maggiespaws

Yeah He also plays Dazed and Confused during one song. He's not ripping people off he's just influenced. Yeah, I've heard the cover - he nails the solo well in that. I wasn't accusing him of ripping it off, just wondering if anyone else had spotted the similarity? Wasn't sure if I was just imagining it sounded like WS/BMS. I like his stuff - particularly live. On the 'Live at the Cabooze' cd he plays 'The River' & 'Burning Hell' which I believe I may have already referred to as 19mins of slide guitar pr0n. EDIT: Now listening to 'The River' & 'Burning Hell' from the aforementioned CD. Loud, before the Mrs comes in with Master Paws.

White Summer/Black Mountainside by Led Zep and I definitely reckon Mr Bonamassa has listened to it too

Joe Bonamassa: India Mountain Time (From Nowhere In Particular Live). For those who have listened to this before, is it just me or does the introduction sound a bit like White Summer/Black Mountainside by Led Zep? Even down to the way he's playing it?

Just read the transcription on .com. If it's true it's class.

take out the word "defence" Hammering ? No problem Take out the word defence? and replace it with what? 'strongly argue in support of' As for the hammering, that ancient skin of yours must be like rhino-hide

Supposedly, they are going to bring Keegan back and give him £75m. I think that is enough for us to be in top 6. Then, they can give us like £30m a season which should be sufficient. I've voted ElTel but I'd rather it was neither. Give me a new MD & DoF and MA's £20mil plus whatever the club raises itself (through TV monies etc). I can even handle the DoF Continental style management as long as it has a credible DoF and a manager used to working in that situation. Dont get me wrong, I liked having KK here and I thought he'd do a great rescue job, but the chances of him ever coming back are non-existent. I'm not going to 'forgive and forget', but the current alternative to MA scares me. If thats the option, I'd rather we did it his way (but maybe we'd have to take care of the dwarf somehow...... )

This nigerian thing worries me. Maybe I'm too distrustful, but they don't exactly have a great track record do they? Oba's agent is clearly trying to say 'all the right things'. My gut tells me this is bollocks. Ashley vs the Nigerians? I think I'd rather the situation was sorted out with Ashley tbh (and that involves getting rid of Wise and the other clueless feckers). The grass is not always greener, we've found that out already. At least with MA we have someone with credible business sense and a strategy for the club. Christ, I'm starting to sound a a bit like Leazes in his defence of FFS. I don't think I could take the hammering he got.......

I really hope you're right. We'll be bottom of the table by the time any takeover is concluded anyway, but if this goes on for much longer, it will be too late to climb back to safety. the only thing I'm bothered about here, again, is whether or not the new owner have the good of the club at heart and understand that it all revolves first and foremost on how successful the first team is. I understand and share your concerns however I think most of us agree that almost anything is better than what we have now. If the new lot are worse then we are fucked, plainly and simply fucked. I still think that Ashleys intentions and actually even his "plans" for the club were well-hearted and sensible. It just went downhill the moment he started to appoint drinking buddies for jobs that were far beyond their limited abilities. If any takover goes through I have several concerns. Al Leazes said, first of all the new owners must have the club at heart. But there are more issues. How are they taking it business wise. Will they transfer the debts from the purchase onto the club (something that Ashley after all didn't do). Will they really act professinally (something Ashley only did until after the appointment of Keegan)? Will they invest to fulfil their ambition both with the present and the future of the club in mind? At the moment I am not sure what to want. On paper I think Ashley was the ideal owner. English, interested, with a heart for fan's demands. Unfortunately he was either or both a liar and a dumwit. With new obscure owners like companies looking for a quick profit (too?) or with questionable credibility (Nigeria, China?) I am not sure it is really the direction of the club I want it heading too. The only unfortunate thing I know is that I do not seem to care as much as I did a couple of weeks ago... I agree with a lot of this too. Ashley seemed the right man for us but it's gone downhill. He's very quickly made his mind up to sell though. The cynic in me feels that the 'fans revolt' has provided him with the excuse he was maybe already looking for? Other areas of his business have been affected and so maybe he's looking to jettison NUFC. KK's departure has made that all the more difficult. I've tried looking at this from a distance to try and get some perspective, even hoping for a way back in for MA so we can quickly move on from this - but events of the last week or so seem to nullify this. I don't believe what I've read about Dubai etc as the papers didn't seem to print the truth before we lost KK so I don't believe they have suddenly started now. I'm an optimistic sort of bloke and try to see both sides before making a judgement. I have to say though, all I feel now is despair and despondence. I really can't see where we're going to go from here other than free fall. I was too young to fully understand the stuff going on in the mckeag era, but I do now. This is as bad as anything going on then I think. We are in the hands of others no with now idea of where we are headed.

