LeazesMag

I want to win something more than anybody, I'm 57. But I want us to be a progressive club too, I don't want us to win something and then get relegated,like the smoggies, Leicester etc, because eventually, all the selling clubs go down. So that explains why you're such a boring, senile, miserable old fart. Maybe it's time to cart you off to the home so you can mutter your shite opinions at the wall whilst everyone else just ignores you like the mad old man you are. have your short pants fell down in the playground or something ?

some people setting themselves up for a huge fall here, fooled by a few results. Mostly out of towners and non-match goers though, or both, so that's understandable.

7 days and a few hours left in january mate for that statement to look like "jumping the gun" at best. Some would say hopelessly naiive. For the record, I think the entire spine of our best starting 11 will leave in the next 12-18 months. Graham Carr will have to be some sort of magician to replace them adequately. Perhaps paying 10 mill for Demba's replacement is a good sign of better investment. Only time will tell on that one. exactly. Of course, only those are fooled by a few results are "educated" and "predicted the trajectory", unless of course you correctly predicted that while you sell your best players then you go backwards and will never achieve consistent high league positions. The 10m quid for Demba Ba's replacement, could well be a good forecast.

you said things for Liverpool could go tits up if they "only" finished 6th, yet appear to think 7th for us is roaring success [and failure for the last regime too, oddly]. Please explain the difference, then tell me when our transfer policy will produce better league positions than Liverpool's, before you knock the tranfer policy of Liverpool which has gave them great success for over 40 years. I did as that was their target after the investment they have made, spending over £100m to finish 6th or below wasn't their plan 6th or 7th for us, considering we were in the championship a couple of seasons ago is progress. Let's wait until the end of the season before debating whos policy has been the most successful, then we will have all the facts won't we indeed, and next season, and the season after that......

of course, that 15 years was a waste of time, and simply a nightmare, right ?

there has always been certain clubs who players can't turn down the chance to play for, however there are not too many and currently only one in the premiership and another 2 who are bankrolled, so this is no reason why NUFC should be selling their best players and not backing their manager with the money. There is a difference here Parky, the 2 things don't come together, they are 2 different behaviours. A selling club sells their best players and uses the money elsewhere and doesn't back their managers ie they need the money to run the club, but a big club [especially one that had the 14th biggest revenues in football] should be resisting that and back their managers because they ought not to be needing to re-direct transfer cash. This is so obvious, adopt a sell and replace policy, you go backwards, because you are not building and improving, you keep your best players, add more good ones and discard those who become not good enough for you.

you're knocking the signing of Shearer, aren't you ? Please tell me how many clubs are bankrolled, as well as ManU and their global appeal. Then tell me how many were bankrolled during the period 1992-2007, then tell me what exactly that has to do with NUFC sinking to the ambitions of the likes of West Brom, Blackburn, Stoke etc etc selling their best players, and operating a sell and replace policy rather than a build and improve policy ? i'm certainly not knocking the signing of Shearer, i'm just saying breaking the transfer record now isn't realistic. To break the transfer record then did not mean an entire year's turnover, now it does. I assume by bankrolled you mean 'living beyond their means', in which case now there is only really chelsea and man city. Between 92-2007 there were many, ourselves, Leeds, Blackburn, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough are the examples that spring to mind. There is a pattern there isn't there - it wasn't sustainable. To a certain extent the Halls/Shepherd broke the mould, they saw that with a relatively small outlay they could climb the league very quickly. They spent in the region of £5million to go from bottom of div 2 (as was) to the top 3 of the premier league. If you think that could happen today you are even more batshit than i thought. Please make up your mind re:Stoke by the way two pages ago they 'backed their manager'. a "relatively small outlay" which the directors previous to them, had not done for over 30 years.........and a "relatively small outlay" that other big clubs at the time, who had been vastly superior to us for years for that very reason, also did not match. In other words, they competed with and beat the competition at the time, and they did that because they knew how big the club was, tapped the potential and backed their managers rather than remain a selling club, like they have become again. Sadly, you are actually knocking all of this, the players they signed, the competitions we qualified for, the growth of the club. There is no reason whatsoever why any owner of NUFC should turn the club into a selling club again, but it has happened, the rest of the premiership know it, and expectations have been successfully lowered among some supporters which makes it even easier for him.

