pay £18m, no way Mike pays more than we previously bought and then sold him for, unless they accept around £12m we can forget it.

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To put things in perspective, a young lad from Sheffield United was bought for £12m today by Bournemouth, prices are mental. £15 to £20m really is rapidly becoming the average going price nowadays.

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I know it's a regular fee in today's market. It's just a mockery that we are spending a record 18m on Townsend when that number should have been broken many times over by now.

 

Suppose in a way that there's money to be spent and Rafa has full say if he is willing to part with 18m on one player.

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I know it's a regular fee in today's market. It's just a mockery that we are spending a record 18m on Townsend when that number should have been broken many times over by now.

 

Suppose in a way that there's money to be spent and Rafa has full say if he is willing to part with 18m on one player.

 

:sadnod: Aye, it's ridiculous it hasn't been.

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