Christmas Tree

The thing is thats what makes this forum different to others, we all take the piss out of each other. If theres something that can be latched onto ie the formations/ losing a bet then people will do. CT takes some stick, his pictures been all over the place and allsorts but he sees it for what it is, a piss take. He laughs along and has not left the site in a huff......unfortunately. Just splurted at the dogs P

Always happy to help, give up on the flounce, laugh it off and realise that you've been shafted royally by Dekka and Co. Come Monday when you've paid up you'll see a totally different style of post in this thread. Very good advice (don't leave me alone to battle Team N)

Night at the dogs. Cold beer, window seat, curry and chips, bets picked. Canny night.

Kevin S heading for poster of the year.

Bloody Hell Chez B)

And right on queue The quoted post was posted over 15 mins before you made that claim you absolute cretin And iM just working my way through the thread you horror of a little man

And right on queue

Mr Your Name answered your post perfectly tbh just a shame he hadnt quoted you. Hes spot on though, most of us (Leazes clearly included) dont expect to sign £20m strikers or overhaul the playing staff each season by clearing out and bringing in all the latest and greatest players from round the world What we do expect is sensible use of the resources available and honest answers from the club. Selling our best striker and leaving us short in January was mental to say the least but to then ignore the fact in August and still carry on is just disgraceful. We have clearly set our stall out now that no player can be purchased unless funded by the sale of an existing one, where does that put us next January then? Theres a whole thread to be had on this which should be seperate and its something Ive talked about for a while now but this clear out of high earners isnt a short term measure, its the whole future plan of the club and one that if followed will see us cease to exist as a Premiership club within 2 seasons and possibly be a lot worse. He didnt answer my question because I was referring to Leazes CL constant claims without a plan or major investment not the genarlised lets build each year stuff that No Name refers to and which I agree most of us would like to see. I do agree with you however that good sensible debate can be had about how you do live in this two tiered league and whether you think our "business model" can achieve that or whether it will lead to our demise as you suggest. Its wishful thinking though in this current climate imo to think you can simply hold on to your best players, and keep adding more quality to it. Sound simple and ideal but falls down on many fronts if you dont have an owner prepared to chuchk in out of his own pocket every year. Theres a blog from some Guardian chap here today which is entitled a cause for optimism about NUFC http://www.thefootballramble.com/blog/entr...ism-on-tyneside The bottom line is had we bought a striker, most would have been fairly happy. I agree though, a good debate to be had, particularly if the extremist views are put on hold and a sense of reality is brought to it. The problem is that you see the likes of mine and Leazes views as extremist, I see it as perfectly sensible. Thats why we never agree because you go into "Team nasty are picking on me" mode. I'll create the thread later detailing my vision of the future under Ashley, before you dive into it and dispute though, check it back against the history of the last 4 years if you're wanting to ensure the extremist views are put on hold. Not at all, I have the ability to discuss a topic without calling you a cunt etc etc. When I say extreme, I mean discussing where we are now and what is sensible / practical to do given the current climate of wages / debt etc. Anyone who tries to discuss the here and now without giving some thought to the business world is kidding themselves.

everybody wants that man. But we don't need it to act bigger than competing with the relegation candidates in the premiership. I agree with that bit Leazes, but there's the ocean and the big blue sea between " competing with relegation candidates" and breaking the top four. Bit more realism in your posts (kettle pot btw) would lead to less arguments, particularly given you were once an Ashley Fan. Absolute bollocks, you know, but choose to ignore the fact that LM isnt talking about us suddenly chasing Man U, hes talking about competing for anything. Making a push onwards and upwards, be that over 2, 3, 4 or more years. Putting in the hard work to increase the clubs profits not just decrease its outgoings and spend on players of the required calibre needed to do just that. Rubbish, you show me a leazes post where he hopes we push on and finish 9th or 8th next year. Theres not a drop of realism brought virtually any of his posts.

