GeeForce

Very strange, if he stays at a club he might find some success, I rate him very highly but he needs to give himself time at clubs. Fulham are a better club than Villa imo. Strange move if true. Well he had Europa with Fulham through fair play league as well. Villa look to be potentially losing A. Young S. Downing and possibly Agbonlahor. He is a good manager but i think this is a strange decision. He has definately left Fulham anyway, just depends who he joins next! Mark Hughes Makes Fulham Exit

Looks likely to take over at Villa now, seems to be becoming a bit of a journeyman Manager, one season at Fulham, done a decent job and walked away!

Berba has already said he is not leaving Man U so the 0.000000001% chance of him coming is almost certainly out of the winow now!

Agreed

This may have happened. Contract negotiations might be a smoke screen to get other clubs to act!

not sure on that mate, I don't know the official stats but I am pretty sure he scored much more goals from the position just behind Andy Carroll first half of the season. that said it is hard to compare as most of nolans goals came from AC knock downs which obv we didn't have second half of the season. I personally think he is better in a 4-4-1-1 behind a big man, especially away from home

"the ONLY logical explanation" I am unsure how you can gleam from that "the most likely" No inconsistency there fuckwit, there are many possible explanations most of which defy logic, the only one which doesnt is the most lilkely. As discussed previously, your logic may not be the same as everyone else's especially the likes of Ashley. I thought a switched on guy like yourself mind understand this. But if you are looking for a differing logical notion for the timeline of payments re: the purchase of HBA please consider this. They requested £7m for the player, we did not wish to pay that upfront but the player forced the hand of his parent club. We took the initiative to ask for a year loan with an upfront fee with a future purchase depending on a certain set of outcomes. HBA then gets injured having shown some promise, we decide to purchase him to stick by the player and exponentially increase our hand in the French transfer Market due to all the good press given to us for acts like the chairman and manager meeting with the player in France as he is rehabilitating in a place he is comfortable. We now seem, if reports are to be believed, that we are able to attract players from France who in another scenario would not think twice about leaving a champions league side for a team hoping at best for mid table obscurity. You could in fact say, that this approach taken, is not only logical but has actually benefitted the club, whilst also generating interest from the £5m in the clubs account over the period between the start of the loan and the purchase agreement. Now you can argue that MA would not have the foresight for this kind of thing but that is a completely separate conversation as the above at least shows a combination of plausible logical events, which without wishing to sound glib, differ to your simplistic view of not having the money upfront. I must also point out that seen as you have resorted to needless insults like a standard forum keyboard warrior your use of the word fuckwit proves you either don't have the intelligence to finish an argument and therefore resort to childish behaviour or you simply feel your points made are somewhat flawed and you do not have the expansion in your vocabulary to explain your way out of a corner which you have backed yourself into with your self centred view that what you think is right and everyone should agree. At the end of the day it is a forum and the whole point is to debate and discuss our opinions on what we feel is happening at the club and does not need people like you getting irate at a different point of view and resorting to needless insults! I am certainly not falling out with you on this and I am not bothered by a response as I am fully confident that your one, admittedly logical explanation, is not in fact the ONLY logical explanation for the discussed events!

I would rather not see that pepperami impersonating shitehawk ever play for us again

LuaLua, Jonas, Guthrie, Gosling and Ireland* on the edges of that, too *I know he's returned to Villa, but I could see us picking him up Still would prefer Gervinho or Menez to N'zogbia. *Dont want Ireland here tbh. Even without Irleand we would still have a very strong group to pick from in midfield. Then Gameiro and another striker. I'd say another RB too but Simpson signing another deal sounds like AP doesnt see it as an area for concern. steven taylor can cover at right back if simmo gets injured! gutierrez can play right back according to Maradonnerkebab I think that is a common misconception. On the occasions he has tried to fill in he has been absolutely horrendous!

