The slippery slope

[LeazesMag 0]

didn't take too long to find these.

 

whoever the fuck "Ted Maul" is... SKOL [a skunkers poster, haha]

 

http://www.toontastic.net/board/index.php?...mp;#entry216969

 

a few threads posting my views before the takeover

 

http://www.toontastic.net/board/index.php?...mp;#entry237285

 

http://www.toontastic.net/board/index.php?...mp;#entry273264

 

http://www.toontastic.net/board/index.php?...mp;#entry277899

 

and guess who

 

http://www.toontastic.net/board/index.php?...mp;#entry288727

 

i didn't post on here between march and november, this was the first on here expressing reservations about Ashley. Here are the first couple. I think that will do.

 

 

http://www.toontastic.net/board/index.php?...mp;#entry405975

 

 

http://www.toontastic.net/board/index.php?...mp;#entry407243

 

Not quite sure what I'm to be picking out of all those, Only the penultimate one relating to Ashley I think. And that thread goes to show, even Fish was pretty much in agreement with you. PR stunts weren't fooling him (or anyone)...both saying wait and see.

 

as I said mate, I didn't post on here between March-November, but the first few posts, when I started posting again, picked up - slowly - on what I'd been saying on NO [for which I was later banned]. The sentiments are clear, I'm not really sure if Fish is agreeing with me though [although that isn't the point of posting the links, merely to show my mindset both before and soon after the takeover].

[LeazesMag 0]

I called Ashley out on NO in the months following his takeover, only me and Leazes were in agreement. PR, buying pints etc, i said it looked shifty.

 

Since relegation untill the last day of this summer, i cant really fault him apart from Hughton and i can see why he did that now.

 

Back in the bad books but the team's performance this season is the only metric that counts now. I'd draw a very strong comparisons between the fear of selling Tiote in January and the hope they will sign a striker. Both could happen.

 

So you didn't like what he was doing in season 1...but feel he's got better in the last 2 years?

 

 

Righty O

I said exactly the same things as Leazes after the takeover at the same time he said them.

 

He fucked everything up but managed to sort it out since then. What did he do wrong in the relegation season? Was 12th not good enough for you last season? Was £35m not a good price for Carroll? Did you not hope we would sign a striker before the end of the window gone? His strategy, outlook, tactical approach has completely changed but i should still judge everything he does through the prism of the KK / JFK debacles? I was as optimistic as anyone in 07/08 but it was pretty obvious they were implementing a PR strategy and therefore whatever was said would need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Feel free to search my posts on NO, just reflecting what i said when i said it.

Well the constant stream of lies is a common theme between now and then.

Dishonesty and lying is a common theme of the modern world. PR companies, politicians, football clubs, football players, Bankers, journalists, big companies, small companies they all lie every day to protect their position.

Not sure if that's a defence of their position but, if it is, it's a weak one. The complete u-turn from the talk in the wake of the Carroll sale to the end of the most recent transfer window is possibly the most flagrant example of Ashley and Co. saying one thing to the fans and effectively proceeding to do the opposite. They're ripping the piss. I almost guarantee you'll be saying wait and see what happens come January as well.

Not a defence of anything, just an observation. We arent the only football fans lied to by their club. I've already sort of said 'wait and see' too indirectly, more along the lines of lets see how we do on the pitch and that hoping we might buy someone then isnt much different to predicting we will sell Tiote.

Perhaps there are similar examples of fans being lied to as much as ours have been for the past four years or so but I'm struggling to think of any off the top of my head.

Well i dont follow other clubs that closely myself but i'd say Liverpool, Everton and Man U fans would make a case. Birmingham fans hate Yeung and Blackburn fans must be sick of Venkys talking shite too. Ken Bates and his refusal to disclose who owns the club? None probably as bad as us but we arent unique in that sense.

 

which only goes to prove, really, that the grass isn't always greener - and there are plenty of other shite owners out there - and [unfortunately] the next owner may not also be anywhere near as good for the club as the Halls and Shepherd were.

 

Back to square 1.

 

Does anybody [such as Gloomy, mancmag etc] want to disagee with me NOW ?

[Guest alex]

I don't think any of those clubs fans have been lied to anywhere near as much in the period since Ashley took over. You could make a case for other club's fans disapproving of their owners as much, but that's a different argument tbh. When have any of those clubs owners reneged on a whole host of promises? We're talking specific promises too, not ethereal desires regarding 'success'.

[Happy Face 29]

I called Ashley out on NO in the months following his takeover, only me and Leazes were in agreement. PR, buying pints etc, i said it looked shifty.

