wolfy

Rafa could have easily failed to get us promotion back to the premier league. If Rafa was so short changed then he could have walked before the season started. He's bought players that he could get. the best of the rest of his potentials. He's spending what the club generates and no doubt will have money to spend should the right players show their faces and are within the right budget. I'm sure we all want more expensive signings and a bit of show boating quality. Who doesn't? The point is we are not in a position to buy off the peg quality like that for that type of money. We are on a rebuild under a top manager, who, if stays, could build a successful team and the cash to go with that. Whether it happens or not remains to be seen but the top and bottom of any of it is very simple. Whatever happens the club will always have fans, whether they're unconditional hard noses or fair weather one's like yourself.

It's called unconditional love for the club.

In my honest opinion, judging by what I've seen pre-season and against Tottenham with some. I think we've brought in some real quality players that far outweigh their price tags as it stands. They hold massive potential to do well for us. Lejeune is real quality. Merino looks quality. Manquillo has the potential to make a name for himself. Murphy has excellent potential to succeed, as well as being a Newcastle fan. Atsu we've already seen is way beyond his price tag. That group added to what we already have in quality, plus later additions to show what they're about, as in, Joselu and maybe the odd buy and loan before a closed window of maybe, Kenedy etc. I'd say we've done pretty well considering the outlay. All it's down to is how hungry and physically/mentally tough they all are over a seasonal course. Most buying clubs are on that dangling string, so let's just see what we can pull out of the bag. Fingers crossed we can overachieve as a bonus but comfortably avoid playing around the drop zone as a real expectation.

High fees on a potential top striker does not guarantee anything more than a smaller fee on potential. It's basically down to the club any player settles at and the way they play for the player. Look at Torres for Liverpool. Expensive at the time but prolific and worth the money. Sold to Chelsea for 50 million and flopped because they didn't play to his strengths and/or he wasn't suited. I'm nit picking in a way because I do know that quality players who command higher fees do tend to produce overall but there's a hell of a lot of players that are potential high transfer quality who just don't show it until they've basically had a little club change here and there. Ultimately some clubs manage to get the spoils of that player, who happens to fit right in. Sissoko for us is a classic at the start and a Tottenham downfall.

Demba Ba was also a Stoke reject in a sense. I could go on and on about supposed rejects from clubs that's turned into gems and some of them we sold on ourselves. All signings are positives until they turn out to be alternate.

Joselu might turn out to be a duffer. He might turn out to be well worth the fee paid for him. He also might surprise us all and actually do far far better than any of us would have ever thought possible. Until he gets some decent game time, we won't have a clue which one of the above he turns out to be. Stating the obvious I know. The point is, it's better to have the player in and the hope that he can be potential decent rather than not having a new striker, at all. If anyone can change the lads fortunes for the betterment of himself and obviously, us, then it is Rafa. Not only tactically but also mentally due to there being no language barrier and also having a decent contingent of Spanish players already at the club to ease him in. I'd say there's more positive to take from this signing than negatives.

Just you and Trooper up to now.

He's made some right mistakes and been a bell end at times. No doubting that. There's no smoke without fire though. He might be guilty of a lot of things, whether it's telling a few porkies to putting a pet lip on at times, etc but I genuinely think this club would have been in serious serious trouble had he not dived in when he did. The postcode alone ensured we weren't inundated with genuine take over offers for the betterment of the club. Ashley walked into it like a kid in a sweet shop. He probably had all kinds of excited aspirations of owning a huge club and taking them to the top. The problem was his arrogance and naivety, as well as trusting the wrong crew of people to oversee it all. That's all in the past. It's over with but my love for this club spans from early junior school like most, young and old. I go to watch the team put out on the pitch. I see the players train. I do all of the same stuff that many fans do. What I don't do, is knock on Ashley's door or go to see Ashley. I don't look for Ashley in the crowd and nor do I look for Charnley, etc. I wait for the team to come out and play. I didn't look for the Hall's when they were in charge and nor did I look for Shepherd and all the rest of the owners/part owners. I'm a fan of Newcastle United and that's who I go to see, whether the team consists of local lad Billy Bollox or non-league striker, Tommy tiddleskin from bumthorpe terriers, bought in for a box of Tudor sweet and sour crisps and 14 beer tokens along with the keys to a used ford escort with a months test left on it. Years ago it was a section shouting "sack the board" when we played crap and done it too regular. Now it's a case of telling the owner to get out of the club and citing that we spent too little rather than seeing what the next set of circumstances bring. This is another such case of that change in circumstances, with a bit more clarity. Stopping going because of an owner is your choice but it's more or less saying that your support for the club is anything but unconditional and more akin to saying that you won't come to your friends house unless his mother gives you a chocolate coated digestive instead of 3 morning coffee biscuits.

Are you?

A couple of weeks isn't too bad. It gives a chance to the other to step up to the mark and make it difficult for Rafa to choose when they do return. It's just a shame that that twat Kane didn't see red for the challenge and spend the same amount of time out on a ban.

Rafa knows the score. It's came directly from the horses mouth and we've all seen it. Rafa now knows what he's working with and what he has to do. If he decides to walk away before season is over then he's a shithouse, because this team/squad build is mostly his stamp. However, although it seems I'm having a pop at him....I'm not. I'm basically saying "IF" he does. I would expect him to at least see out the season and find out what is in the coffers in terms of advancement from that point. If there is no advancement, then he's well within his rights to walk. However, that's a season away at the very least. As it really stands, it's a case of trying to enjoy the season with what we have and the small (but hopefully tidy) transfer fee additions before the window closes.

This sickening wage demand crap needs to be stopped.

A lot of Spanish players coming but seeing that we have a top manager who is also Spanish, then we just might see a change in Joselu's stats for the better. It could all go tits up but if we do get him over the line it's about backing him like any other and being optimistic about it all, consedering we've only just came back up.

This response?

Prove what?

Accepting something doesn't mean agreeing.

About as much as you, so it's down to each to their own, basically.

You don't always get what you ask for regardless of asking first.

That makes no sense.

Have you?

It's got nothing to do with being brainwashed by Ashley. Take what he says in any way you want but the maximum you can take from it is that the club runs from within and not from his personal pocket. All the rest of what he said is in the past and mostly what we already knew or suspected anyway.

It's about accepting what's been placed on the table. As it stands, you accept it regardless of whether you believe any of it. If you're a Newcastle fan then your options are limited as it stands, until Ashley decides different. Simple as that really.

Love him or hate him, Ashley has told us all how it was and as it is going to be. Believe him or not, it's your choice. Rafa can either manage and coach under those stipulations or he can walk away. If Rafa does not walk away right now, then he has no excuses about accepting the terms on offer. Ashley is not saying the club is skint. He's saying that the club is not and should not be reliant on his personal pocket. Like it or not. He's also saying that this club is Newcastle United. We as fans may not like the way he says that, but the truth is, he's telling the truth about us not being able to drag in the 40 million a season sponsors and what not. This isn't an Ashley thing. This is a north east postcode thing. London is England and the Oil run clubs are the world's hipsters. Anything outside of all this either gains a similar money no object tycoon(s) or they deal with the cards they own, with no stacked decks to fall back on. When you have clubs that are throwing 100 million etc at players, with contracts of £500,000 a week, then it stands to reason that we are not dealing with the real term of FOOTBALL CLUB. Those clubs have died and are replaced by ball playing celebrities.

Stop nipping.