Christmas Tree

Fucking Hell

Tbf, only thing worse than a dog eating your shoe is a killer whale eating your trainor.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs, the key fact is that we have an owner who CAN do this. We also have an owner whose wealth will continue to grow as we come out of recession. This is far more favorable than being sold off to a dodgy sheik or skint barry whatever his name was consortium. Ashley to learn from mistakes and take the club forward on a sound footing with decent investment (not hysterical Shepherd buys as those days have gone) would be the best outcome. Weren't you Mr End of the week all summer? Hoping for a sale? Yep Why? If Ashley is far more favourable? Hoping for a sale last summer like most fans. Now understanding that the knights in shining armour are not out there and after seeing the shit thats gone on with Portsmouth various owners I would prefer, for the reasons stated, to stay with Ashley and HOPE he sees the benefit in building us up. I have yet to hear a better scenario that does not involve blind hope in shining knights. I certainly would hate to go through the next few years with a skint Barry whats his name consortium.

And is also a highly unlikely outcome, that's the problem. The ridiculous statements from Llambias prove that Ashley has learnt fuck all. As others have said, if Ashley admitted that LLambias is a know nowt tosser, sacked him immediately and appointed a professional CEO who actually knows how to run a football club (and I don't mean Ridsdale), it would be a start. Persisting with that casino creeping twat is one of his bigger mistakes imo. Agreed.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs, the key fact is that we have an owner who CAN do this. We also have an owner whose wealth will continue to grow as we come out of recession. This is far more favorable than being sold off to a dodgy sheik or skint barry whatever his name was consortium. Ashley to learn from mistakes and take the club forward on a sound footing with decent investment (not hysterical Shepherd buys as those days have gone) would be the best outcome. Weren't you Mr End of the week all summer? Hoping for a sale? Yep Learned from his mistakes? The £15k a week wage cap isn't going to take us much further forward than another relegation scrap. We are not up yet

And is also a highly unlikely outcome, that's the problem. The ridiculous statements from Llambias prove that Ashley has learnt fuck all. Definitely true. But if we examine all the realistic options. I still think this is the most likely. Options 1. He sells us to a Barry Mort consortium with no real cash if things go wrong as they often do. 2. A billionaire shining knight of an owner turns up. 3. Another overseas play sheik takes us on for a few years. 4. Ashley keeps us and makes the same mistakes over again. 5. Ashley keeps us and supports steady sustained growth so he can prove all his knockers wrong (while increasing the value of his investment). 6. NUSC buys the club. If anyone else has any other realistic scenarios then lets hear them. But bear in mind this Portsmouth scenario will have sent any slightly interested overseas money running for the hills.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs, the key fact is that we have an owner who CAN do this. We also have an owner whose wealth will continue to grow as we come out of recession. This is far more favorable than being sold off to a dodgy sheik or skint barry whatever his name was consortium. Ashley to learn from mistakes and take the club forward on a sound footing with decent investment (not hysterical Shepherd buys as those days have gone) would be the best outcome.

He certainly does and yes the players got us relegated. Even upping one of their piss poor performances would have kept us up. However in the fullness of time we may be viewed as lucky to have gone down. (as long as we get back up) Are you bi-polar?

Says Mr. End of the Week.

So do you suggest we just sit and sulk? There is no knight in shining armour, just plenty of wankers with no money of their own (see Pourtsmouth). The recession will end and Ashleys retail empire will be a major force giving us a home grown billionaire who unless he sells, will have a point to prove. I would rather this than a fake sheik! Some of you need to get over the past and come to terms with the best realistic options for here and now.

??? I did work for Durham Pine for 3 months on a consultancy basis and eventually they did go bust, however I really dont think my 3 months sunk them

Can I change your name to Comical Dekka? It sounds stupid but we actually are. Do you think Shepherd would of been able to pay off our debts? Ashley had to pay off a large part of the debt (57m - from the stadium rebuild) because the financial agreement Shepard had in place was non-transferable. So under Shepard the debt was not an imediate issue. The debt was not an immediate issue? I'd much rather we are how we are now, than keeping debt that should be paid off. Hopefully someone comes and buys the club in the summer and we can start afresh so to speak. No debt = more money to spend I hope Ashley stays. As we come out of recession his empire will probably rocket again leaving him with wads of lolly to splash around. Hopefully he will stay the course and turn us into a top half prem team. I have a feeling he will want to prove a point to a lot of people.

He certainly does and yes the players got us relegated. Even upping one of their piss poor performances would have kept us up. However in the fullness of time we may be viewed as lucky to have gone down. (as long as we get back up)

:)

Little evidence of either imo. The window was only better than expected because we expected nothing. Don't think they signed a single player with proven PL quality either. A year ago we were in the PL with a fighting chance of staying up. The current team is far worse than that and we're a division lower. Ridiculous how easily pleased some people are though. Lower expectations these days tbf No expectations these days tbf Its all about getting ready for the new footballing world thats coming. Lean and mean baby

Let go and move on mate.

Spot on. And the extra wages from still having the high wage bill

Aye, not wanting to jump threads, but it's clear to me we'd be terminally fucked if Freddy was still here.

You've also got to consider the circumstances under which he's worked as well.

The outlook is far rosier than a year ago and all the time Derek and Mike will be learning from their mistakes, hence the past decent window that surpassed most peoples expectations. Hopefully the fans will get off his back and let him continue to rebuild our club on a much more leaner and business like basis and without all the emotional decision making of the past.

And throw into the mix what if Arry had said yes.........

What an awful list of shite when you see it like that.

Mike Ashley's biggest call yet: should he give Chris Hughton a shot at the Premier League or bring in a big name boss for next season? Simon Bird ---- The Mirror Careful what you wish for

I think deep down most of us think its going to be Roeder all over again and a sacking some point through the season or just a very poor season. Now it won't all be his fault as with Ashley in charge he isn't going to get the money he needs to make the squad what it should be, but he will i fear be found way out of his depth. It would be great if he proved us wrong though, because he will be here under Ashley as he's cheap. I'd much rather be wrong and have us doing well though! Personally I think he's nothing like Roeder and I do think he's growing in the job. I also think he times substitutions well. Im quite happy to stick with him.

no, shepherd just kept on borrowing and spending and getting us further into debt. The halls probably saw were all this was heading hence their sharpe exit. I would also love to think there is a third type of owner out their who had the full package and is just waiting to buy us. Events that are unfolding be it at Pompey, qpr or anfield will only deter future investment. The best we can hope for is that Ashley can see the sense in getting a good football man in to replace llambias and slowly rebuild from the ashes The Halls between them owned more of the club than Shepherd so it seems a bit wrong to blame Shepherd when everything the club did would have required the tacit agreement of the Halls. bingo. Another point I've made on countless occasions. Even coming from me, it would be nice if this sort of thing could now be put behind us, and people accepted that they were in fact good owners. I'm pissed off with football just now to be honest, generally, and because of the demise of NUFC The years you refer to are clearly the best we’ve ever had, but good owners full stop? You have to admit that they spent/blew/invested all the future earnings they possibly could and took a huge chunks of it out of the club and in the process into their own pockets. There was no more money that could be ticked, no more money to bled out of the club, no way of servicing the debt they’d accrued — so they cut and run. I reckon that when Ashley took over, all earnings that could of been made over his first 5 years had already been ticked and spent, or as ever, siphoned out of the club. As it turns out it’s difficult to sympathise with Ashley — but worship the Shepherds and Halls, hmmmm, it’s not as clear cut as you are stating. In a nutshell. Good post