Mr Your Name answered your post perfectly tbh just a shame he hadnt quoted you. Hes spot on though, most of us (Leazes clearly included) dont expect to sign £20m strikers or overhaul the playing staff each season by clearing out and bringing in all the latest and greatest players from round the world What we do expect is sensible use of the resources available and honest answers from the club. Selling our best striker and leaving us short in January was mental to say the least but to then ignore the fact in August and still carry on is just disgraceful. We have clearly set our stall out now that no player can be purchased unless funded by the sale of an existing one, where does that put us next January then? Theres a whole thread to be had on this which should be seperate and its something Ive talked about for a while now but this clear out of high earners isnt a short term measure, its the whole future plan of the club and one that if followed will see us cease to exist as a Premiership club within 2 seasons and possibly be a lot worse. He didnt answer my question because I was referring to Leazes CL constant claims without a plan or major investment not the genarlised lets build each year stuff that No Name refers to and which I agree most of us would like to see. I do agree with you however that good sensible debate can be had about how you do live in this two tiered league and whether you think our "business model" can achieve that or whether it will lead to our demise as you suggest. Its wishful thinking though in this current climate imo to think you can simply hold on to your best players, and keep adding more quality to it. Sound simple and ideal but falls down on many fronts if you dont have an owner prepared to chuchk in out of his own pocket every year. Theres a blog from some Guardian chap here today which is entitled a cause for optimism about NUFC http://www.thefootballramble.com/blog/entr...ism-on-tyneside The bottom line is had we bought a striker, most would have been fairly happy. I agree though, a good debate to be had, particularly if the extremist views are put on hold and a sense of reality is brought to it.

everybody wants that man. But we don't need it to act bigger than competing with the relegation candidates in the premiership. I agree with that bit Leazes, but there's the ocean and the big blue sea between " competing with relegation candidates" and breaking the top four. Bit more realism in your posts (kettle pot btw) would lead to less arguments, particularly given you were once an Ashley Fan.

Nicely said

Not ignoring it Leazes and wish we were doing it with either Ashley or anyone. I just cant see how it can be done without throwing a couple of hundred mill at it. (which would still be a gamble given who is already up there). I think football in general is less enjoyable because the top four is so out of reach (not just us of course), but I think you always come across as making it sound as though bish bash bosh, we could be there so easily and without jeopardising the future existence of the club. I still hope an arab etc comes in some day.

Yes I did, it appears patently obvious now that he is recouping his losses. On the window, we did what appears to be some excellent work and if we'd bought a striker, it would have been very good window IMO, we didn't so it was very disappointing. There were two ways it could go (which I believe is what I said) he'd be shown to be continuing to prop it up, thus we'd spend, or he's not prepared to do that which meant we wouldn't. We didn't spend so the answer appears clear. On the bright side, if he is reducing his exposure (the clubs debt to him) it makes it all the more saleable which has to be good. Pitty he's not more philanthropic, but at least he had the cash to keep us afloat. And just out of spite, for LM, he still hasn't taken a penny out, let alone £52 Million. he will, eventually. Not that it matters.........I've said before, and I'll say it again. Put this club into the Champions League, keep our best players, attempt to capitalise on the fanbase, compete with the other clubs at the level NUFC ought to compete at, and I don't give a monkeys how much money he makes, if he does this, he's entitled to it as payoff for giving supporters what they pay for. Just like anybody else has done, or could do. It is and has been obvious for some time too, that he is "recouping his losses". Keegan told us this ages ago, for starters, that he would sell players then sell the club. I really don't get the spite aimed at the old owners, when they did what they did and gave us a good football team and gave the ownership their best shot for those years. The grass is always greener, is the phrase to apply, a lot of people have found out that it most certainly is not always greener, and they have found out the hard way. If Mike Ashley finally woke up and changed direction, I would be obviously very happy and concede that this had happened, but as things stand, it isn't going to happen and I'm now in the same frame of mind that I was during the days of McKeag, Seymour etc - I'm supporting the club and going to games but I'm waiting for the day someone else takes control and only pray that it is someone who will realise where the club ought to be and attempts to do it. While very unhappy with the state of the club, at least more people are now seeing it as it is, not that it will help, but its better than banging your head against a brick wall [no insult intended] and at least they can hopefully concede the point that the club is indeed going in the wrong direction, under-selling itself and needs directors who understand the size of the club again You almost always sound very plausible but you never address the real issues for me. You huff and puff about the champions league, yet you said this..... How do we get to from where we are now, to breaking the champions league without either him deciding to throw a couple of hundered million at it or someone else. Do you believe its possible to get there some other way? When you said that, how were you thinking he would achieve it at the time without throwing loads of money at it. Btw I appreciate those peoples points who argue he bought it for fun so yes he should spend big, I just always get lost how you think it can be changed without massive investment. All he had to do was keep our best players, and outperform clubs such as Fulham, Stoke etc in the transfer market. I can understand the sale of Carroll for that whopping fee, if it had been completely handed to the manager, the whole entire fee, on top of a budget in keeping with what he ought to have anyway at a club like this and allowed to look at the market and build his own team with it, no questions asked. When Mike Ashley bought this club, we were an established club expected to qualify for europe. Supporters were disgruntled when we didn't, like the last season but the year prior to that we finished 7th. Look back at the players who were playing for the club at that time, and look back at the players who played for the team when Keegan came back ? IMO we needed perhaps 2 good players, and we would have been top 6 again, instead that team has been systematically dismantled, under the guise of "cutting costs". How do you think we can compete with the top teams when we adopt a selling club policy, like the small clubs do ? This is what we do now. It is clear as daylight to everybody . Isn't it ? When he bought the club the recent 7th finish was a blip and the overall patter was low to middle and I think most though we were on the slide, rather than as you say "expected to qualify for Europe". You still havent answered how back then or now tbf we could break the top four without a couple of hundred mill to throw at it. Even for a possy like me (who wishes Carrol and Nolan and Barton and Enrique and the new signings were all still here), I still dont think that team would be anywhere near good enough to break the top four. I dont think its negative to admit that currently, the top four is beyond reach of any team that doesnt have hundreds of millions to spend on fees and the 100 grand plus wages that would go with them.