 

Since relegation untill the last day of this summer, i cant really fault him apart from Hughton and i can see why he did that now.

 

Back in the bad books but the team's performance this season is the only metric that counts now. I'd draw a very strong comparisons between the fear of selling Tiote in January and the hope they will sign a striker. Both could happen.

 

So you didn't like what he was doing in season 1...but feel he's got better in the last 2 years?

 

 

Righty O

I said exactly the same things as Leazes after the takeover at the same time he said them.

 

He fucked everything up but managed to sort it out since then. What did he do wrong in the relegation season? Was 12th not good enough for you last season? Was £35m not a good price for Carroll? Did you not hope we would sign a striker before the end of the window gone? His strategy, outlook, tactical approach has completely changed but i should still judge everything he does through the prism of the KK / JFK debacles?

 

I was as optimistic as anyone in 07/08 but it was pretty obvious they were implementing a PR strategy and therefore whatever was said would need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Feel free to search my posts on NO, just reflecting what i said when i said it.

 

Not disputing what you said or when.

 

Just find it surprising someone who's so insistent on making evidence based conclusions would not be happy with Ashley in year one (Bringing in Keegan and £10m on Coloccini has been the peak of his ambition) but more happy following relegation, despite the disappointing windows and sacking of Hughton.

Try making an evidence based post then. I said i was cynical about his PR but optimistic about the future in his first season. I didnt say i was happy following relegation, i was making the point that his financial management and approach since then (£48m wage bill in the second tier is unprecendented globally) were the right things to do.

 

Seems to me the vast majority are and always have been pretty much on the same page in this regard, cautiously optimistic in 07/08. Disgusted by the entire relegation season and not particularly happy the last 2 years despite things settling somewhere better than many feared following that debacle.

 

I never said they werent but that post does make me wonder why i needed to clarify what i think to you.

 

I'm confused whether you think you've been on the same page too. I include you and LM as being so.

 

Got the impression from your first post I responded to you were distinguishing yourself and LM as realising they were clearly up to no good in year one, not sure in what respect given that Fish and the majority agreed on the PR stunts.

 

Also thought you were initially saying you were happy with the last 2 years cos they haven't put a foot wrong. But then you say you never said you were happy...so again, we're all agreed generally.

[ChezGiven 0]

I'm not that surprised you're confused, your clear desperate need to compartmentalise people's opinions into fixed long term political positions is causing you some discomfort in characterising those opinions over time.

[Happy Face 29]

My mam warned me that tendency would lead to trouble.

[Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1]

Chez is ignoring the obvious in an attempt to be clever and contrary.

[LeazesMag 0]

I called Ashley out on NO in the months following his takeover, only me and Leazes were in agreement. PR, buying pints etc, i said it looked shifty.

 

Since relegation untill the last day of this summer, i cant really fault him apart from Hughton and i can see why he did that now.

 

Back in the bad books but the team's performance this season is the only metric that counts now. I'd draw a very strong comparisons between the fear of selling Tiote in January and the hope they will sign a striker. Both could happen.

 

So you didn't like what he was doing in season 1...but feel he's got better in the last 2 years?

 

 

Righty O

I said exactly the same things as Leazes after the takeover at the same time he said them.

 

He fucked everything up but managed to sort it out since then. What did he do wrong in the relegation season? Was 12th not good enough for you last season? Was £35m not a good price for Carroll? Did you not hope we would sign a striker before the end of the window gone? His strategy, outlook, tactical approach has completely changed but i should still judge everything he does through the prism of the KK / JFK debacles?

 

I was as optimistic as anyone in 07/08 but it was pretty obvious they were implementing a PR strategy and therefore whatever was said would need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Feel free to search my posts on NO, just reflecting what i said when i said it.

 

Not disputing what you said or when.

 

Just find it surprising someone who's so insistent on making evidence based conclusions would not be happy with Ashley in year one (Bringing in Keegan and £10m on Coloccini has been the peak of his ambition) but more happy following relegation, despite the disappointing windows and sacking of Hughton.

Try making an evidence based post then. I said i was cynical about his PR but optimistic about the future in his first season. I didnt say i was happy following relegation, i was making the point that his financial management and approach since then (£48m wage bill in the second tier is unprecendented globally) were the right things to do.

 

Seems to me the vast majority are and always have been pretty much on the same page in this regard, cautiously optimistic in 07/08. Disgusted by the entire relegation season and not particularly happy the last 2 years despite things settling somewhere better than many feared following that debacle.

 

I never said they werent but that post does make me wonder why i needed to clarify what i think to you.

 

I'm confused whether you think you've been on the same page too. I include you and LM as being so.

