OTF

35m in the bank would pull in well in excess of 1 million in 6 months assuming it was all paid up front. That's enough to buy our current strike force (Ameobi - Free, Lovenkrands - Free, Ranger - Free, Best - 1.5m)

I'd have to say he's got several valid points there. They have shown ambition above their current station and even still can't fill their stadium.

The other effect that these statements have (apart from confirming the inevitable that Enrique will be leaving) is that they will deride our chances of signing any replacement players of decent quality. From the perspective of the Club though they can't have any complaints. They undoubtedly have treated our players poorly, have mislead them on numerous occasions and been full of empty promises. As noted elsewhere if you're full of shit and talk out of your arse it will eventually catch up with you. Pretty soon (if not already) no-one of decent quality will want to deal with us because of Ashley and the way that he conducts his business. It's up to you if you want to be a rogue and do things your own way, but you can have no complaints when doing so alienates others who are happy to conform to standards. To some extent he's got away with doing things on the bodge up until now because we have some salable assets. Most notably the now departed Andy Carroll with Enrique and Tiote being the next two. Barton doesn't have a big value on the market, though he's a good player. Hatem Ben Arfa's value at the moment isn't high, but if he returns from injury well then midway through next season it could have risen substantially. After that bunch there's no-one of note, and we'll be an even less attractive prospect to incoming players. With no signings on note the crowds will begin to dwindle. Basically it all looks up the shitter. I'd love nothing more than to be proved wrong, but the writing is pretty much on the wall, written in the smeared shit of the charlatan fuckwits running the place.

Depending on the offer (sub 10m) we should keep hold of him until his contract ends which is two and a half seasons away still. Well more than 10m of value in us by having him around, makes a massive difference. I know that's not the way it will be seen though. I've been saying for ages that they should be offering him a new contract, but as it is the club are more interested in the bottom line than retaining our best and brightest.

More statements from Pardew about how we're planning on spending massive money like we did with Lovenkrands.

He's signed already, has just been on loan to Everton all this time.

It's not too late for him to come out with some lark about a bet on us to qualify for Europe. It is a fact* that he could enlighten us with plenty of facts about the whole Andy Carroll saga. * - May contain traces of truth.

Yeah, even if he did come out and put something on record he's showed that his word means fuck all. I agree with your sentiment though, because now is a crucial time for the immediate future of the club IMO. What happens between now and the start of next season will be the true indication of what we can expect over the upcoming years (until Ashely sells up).

Yep, part of me puts it at some sort of battered wife/stockholm syndrome effect in that after all the shit we've copped we're still somehow hopeful that it will all change and he'll suddenly start making the right decisions.

If we could I'm sure it would just trigger Ashley to sell more in the off-season.

Honestly though if the 35m was well invested next season and Ashely was prepared to [ay decent wages we're not that far off competing with the best teams in the league. Heck on our day this season we've been able to. We're extremely thin on in certain areas, but with some wise movements in the player market, increased wages (don't even need to be at the Michael Owen level tbh) and a continued good moral in the squad anything* is possible. Shame it's all a dream with that fucking fucking cunt in charge. * - By that I mean top 6 pushing for top 4.

Heres hoping.

I'll be gutted when Jose leaves. It's a fucking travesty that we don't have owners that are willing to build on that sort of talent. With Jose, Tiote, Ben Arfa, Barton and Carroll we were honestly not that far off being able to compete for a top 6 finish. Once you're there 4th is not too far off. Given our attendances and supporter base it's ridiculous that Manchester has two teams that compete on a different financial level. There's no reason why we shouldn't be above the level of Spurs.

...and after watching this game I'm glad we weren't in for Bentley. He's a hog who thinks he's better than he is. Seb Larsson was largely anonymous as well. I have a feeling we may head back there in the summer, though there'll possibly be a little more interest in him from others given that he'll be available on a free. I'd definitely rather we picked up a pacier option to play out wide.

I certainly wasn't happy that he went off. Was doing nothing for them.

Great result. I think it's safe to say that we're not going to be relegated, which is great to be able to do with more than 10 games remaining in the season. Jonas for me was MOTM in this one. Two very good assists and quality in possession throughout. He didn't put in any useless shots, and his link up play and vision with several players was very good. Noone really had a bad game for us, but several players could have been better. Colo solid at the back, though he and Williamson did a good job to nullify Zigic who has been in decent form apparently. Colo has value beyond his defensive ability in that he's a good passer who is confident and calm in possession (by contrast Williamson has a traditional central defenders mindset of getting rid of the ball by hoofing it as soon as possible, which in his case is probably best). Our whole defensive unit worked well together, playing the offside trap nicely. Enrique we know is very good, but Simpson too deserves credit. He's been in good form since returning from injury and rightfully has earnt his calling as a first choice right back. Tiote, class. For me summed up his value when he chased Bentley from within their half. Bentley passed it off, and had the return ball played nicely into his path beating Williamson in the process. Had Tiote not chased back Bentley would have been clean in on goal, but thankfully he did and was there to get a clean block on Bentley's shot. Kudos. If they'd scored there I'd say they would have been in with a good shout to push for an equaliser. Nolan didn't have a particularly busy game, but played his part making some tackles and generally making a nuisance of himself. Barton wasn't in the greatest form, but did move the ball around nicely for the most part. Birmingham are pretty decent at defending set pieces at the best of times, they didn't really have any trouble with anything from Barton here. Worth noting that Barton copped some very harsh decisions from the ref, but did well to keep his cool. Fantastic finish from Lovenkrands for the first. He tried hard, making runs and closing down while he was out there. Deserves credit. Best wasn't particularly good but worked hard at winning headers throughout. Went and did the remarkable by scoring off his head, though the cross did a lot of the hard work for him.

Martins off... Bad because he's done Nothing except be offside...

Jonas on fire... And what's this? A Best headed goal!!!! Amazing

Good cross Jonas, and a better finish from Lovemkrands! You beauty!

Should come with a refund option if all of the 35m isn't spent and accounted for in the summer.

Shut up TBH.

I'd prefer not to gauge our results off our possibly worst performance of the season. ...and Carroll scored in that match. The worst performance, by a mile, was the Bolton game. Man Utd away wasn't great either but that was the first match of the season and against a great side away from home so it can easily be excused. You're right... but I wasn't wrong

I'd prefer not to gauge our results off our possibly worst performance of the season. ...and Carroll scored in that match. He's injured anyway, so selling him hasn't cost us 2 points TBH Not saying it did, but you were the one who brought up Carroll. You could make a good argument that selling him without replacing him could have cost us two points, assuming we didn't buy someone else who was similarly crocked.

I'd prefer not to gauge our results off our possibly worst performance of the season. ...and Carroll scored in that match.

easily his best option in that spot, you'd have no doubt creamed yourself if it came off Attempting a back heel (and kicking the ball into his own leg and to a Blackburn player) was his best option? Sorry, but NO. Barton got frustrated in the second half and got progressively worse with his crossing, and set pieces. You can understand his frustration.