David Kelly

Beacuse Stoke by tradition and brand a smaller club than us who are spending less money than us and acheiving better results. Ok they aren't recouping as much in but do you think their fans give a fuck about that? I suppose I should have said that I'm basing success on what it does for the football team rather than the accounts.

Yeah this season Villa have looked more at getting some experience in. I was thinking more about the last couple of season when they'd signed the likes of Benteke, Okore, Bacuna etc. They haven't yet cashed in on the like of Benteke and Okore but both have had bad injuries. That's probably why their net spend has been high. But I'm agreeing with you that they haven't perfomed as well as us. I agreed the first time you said it. It was the teams other than Villa and Sunderland that I said was unfair to match up against us. Actually stoke was fair and we come up short.

I didn't mean that Sunderland are, just Villa. What you suggest is certainly Sunderlands policy. I don't agree that Villa's is like that though. They have been looking for young hungry players on the cheap who they can improve and (presumably) sell on for a profit. They haven't been doing it as long as us but it seems to me this is what they are doing now. Of course they are happier to bring in short term loans or older players than we are. You have to link the scouting with who they sign (we don't have any information on who they have recommended but didn't sign). Part of the scouting has to be tailored to who they have a chance of signing. What I'm saying is that our status affords us the opportuity to sign players those other teams can't. Therefore their scouts have to recommend lower quality players than ours because SDJ (for example) most likely wouldn't have signed for Burnley a team who had just been promoted and had only had one season in the premier league previously. The same way as Diego Costa wouldn't have signed for us. It's not a reflection on Carr that we didn't sign him or Alexis.

You can't class Stoke in with the others their. They are far out performing us on no more of a budget and less of a reputation. It's also wrong to look at Leciester, Burnley and even QPR. None of those are established premier league clubs so they don't have the oppertunity we have to sign better players. Hull are probably in that category too. Sunderland and Villa (in particular as they seem to have been working on a similar model to us) I'll give you.

I wasn't even aiming it at you tbf (it's just that you're the one replying and I'm bored at work). I just think there's a bit of a general hysteria about him in some quarters.

All I'm saying is it doesn't take a genius scout to see that an international for France, Itally etc is a good player. We seem to have done well with some of those players in terms of contract clause information (Cabaye being the prime example) and if that's down to him I give him full credit for that. And clearly he's better than what we had before but that wasn't much was it? There's rumors that Obertan was Pardew's choice the same as Ba but who really knows? Cabaye could have also been for all we know. From what I've heard about Mbabu I'm definitely writing him off and from what I've seen of Abeid he wouldn't be playing for any other team in our league so yes I'm afraid I'm writing him too. I hope to be proved wrong and will happily admit it if I am.

I don't have any information on other teams to do that and tbf you are making assumptions about some of those players we didn't get. There's no proof we were really after them let alone that we ever had a chance of getting them. Just because we hadn't heard much about Dortmund being after Aubameyang when he was first linked with us doesn't mean they weren't in there and if so we never stood a chance of getting him. Does it make a good scout him suggesting a player who is clearly quality but we never stood a chance of getting. If I recommended Koke does that make me a good scout? No of course not especially if my backup suggestion Amdy Faye. I just think that if your giving him credit for the sucesses (and I do) you have to give him some responsibility for signing Amalfitano too. As I say I think he's doing a decent job. He's just been blown all out of proportion.

No he's not going to have a 100% success rate and fwiw I think he's doing a decent job. I just think the super scout perception some have is way off. Has marveaux done that well by the way? Ever time i've read about him on .com he's bee out of the team or not played the full game. LDJ doing well in Holland is also no positive proof either is it? If anything it suggests our scouts couldn't see that he was a player at best not ready for a move to a bigger league or at worst only of Eredevise standard like other strikers coming from there have been (Afonso Alves etc).

See above comments on the players. Most of the ones you've mentioned were full internationals before they signed so he hardly unearthed gems. But yes most of them have been reasonably successful. But you failled to mention Amalfitano, Luuk De Jong, Kevin Mbabu, Abeid, Obertan etc. There have clearly been some right duds too. Hence mixed success.

