Kitman

Leaving aside the tedious and never ending Halls/Shepherd vs Ashley debate, I think what this simply shows is that players are paid far too much. Whilst there's a succession of sugar daddies willing to bankroll players' demands and find transfer fees and wages, then this will go on. But I wonder how long the new owners like Short will keep tipping cash in for no return. Everton are in the clarts because they don't have a sugar daddy and can't get one. We've got one but there's no sugar coming way our way anymore. FMA is more like a guarantor these days than an investor. I think the time's coming when the worm will turn on the players' wage demands. We're I can't see the likes of Stoke, Wigan etc keeping up their levels of investment. The question is how long this realignment will take place, since financial prudence is boring and people will drift away. We're probably in the vanguard of financial prudence (yay for us) but it won't put bums on seats or generate any enjoyment.

Same old donkeys going on about emergency loans without a grasp of PL rules. Easy there, your Majesty the Queen. Some of us are just rolling our eyes and hoping for a break for the club. I don't know why they didn't sign Van Aanholt during the transfer window. He wanted to come here, has more skill than any of our present FB's other than Santon, if not a little lacking on the defensive side than Simpson. He would have been useful as cover. Because in Llambias' world players don't get injured or suspended, so it's a waste of money paying for loanees to sit on the bench. Especially when Raylor can "do a job". Van Aanholt would have been perfect on loan. If he was doing the business Santon could have played on the right. If fit. Oh well.

The conclusion to that article asks whether we've signed the new Paolo Maldini or Alessandro Pistone. At the moment I'm wondering if he's the new Celestine Babayaro.

I expect Deano's not feeling the love.....

Pardoo's got his work cut out to get a draw unless there's a quantum improvement in our play. I'm going for 2-0 to them, based on the QPR performance and our general toothlessness in front of goal.

Speechless. Fuck.

Happy belated birthday

The attraction of marzipan for me waned when I stopped smoking. Back then a Battenburg would've had the life expectancy of a rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber if I was on a munchie run. Now it just tastes like a mouthful of sugar.

No, no, no A belated happy birthday to you, young sir. I didn't get to say so on Sunday It's was alex's birthday and he didn't get a thread. For shame. Happy birthday! Jings! A stern letter will be going to the Times. Happy birthday from me too, Alex

This thread, fucking hell

From the Beeb. iirc this twat nearly broke Colo's leg in the derby match: Sunderland defender Phil Bardsley will serve a four-match ban after deciding not to contest a Football Association charge of violent conduct. The 26-year-old was involved in an incident with Chelsea's Juan Mata in the first half of their home defeat against the Blues on Saturday. The Scotland international appeared to stamp on the Spanish winger. Referee Lee Probert did not take any action but the FA reviewed the incident using video evidence. Bardsley was sent off for two bookable offences during the 1-0 home defeat by arch-rivals Newcastle on 20 August. His absence represents a fresh blow for manager Steve Bruce, who saw record signing Asamoah Gyan head for United Arab Emirates side Al-Ain on loan for the rest of the season just hours before kick-off on Saturday. Bardsley has been one of Bruce's most dependable men in recent times, operating largely as a left-back rather than in his favoured position on the right last season. He returned to the right against Chelsea with Republic of Ireland international John O'Shea missing because of a calf problem, and with O'Shea fighting to be fit for Sunday's visit of the Potters, the manager's options look to be limited. Sunderland head into the game against Stoke still looking for their first victory of the season and with Bruce under increading pressure

Surely he wouldn't have had time to board another flight after he flew the first plane into tower 1? Something doesn't add up. Unless the second plane was remote control I think you're onto something here

If he's convicted of GBH and DUI then he's headed for prison fo' sho'. Instead of gettin' down with his homies, he'll be gettin' down with the homos.....

The decision to jettison Barton seems capricious at best. He offered leadership and drive, is at the peak of his powers imo and knows what's required in the PL. I realise that he was probably angling for a move but I wonder what the incremental cost of keeping him would have been, given that we got fuck all for selling him. All academic as he's gone but we have lacked cohesion in all 4 games so far. Not surprising given the number of new players perhaps but not something QPR seemed to suffer from, much to my surprise.

Some quality posting from Saltwater there. Looking at their transfers, if you take Bent and Henderson out of the equation that's an awful lot of money spent for some average players with a limited shelf life. Not that we have bragging rights, because we're not interested in coming to the party in the first place. In bygone days we've wasted mountains of cash on players like Owen, Maric and Emre who've turned out to be injury ridden flops. We've also signed some tremendous players. Now we generally buy young and cheap, who the fuck knows if they're any good or not (with the exception of James Perch) and it requires patience. As it is I like the fact we're scouting hard and having a go at developing and sourcing young talent. It's definitely the way to go imo and you only have to look at our injury list these days to see the wisdom of not signing older and/or knackered players with big reputations. At the same time it's a results business and you need to compete for key talent and you need a wise head or two on the pitch to hold it together. I wish there was a happy medium between development and buying wisely at the right time but that requires ambition.

Hot Love - T Rex

That's the thing that struck me, some of the spending seemed very short term to me. I think Bruce was thinking he needed instant results as he may not get much time otherwise. But it means they'll need replacing in a couple of years or so, obviously out of fresh money

I think we've often been in the same position tbh. Part of the reason our wage bill has been so high imo, in the days when we went for established players. I think if you're outside London and not one of the top teams (ie in the CL or thereabouts) then you have to pay over the odds.

By the way, I don't see Sunderland play except for brief highlights (which lately mainly consist of them being pummelled). Even so I'd suggest their full backs must be better than ours.

Short answer is probably yes, Bruce has pissed away a lot of money on average players. It's hard to telll whilst he's doing such an inept job though. Is it 72 mill net spend (fees out less fees in) or is that the gross spend? If it's 72 mill net spend he must be a candidate for the sack soon.

I'm guessing you don't quite believe his army stories?

His mate that drove off was charged with driving without intelligence. FYP

Good job there's zero chance of it then.....

He's one of our better players atm. Which isn't saying much after the QPR match.