Happy Face

Mrs HF was on a course where they were stood in the lobby on a break eating the snacks that had been laid on. She was stood by the window eating a sarnie when Sir Berb walked bast and caught her eye. He wagged his finger at her and said with a cheeky grin "you'll get fat!". I wouldfn't get away with that, but she loved him for it. On the other hand Kevin Philips was chatting to her and her mates in a club one time and apparently he was a proper cunt.

I don't bother footballers, but my pals do, and the best one was Barry Fry. When he poses for a photo he does the thumbs up grin and goes "eeeeey!" like the Fonz. Worst was Beardsley, didn't want a bite of my mates sausage roll first time around (as a player), second time around he was having a pop at the fans for being harsh on Ashley.

Is Ba on 60k a week?

I see you failed to answer the question. I have the greatest respect for you, Baggio, but Lord, you are no nearer catching Leazes now than four years ago when you started.

I assume he's not saying how exactly they would compete now, because he never even claimed they could. Explain to me how exactly you propose to prove the existence of the Higgs Boson Baggio. Answer the Question!!!!

Irrespective of agents fees, new contracts etc, we made a profit after player trading of £32m last year though. The argument that Ashley was covering a loss and making the tough financial decisions to secure our future was only valid as long as we were running at a loss. Now we have significant profits, and to be fair to Ashley, I've posted my appreciation that £20m+ has been spent since the last set of accounts were published. My complaints are limited to perfect world questions now, where I wonder what we could have done had we invested some extra of that wedge in a better CB to step in for Steven Taylor.

Fair point...and one I've made to Leazes on here before too. But he wasn't bound by those rules for when he was getting himself in bother, first throwing his money about like it was Paul Wellers hair, and then tightening his belt excessively. But again, to be fair, Leazes doesn't even ask for the owners money these days, he just asks "where is the Carroll money?", which is what will be interesting about the £32m profit most recently posted and what gets spent in the Summer.

The only point I see Leazes making is that football is ostensibly the same now as it was then, if you're going to challenge on the field you need to compete with the rest of the league in the transfer market to sign the best players...and pay what's required to do that. The only difference is the wealth of the owners, and the borrowing required to compete. Freddy Shepherd is worth a total of £60m personally and did the whole thing on tick. No-one could do what he did now. He exploited the untapped potential of the region and the club, then had to get out. He hasn't got back into any other club either because the game is beyond him now. Mike Ashley is the 7th wealthiest manager in the league with a net worth of £1.5b+ though. 25 times as wealthy as Shepherd, He's pumped in £250m+ personally (over 4 times Shepherd's personal fortune, £50m a year) and should be a man who can compete with at least 18 other clubs, every season. He has the means, the stadium, the dedicated support that outshines most Premier League clubs, even in the championship, but (so far) he chooses to let the club wipe it's own nose and has tens of millions in profit to spend this summer before putting any more of his own money in. The summer will be interesting.

Hatem enjoys doing a Donald Duck impression while on the ball.

Who said they could? Why is it a question you're getting so worked up about?

When we actually won the title, how would the owners then be able to compete for the title now? You see how silly the question is? The point is they broke transfer records in their own era. They couldn't afford to now, that's why they got out of the game.

Yep. If Leazes doesn't like Ashley then he needs to look at the previous owners who sold to such a penny pinching, non-football, non-Geordie man. But then, has Leazes actually said Shepherd/Hall should buy back the club and compete for the title now? I think his point is only that they were able to invest at the level required to compete in their era. Owen was a dud, but they broke the record transfer fee to get Shearer, the best striker in the country. No-one laments that as financial stupidity. Leazes wants an owner willing to invest at a competitive level in this era too. If Ashley has no interest in doing that he has no business running the club with the 5th best etc etc.

There's very little different financially between how we looked in 2005/2006 and how we're looking now...apart from the debt and the profit... You could sum up the ethos of each regime in 2 signings. Bringing in Owen was much too ambitious/stupid....Selling Carroll was very sensible/stabilising.

By selling to the arabs who went to man City instead of dealing with Ashley?

If that was his aim, It didn't work

Woah there sonna, try the protein shakes rather than the roids eh?

L7 still don't sit down

Though, now I've read back my response to his OP, I've not changed my mind on how I feel about any of it

You should revel in your outlook over the last 2 years tbh. If it was me I'd be digging up old posts left right and centre. Like Chris Gray has done here. I'd love to be held accountable and learn from any patent bollocks I spouted back then. Just not keen on "you were on team negative, you were wrong"....cos team negative is basically every man and his dog with views ranging from perfectly reasonable to cloud cuckoo land..

Don't see why you're arguing. Leazes is fundamentally right in that we won't challenge for the title like this. That's all he's interested in. You're fundamentally right that we won't get debt free by chasing titles.

Goes to show how many daft scousers will keep betting on Liverpool if the bookies are keeping their odds that low. No basis in reality whatsoever. Mind, I had a cheeky £1 on Newcastle cheeky not to at that price.

Champion. 2 good moves from the club in as many days.... http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2012/04/25/jackie-milburn-statue-moved-closer-to-st-james-park-61634-30832843/

I think it's champion.....is wor Jackie still stuck on the side of a dual carriageway though? Would like to see him back at the stadium.

Shit Ben Arfa, he's just a shit Ben Arfa......

Cheers.