you said things for Liverpool could go tits up if they "only" finished 6th, yet appear to think 7th for us is roaring success [and failure for the last regime too, oddly]. Please explain the difference, then tell me when our transfer policy will produce better league positions than Liverpool's, before you knock the tranfer policy of Liverpool which has gave them great success for over 40 years.

Wrong about what? Us moving in the right direction? Thats not an opinion anymore, its a fact. You may say that it wont last, thats fine but those two statements are independent. For now, we are moving in the right direction and the new Virgin money deal plus the purchase of Cissé suggests this will continue for at least a few more months. We will have to wait and see what happens at the end of this month. It will be much more difficult for a club with our resources (6/7th largest in the league) to achieve a top 4 finish than in previous decades, thats another fact. What you dont understand is that this current trajectory and sense of progression is only achievable within a certain framework. If the framework is to maximise income through player sales (the real financial expression of the notion of a 'selling club'), then the club would not have spent £10 on Cissé. The club could not have made the progress it has since relegation within the strategic and financial framework you believe exists. From a business perspective, its nonsense. Perhaps the fact that i've got a lot of experience in business means i was able to predict that trajectory and carefully explain why your conceived notions about the club are inconsistent with the way it operates. Most intelligent people have been able to clearly call the club's strategy for a while now, the rest of world has finally taken notice and there are a few who are still struggling to capture the finer details. You might be right in the future but that will only come about through stupidity of the ownership. That stupidity may mean some people agree that the current lot will fail but whats not up for debate is that they want to succeed. As i've pointed out before, i find the nuanced discussion of whether 6th to 8th place is the correct barometer of success as pointless for now, the facts are thats where we are and for now, where we should be. Complaining about what you think might happen does not make you right about anything. I've said my piece, it goes beyond a handful of results. The seeds of decline are sown and the expectations have been lowered accordingly. You are partly right, when you say most intelligent people have been able to clearly call the club's strategy for a while now, I've been calling it for over 4 years, they are now a selling club, and will sell a player if they don't make operating profits, and will not back their managers. Sadly, numerous people, some of whom agree with you - or just disagree with me because it's me - think differently.

Oh, fuck off man. I'm serious. There are certain people on here, who just won't listen to anything.

asking you a serious question chum. I'll answer your nonsensical questions when you answer my relevant ones. nonsensical only to non match goers, who view the club incorrectly from a distance and don't put their cash into the club, therefore they have different priorities. Last time you asked me a stupid question, I told you to piss off. I'm not telling you again.

sometimes I wonder if the club ought to have just dropped into the 3rd division under the McKeags and Seymour etc, as a selling club, like Sheff Wed have done, because it certainly seems to be how a lot of people want things to be done, rather than speculate on success and tap the fanbase, and nobody seems to have any idea of the job that was done by the previous regime.

Even when I agree with you that Mike Ashley isn't the man to deliver success to the club you still have a go. asking you a serious question chum.

"In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to asturnover". The question remains, how much more money does he need in order NOT to sell our best players. If our revenues have fallen proportionally against our rivals, then who is the person responsible for that ? I know my comments are always good, it's a shame that people have a blind spot when the names Hall and Shepherd come into play though. come on fella, you're reading the bit you wanted to read, if you read further you would of seen this Net income is the residual income of a firm after adding total revenue and gains and subtracting all expenses and losses for the reporting period. so whilst we may have had 14th biggest revenue we were paying huge amounts of money out on servicing debts so our net income was shocking as the finacial figures for the last few years of the former board show no, not every point is a good point, stop being a tool, when you aren't harking on about "your man" and "14th biggest revenue" your points are good, but when you default back its tiresome wasn't the development of the stadium a structured and manageable debt, due to expire in a few years time, linked to ticket sales etc ? Don't you agree with expanding the capacity to increase revenues, is this not what a good business does ? Do you also think every club in football is in the black ? Or just NUFC under the previous regime, because they took this business decision, and therefore should not have expanded the stadium ? Surely, as HF says and I fully concur, having the 14th biggest revenues in world football means the club can live with the top clubs in the world on an operational basis, without having to sell its best players , or else where has the Carroll money gone ?

