Big Onion

Nothing to do with sunshine, but canny anyway:

*hopes Jimbo is right*

Yeah Louise Taylor was spot on. For example, she predicted Keegan wouls sign Defoe, Van Buyten, Wes Brown, Chimbonda and Sol Campbell The woman knows absolutely fuck all about football man.

Fucking stupid cheesey chip eating tramps. It would be funny if they ended up signing him

Think his most recent one was at the Sage, preceded by his documentary about his dad - Hugh Everett came up with a many-worlds interpretation of Schroedinger's cat. I had tickets for that but couldn't make it and ended up giving them away to my mate

Hope so. Souljacker's my favourite I think. I hope there's a tour as well. When I saw them last here (think it was Northumbria) there was a bloke walking round the audience pre-gig in a big fuck-off dog costume. Turned out it was Mark Everett.

The fucking council running the club? Have we not got enough problems like?

Do you seriously believe there's time to organise something like this? The season kicks off at the beginning of August. Before then a manager and his staff have to be appointed, a massive overhaul of the whole club needs to be set in motion, and half the squad need to be moved on and replaced. Do you reckon the banks and Ashley are just going to hang around paying the bills till the NUSC arranges all this? Lets assume all the practical problems can be overcome and enough people are willing and able to stump up enough cash to make such a thing possible, you are looking at a period of years not weeks for something on that scale to come together. By which time the club will have been long sold. Barcelona is a unique institution; you can't replicate something like that just because you admire it. Not a fucking chance of it ever happening.

Mixed feelings in Trampsville judging by their boards If he gets it wrong early on they'll turn on him in a big way. You can't knock what he did at Wigan last season but his track record overall is hardly without blemish, and this'll be his seventh club in eleven years. Could get interesting this.

I doubt anything can be read into reports of interest or denials. The only figure you can pretty much be sure will be interested will be Shepherd, but he can't do it on his own and whether he's got investors with him capable of a serious bid is anyone's guess. Serious parties won't be trumpeting their interest to the media in the way chancers like Nathaniel were last time round. If he's writing off the £100 mil debt there'll be plenty of interest surely.

What an enjoyable thing it will be if Bruce takes on the tramps job, spunks a load of money and completely fucks it up.

Didn't realise that. The few times I've seen highlights of them on MOTD, he sems to be making the same mistakes. I saw him whipping the legs out of an attacker on the by line for a penalty when there was no need. Maybe that was a one-off and he has cut down on the mistakes though. I've not seen enough Wigan games this season to take a strong view (though he did have a good game for them against us up here). I had a quick look at a Wigan forum yesterday and read he'd 'scooped all the awards' for player of the season or something. Coming from the people who watch him every week I think you have to give it some credence. Good luck to the bloke I say, though we had to let him go as things had gone too far by the end.

What's his alternative? You can't value the club on future profits, because it doesn't make any, or on cash flows, as they're all negative and will get worse. We don't have a Premier League place and would need considerable investment to get it back. He has poured money down a black hole and he's not getting it back. Further along the line he'd have to find more money or face admininstration pressure. I'd hazard a guess that his loan is junior to anything from the banks as well but if they weren't then I'm stuggling to see him getting all of his money back in that situation. If he left it to Barclays they would have us into and out of pre-pack administration in a fortnight. That's his worst case scenario. If an offer comes in a penny better, he should take it. Anyone valuing this business will see his shareholder loans as equity by any other name. Rather than looking at what gone into the business, bidders should be looking at looming obligations. That's what will force Ashley's hand. Is it at all possible Ashley might end up looking at administration as his best option? *Googles pre-pack administration*

He'll certainly want his £100mil back and it'll be at a commercial interest rate as well if the incoming buyer/s seek to negotiate to pay it back over time. Someone made the point the other day about the possibility of us attracting investors who are fully stretched just to meet the asking price. The debt burden becomes a big factor in our future in that event. *hopes for a smart buyer with a shedload of cash behind him*

Their best album in my book. Blue Jeans, off Modern Life Is Rubbish, performed at Scott Walker's Meltdown Festival 2000. I was there, fucking ace gig

That'll help naturally. So will a new owner who makes good appointments and generally starts well, as getting the goodwill of the fans will probably ensure bigger crowds than would have been the case otherwise. Mind you that's only the theory. Fuck knows what will actually happen - my head's hurting thinking about the possibilities, some of which are not pleasant to contemplate.

