Christmas Tree

"planning".......... according to wankers like Renton and Baggio a few years ago, this was the key to a golden future the likes of which Fat Fred and the Halls had never delivered You could not make it up if you tried. Talking bollocks and comparing me to Baggio now, nice one . All I said was it would have made sense to plan for Robson's replacement, rather than sack him 5 games into a season with the transfer window shut and no replacement, hence ending up with Souness. See, this is an area I have mentioned before, at the time, and was roundly condemned by clever dicks like you, but I was and still am correct, when you harped on about this "planning" business. The ONLY thing that matter is getting a manager who gets results ie knows what he is doing. Did you say the same thing when Gullit was replaced by Sir Bob a handful of games into the season ie "bad planning" You spout complete bollocks as usual Renton. i think renton's post is spot on tbh. don't sack a gem of a manager like robson when there isn't a better alternative. i think even as fat fred's biggest fan, you would admit that he got that one wrong. souness replacing sbr for me marked the beginning of our current plight. excacerbated by the fact that fat fred backed him to the hilt. hmmm.....well, I remember - at the time - the team being booed for finishing 5th in the league and a growing feeling that Sir Bob was starting to get things wrong and needed replaced. Still, I expect some people will try and deny this is true. His point is about timing and "planning", not the quality of the manager. MY point is about the quality of the manager, there is no "bad time" to get a quality manager. These are the memories I have of his last season. In particular he seemed to "forget" about being able to use substitutes and as such they were always in the last 10 minutes. Didnt only 5,000 or so stay for the lap of honour that year which really pissed SBR off.

correct, it also shows that the Halls were instrumental in the running of the club [of course they must have been] but that still won't stop cretins like Renton to continue blaming one person who had less than 30% of shares taking the blame for everything. Not exactly the sort of view smart lads should be spouting..... Surely if the halls were instrumental, then they should also share the praise that you lavish on Freddy. It sometimes (often) seems that everything that was good was Freds ideas and everything that was bad was the halls?????

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