We won't though. Leazes is absolutely right when he says that the height of our ambition is to finish 7th/8th. It is highly unlikely that we will be able to compete for silverware/CL spots on a regular basis without being bankrolled by a billionaire. The Halls saw this and it was part of the reason that they sold up. It appears that Ashley is not prepared to offer such financial support because of the money he has already had to put into the the club and also the fact that the majority of fans despise him. so we are now matching the ambitions of West Brom, Stoke etc. Praise to Mike and the sterling job he's doing. What pub do you watch NUFC in ?

one swallow doesn't make a summer. If the FCB ever sells, and we want to be successful, the new owners will have to start keeping our best players and makiing a "trophy signing" or two, rather than setting our sights as high as clubs like West Brom, Stoke, Blackburn and Bolton. I really think that my realistic and more aware view of the football club, pushes up your delusion to new heights.

I want to win something more than anybody, I'm 57. But I want us to be a progressive club too, I don't want us to win something and then get relegated,like the smoggies, Leicester etc, because eventually, all the selling clubs go down.

I see. If Liverpool finish 6th and we finish 8th, then we have had a better season and have a better future than Liverpool, according to you Please feel free to put up the quote where I said that, I think its in the Leazes cloud cuckoo land making things up thread. If we finish above Liverpool I would consider that a great season bearing in mind their spending, wouldn't you? I also think an 8th place finish would be a marked improvement over the last few years and give us a platform to build on, although given our position now,finishing outside the Europa League places would be a bit dissapointing, Especially after spending £10m on a new, proven striker Well, who do you think will have the most successful transfer strategy, us or Liverpool, as you are scorning the approach of Liverpool, the approach which has seen them win trophies for over 40 years ? I don't know why I'm asking this, you haven't answered almost anything I've asked you so far.

Where do i say that? The point I am making is that in order for the current board to match the tremendous ambition of the previous board they'd have to spend the equivalent of an entire year's turnover on a single player. THAT is how much football has changed, something you refuse to accept. you're knocking the signing of Shearer, aren't you ? Please tell me how many clubs are bankrolled, as well as ManU and their global appeal. Then tell me how many were bankrolled during the period 1992-2007, then tell me what exactly that has to do with NUFC sinking to the ambitions of the likes of West Brom, Blackburn, Stoke etc etc selling their best players, and operating a sell and replace policy rather than a build and improve policy ?

3 months ago, these posts [from you and others] were proclaiming how we were going to conquer the world for about a fiver. What a liar you are. No, for the last 18 months I've been saying we are moving in the right direction. I've often said perhaps we could have been a little bit more ambitious but not much. The hilarious, ironic and slightly annoying thing about you and your posts is that it's me who has been right for the last 18 months, every passing week justifies my positivity and undermines your inaccurate, uneducated, naive and redundant narrative. I agree about the previous board but it's got fuck all to do with my point of view today . you aren't right, you are wrong. I'm the most positive person you could meet, because I understand what it takes to succeed, and how NUFC ought to behave as a football club, not behaving like a selling club and making excuses for not backing their manager. I've leave the deluded dreaming to those aren't educated enough about football to understand this, and naive enough to not see a selling club when it is staring them in the face.