 

Got the impression from your first post I responded to you were distinguishing yourself and LM as realising they were clearly up to no good in year one, not sure in what respect given that Fish and the majority agreed on the PR stunts.

 

 

they [and Fish] most def did not realise they were up to no good in year one. Suggest you read some of my links again mate. I've posted the links, clearly putting across my views both before and shortly after the takeover.

 

People are STILL disagreeing now. And others still won't admit they were wrong. They know who they are.

[Happy Face 29]

I called Ashley out on NO in the months following his takeover, only me and Leazes were in agreement. PR, buying pints etc, i said it looked shifty.

 

Since relegation untill the last day of this summer, i cant really fault him apart from Hughton and i can see why he did that now.

 

Back in the bad books but the team's performance this season is the only metric that counts now. I'd draw a very strong comparisons between the fear of selling Tiote in January and the hope they will sign a striker. Both could happen.

 

So you didn't like what he was doing in season 1...but feel he's got better in the last 2 years?

 

 

Righty O

I said exactly the same things as Leazes after the takeover at the same time he said them.

 

He fucked everything up but managed to sort it out since then. What did he do wrong in the relegation season? Was 12th not good enough for you last season? Was £35m not a good price for Carroll? Did you not hope we would sign a striker before the end of the window gone? His strategy, outlook, tactical approach has completely changed but i should still judge everything he does through the prism of the KK / JFK debacles?

 

I was as optimistic as anyone in 07/08 but it was pretty obvious they were implementing a PR strategy and therefore whatever was said would need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Feel free to search my posts on NO, just reflecting what i said when i said it.

 

Not disputing what you said or when.

 

Just find it surprising someone who's so insistent on making evidence based conclusions would not be happy with Ashley in year one (Bringing in Keegan and £10m on Coloccini has been the peak of his ambition) but more happy following relegation, despite the disappointing windows and sacking of Hughton.

Try making an evidence based post then. I said i was cynical about his PR but optimistic about the future in his first season. I didnt say i was happy following relegation, i was making the point that his financial management and approach since then (£48m wage bill in the second tier is unprecendented globally) were the right things to do.

 

Seems to me the vast majority are and always have been pretty much on the same page in this regard, cautiously optimistic in 07/08. Disgusted by the entire relegation season and not particularly happy the last 2 years despite things settling somewhere better than many feared following that debacle.

 

I never said they werent but that post does make me wonder why i needed to clarify what i think to you.

 

I'm confused whether you think you've been on the same page too. I include you and LM as being so.

 

Got the impression from your first post I responded to you were distinguishing yourself and LM as realising they were clearly up to no good in year one, not sure in what respect given that Fish and the majority agreed on the PR stunts.

 

 

they [and Fish] most def did not realise they were up to no good in year one. Suggest you read some of my links again mate. I've posted the links, clearly putting across my views both before and shortly after the takeover.

 

People are STILL disagreeing now. And others still won't admit they were wrong. They know who they are.

 

I gave you credit for starting to turn on them sooner than most, after about 10 months I'd say. Most of us were still giving them the benefit of the doubt through the summer (as you had too for most of the year previous - "Time will tell" up until March '08) in the hope that the rumours we were hearing were wrong. Many of us holding out that hope right up until Milner went & Keegan left in September.

 

As I said, I can't see anywhere in those links where you do anything but say they could go either way and what they'll need to do if they're going to keep you happy. Very different to your claim it was clear from day 1 their intentions and you said so all along.

 

You're gonna have to quote the specific bits from those links if you think they prove otherwise.

 

Doesn't make any difference to owt like, whether someone called Ashley following that first January Window, the Summer Keegan walked or waited right up until after the tribunal totally backed KK up, we all hate Ashley now.

[Park Life 70]

It's all back to the future innit.

 

In yer shell like, Ashley will get better the longer he stays.

[Ollie Burtons Grandad 0]

I could be wrong but is this thread now devoted to Team Delusional having a go at LeazesMag because he was right about Ashley, the only point in question seems to be exactly when he was right. Well before any other fucker it would appear; is that what is causing the outpourings of old quotes and attempts at hair splitting?

 

A truly pointless fucking thread this has turned out to be.

 

You're like Robin to his Batman.

 

 

I suppose then you must be the Joker as there is not a Mr Arsehole

[LeazesMag 0]

I said exactly the same things as Leazes after the takeover at the same time he said them.

 

He fucked everything up but managed to sort it out since then. What did he do wrong in the relegation season? Was 12th not good enough for you last season? Was £35m not a good price for Carroll? Did you not hope we would sign a striker before the end of the window gone? His strategy, outlook, tactical approach has completely changed but i should still judge everything he does through the prism of the KK / JFK debacles?