Yeah, that helps Thing is, I'm not old and do technology for a living. It has me confused too.

My Dad's just bought a new Samsung TV and we've tried getting aCinema system to work. We couldn't get the audio to sync with the picture. Has anyone had any luck. If so, what did you use and how did you connect it together. The cinema system is being returned, but we'll buy another one which will work with his tv. Any ideas/suggestions? We tried delaying the audio using the cinema system, but it still wouldn't sync. After 6hours over 2 days we've given up

First one I've bought since Tiger 2004 for the PS2. It's got all the great features of 04, but an even better control system. It's harder (or maybe I'm out of practice) but is much more realistic. unfortunately, it's missing the humorous commentary off the earlier version. Nothing like having the piss ripped out of you and told you're "in deep doo doo" when you've just sliced a shot into the rough Incidentally, I bought it of ebay (new) and it's a Jap import I think. Works great on my standard, UK PAL 360 Mrs Paws likes it too Looking forward to the 4 way tournaments between me, mrs paws, my bro and his missus across the tinterweb.

Said this before but I don't think he ever intended to go on Saturday. By saying he might go he thought probably thought he'd sell more tickets (it was a bigger crowd than Bolton as well I think). He's now using this to make the fans look like they've turned on this benevolent family man. Which is total fucking bullshit. Maybe it is and maybe I've fallen for it. I guess I'm trying to look at the bigger picture. His strategy for the future sounds like a good plan IMO and I'd rather we had someone in charge who was trying to ensure the financial stability for the club than someone who was over-extending the club reaching for the stars only for it to fall on it's arse. If what he is saying about the money we owe for players is true then we are more in the shit than any of us knew. You can't build for the future if we're in that situation. The thing is it's not his plan that's the problem, its the implementation. Backing Wise (no experience as a DoF, or a scout and hardly any as a manager) and his ex-casino manager, ex-property developer, and ex-player agent goons over Keegan (and his ridiculous, delooded plan to sign defenders and cover ). It's plain barmy. Totally agree. Right plan, wrong implementation. If he is to come back from this, he needs to rethink his implementation. Unfortunately, I can't see that happening at the minute.

Where's the telly money? Hasn't the tv money already been spent by FFS? The Northern Rock money has gone too (thanks freddie). Going off the transfer window - 10.5mil for Colo, + 7mil for Xisco + Spidy (was that 6mil?) = 23.5mil. Plus whatever we've paid for the loan of Guitterez We got 12 for Milner, but wasn't that partially on the basis we were going to get the other guy that pulled out at the last minute, so some of the 12 would have been spent?

Said this before but I don't think he ever intended to go on Saturday. By saying he might go he thought probably thought he'd sell more tickets (it was a bigger crowd than Bolton as well I think). He's now using this to make the fans look like they've turned on this benevolent family man. Which is total fucking bullshit. Maybe it is and maybe I've fallen for it. I guess I'm trying to look at the bigger picture. His strategy for the future sounds like a good plan IMO and I'd rather we had someone in charge who was trying to ensure the financial stability for the club than someone who was over-extending the club reaching for the stars only for it to fall on it's arse. If what he is saying about the money we owe for players is true then we are more in the shit than any of us knew. You can't build for the future if we're in that situation.

