The Fish

Why wouldn't we start Shelvey? He's not being gingerly brought back from injury, he's just been suspended and a Cup game against Birmingham, then a league game against Rotherham are perfect fixtures to get him up to speed if you ask me.

How much of that was down to Robson rebuilding him? Doesn't Shearer talk about Robson almost re-educating him how to play? Something about showing the defenders his back?

And by extension how important a good manager can be.

I don't think there's as much malicious intent as all that. Way I see it, it's more "meh, fuck 'em", rather than "Right, lets fuck 'em". Explains the transfer policy being more about making money, rather than making a team. Explains Wonga and Sports Direct branding; he doesn't/didn't give a shit about the club or the fans, and cared only about Sports Direct. Tearing control of the football side of things from Rafa Benitez strikes me as too much like giving a shit for Ashley to put up with. Especially as it's going so swimmingly.

Twidiots, newspaper article commenters, etc. Yet you agree with Trooper that it's more likely than not that this story about Ashley reverting to the previous transfer policy is true.

Bit early to write him off like.

Zing

If you can get the timeframe in writing I'd do the shifts. You can still go out with your mates after work on Saturday. I used to work all kinds of fucked up patterns and it was fine, plus the extra cash meant I could afford to do loads more interesting stuff than a few pints down the pub on a Friday. The killer was when I had 3 night shifts 19:00-07:00 Thurs-Sat, followed by days Mon-Wed 07:00-19:00. That Sunday was mental, waking up around 13:00 and needing to force yourself asleep 10 hours later. You make a bit for unsocial hours, plus you save money by missing out on Fri & Sat. Meant that the next time you went out, you could go mental without really denting your bank account.

The same people demanding we spend £20m+ on a striker now would be bemoaning the same player not being up to snuff in the top flight. I trust in Rafa to buy the right players for what we need for the next 18 months or so. Even if what he thinks we end up signing is another Murphy/Hanley type for c£5m.

Absolutely, if we're sitting pretty in 12th at the end of the 1st season and Ashley thinks that's good enough for him I'd not be remotely surprised if he tries to manipulate the transfer policy towards hunting for Cabayes and Sissokos in cheap leagues, in the hope that Rafa is capable of improving whatever squad he's got. But the risk of fucking about with a policy that's working towards the sole aim of this season is beyond stupid. Just because we've not announced signings doesn't mean that we've changed policy, that we haven't tried, or that there hasn't been any movement.

It's horeshit written by a liar to get people clicking links and buying papers. As said in the other thread, a bit of a wobble and he rolls out this because he knows fine well the huge and voracious fanbase will gobble it up. To be honest, I don't believe any scoops, or rumours, or the like from the Print Media. Opinion pieces, reports, interviews, are all fine, but a story with no sources, no evidence and suspiciously timed... nah, not for me like. Guarantee if Villa were up chasing for the title, there'd be some piece in the Mirror or the Sun, saying that Xia is looking to sell the club, that Bruce is tempted to return to Sunderland or that their leading striker is off to China. It's bullshit, the sole function of it is selling advertising space and it should be dismissed as quickly as a "Check out these footballer's pets, you'll never believe #7".

And he played under Dalglish and Gullit who hardly got the best out of him. Imagine Robson taking the reigns directly from Keegan. Might be rose-tinted, but I'm convinced we'd have won the league and Shearer would have further added to his tally.

Leeds might be more of a threat than you think. Their new money man is apparently looking to spend a bit in January to bolster their promotion push.

Yeah, you're not allowed in match threads any more. Sounds like Perez was winning the ball as often as he was losing it, which while an improvement isn't great. If he could work out how he can keep possession in this league, despite his build, he'll blossom, I'm sure. I think a lot of the problems we saw/heard yesterday were down to the injuries. Shelvey missing is obviously going to put more pressure on the defence as we're not controlling the play, Gayle going off means that their defence/midfield isn't as wary of our attack, 3 injury forced subs means that the 11 on the pitch won't be settled, may be less clear on and less drilled in their roles. And as we found out Gouffran wasn't, isn't and will never be a central midfielder. A good, if fortunate win against a team that many had written off but who are comfortably midtable, who've perhaps played above themselves as individuals but deserve to be where they are on merit. They've beaten title chasing teams, play off teams, the teams around them and those worrying about relegation. I think it's a little disrespectful to judge them on anything other than the table to be honest. A fortunate win in difficult circumstances, but a win nonetheless.

Did Ashley ever reclaim the loan he provided the last time we were down?

Ronin standard chase sequence or Grease 2 chase sequence?

Grant fucking Hanley is a fucking gobshite. Comfortably leading Blackburn 2-0 thanks to Mitrovic and Ritchie, Grant Hanley picks up a yellow for persistent fouling, so I tell him to calm down and I change his tackling instructions. 5 minutes later he cocks up and allows Sam Gallagher to get one back. 10 minutes later there's a carbon copy error and he's on a 6.0 and we've thrown away a 2 goal lead. 20 minutes into the second half he gives away a penalty to be around 5.4. Sels saves it, but I'm in the process of hauling off the big Scottish lump when he gets his second yellow for persistent fouling. We manage to win the game 4-2 thanks to a Mitrovic hattrick, and I tell the boys how pleased I am with their performances (most over 6.7 and a few 8s and Mitro 9.5). I tell Hanley I'm disappointed in his sending off. Confused and demotivated. HOW ARE YOU CONFUSED, YOU SPORRAN WEARING, FRIED CHOCOLATE EATING, COCK SUCKING SASSENACH?! You were told to pack it in because you'd be sent off and you didn't pack it in and you got sent off. The rest of your game was blighted with mistakes too! He then complains to me about my team talk (that everyone else was delighted or motivated and inspired by) I tell him to respect my authority. He then moans to the rest of the team and because of the way SI build that conversation I either have to tell the entire squad to shut the fuck up and deal with it, or acquiesce to their requests to change my team talks. That fat lump is on the first sunshine bus to burnley for all I care.

I reckon the market would inflate prices for Kone and Defoe beyond £10m, but I broadly agree that they're not in a good state, worse still if they're finally flushed.

Funny reading this thread back mind. "Vuckic is going to be class" etc.

From an admitted position of ignorance, isn't our debt more manageable/better managed than theirs and many others though?

Oof

Wonder how much corporate boxes will be going for in the new stadium?

I don't think we'll see any permanent signings, perhaps we won't see any loan signings either but not for the want of trying.

£13m for the pair, which is roughly the same as I recieved for unloading Colback (£8.5m!) and Tiote (£3.2m). My coaching team is below par, but Ashley won't let me increase the number of coaches, so Ian Cathro is having to assist in Goal Keeping sessions. Isn't there a way to get the coaches from your youth teams taking 1st team sessions too?