OTF

Hope they sort out all the useless ok this and ok that that you need to do to do just about anything in the menus.

I've enjoyed our onfield performances over the last two seasons as well. The 2008-09 season was painful watching for the most part.

Problem being that they seem thick as thieves. And I'm sure Ashley is happy to let him be the villain.

Make N'Zogbia wait. When we've conducted the important business of the summer - ie. sorting out the Enrique predicament and signing some more strikers then we can look into what would be a luxury player who plays in positions where we're quite strong already.

Mismanagement of money. The sale of Andy Carroll for 35M is only a good sale if we end up with a better team as a result. We've been lied to over and over again, about money, player retention, you name it. This is just another one of the lies, another con that the gullible will seemingly gulp down eagerly. If the core of the supporters stopped acting like mugs then they'd have to stop treating them like mugs.

:lol:

I don't get how we're still so strongly linked. Where exactly would he fit into our side? I know we need options but there's other positions that need to be strengthened as a priority before we sign another left sided player.

It's a fair point. If you believe what they say the sale of Carroll was not even on the cards when Ben Arfa's loan was made permanent. Therefore it's entirely plausible to consider it on its own separate to any other activity in the same window - especially when the club itself has talked openly about it as a discrete figure.

..and what about the loss of our leading scorer and most promising local player in some time? Completely different to selling a shirt. You surely must concede that. Andy Carroll is an asset to the club, one that would have helped to maintain premiership status, helped to sell those same shirts you talk about, would have sold the dream to the local youth coming through, kept fans entertained and attending matches, no doubt kept the tabloids going etc etc. We've been conned into thinking the sale of Carroll was too good to turn down because that money could easily be used to improve our squad. I'd stake my membership here on it. It is only different in terms of magnitude otherwise it is exactly the same. A club asset was sold for a price. Yeah, you're right. Anyone got the number for the Puma sweatshop? We'll get them to churn out some Andy Carrolls. Half a dozen or so at 35M a pop and we'll we debt free. I've seen the light.

He'll need the luck then.

Absolutely. Much worse than being a cunt is being a cunt whilst pretending to be a saint.

..and what about the loss of our leading scorer and most promising local player in some time? Completely different to selling a shirt. You surely must concede that. Andy Carroll is an asset to the club, one that would have helped to maintain premiership status, helped to sell those same shirts you talk about, would have sold the dream to the local youth coming through, kept fans entertained and attending matches, no doubt kept the tabloids going etc etc. We've been conned into thinking the sale of Carroll was too good to turn down because that money could easily be used to improve our squad. I'd stake my membership here on it.

Alan Pardew: “We have a big club mentality, and will hold on to our best players,” December 21, 2010 When Andy Carroll was sold for 35M in the dying moments of the January transfer window it was a move that was met with a slurry of varied reactions. For the most part there was an initial anger resulting from the sale of our most promising young player. A player who was contracted to the club for another 5 years. A player who many felt we could build the side around. Eventually this anger began to subside, with many consoling themselves with the fact that the club did receive a massive chunk of money for him. A chunk larger than many felt the player was worth. That chunk of cash was only of course going to mean anything to the club if it was consequently reinvested into the strengthening of the team - something that the club and the manager vehemently insisted would be done. Now, almost 6 months later we've still seen very little of that money be spent. Noone would have accepted the sale of Carroll without the knowledge that the money would be used to strengthen the side ad yet that precisely what appears to be happening before our very eyes. No doubt ensuring that this business was conducted at the close of the window has given Ashley and Llambias the power of time. The initial feelings of anger have dissipated, as feelings do over time, and we've been plied with statements to gradual wear down our resolve over the 35 million. At first the insinuation was that it would all be spent on players, then that it would be spent on players and wages (such a bullshit bit of creative accounting it defies words) and now the 35M figure is not something we ever hear. It is clear from the movements in the market that we will be operating at the bargain basement end of the scale. Granted we've signed what appear to be talented players, but with two of them their value was heavily undermined by their poor injury records - an area where we've been burnt in the past. More worrying we sold our leading goal scorer and team captain to a championship team despite him having half of his 4 year contract left to run. At this precise point in time our outgoings only just exceed our incomings - a fact that defies the 35M we apparently would see spent in the summer. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Derek Llambias: “And he won’t take a single penny of this £35 million either - all the money will go to the club and we are already working on identifying transfer targets for the summer. We will spend in the summer. Every penny of the £35 million will stay in the club.” Stay in the club, and be used to strengthen the playing roster are vastly different propositions. Derek Llambias: “ [On Carroll] Yes, he went in our helicopter. But the sooner the deal was done the sooner we could make our own moves in the transfer market. It was already very late.” Lucky he went in the chopper lads, or else we'd never have been able to pull off the massive coup of signing Shefki Kuqi!