Cracking article for once and one a totally agree with. I see Ashley's point about the finances of the club and I agree with his long-terms strategy. I want the club to be successful and the only way we can do that is with a strong team. However, I want the club to exist in the top flight for many years to come. I dont want us to do a Leeds. If what Ashley says is true then we are in the shit financially and we are paying for our previous chairmans lavish spending. Clearly we've tried that route and it's not worked. I'm all for solid steady growth. We're not going to win the league any time soon, but if we can make steady progress towards getting back to where we were under SBR then I'm happy. I don't expect this to happen overnight, I expect it to happen over the next few seasons. Finishing top 5/6 consistently will bring in additional funding (including participating in the UEFA) and that will mena more than the 20mil Ashley is prepared to commit to every year. I believe there is a way back for Ashley - he needs to look at his current board and make the necessary changes. As I've said in other threads, I don't see the issue in adopting a more continental approach to running the club with a Manager & DoF type role. As the article above states, it's the personnel in place I have the biggest problem with and the lack of communication. Ashley's statement has come too late unfortunately. I think if he'd said this over the summer then I think he'd have been given more slack. This all of course setting aside the KK issue. This not easily forgotten (and isn't), but for the sake of looking forward I've separated that out so I can look at the wider issue with an open view. Lastly, it's a shame it's gotten to this stage. He feels he can't take his kids to the match. For some reason, that sentence has made a real impact on me. Call me soft (and I've no doubt many of you will) but that's kinda of what this is all about is it not. Watching football is something we can do as a family and our owner feels he can't. Now obviously this turn of events has been down to him and the people who work for him, so he is not blameless. As I've said, I understand his strategy for the club and I'd be happy if we could resolve the situation and move forward. He's trying to implement the stability we desperately need and I think I hope he stays around to implement it. This might prove to be a better solution than ploughing our hopes into a foreign sugar-daddy. *puts kevlar suit on and waits for a vitriolic response*

London and don't have our reputation (or Wise) most likely. I'd go with that. Taking a step back for a second and taking off my 'Ashley is a twat' hat - is the club not making a considered decision and not rushing in? Potentially it could take a month to get a good person? By this I'm meaning, we're deriding them for not getting somebody in quick, but we'd also deride them for making a rush decision. They can't win. Realistically, I firmly believe it's because no-one will touch us with their mates let alone their own *puts his 'ashley is a twat hat back on*

Sadly this is exactly how I can see it playing out. Yep, I can see that too. As I've said in another thread - the club has people over a barrel. In some respects the club has us all (ST's and non-ST holders) alike over a barrel, because whatever we do will hurt the club and it's sustainability in the long run. I honestly believe the likelyhood of MA ditching this football lark and returning to London are remote at best. He has too much money to lose and you don't get to be a billionaire by losing money in business ventures. I guess my biggest hope is that we somehow come out better for all of this. Whether or not we ever forgive and forget is an entirely different matter. The most important thing is the club though; and for the foreseeable future that club includes MA and his bunch of cronies. Before someone pulls me up for being apathetic - I'm not; I'm just staring at reality at the minute.

Does it matter though if you buy the shirt from elsewhere? for instance Dixon Sports I aussme, have already purchased x thousand of them so you buying one from them will not make a difference? Or are we saying that boycotting the purchase altogether will also force his hand from other retailers? Or try nabbing one through an online auction As I understand it, doesn't the club still get a % from the shirts sold through other outlets anyway? After all they have to buy them from somewhere and licensing would dictate that NUFC get their cut. So yes, I would say it does matter if you buy the shirt from elsewhere. If someone can prove me wrong on that I'll be a bit happier.

I should also add - I'm defo boycotting merchandise, anythin to do with th eclub and MA's companies. Thats a given. Shame though as I'd planned to buy Master Paws his first proper shirt for his 1st birthday.