Yes I did, it appears patently obvious now that he is recouping his losses. On the window, we did what appears to be some excellent work and if we'd bought a striker, it would have been very good window IMO, we didn't so it was very disappointing. There were two ways it could go (which I believe is what I said) he'd be shown to be continuing to prop it up, thus we'd spend, or he's not prepared to do that which meant we wouldn't. We didn't spend so the answer appears clear. On the bright side, if he is reducing his exposure (the clubs debt to him) it makes it all the more saleable which has to be good. Pitty he's not more philanthropic, but at least he had the cash to keep us afloat. And just out of spite, for LM, he still hasn't taken a penny out, let alone £52 Million. he will, eventually. Not that it matters.........I've said before, and I'll say it again. Put this club into the Champions League, keep our best players, attempt to capitalise on the fanbase, compete with the other clubs at the level NUFC ought to compete at, and I don't give a monkeys how much money he makes, if he does this, he's entitled to it as payoff for giving supporters what they pay for. Just like anybody else has done, or could do. It is and has been obvious for some time too, that he is "recouping his losses". Keegan told us this ages ago, for starters, that he would sell players then sell the club. I really don't get the spite aimed at the old owners, when they did what they did and gave us a good football team and gave the ownership their best shot for those years. The grass is always greener, is the phrase to apply, a lot of people have found out that it most certainly is not always greener, and they have found out the hard way. If Mike Ashley finally woke up and changed direction, I would be obviously very happy and concede that this had happened, but as things stand, it isn't going to happen and I'm now in the same frame of mind that I was during the days of McKeag, Seymour etc - I'm supporting the club and going to games but I'm waiting for the day someone else takes control and only pray that it is someone who will realise where the club ought to be and attempts to do it. While very unhappy with the state of the club, at least more people are now seeing it as it is, not that it will help, but its better than banging your head against a brick wall [no insult intended] and at least they can hopefully concede the point that the club is indeed going in the wrong direction, under-selling itself and needs directors who understand the size of the club again You almost always sound very plausible but you never address the real issues for me. You huff and puff about the champions league, yet you said this..... How do we get to from where we are now, to breaking the champions league without either him deciding to throw a couple of hundered million at it or someone else. Do you believe its possible to get there some other way? When you said that, how were you thinking he would achieve it at the time without throwing loads of money at it. Btw I appreciate those peoples points who argue he bought it for fun so yes he should spend big, I just always get lost how you think it can be changed without massive investment.

