Kitman

Is a cockaroach related to a cockernee in some way?

To be honest I'm surprised you feel like this, isn't it obvious from most of the threads on here that the vast majority of posters think we're shit if not shitter? Absolute dog shit in fact as we have no manager, no money to spend, any decent players are on their way and above all we're owned by Mike Ashley. We can still laugh about though

I think the appointment of JFK would upset me more than werepig O'Leary. I can only see another spell of JFK ending one way.

Assuming this is the book value of these players, to my mind the value of the club would only diminish if the club doesn't get any of the cash. Otherwise you've just swapped assets of $24m for cash/debtors of $24m. Plus you've removed the high cost of their wages. Of course it depends on who (if anybody) you get in to replace them. If Dean Windass came in for Martins and Kevin Muscat came in for Duff for instance, as a purchaser you might think the club is worse off just because your squad was significantly weaker. I know I bloody would.

Yeah, surely if anybody signs it's either a purchase by Ashley or a purchase by Hughton. That would suggest either Ashley's gonna take the cheap option and keep Hughton on, or cheaper still and take over as boss himself! To be honest given his work at the club to date, I wouldn't be that suprised... I can picture Ashley saying to himself "I'll do it, how hard can it be? Who dares wins, Rodney". He'd probably have a better records than Hughton, to be fair.

This, for me, is becoming an increasingly moot point. I can't believe anyone that is/was a self made billionaire is that inept, I wouldn't be surprised if he's doing this intentionally. I don't believe he would intentionally depreciate his assets. I think there has been pride and pig headedness in his decisions, particularly in relation to Keegan, I also think he's been badly advised by his "mates". But I don't think he's set out to fuck us over just to get back at us, if anything I think he's reluctant to let us go because he wants to prove he can make it work for him. At the bottom of this, I don't think he gives a fuck about us, it's all about his pocket and his ego in that order. I have no evidence whatsoever to base my opinions on obviously. I would say the evidence is contrary to wanting success for us or a return to the premiership, and you need to build a hypothesis that best fits the known facts. Selling off our best players and not employing Shearer (who would immediately increase gate receipt if nothing else) makes no sense to me, except in the context he wants to piss us off and ultimately destroy the club, however preposterous that may seem. Maybe he's evil. An alternative theory is he's had severe cashflow problems, tried to flog the club and failed because he's too greedy/proud to accept a realistic price, and is now back for another go having fucked over any chance of us getting back to the prem due to his dithering. Who knows.

Sorry I was being tongue in cheek. I honestly can't see Ashley spending a brass farthing on transfers, and he's probably naive enough to think kids from the Academy can make up the numbers.

He's hardly played for us

agreed, bit rough round the edges, but a wonderfully instinctive keeper. better than harper in my opinion.... And Harper's getting on. Would you be tempted to flog Harper and promote Krul to No 1?

This, for me, is becoming an increasingly moot point. I can't believe anyone that is/was a self made billionaire is that inept, I wouldn't be surprised if he's doing this intentionally. I don't believe he would intentionally depreciate his assets. I think there has been pride and pig headedness in his decisions, particularly in relation to Keegan, I also think he's been badly advised by his "mates". But I don't think he's set out to fuck us over just to get back at us, if anything I think he's reluctant to let us go because he wants to prove he can make it work for him. At the bottom of this, I don't think he gives a fuck about us, it's all about his pocket and his ego in that order. I have no evidence whatsoever to base my opinions on obviously.

And watch Malbranque flourish with a decent DM next to him. It's not rocket science. Unless you're a 62 year old bullshitting lickspittle with a dodgy ticker who doesn't bother turning up to training? I'm not thinking of anyone in particular.......

Stands to reason there'll be someone in for Jonas and Sideshow Berb, on the basis it's a distressed sale so they'll cost next to nowt. Stumbling block will be wages but you'd think they'd want to get away.