I agree with the article but in practice, those that have paid for their ST up front are held over a barrel. I hasten to add, I'm not one of them but looking at both sides I can't see the majority of pre-paid fans voting with their feet. It's far too much money to be pissing away. I've thought long and hard about this whole situation with NUFC and not posted about it for days now. Personally I'm yoyoing between viewpoints. On one hand I feel that MA and his crew have lied to us and KK. I think KK stuck it out because even though he was upset with what was going on, I genuinely believe that he believed they were going to do as was promised during the transfer window. I think the late transfers probably finished him off and he realised just how much he was being lied too and things were never going to be the way he was promised they would be. If he can't control what team he is going to have for the next 5 months, then how can he plan the strategy for that team. How can he build upon something if pieces of that jigsaw are being taken away from him with no warning and different shaped pieces are being added? We can never build on a solid foundation, if the foundation isn't because big holes have been introduced. At the other end of the scale, it's been plain from the offset that (rightly or wrongly) the current structure is the way MA intends to run the club. KK was never the man to fit into that structure. Now, lots of other coaches/managers are. If we employ just such a man and the pieces all fit together, the club should prosper and we should all be happy. The phrase goes - you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. The biggest point the current administration have missed is that KK is not just any old egg. It's like breaking a Faberge in the eyes of NUFC fans and not one that would be stomached easily (setting aside the fact that as a club this is not the first time we have shit on one of our own). I can see reasons for a manager not having carte-blanch over the incomings and outgoings of the team - there is so much money to be made & lost in this game that it is a tall responsibility for someone who is unlikely to have the required acumen; but surely for this to work the board needs to work with the manager to bring players in and out and not do it without any involvement of the manager. Telling the manager on day after transfer day "right, these are the players we've given you - go make a world beating team out of them" is not going to work. Businessmen understand money, managers understand players and football. One of the many things we dont know is whether or not KK was originally supposed to be part of (or was part of) such a decision making process, but chose to try and force his own way when he didn't get his own way. Where does this leave us for the future - I honestly don't know. I'm still yoyoing between these two views and various points in between. What I do know is that I had a trip planned later this year to take Mrs Paws to SJP as it's not somethin we do together very often (once so far). I have the baby sitters organised and I'd planned to go the whole nine yards and make it a slap-up day at SJP. I don't think I will be doing that now given the current circumstances. Whilst it's not the same as boycotting the whole season of a ST, it's what I can do. I also have no plans fur any further home and away games until a make my mind up. One of the downsides to all of this is that the team suffers further - and this whole affair is not their fault. Does that mean I might go to games myself this season - like I say, i don't know.

from .com: Update: Claim & counter-claim It was reported by various news sources on Thursday that Mike Ashley was flying back into the UK after a business trip to the USA in order to meet with Kevin Keegan. However a bleaker claim is also doing the rounds that there's no chance of any amicable resolution to the situation - and that the final agreement of a financial settlement for KK will be followed by a formal statement of the "mutual consent" variety in the next 24 hours. As ever, we're trying to make sense of this whole mess. ----------------------------- The plot thickens..... with shit

Regardless of how much he's been involved in the recent activity (and he must have been to some extent as it involves the sale of company assets); he put this system in place. Therefore, whilst it may have been Wise/Llambas or whoever (pure speculation) it has been done within the system MA chose to set up. Therefore, the buck very definitely stops with him. As I've said though, I don't think we should shoot MA over this. No one is perfect and in business we all make mistakes. It's what we do to rectify them and move to avoid them in the future that we should be judged on. By all accounts, he's not done anything that several other clubs haven't done ala West Ham and Spuds (his best mates) to name two. Not that that provides an excuse, but it is a structure that is not uncommon - it's just that it's a shite structure. I can't imagine SAF standing for something like this (in fact I seem to recall he threatened to go if the board didn't sanction the Yorke deal - he's set his stall out). Curbs has gone for the same reasons and I think it's right he did. If the manager does not have control of who comes in and out they are effectively toothless. In addition, how does the manager build a long term plan as to how the club will move forward if he does not have control over the personnel he will have at his disposal in which to do it. On a slightly different note, I think the Curbs situation has ended with him going without question. In the case of KK, it is the response of the fans and the team which has stopped this happening to us. I'm also willing to give the benefit of doubt to the current board for their part in trying to rescue the situation. Unlike the West Ham board, they haven't let this happen, they appear to the seeking a resolution to this as they must see the long term ramifications in allowing KK to go. I only hope that this is resolved with KK staying and the fans allowing things to move on without it being continuously dragged up. Kiss and make up and lets move on. Surely this can be resolved with with vigorous make-up sex?

Absolutely. Whilst I am upset at the current goings on, I dont think this is the way forward. MA has made a mistake and I think that's obvious now. As long as this is rectified and KK is happy, then I will consider the matter closed. No need to start shooting the owner etc. MA is trying to run a business and I'm sure he has the right intentions at heart. If MA is ousted, we could end up in deeper shit. We desperately need stability and this is not the way forward. We are already a laughing stock - let's not contribute further to that.

To be fair, you have a point. If we're splitting hairs though, the thread is about what we think of Dennis Wise, not whether he is involved in the current situation

Would have Mort back in a heatbeat btw. Always liked him. In fact, it all seems to have gone downhill since he returned to London.