Your stance on this would indicate that you would chalk off Ashley selling 100M of players (losses that have been made by the club since he bought it) to simply balancing the books. As though the fans who keep the club going should have to suffer his ongoing incompetence without so much as a question of where the money is being spent. Sacking managers and having to pay them out, undermining managers and having to pay them out, undermining the team and failing to strengthen when required resulting in relegation and subsequent massive loss of TV money, corporate revenue, sponsorship money etc, signing Alan Smith all direct actions undertaken by Mike Ashley and his elect and all resulting in a the loss of a metric fuckton of cash. But that's ok because he owns the club and can do whatever the fuck he wants with it. You can point your self-indulgent condescending wanker of a finger at whomever you like, but in the end it just highlights what a completely compliant cunt you are on this issue. Might as well pop some glasses on and call yourself Dekka.

Copping a harsh wrap on here. He's certainly not fast and doesn't have a good engine, but he does have an eye for picking out a pass, is generally solid in possession and can smash in the occasional shot. He shouldn't really be near the first team with the players we have currently assuming they're all fit and settle nicely, though injuries could see him called on occasionally. It's in his best interest to move on though I would say, he's at an age where he should be playing week in week out. That will bring the best out of him - I think there's avenue for improvement. It would be a good move for them I'd say and at that price it's a very good deal IMO. He's about 10 times the player Perch is, yet that waste of space cost a million and is older to boot. Will do good things there if he goes. He's played 10 games in Europe including the Champions League!

Agree 400% Especially as we need a forward and are stacked with left footed French midfielders.

cheaper so its "good business". Interesting that despite the mirth surrounding Jordan Henderson [until Liverpool finish miles higher in the league next season], Liverpool see him as a more worthwhile acquisition for that fee they paid than a free transfer player ? They've been burnt recently by injury prone players who arrived on apparent frees. They were heavily compensated for costing 'nothing' and so with Marveaux no doubt they didn't want to take that chance so offered lower wages. He won't have failed a medical with them but they slipped that little doozy to the media because it will satiate their fans who will feel they've dodged a bullet. Perhaps they have, only time will tell. We've obviously paid more (or had better incentives loaded into our contract). Like them we've been severely burnt by injury prone players, but we have an owner who likes to take a gamble. A gamble like disbanding a successful side because you think you can make some cash and lower your outgoings by doing so.

On the back of the signings we've made thus far it's far more critical that we sign a striker and sort out Enrique. With HBA coming back into the side next season and Marveaux and Cabaye being signed it's not like we've got a lot of space to facilitate him.

I like how with Sturridge the best link or info tidbit that they could include was their own picture of him to the right.

He looks a classy, stylish fellow. No doubt meenzer could confirm.

Relatively speaking. Stopped spamming shite just to be the centre of attention.

76 is not too bad I guess. Better than Routledge.

RAINMAN name change in order?

DEADMAN, your scouting skills are required in the Marveaux thread immediately!

Jonas can just as easily switch to the right hand side. Once Enrique is gone the connection will leave no reason to keep him on the left. Sell off Barton and he'll be shifted to the right. The payoff from that could be some slightly more consistent crossing off his right foot. Marveaux doesn't sound like he could switch sides at all being heavily left footed he will either operate down the left or through the middle.