Sigining anyone seems a waste of money when we have so many excellent kids on low wages.

that smiley

You'd hope this is just brinkmanship and bluff tactics to force a sale through. Unfortunately the indications are that the club will be off the market around the time the transfer window shuts. It's hard not be to be cynical about all of this. He can certainly expect a hot reception if he dares to show his fat face and I hope the bar staff piss in his beer for good measure.

Out of the gloom, a voice said unto me "Smile and be happy, things could be worse" So I smiled and was happy and lo Things did get worse.

Not a bad theory. Nothing else about the transfer makes sense.

He's been offered peanuts because that's what the club's now worth after his 'stewardship'. I'm amazed that Seymour Pierce want to be associated with Ashley, I'd be concerned about my reputation.

Can't say I'm surprised. The longer this rumbled on, the more it seemed like we'd end up back at square one: Ashley in charge, a paper thin squad, a cretinous managerial appointment. In fact no matter how much I hate David O'Leary, the thought remains that we could do much much worse.

This. I'm genuinely surprised anyone in the toon recognised him. It was probably mackems in the pub telling him he was gash.....

I know this isn't the main point of your post but personally I don't subscribe to this statement. The main reason we went down was our esteemed owner gambled on the existing squad and temporary management being good enough throughout the majoirty of the season, and he only tried to do something about it when it was way way too late. It's true we were only one point short, but I don't think a general lack of support was the reason we didn't get that extra point. I would put the owner, club/team management and players well ahead of the supporters in that sense. We still would have been shit, that's for sure. But would we have lost at home to a pathetic Hull side? (just to name one match that was VASTLY influenced by the turmoil and unrest at the club). I know it's pointless to speculate but I truly think that if there wasn't so much hatred, blame and finger pointing then the general improved atmosphere at the club would have translated to better performances on the field. Granted but the turmoil and unrest was really down to Ashley & co. The situation could have been managed so much better, they did absolutely nothing to placate the fans and there was no communication with anybody. Let's face it, if they'd appointed a decent successor to KK and promised some limited investment in January the grumbling would have died down pretty quickly. Instead they chose to stick up 2 fingers to everyone with their 'IT IS A FACT' statement, left Hughton in charge and the rest is history. The fan reaction was utterly predictable, hwo they reacted to it was unforgivable imo.

It's interesting that the initial reaction of a lot of folk to NUSC on the internet was one of distrust and antipathy. "They don't speak for me etc". I'm not sure how representative they were of the rank and file, certainly there was no support for Ashley's behaviour from Keegan onwards amongst the matchgoing support according to the matchgoers in my family. I'm not going to criticise people for reacting passionately. A football club is deeply personal and if Ashley didn't appreciate what he was doing would get a big rise, he's a total idiot and we shouldn't make excuses for him imo. Personally I think the history of our club has shown that if you don't protest against something you'll just get walked over. I think the NUSC is a great idea and I can't imagine why anybody would rather not have a supporters interest group. If people don't like the way they go about things they should get involved. I'm not a member.

I know this isn't the main point of your post but personally I don't subscribe to this statement. The main reason we went down was our esteemed owner gambled on the existing squad and temporary management being good enough throughout the majoirty of the season, and he only tried to do something about it when it was way way too late. It's true we were only one point short, but I don't think a general lack of support was the reason we didn't get that extra point. I would put the owner, club/team management and players well ahead of the supporters in that sense.

If a Shepherd falls out there'll be an earthquake with the tree as its epicentre.

I guess the problem we have with some of the first team squad is that they don't want to be with us. They can't all leave but the bigger earners will be shifted on if we get a decent offer. I suspect no-one's that interested in Jonas and Colo on current form and given the price demanded and their wages so we end up with players who don't want to be with us and we don't want. It's a nightmare really. I think your point about replacements is spot on. The club's been like a car where the driver's taken their feet off the pedals and hands off the wheel. God knows if we can get anybody decent in now and whether they even want to. We might be stuck with the kids as back up.