Happy Face

I've only tried to defend him against what I thought was unfair criticism. So if people said we were still playing hoofball when I thought we had changed to trying to pass it about a bit or if his team selection was maligned but I could see nothing better on the bench. I've had no trouble criticizing his actual failings though. Was saying to Chez the other day when he said we were playing good football, we might not hoof it from back to front but we are still clueless when it comes to breaking into the opponents box and rely almost exclusively on long range efforts or balls lofted in. We've playing relegation form... And we had Cabaye for most of those games so his sale is no cause or excuse.

Hughton wasn't sacked for football reasons. He wouldn't dedicate wins to Mike, invite bids and defend sales.

In seen as a Pardew defender? Shit! That was not my intention.

Thought he was a waste of a player personally. Expecting a lot for him to have an impact like.

I was talking about being in danger over the next few seasons btw, not this one

Ashley in pissing like a human shock.

I don't think we have any reason to think we're at all secure in 8th though, especially without Cabaye who, along with Remy (who isn't ours), are the ones who've elevated us to where we are at the moment. We need to spend year on year to make sure we make one of those places just outside of Europe ours. Otherwise we'll be right in the mix with the ten clubs in the bottom half who can't put any distance between themselves and the relegation places.

Like no-one would notice what he did after downing a pint on telly.

I would also consider the impact of when we spend big. One of my biggest bugbears was that we never pushed on after finishing 5th and made a statement in the transfer market. It deflated the entire club and our relegation scrap followed. Opportunities like that don't come around often. Last January it was imperative we brought some quality in, and we did. We could spend big now and lift ourselves 2 or 3 places, max. Where would that leave us in the summer? The opportunity would be there again...but we'd have already spent big. To make a statement we'd then have to go out and do it again or the club is left deflated again. You might say "why not spend in both windows", but i can't see Ashley going all out two windows in a row, can you? Signing no-one this month could mean we drop into the lower half, or we could maintain our current position with loanees, but either way, it makes the summer the best opportunity for making a statement of intent, buying big and lifting the club to better.

There's also agents fees. We spent £7m on those last year. The question for me has always been will Ashley try to pay off the consolidated debt from before relegation, once he had recouped the cost of relegation, or would he leave it fenced off to allow re-investment and a little ambition. I have always said I can understand and encourage the frugal approach, so I'm not going to complain about it just because we've not signed anyone in 18 months (come summer) and have a large pot of cash. We're in the top half and we have £129m of debt so I can still understand the penny-pinching. That said, my view of the 3 years since promotion is that irrespective of who we sell we have been spending reasonably enough to be somewhat satisfied (£15m-£20m a season) and once the 13/14 TV deal came into effect I saw no reason that we would not double it. I was waiting to give Ashley that opportunity before complaining too much. With the breakdown of the Grenier deal which I had hope of happening and breaking Ashley's transfer record I'm more inclined to believe that the appointment of Kinnear was basically Ashley putting in place a lightning rod for the shitstorm of negativity when he fails to invest anything. Without any big moves come the summer it will confirm to me Ashley's intention to cover the conolidated debts before changing up a gear in terms of ambition or selling.

Bookmarked in my "CT's feet" folder along with....

I still haven't perfected the safety wink since April last year.

Yeah. http://www.toontastic.net/board/topic/29569-ashleys-transfer-history-thread/?p=1254975 That missed out Barton and Parker from when he arrived, hence the £1m difference.

Spent £38m less than we've recouped.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it good mind. We pass it around canny enough now, but only until we hit the opposition box. Our ability to break down the opposition in the last third is still poor against all but the worst teams in the league. We're still by and large restricted to long range efforts, lofted balls into the box and POMO chasing.

Think It's crazy to think the club would actively try to avoid a higher finish. There would be no benefit to anyone. 7th will get £5m more than 11th place. Ashley would rather have that money than not. £8m on a midfielder that secured us the higher position but left us £3m worse off could possibly be justified by him as a long term investment, I think he sees no benefit in spending £15m to earn £5m and be £10m worse off though. Not that I agree with the approach, it's a hard nosed business decision, not a conscious decision to avoid Europa...which we could send the u18s to play anyway.

Can you not post this shit on Facebook like the other women do? People who know you in real life might actually give a flying fuck.

Most important thing is to set up your own playlists I think. Took me 3 attempts to really get the most from it. All well and good searching for artists or listening to playlists cheated by others, but only you know if you like late period Frank Zappa as much as 1920s ragtime.

I know he was thick and I always thought he would go as well as having no doubt the appeal would fail. That doesn't make it any less dreadful a decision or implementation of the rules. Referees are there to decide is an altercation intentional or accidental ... Is it dangerous or handbags. The whole thing was handbags and the only real unsporting conduct came from the Norwich prick.

The rules say touching an opponent with your face is automatic red?

Upheld. Johnson's rescinded

Aguero only slightly better than Kevin Philips.

Nice one. Make sure to read up on toilet etiquette.

Work get Sports bar tickets for the Milburn at £30 per game My shitty seat in the gallowgate would work out at £602/19 = £31.68 There's little incentive to commit like.

I also like the way he sees a draw as outwitting Mourinho. Surely it's just barely matching wits when you make no attempt whatsoever to beat them.