He must have had a hand in Gouffran, Amalfitano, LDJ, Marveaux etc even if they weren't his first choice he was clearly recommending them.

I said I'd be happy to see Taylor go too so no argument there. I just think he's less awful that Dummett.

After saying you'd keep Sammy your opinion is now completely invalid

Yes I'll agree that he will have a better idea than the rest of them but as I've said I'm not convinced it necessesarily translates to picking a manager or that he has enough influence.

Im just suggesting that it's part of a cheif exec's job and not a scout. Have you ever heard of a scout being involved in picking a manager before? And your second point proves my other point. That Carr hasn't got enough clout otherwise we could have had those players instead of what we do have. I still think you have to say he's had mixed success though given than there's not that many players who he's brought to the club that have been successfull.

CSD was right all along tbf!

I don't remember anyone prefering Williamson over anyone for a long time. But I'm pretty sure that until Taylor got injured the season we finished 5th that our defence was one of the best in the country. I open to being proved wrong here but I've never heard of Dummett as anything but a leftback who has covered in the centre. He certainly doesn't look like a traditional centre half and the vast majority of his games have been at fullback. I remember last season when he had to play against the tramps in the centre and looked completely clueless. Obviously he has managed to put in better games there since then. I confidently predict that Dummett will very quickly be playing outside the premier league one way or the other!

I still think Fish is right, and decent managers would come here even under Ashley. They wouldn't be English ones like KK who want more autonomy than the fat cunt will allow but foreign managers are much more used to working in similar circumstances.

Any experianced cheif excutive. No business in the top of their trade would ever employ someone with Penfolds experience, they'd get someone proven in to do the job. That's what we should have done. Carr's mandate is to find players (which if we're honest he's done with mixed success) not to look at coaches or managers. And I would question given his role, how much clout he has with Ashley anyway. If he had that much and he new what he was talking about, Riviere surely wouldn't have been the striker we signed in the summer!

The mans a scout, why should that qualify him for selecting a manager? But at least he's a football man who seems to have some sense so aye we're better off with him added to the other three fuckwits but I doubt he'll have enough say to overrule Ashley or Penfold so we're still relying on him being able to convince them. I remain far from convinced.

Taylor is a fragile bloke and an average centreback but Dummet is a shite leftback who has managed a couple of good games in the centre while looking pony 90% of the other games he's played for us. But just like when Abeid had a couple of good games people foget about what he's normally like, which is not good enough. For all of Taylors problems (and there are a few), out defence always looks better with him in it. Not that that's saying a hell of a lot.

I agree with this (although the continued negative press will start, if it hasn't already, to eat away at any interest we hold for managers) it's the people picking the manager that's the issue.

No I'm not saying I predicted that at all. I'm saying others did and they were dismissed for doing so. I thought we'd pick up points but we'd slide nearer the bottom. Before the Hull game I was genuinely concerned about the threat of relegation. Between the Hull game and Saturday I was convinced we'd already done enough and we'd do a bit more. Now I'm back to being genuinely concerned (more so than I was). Is adding Carr and Carver into the mix supposed to make me feel any better? A scout and a bloke who's employment should be somewhere in Wallsend Forum!

Aye I think his attitude would improve if he saw anything in the club or his teamates but that won't happen.

Taylor is better than Dummett. He's just made of glass.

I'm no longer arsed if we keep any of them but I know that's not what you're asking. So I would keep, Janmaat, Haidara, Colback, Cabella, SDJ, Perez, Aarons, Armstrong. I no longer arsed about Taylor, Tiote, Sissoko, Krul, Cisse. I'd actively try and get rid of Elliott, Anita, Williamson, Colo (sad to say but at best he no longer gives a fuck, at worst he's finished), Dummet, Abeid, Obertan, Riviere, Vukic, Fergusson. I've not included those out of contract as I'm assuming they're all going and I think they should. Obviously I'd give the two Forrest lads a chance.