manc-mag

The fact that we've had less money to spend has meant that we've spent it more wisely. I'm not suggesting that's a holistic blueprint for success, but it is true statement all the same. I'm pretty sure it must focus the mind and in that sense as long as it's driving better thinking about recruitment, I'm not going to cry myself to sleep each night that every last penny of the Carroll bonanza hasnt been re-absorbed by incoming players. For me there are occasions where circumstances demand that you need to buy simply to fill a gap. I don't think we'll ever see MA do that now fwiw and we may suffer for that in isolation (the FA Cup exit being an example for me) but for the most part as long as we're not top of the money league we do need to research our players. Theres nothing wrong with that at all. Whatever claptrap Leazes is peddling this week, we've undoubtedly benefitted from taking an acutely strategic approach to the transfer market in recent years.

Aye, I'd go along with that. I agree with much of what's written. Where I'd disagree is where he says it's not the owners fault, it's the fans fault. No it's not, it's the owners fault entirely. It doesnt matter what the fans want, clamour for or anything else, it's up to the ownership to be strong and to take the best decisions for the club. That means seeing through all the subjective, emotional outbursts-whether that manifests itself in the fans booing players off after a bad result/finishing 5th/whatever or calling for the return of a 'messiah'-and steering a course for progress based on cold objective, rational thought. A groundswell of Man U fans wanted shot of Ferguson on two separate occasions prior them winning the Prem the first time. Those fans benefitted from having a strong board telling them to go and fuck themselves-if they'd got their way they'd have had none of what followed and whats still coming to them this season, 20 years on. In our case, we had a board which told us it was 'giving in to fan pressure' to apoint Roeder. Amongst other examples. Football fans talk bullshit because their responses are understandably emotion led most of the time. This is what gets me about Leazes criticising people for using 'hindsight' as if it's some sort of dirty word. If you don't use hindsight then you learn absolutely fuck all and never progress in any way. This is clearly absurd and to be avoided at all costs. Your owners on the other hand-you need them to have foresight. That is the difference and that is what makes any reference to fans opinions/blame utterly irrelevant in the context of the Dalglish or any other managerial appointment discussion.

Missed this thread! Happy birthday mate and welcome back! Hope the health situation turns out to be nothing and gets resolved asap for you!!

In that case, I'll say it again for you: Valencia is gash compared to HBA. If we're talking purely about potential and raw talent, both Young and Valencia have got nowt on him. In their favour however they are at a club that is virtually guaranteed to get the best out of them, whereas that's not a statement that has historically applied to NUFC. Also he's Gallic, which incrases the risk of him deciding he'd rather just be a twat than a talented footballer at some future point in time. In a very real sense though, none of them are Raoul Fox, so the whole debate is moot.

That I would gladly go for btw for all sorts of reasons.

There is something you need to bear in mind when comparing any of our players on an individual basis to what you see from current, perennial and three times consecutive champions Man United: it is far easier to play for them than us with that quality around you. Chances created can literally double or treble ours each match. That is equally true of the quality of the chances created. Young and Valencia are gash compared to Ben Arfa. They couldnt even attempt to play like he does. Nani has been hugely effective but bearing in mind what I've just said, that's in a team that marrauds forward at will with passing opportunities all around him. It simply doesnt apply to anyone playing here.

We'll just conjure up another Ben Arfa then. Aye, was gonna say-Ben Arfa at the absolute top of his game could potentially be one of the top three contributors in the Prem. City and Man U dont have two wingers as good as him and they're walking the league.

Park literally has none of the skill of Jonas. The Wolves goal would simply not have occurred to the mopheaded dogmuncher.

While undoubtedly soft I'm tempted to say Reina got Perch right between the eyes, however we all know that's a physical impossibility in his case.

I didnt say 'an international' or a fucking 'Norwegian international', I said an 'Argentine international'. #pipeandsmokeit

"estimated"

Reina was a straight red tbf and even Dalglish didnt complain. He had to run back towards Perch to even start shoving his head in his mush. Most of those type of confrontations happen when the players are literally standing next to each other to start with; Reina even had time to chill his beans, the daft Spanish cock.

Jonas' overall game is top five all day. If the team improves around him it'll be even more comfartably so. Oh he's an Argentine international btw.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Post of the day

"..and there were Keith in the back with a spaniel on his lap" " a Spaniard...?" utter class

Superb spot!