indeed he did, on many occasions, and it was also quoted on many occasions too [by me] that it was also Mike Ashleys NINTH transfer window, not the 1st or 2nd, but the NINTH Posters on other sites are now blaming the ex owners for selling the club to Mike Ashley. You really couldn't make it up. I don't always agree with TP but I think he makes his case well and so on. I think that you could conceivably make excuses for Ashley (at times I hasten to stress) before this window. I'm not defending his myriad errors but I can see why he might do x,y and z in order to make up for them. There's no excuse now though imo. A few will continue to make excuses but they're so stupid as to barely consider. In a perverse way I'm almost pleased now that virtually all and sundry can see him for what he is. I'm still going to refuse to join any political camps as i just dont see the point as massive failure now doesnt preclude him doing something right in the future. For me its a question of the negatives outweighing the positives and am sure everyone agrees with that. The problem with politicising it means everything gets looked at through a certain light, is spun to meet the overall narrative and then despair sets in. For my own sake, i prefer to keep things compartmentalised into whats good and whats not good. I'm pissed off at the missed opportunity especially as i see weakness in Everton, Spurs, Villa, Sunderland etc. I still think we can enjoy some football this season and that we can improve on 46 points. Its not about scoring 56 goals or 41 at home in a season, we could score 11 less goals at home and still have a far superior record, as 7 teams above us did last year. Ashley's a cunt but i cant change that nor can i influence the situation, the trick is to work out how to continue enjoying your football whilst accepting that you can do little to change things. I'm also still not sure if failure this time is down to incompetence, bad luck or deliberate. Its hard to tell so its hard to know how to feel about it. Post of the year that Chez. Can you be my post moderator please.

Good points as well Chez about Nolan, Enrique and Barton. All Ashley really had to do was add a solid number 9 and most of us would have been quite pleased with the summers business. (given where we are).

Im interested to see the statement but a waste of time if it mirrors the excuses above. I believe we were in for people (forgetting the last few days carry on) and the big question is why none of those could be finalised, even though some appeared pretty close. Having done proper scouting work, wages shouldnt have been a problem. Understandable that some might not want to move to the UK or see Arsenal as a better bet. But the deals that seem to have fallen through over agents fees or a few million are the most depressing. Is Ashley involved in those negotiations? Does he leave it Llambias who cant do it? Is this Lee bloke handling it? As Ive said many times, Ashley would do himself many favours by having a proper football executive at the top like a David Dein. Someone who wasnt a cronie and could give Ashley a little nudge now and then. From the outside it just looks as though deals have fallen through over pettiness or some amateur trying to play Johnny big balls.

who is right Sammy ? Then ask yourself - again - who is the shambles ...... I know you think you're making a point, but it needs to be associated to my post in order to work. That's how forums work. Making yourself sound like Mystic Meg is amusing though I'll give you that. Wernt you lecturing me to not get involved in these tit for tats with Leazes only last week.

Whether the fans or for that matter, the manager, stay of his back will depend on how back to normal he is and how results are going etc. His game of dribbling and taking people on is fine when its going well, but if you are out of form and constantly getting caught in possession then you become a liability. I do however think that Pardew will only bring him back when he's pretty near to right and after having a few behind closed doors games to get him as near to fit as possible. Hopefully we can continue to get points on the table so that Pardew doesnt panic into rushing him back. Showed flashes of brilliance at Darlington.

A sentence would suffice. I thought last week Deadman was located on youtube demonstrating various products and that in those videos he was anything but the R word. Are you saying that it wasnt him in the youtube clips? I didnt see these youtube clips, however i though the D-man said he was perfectly fine chatting away but when it came to studying and the written word he wasn't as adept as you were? I didnt know that.

A sentence would suffice. I thought last week Deadman was located on youtube demonstrating various products and that in those videos he was anything but the R word. Are you saying that it wasnt him in the youtube clips?

Fuckity fuck.

Hang on a second. Do you mean to say you're not just pissing about for a laugh when you spout this Fifa guff? You're actually being serious? Fuck me Just a quick one for you dude, deadman is retarded so go easy on him Is he? I thought the you tube videos showed that his performances on here were a wind up......#confused.com @denniswise Wooshed me Im afraid.

Hang on a second. Do you mean to say you're not just pissing about for a laugh when you spout this Fifa guff? You're actually being serious? Fuck me Just a quick one for you dude, deadman is retarded so go easy on him Is he? I thought the you tube videos showed that his performances on here were a wind up......#confused.com