scoobos

I hope so , I really do. And then you can all flame the shit out of me until I become a bit more positive ! I just can't see it on past evidence. I don't think any purchase has improved us from who we sold , which seems a bold statement but I still count Demba Ba as replacing Leon Best, Lovenkrads, Caroll , which while he's obviosuly a better player than each one, he's not better than the sum total. I think the same is happening again, and this is now our third cycle. I'd seriously be happy if Ashley re-invested just 50% of his sales , but I don't think that's been done.

Can I have some of what you're drinking? I can smell the hopeless optimism and short memory from here? We're fucked mate, once again we're selling and not buying anywhere near the quality required to even replace , let alone to improve the squad. Unlike those who just stop caring because we're going to lose , it doesn't affect me, that's what Supporting is supposed to mean. I'll cheer them on whatever, but I have zero optimism of anything good happening. I pin my hopes on Pardew actually being good and surprising us all by keeping this joke in the upper half of the table. edit -> after coming down from my supporting high, it should be added I went to a total of 9 matches last year - so perhaps if I'd had to sit through the home games at the end of the season it may have broken me. But I still remember Ossie and things still aren't quite as bad as that yet.

Sure. <Sarcasm mode on> He doesn't have the knowledge to hear the media response to Kinnear and decide to cancel his appointment does he, cos he's stupid. That's how he built his empire.. <sarcasm off> Anyhoo, there's people who sit on both sides of the argument and I'd bet we are both wrong on either side. Something is fishy to me, but not others. You can think I'm a nobber, I'll just think you're blinded by loyalty I'll stop now , promise. To say something positive, Vuckic (sp?) looks good now.

He is selling off all the players , and replacing them with half value ones at best

pfft spend.. that's my only real argument. And yes they are VERY different to ordinary LTD companies. It is ILLEGAL for a MD to run a company deliberately at a loss if its insolvent, yet we've never seen one wound up by anyone other than HMRC for not paying taxes. Chelsea are insolvent by the letter of the law aren't they? They owe 800 mil to Roman and still purchase players. I could be wrong, but I doubt I'd get away with that in the real business world. We wont agree, I'm not saying you're an arse or anything like that , as I can see your point of view, I just don't believe it. Ashley is a brilliant businessman but imo most MD's have some kind of personality defect and his is he likes to destroy anyone who crosses him. You can't become a millionaire without knowing how to turn people over. If he wound up NUFC , it would be defeat wouldn't it? But if he runs it as he is now, not costing him any money but guaranteed to really upset the people who crossed him, I reckon that's a win. Ive worked in boardrooms for far too long , so I accept that I'm jaded - but ego would be damaged by winding up or selling (as hed be out of the club , like his enemy wants). Far better to have a plaything to gamble with at our expense.

Back on topic, quality quote on sky about this: "Pardew has a bad start to season. Gets the boot. Joe gets gaffa job- back room staff in place. Simples really" makes sense to me

Continue to be in denial when all evidence says otherwise if you want, its your right to think what you want. Shutting us down wouldn't be an easy thing to do would it? Football clubs are a bit different to a regular LTD aren't they? This is the UK's 5th Richest Man - hes hit success everywhere he has been - do you seriously believe deep down that these are "mistakes" ?

re-enforces my negativity and spideysense saying that Ashley is just genuinely out to teach us a lesson after abusing him at St James all that time ago. Ever since then he's been inexplicably ruining the club. This just serves as further proof , hes probably thinking "this will teach the stupid northern twats, 200 mil is pocket money the fookin povos"

Cos its one of the smallest assets he has and hes a known "Hardman" with anyone who crosses him , which In his mind definitely includes us. NUFC is a plaything for him, not his core business at all. Its the same as me lighting a fiver when I've got a 100,000 in my hand imo. Time will tell, but the fellas not stupid , that's for sure - but a lot of people who only know about his NUFC time might think he is. E.G. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/newcastle-owner-mike-ashley-wants-blood-after-last-seasons-trauma--and-it-wont-stop-with-managing-director-derek-llambias-8665918.html Wont forgive the people who "Made" him spend 40 million. What fucking 40 mil? It's all just a game, he thinks we are thick twats and given the fact that so many still buy shirts etc , or even defend him still - or hold hope that we're going to re-invest sales money (like every sale its , well he said we'll spend if he sells - he NEVER FOOKIN DOES!) he may have a point

Ashley is destroying us on purpose, anyone from a town named after Hymen can't be trusted. He's thought fuck us all after the verbal abuse in the early days where he wasn't welcome in the stands. It's now the only reasonable explanation. Ashley is no idiot , I genuinely don't believe he can be this inept after his killer instinct success against all his rivals in business.

By all rights we should already have about 40 mil from other sales.

Aww stop it, I was getting a bit happier for about a second then Surely though, if Ashley wants rid of Pardew - he'd save money appeasing him, buying his targets then letting the fans tear him a new one when he still underachieves. (Although I'm not a pardoo hater tbh)

lol sorry for the multi post - but you do know that Islam, Christianity and Catholicism (sp?) are all really branches of the same religion right? to say Christians aren't religious is a bit daft, course they are - I am. I'd say people who "say" they are Christian aren't - cos its a stupid british thing for complete bloody morons to mixup religion and cultural identity. (e.g the "I'm British, I'm church of England" when they haven't ever been to bloody church.

or again, WHS in far less words than me.