Rodgers is getting great results out of fairly limited footballers with no egos who are just glad to be in the Prem and who he's got playing above themselves. Kudos for staying up in the Prem and playing football at the same time I absolutely agree, but it's a different kettle of fish trying to get similar results out of that shower of ego-frenzied-and-only-slightly-better-but-ever-so-deluded bunch of cock ends in the national team. If they took the same attitude as Swansea (ie that they're massively inferior to the likes of Spain, France etc and need to work their bollocks off and be utterly focussed on the team ethic) it might have a chance, but these are absolute monumental arseholes we've got representing us for the most part.

I haven't mentioned Bolton at all. Bolton had a completely different strategy to us, and that was to build a team for a season, made up mainly of players loaned from abroad. We, on the other hand, are buying players who are young or approaching their prime. This has the effect of ensuring that we can either take advantage of the best years of their careers and / or receive decent compensation if the player chooses to leave for a big pay day. I am capable of forming my own opinions through reasoned logic. Whilst I'll read what other people have to say, I am my own man, and will form my own views. There are sound, reasoned views coming from match-goers as well as those who don't go the games, just as there are bizarre views from both camps. In all honesty it generally doesn't make that much difference whether they go to games or not. In order to break into the top 4 quickly, we would need to spend at least £200m and consistently pay out ridiculous wages. In other words, we'd need to mortgage the stadium and Mike Ashley would need to write a quarter of his fortune over the next couple of years. Not going to happen. I want a club which is self-sufficient and able to pass the UEFA Financial Fair Play rules with flying colours. If Ashley pumps in quarter of a billion, we will fail the tests, we won't be allowed to qualify for Europe and the best players will want to go elsewhere. So our options are: a) Ashley pumps in silly money so we can rise up the league, but we can't play in Europe as we're a substantially loss making business Ashley oversees a strategy of going after the future stars, building a team which appreciates in value. We may receive huge offers for players, but use this cash to fund the purchase of more players who fit the buying policy. c) Ashley refuses to sanction the sale of a player who wants to leave, as "we're not a selling club", resulting in unhappy player disrupting the team and negatively affecting team morale. To me, option B is the only option. It's sensible and will ensure long term growth and long term stability. In the medium term, the best up and coming players will want to come to NUFC as we have a reputation for giving players a superb grounding and introduction to the Premiership. Over time, we'll improve our reputation to the point that we're seen as a better option than many of the clubs that we once sold to. We need to continually improve, but sometimes it's about taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture. Throwing money at buying players doesn't mean we're going to suddenly become world beaters. We need to be signing players who WANT to play for us. We shouldn't be signing players who are only coming because we're offering more money than Spurs / Liverpool etc. We should be signing players who buy into our approach and strategy. This makes building the squad a more time consuming activity, but it gives us far less chance of buying duds like Guivarch, Luque, Bassedas, Maric, Owen, Boumsong etc. I'm not totally sure what you want from the club. You bang on about wanting us to be progressive, but by the very defnition of the word we have progressed: - more points - more goals - more clean sheets - more full internationals - bigger attendances - higher league placing - top players secured on long term deals, so they either stay or we received suitable compensation for them - club is no longer loss making - healthy cash balance to fund future developments - no reliance on bank funding whatsoever This makes us progressive. Excellent post and worthy of far more than the claptrap it will doubtless elicit.

class.

Aye, plus we 'improved' (league position wise) at the start of the season when we only sold our three top players and didn't replaced them. The 'easy start' if everyone can recall it. It's just an old man shouting slogans at the end of the day. It's easy to say just buy everyone and just keep everyone too. The reality is you can't do that, the reality is certain, select other clubs can offer more, the reality is timing (of incomings and departures) is a huge issue, the reality is availability of strategic target personnel is an issue when you're operating a non-casino transfer budget. The net effect has been a huge progression this season. The money that has been available has been spent very well. The playing squad is stronger once again overall. Not spending more money (or spending more earlier) cost us our chances of FA Cup progression at a time when the squad was depleted. That's the reality. The whole spectrum has to be weighed up in minute detail now we don't have a casino budget anymore (and now that other bankrolled clubs do).

Whereas what is crystal clear to everyone down wind of you is your soiled underpants.

Never fails to deliver, this place.

And his phone.

Leazes, I'm beginning to think you're getting this whole "being right" thing mildly out of proportion.

This place REALLY isn't good for Leazes at the end of the day. Or that Gene Clark on today's evidence either. They just come across as obsessive basket cases-blunt but true.