jaythesouthernmag

Either Ben Arfa or Taylor at CM and the other on the right, I think

Tottenham could win the league, they're no bigger than us on an even level playing field. Barcelona and Real Madrid are streets ahead in Spain right now, but with Valencia's 2003 team I doubt they would be, or even Deportivo in 2002. Quite. So much for being unable to challenge the bankrolled clubs if Spurs win the league .... in fact, they have pretty much shown what we ought to be doing at the very least already. Which is of course, precisely the same as we did under the previous regime who also had to challenge only one less bankrolled club than the present. As I said before this is the model( spurs and arsenal),I think, that we are following but we are a few years behind Spurs. A few years ago Spurs were bottom half and flogged their star striker for £30m. Our first choice 11 would give theirs a run for their money, we just lack the depth

Backing him on a £9m striker which I guess was paying what he was worth. They offered £2.5m for a championship cb, that was below Watfords valuation. They could have wanted £5m, who knows. They obviously have players they want in summer and this guy was a stop gap until then. Would have had Bassong on loan tho, missed a trick there I think

Decision for tonight then, I would play one up front with Ben Arfa in behind and Jonas-Guthrie-Abeid-Taylor across the middle. Guess Pardew may opt for Perch and drop Ben Arfa for Ameobi and Best

There is absolutely no way the club could be run in the way it was in the current climate, not a chance. Ashley has the money to invest if he wanted to BUT he has nowhere near the wealth of the shiek,the Russian or the Yanks at Liverpool, so IF he sunk £100m into the squad, not to mention the extra costs of wages of £100k + a week, then finish 5/6th would it have been worth it? How much have City spent and they are in danger of winning nothing,Liverpool have spent a fortune and are just above us in the table. As ever, I advocate a happy medium between the two. The way I see it there are 4 basic ways to try and compete. 1. Be bankrolled by a mega rich sugar daddy and collect players like an 8 year old collects stickers for his panini album with absolutely no regards for running costs,wages etc(Chelsea/City) 2.Have the backing of a major investor and have global appeal (Liverpool Man U) 3.Try and build using a savvy transfer policy which involves both BUYING and SELLING well while maintaining a quality playing personnel and within your budget(Spurs Arsenal) 4. Buy top players on big fees,big wages with the banks money and loans secured on future income. If the team achieves top 4 its successful if it doesn't its unsustainable(Leeds) Just examples and if there are other suggestions please feel free to educate me. This isn't just aimed at you Alex btw

There is absolutely no way the club could be run in the way it was in the current climate, not a chance. Ashley has the money to invest if he wanted to BUT he has nowhere near the wealth of the shiek,the Russian or the Yanks at Liverpool, so IF he sunk £100m into the squad, not to mention the extra costs of wages of £100k + a week, then finish 5/6th would it have been worth it? How much have City spent and they are in danger of winning nothing,Liverpool have spent a fortune and are just above us in the table.

Explain what you mean about signing players who were kicking a ball around in Africa, I fail too understand your point

do give the arselicking of Ashley a rest man, at least until he has matched his predecessors league positons to justify his "superior" policies. Reply from the post generator right there It's not arselicking, I'm pointing out that your comments are flawed and you are so blinded by your hatred of Ashley you can't see anything good that's going on and that's really sad. Now, please explain your comment about picking up players kicking a ball around in Africa

Look you fucking crackpot Carroll replaced by BA Enrique replaced by Santon Nolan replaced by Cabaye Signed Cisse,Marvaux,Ben Arfa,Obertan(yes I know) Kicking a ball around in Africa? Tiote is an international who won the dutch league, so is Cabaye who won the French league. Santon is an U21 international who has played for one of Italys biggest ckubs. BA is THE best signing in ages and Cisse has been consistently scoring goals in the German league. Justify your comment We have also not sold any of the players you said in the window, just give it a fucking rest, at least until the summer. Why not just post comments about the games,performances,formations etc.

Dissapointed we didn't get defensive cover so let's hope Colo and Williamson stay fit or at least they are never both injured at the same time. On the positive side none of our top players have been sold and we have added a quality £9m striker, so its been a pretty good window which still leaves us with a decent chance of a top 7 finish and maybe Europa league *I don't give a fuck the team were booed for finishing 5th years ago so don't bother saying it

unfortunately, you must have lead a dull, dull, uninformed life if you think that Mike Ashley will ever match the league positions and european qualifications of his predecessors. You getting the message chum? Or is everyone else that find your posts boring and tiresome wrong??

Might be ambition for another bit of wedge when he gets sold on following relegation. If thats the case then fuck him off

If he goes there then hes got no ambition, they are nailed on to go down. If we dont get him we need to get a cb on loan at least or muscle in on the Ridgewell deal

spot on that

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The difference quoted between Bolton etc. is how much MORE we have spent than them in the last 5 years. If only our stadium debt was the only debt we had. The other £52 Million was the kicker. Bottom line for me Jay, is YES the previous regime backed the manager. But only when that level of backing didn't effect their take. See the Bowyer summer, portrayed as a summer of taking stock and consolidating, i.e. being prudent. Shame the prudence didn't stretch to the £9 million taken in Divi and salary that year aint it. That £9 Mill might just have bought a player (or two) to have kept us challenging in/around the CL when the money really exploded. What he also fails to mention are the decidedly average players signed in the last few years before Ashley bought the club, players that now would be scoffed at.

I don't think he was referring to the stadium, my guess it what's been spent on players.

Spurs have got into the position due to years of building, which involved selling players and not spending it all(Pocketing the cash LM).

Many,many,many times. In this thread alone

You only need to look outside the mega rich clubs to see it.

They were lucky, we were shit. Ben Arfa was worse than Obertan our strikers complete bollocks.

They did, the credit ran out, Ashley bought the club and that's where we are now. Simple

You might not like him as a person but as a manager and what he's getting out of the players and the spirit he's built up deserves some credit.

Goodbye Smith, thanks for one half decent season in 4 years. Still be out of his depth in that league

OMG