"the ONLY logical explanation" I am unsure how you can gleam from that "the most likely"

Its good to see your selective quotations being used to try and put your argument forward, a bit of a spin doctor I see! That point as you well know, led in to the next sentence about the deal POSSIBLY being better financially due to his injury. I am trying to point out that there is more than one reason why a club loans a player with a agreement to buy based on certain criteria, this is not my opinion of what happened but simply other possible angles. It also supports the argument that not everything Ashley does is purely logical and therefore you looking at something through your eyes and concluding that to be the only logical answer is not certain to be what in fact did happen!. The only fact you have is that we bought him in January and you therefore conclude we only had the money in january and you then assume that points made by everyone else is Guesswork even though your so called "facts" are based on pure speculation based on when the Sky money is paid througout the season. You're just replying for the sake of replying now. The quotation wasnt selective it was the bit of your post that was the basis for your point of view. I read your post, found the bit which it hinged on and quoted it. I've not stated anything as facts, the argument wasnt even based on how the sky money flows into the club. The arguments presented in this thread are canny ridiculous tbf 'you cant include money spent in January in estimating our net financial expenditure in January' followed by 'we always had the money, its just we didnt want to risk it in case it didnt work out, thats why we spent it once the player was out injured for the season'. I'm not arsed about derailing this thread either as i consider trying to understand the reality surrounding the club as quite a useful exercise. As previously stated not at all my point of view. You claim that your point of view is we did not have the money at the time to buy him, however, the only basis you have for this argument is your speculation about clubs finances but you won't accept any other possibilities. You try and portray yourself as extremley intelligent yet you are unable to entertain the possiblilty of anything other than that which you believe (contrary to any real evidence) is fact! My argument is nothing to do with the placement of money in accounts or transfer budgets or what ever, I am simply pointing out that your clear statement "The only logical explanation is that they didn't have the money" is unfounded on two fronts, firstly and most importantly, because there are plenty of other possibilites and secondly, you cannot assume the reason behind the deal was based on logical thinking by the board in the first place. I am not saying you are wrong, but that you can't simply formulate an opinion and decide that is the only possible outcome! Anyway, this conversation is boring me now so moving on!!

if they get it right this summer, i'll be the first to admit i was wrong on here and congratulate the board for investing well. really though, they haven't really done anything up until now to convince anyone on here that they will get it right this time. the fuckwit doesn't deserve another chance. most of us are rightly assuming he's going to mess it up again. Personally I dont think anyone needs to admit they were wrong or right. It all boils down to hopes and fears and some have more hope than others and some fear a repeat of the past. Ultimately what will be will be and we will all go on supporting the team. On that note we should just end the forum then mate

Its good to see your selective quotations being used to try and put your argument forward, a bit of a spin doctor I see! That point as you well know, led in to the next sentence about the deal POSSIBLY being better financially due to his injury. I am trying to point out that there is more than one reason why a club loans a player with a agreement to buy based on certain criteria, this is not my opinion of what happened but simply other possible angles. It also supports the argument that not everything Ashley does is purely logical and therefore you looking at something through your eyes and concluding that to be the only logical answer is not certain to be what in fact did happen!. The only fact you have is that we bought him in January and you therefore conclude we only had the money in january and you then assume that points made by everyone else is Guesswork even though your so called "facts" are based on pure speculation based on when the Sky money is paid througout the season.

The point is he is a west ham player with a clause in his contract which he can use if he wishes which means he can leave for nothing, I assume therefore, as he has not yet used this clause he is still a west ham player and therefore, regardless of whether the fee is £0 he is still contracted to the club and therefore he can be tapped up. Although it is a formality, the buying club must let west ham know they are going to talk with the player which they still own! It's a standard relegation release clause. Ba will not activate it until he has a club to go to as it will mean he has a period of not being paid and also he has a better bargaining chip being at a club who are paying him x amount per week rather than being on the rock and roll. You can stand by your comments all you want and tbh i usually agree with your posts ewerk and think most are sensible and well thought through, however, in this case you seem to be completely dismissing a perfectly possible, and what now seems probable scenario!