After (and in tandem with) our fanbase, the stadium is our biggest asset right now. Any prospective buyer will know that if they get the football right, get us up and get us moving forward that stadium will be full every week. The £57mil outstanding on the stadium Ashley had to pay off was peanuts compared to what teams like Everton and spuds are looking at to build theirs now (it's the main reason why Kenwright hasn't been able to sell despite looking for a buyer for two years with a team finishing fifth in the league and a great manager in place). Last time they had to build a football team then build a stadium to match it. This time round the stadium's already there. Whoever comes in will need to invest in the team now and again next summer if we go up of course, but if they get the football right they're guaranteed big revenues through the turnstiles instantly, and that's a huge advantage.

I think the amounts involved are simply too high for anything like that to have a chance of getting off the ground. It's just not realistic for a fan-based group to raise a big enough amount to make it a player in a consortium-type takeover. There may well be one well-known local businessman in the thick of things right now as far as a takeover goes, but that'll be Freddie Shepherd and he'll have his own ideas about things. He won't be knocking on the door of NUSC anytime soon.

That's what strikes me as most odd about this business. I had a hunch he'd want to chuck it but this is a strange way to go about it. It's pure soap-opera going public and attaching all this sentimental apologetic bollocks to what is for him no more than a business decision, albeit a costly one (assuming it's genuine). Why make a drama out of it? The sort of people who might be interested in buying the club could be made quite well aware Ashley wants to sell without all this fuss. I would say though that on balance I don't think this is purely a ruse to deflect the flak he'd get for not getting Shearer on board. I think he does want to sell, as he must know that no-one is going to touch a season ticket renewal till this is all sorted out. That would definitely not be in his interests if he was intending to stay.

Christ I thought things were bad enough before but we could be a total wreck of a club come the start of the season. Are we now just in limbo till a resolution is found? If this drags on for a month or two we are so totally fucked it doesn't bear thinking about

That's from 2007/8 surely? He made a couple of ricks early on, got dropped for a bit and since then has been a regular starter for them. Many Wigan fans are making him their player of the season.

I remember Tony Pulis said when Stoke came in for Faye that he thought he had a good chance of getting him because Faye wanted a move back to the North West. Bassong's better anyway - the problem's been the £10mil pissed away by Wise on Coloccini. Woodgate was Keegan's original target, and I wish we'd got him.

Grew up a typical football-daft kid a stone's through from the ground. The noise from The Leazes on a Saturday afternoon was unbelievable back then, and it just drew you in.

A fair few of them could have been kept on if he'd just sacked Llambias instead (what's that useless twat done to keep his job by the way?), and not paid Wise's contract up for another year to ensure the poisonous little cockney cunt backs him in the legal battle with Keegan.

Doubt we'll sell either Harper or Guthrie. Can't go into the championship with two unproven youngsters to cover goalkeeping and we'd not get much for Harper, who's also just signed a new contract. Guthrie's young and showed some promise - he's a definite 'keep' for me. And as for Ameobi, we all know he's immovable. Barton, Geremi, Martins, Smith, Coloccini, Gutierrez, Xisco, Ryan Taylor and possibly Duff will be the players we're most interested in shifting. Can't stand him but I think Nolan will stay. Geremi and Ryan Taylor won't be easy to move on - I'd say the same for Smith but there seem to be plenty of rumours of interest. I hope we keep Enrique but no idea how that one will go. With Owen, Viduka, Cacapa, Lovenkrands and Edgar all out of contract as well and Bassong likely to seek a move it looks like a hectic summer. Could easily be ten+ players moved out. There'll be a few loans in both directions I'd imagine. As far as kids coming through to fill some of the gaps, I can only see Ranger, Kadar, Krul and maybe Lua Lua as realistic possibilities. Vukcic maybe an outside chance. It's a massive job for a manager who hasn't yet bought or sold a footballer (assuming Shearer takes it).