Virgin Money do offer Islamic "friendly" services yes, (well actually they seem to circumvent it by giving the profits made back to Islamic Charity) . It's quite similar to the Halal food debate (Halal on the high street is not really Halal, animals are still stunned as its British Law) - sure there's an argument that "real Halal" is sold on the market by people who break the rules when no-ones looking. Another thing that isn't mentioned that supports the view that Cisse should STFU is that the Koran says that the rules apply only if there are no options available. (so , unlike Jewish peeps, its fine to eat NON Halal if it isn't available, and use services that ignore the gambling rules if there's none available (still cant go down the bookies though of course, or lend to family members with interest). That's what its really getting at, don't make money out of lending to friends and family. The argument for me would be that "normal" banks have many arms and services , while Wonga has only 1 - which is directly against Islamic culture - it aggressively lends and lends only. Perhaps if Wonga was a bona-fide financial institution it would be fine. Lets make no silly assumptions , I lived and worked in Malaysia which has more Muslims than any other country in the world and its banking system isn't much different to ours. It's also an incredibly tolerant country (Sharia law is there, but its OPTIONAL to Muslims only, its never enforced on anyone who is not a Muslim). As a side note, I used to go to a Mosque there (for social reasons not religious) and as soon as they found out my wife was Prestonian they were talking about how the Muslims they knew who were "trouble" going to Preston because they could be much more intolerant there!!! weird huh. Wonga and high interest "Payday loans" will never ever ever be accepted there though and for me, I'll never accept them either. I fully expect the a PPI type backlash in 5 or 10 years time.

Let me assure you, there is nothing false about my outrage on > 50% APR companies. I admire your loyalty to the club, and you're as entitled to your view as I am mine - but for me , being associated with Wonga is shameful - it's an almost universally hated institution (you know its got a FAKE debt collection agency within Wonga? - that's legal apparently!!!) which does act like a loan shark - just cos its a business it seems to get leeway . I would chance my arm and say if they were Sunderland sponsors you wouldn't defend them quite so enthusiastically. I was going to post and say I had a bad night last night, but your personal experience is your own. There are many people who seriously don't have a choice. Given the opportunity to feed your children vs taking a risk on borrowing - it's a no brainer for most mums. Is it an individuals fault if they are not very clever? Not in my view, its just luck of the draw both genetically and geographically. (I work for a charity and studies at UNICEF have proven this - the UK scores very very poorly nowadays on child welfare) I would buy the argument that its the governments fault for not regulating, but not that its the individuals - for me the individual is doing the RIGHT thing if they use whatever means necessary to look after their children (which is legal). Perhaps a bit of an unfair example, but Tyne & Wear is pretty rich compared to some areas , that have never recovered and continue to be punished - such as North wales, fringe Scotland etc. Apologies to all who want a decent un-derailed thread!

In all seriousness, I'm not Muslim, but theres no fookin way I'm buying a shirt with Wonga on it - its a despicable company and I'm entitled to that view as much as the people who don't think its a problem. A mother with 2 children who's husband has died in the war went public on not eating for a week to feed her child and having to go to Wonga to buy school equipment - yes its a bit worlds smallest violin, but I don't buy that people "choose" to use these sharks, they do it through desperation. I think living down south has opened my eyes to the horrible stereotypes that a lot have of the north. Newcastle and Wonga sends an awful message imo, it's embarrassing. I take the argument of "people choose to use Wonga" the same way as the people I work with who seriously believe that if people don't want to be "dole scum" they should move to London... Sounds great, but has no value on Family, Friends and social responsibility to your area of birth. This whole line to Leeds/London is just an excuse to continue to deprivate the North for "the City's" wealth and GDP. In 10 years time it will be, well if Leeds if fucked, you've no excuse to come down to London etc. there are 2 masseratis and a Ferrari on my road - recession my arse, redistribution of wealth more like - Bank bailout cost us about 6 grand a head. In Australia , they bailed out the people with a 2000 dollar "stimulus cheque" that had to be spent not banked for each and every tax payer, we just took out of the public fund and gave it to the richest institutions in the western world. Oh gawd, I've gone on a rant again.... <--- exit stage right. I'll edit most of this rant out tomorrow

Better news though.

Fuck me, its coming to something when we are getting excited over buying Darren bloody bent . He's bench fodder at best.

Cheers for the link CT, much appreciated!

They will be on the usual hooky streaming sites on the web. I assume we can't post links here, but you should be able to google them.

cheers for that, great vid. I don't mind the statue myself - sure its not a great lookalike of him in our time, but I still like it.

Ok I'll bite - 10 mil EURO < 35 mil GBP . But, I dont think Cisse was even funded by the Carroll move, I suspect he was funded by the sales of: Nolan , Routledge, Enrique , Lua Lua all went for fees before we bought Cisse and Cisse alone. Same pattern, only this time we're getting nothing for the players we are selling. Cisse didn't even come in on 10 mil GBP despite them barking about it, he came in when the euro was around 80% of a GBP so 8 mil tops , he's never spent that before and also its still officially listed as undisclosed at both clubs, the media was saying 10 mil Euro. I think given the pressure he was under, he'd be shouting from the rooftops if he spent 10 mil. Also, the next player we bought for any money was Anita at 6.5 or 7, can't remember , funded by sales of Best, Fraser Foster and perhaps 1 mil or 2 mil of the "carroll money" Keegan knows best, and told us exactly how it was. I've yet to see a scrap of evidence that goes otherwise.

I hope you're right of course, but I think not. History has proven how this will go. You buy before you sell (ok 1 or 2 exceptions such as 35 mil for Carroll, but that was not re-invested). Selling when we are as poor as we are at the moment is far far too big a gamble. It's not like there's anything to lose on putting some of the departed on rolling monthly contracts. to say that only 1 is doubtful is a bold statement saying that no offers have been made, yet alone medicals, agent negotiation and player preference. I hope you're right , mind.

Gah! Getting painful now, we're going to have to kick them out of the club. VIVA LA REVOLUTION!!!.