Other than it doesnt mean anything in practice. I would have thought the fact that the club wouldnt spend £5m when Ben Arfa was fit but would spend it when he was fucked suggests the reason they didnt spend it was because they didnt have it. No? http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/839308-hatem-...r#ixzz1NxlvJEdB So yes, no. That clause became irrelevant, the desire to see him perform over 25 games can not have been the reason for asking for it if they just go and buy him 4 months later, with a career threatening injury. The only logical explanation is that they didnt have the money. Not sure how it all works, maybe some of the TV money will get paid once the first part of the Sky schedule is sorted. Sky schedule 3 or 4 times a season, with each part triggering some of the total £40-50m pay out. The first lot of money comes in before January, they paid for him. Without wanting to sound very simplistic, maybe they paid the loan fee, expecting a good player for a season and knowing that if we looked like going down, not play him towards the end and send him back to his parent club, however, when he got injured he had seemed very good for two season, we were sat in the top half of the table and as we had paid £2m for 4 games maybe the club thought an extra £5m was worth the risk based on his 4 game performances and the fact we had wasted £2m on a loan that could not be completed. The decision was then taken to gamble on him (we all know what ashley is like) we maybe even got a cut price deal in January due to his injury as Marseille may have been reluctant to take him back! We obviously had to wait till january to to purchase due to the transfer window so simply saying we only had the money in the bank to spend in january seems extremley short sighted! Alternatively, maybe Ashley didn't want to gamble everything up front on him, maybe he thought he would be a bad infulence on an otherwise sound dressing room and therefore, a loan with an agreement to buy was a good option as it meant the player could still be purchased relatively cheaply should he perform well, or on the flip side, he could be sent back should he become a failure over the season or be perceived to have a negative effect on the rest of the squad. I think there certainly is more than one logical explanation why they didn't just buy him upfront!

Has had a much better season, ok going forward and actually a very good tackler but he stand off too much when players run towards him and lets them in the box which has cost us goals. He needs to learn to either take them down in those situations or show them as wide as possible! Positionally he is not superb but I actually think he is getting better with the amount of game time he is seeing and i wouldn't write him off just yet, still only a young lad and look how shit enrique was first season! EDIT: I know we have had simmo for more than one season but i do think he still has progression in him!

That doesn't really have it written in stone for me. Speculation can be published.... http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Trans...icle741375.html http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Trans...icle738843.html http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport...n-Demba-Ba.html You can find plenty more if you use google! Regardless anyway, it proves it certainly is "possible" even tho this was flippently dismissed previously!

for those above who rubbished my comments, please read the article below clearly stating in the first paragraph under the pictures Demba Ba is available on a free!! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...v-Demba-Ba.html

This is what confuses me about cabaye. He is supposedly gonna leave Lille who have Champions League next season to play for us??? I know sources have been quoted about us signing him but tbh and the same goes for gervinho, I love the rumour mill and I always get unrealistic excitement, however, until they are on nufc.co.uk holding up a toon shirt they are not our players as I have seen it all before.

Lille striker Gervinho is planning to announce this week which club he will be joining this summer. The Ivory Coast international is being tipped to leave France and a number of Premier League clubs are interested. Newcastle are the latest name in the frame and The Magpies have been linked with a €11million (£9.5m) bid. However, the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool are also said to be interested, so Newcastle will have a fight on their hands. Gervinho has confirmed he loves the Premier League, but he is not ruling out possible moves to Spain or Germany. "During the week I'll announce my decision so that everyone knows," he told skysports.com. "I love the Premier League, but I have interest from Spain and Germany as well, so let's wait and see." .

van nistelroy

Thinks he is worth 11million Euros Nicklas Bendtner is worth €11million (£9.6m), according to the Arsenal striker's father. The Denmark international has been linked with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich amid manager Arsene Wenger's ongoing interest in Real Madrid's Karim Benzema. But Bendtner's father and agent, Thomas, does not believe that the forward would leave Emirates Stadium in a cut-price deal. Bendtner has himself never been shy in talking up his own ability and his dad believes that the player is worth a fee of just less than £10m. "One hundred million crowns (approx €11million)," Thomas Bendtner told Danish newspaper B.T when asked about Nicklas' valuation. "He has been valued higher before. But of course, if you are on the bench the price goes down. "Nicklas has the qualities to live up to this sum and we can certainly find a club that is willing to pay." Surely that shows once again how much agents are being paid. In years gone by the agents would never try and up sell the transfer value. they would want it as low as possible to have the most teams involved to get the player the best deal, not any more, the higher the fee the better because it is a percentage based industry. Not worth 11mil even in an inflated market

Add Beckham, Pique, Guiseppe Rossi along with ronaldo to that list for starters

you have to love americans for their stupidity if nothing else!