If you can't accept any of the facts I've pointed out, when I probably agree with you more than 99% of posters, you've got no hope. You Shepherd obsessed WUMming loonpot. I pointed out the facts before most people, I pointed out they were wrong to let Souness go on his wild spending/sales spree, and the vast majority disagreed with me, insisting that he would emerge as the new Alex Ferguson for also weeding out the "bad eggs" etc etc blah blah. You simply can't say, however, that they would not have attempted to push on again, like they did after the few years of Bobby Robson, whereas Mike Ashley has not done this, and will not do it. I've said it for long enough, I'm sticking by it. He has no desire to push for the top places. All he wants is a premiership club to sit alongside Sports Direct. If he does not make an operational profit then he will sell a player instead,and he will never back his managers and adopt a build, retain and improve policy, which is the ONLY way to succeed in football.

nobody has said that it would last forever. Long term posters will recall I long advocated a more conservative approach to settle down and re-group again, as the first year or so of Bobby Robson. The difference is that, the old board DID re-group and push forward again, and it didn't need to sell its best players to do it and it came back and backed its managers again. Mike Ashley will not do this. Your last post is correct too by the way, the one supporting the statement that player sales should not be used in other areas of the club, for a club with the 14th biggest revenues in football. If this is now not the case, there is only one person to blame for falling revenues, and the need to sell our best players. This, incidentally, makes NUFC a selling club, that has gone backwards, in spite of a small run of results on the pitch, which as I predicted at the end of last season, would likely fool a lot of idiotic people who cannot see the big picture due to their blind spot and irrational hatred of the best directors we have had in over 50 years. There's no irrational hatred. Just you harking back to it like your first bit of fanny, it might be the sweetest piece of fanny you ever had, but let it go. Whatever you say about sustainability, we weren't sustaining what we needed to for what we were laying out. In a decade before Ashley arrived we finished in the bottom half 60% of the time and averaged 10th...and yes, that's still the best we've had in 50 years and it was brilliant we'd done even better under Shepherd/Hall. I also remain unconvinced by Ashley, but we're 6th in February. Don't be so bitter about that. I want Ashley do start backing his manager HF, and adopt a build and retain policy, instead of adopting a sell and replace policy rather more than most on here, and I've got 1350 reasons for it. "Irrational hatred" is a perfect quote, for many people who STILL blame Shepherd for bringing an end to decades of trophies and glory, and appear to think he's the anti-Christ, rather than a major person in a team who gave us by a million miles our best and most sustained performance and league results in over 50 years.

isn't this loss entirely down to NUFC under the Halls and Shepherd ?

15 years isn't "sustained" ? And the massive growth during that time, the quality of players, the stadiums and competitions we played in, wasn't enjoyable ? What planet do you live on. Only a complete, utter idiot would scorn what happened during that time, unfortunately there are many that do. If it was then when Ashley bought it we would have been in the top 4 and have a team full of glittering names at their peak , we were not and didnt have those players, my point is when the club was sold it was nowhere near where it was at its peak go back and read the Beano, or whatever other comic you read. We never had that, even when we were in the Champions League, we did that through backing our managers and building on the good players we already had, not adopting a sell and replace policy like now.

No-on'es poured any scorn on that mate. Do you know what sustained means though? We hadn't finished in the top 4 in 4 years when Ashley bought us, with bottom half finishes as regular as top half. nobody has said that it would last forever. Long term posters will recall I long advocated a more conservative approach to settle down and re-group again, as the first year or so of Bobby Robson. The difference is that, the old board DID re-group and push forward again, and it didn't need to sell its best players to do it and it came back and backed its managers again. Mike Ashley will not do this. Your last post is correct too by the way, the one supporting the statement that player sales should not be used in other areas of the club, for a club with the 14th biggest revenues in football. If this is now not the case, there is only one person to blame for falling revenues, and the need to sell our best players. This, incidentally, makes NUFC a selling club, that has gone backwards, in spite of a small run of results on the pitch, which as I predicted at the end of last season, would likely fool a lot of idiotic people who cannot see the big picture due to their blind spot and irrational hatred of the best directors we have had in over 50 years.