 

I was as optimistic as anyone in 07/08 but it was pretty obvious they were implementing a PR strategy and therefore whatever was said would need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Feel free to search my posts on NO, just reflecting what i said when i said it.

 

Not disputing what you said or when.

 

Just find it surprising someone who's so insistent on making evidence based conclusions would not be happy with Ashley in year one (Bringing in Keegan and £10m on Coloccini has been the peak of his ambition) but more happy following relegation, despite the disappointing windows and sacking of Hughton.

Try making an evidence based post then. I said i was cynical about his PR but optimistic about the future in his first season. I didnt say i was happy following relegation, i was making the point that his financial management and approach since then (£48m wage bill in the second tier is unprecendented globally) were the right things to do.

 

Seems to me the vast majority are and always have been pretty much on the same page in this regard, cautiously optimistic in 07/08. Disgusted by the entire relegation season and not particularly happy the last 2 years despite things settling somewhere better than many feared following that debacle.

 

I never said they werent but that post does make me wonder why i needed to clarify what i think to you.

 

I'm confused whether you think you've been on the same page too. I include you and LM as being so.

 

Got the impression from your first post I responded to you were distinguishing yourself and LM as realising they were clearly up to no good in year one, not sure in what respect given that Fish and the majority agreed on the PR stunts.

 

 

they [and Fish] most def did not realise they were up to no good in year one. Suggest you read some of my links again mate. I've posted the links, clearly putting across my views both before and shortly after the takeover.

 

People are STILL disagreeing now. And others still won't admit they were wrong. They know who they are.

 

I gave you credit for starting to turn on them sooner than most, after about 10 months I'd say. Most of us were still giving them the benefit of the doubt through the summer (as you had too for most of the year previous - "Time will tell" up until March '08) in the hope that the rumours we were hearing were wrong. Many of us holding out that hope right up until Milner went & Keegan left in September.

 

As I said, I can't see anywhere in those links where you do anything but say they could go either way and what they'll need to do if they're going to keep you happy. Very different to your claim it was clear from day 1 their intentions and you said so all along.

 

You're gonna have to quote the specific bits from those links if you think they prove otherwise.

 

Doesn't make any difference to owt like, whether someone called Ashley following that first January Window, the Summer Keegan walked or waited right up until after the tribunal totally backed KK up, we all hate Ashley now.

 

as I said, I didn't post on here between February and November of that year, he bought the club in the summer. All of my earliest posts were on NO, and when I started posting on here again I didn't launch full tilt into the criticism like I had been doing on NO, although my comments prior to the takeover are exactly the same as how I see things now in respect of how the club should be run, but I don't put personalities before judgements, which is how I saw the Halls and Shepherd in their correct context. And therefore, Mike Ashley too.

 

The point of this, is for the benefit of arseholes like mancmag and Gloomy, Gloomy because he does nowt but moan on about wanting ambitious directors when he also moaned like fuck when we had them [and gave me flak for trying to tell him at the time] and mancmag for constantly spouting shite and saying that I have been spouting shite, because he can't take in that a clever boy like him got it all wrong. If he thinks people who called it correctly have been spouting shite etc, then what does he think of those who got it all wrong [like himself]

 

Hilarious, these people who think they know best, although he knows nowt about me, nowt at all.

 

Like it or not, as Alex and PP have said, and Chez too, some of us [not many] called Mike Ashley correctly very early on, earlier than anybody else.......spouting shite ? I think not.

[McFaul 35]

Manc-mag gave me grief for sitting on the fence when I said a new owner wouldn't necessarily be better than Shepherd iirc. Forgot about that That was more just me being cynical than being Nostradamus though. I also got some ITK about KK being well pissed off because Modric wasn't signed (he trained with us but Ashley wouldn't pay up). Tbh I brushed it off though and even that summer I thought all would be well. I also remember Craig Burley (in the build up to Arsenal away - KK's last game in charge, I think) saying that all was clearly not well at NUFC. I thought he was just being biased against us and (along with the rest of the press) was playing a guessing game / being mischievous. He was spot on though.

When Setanta won the rights to the Premiership they had a show on a Friday on for about 90 minutes previewing the next days game, and the star man was Sir Les Ferdinand. There was no massive indication things weren't generally ok at that point other than the Milner rumours, and he said things are about to get cataclysmic at NUFC, without saying he'd spoken to anyone directly, and at the time I thought pipe down a bit Les, he was sadly right.

 

LM is a much better bloke than people give him credit for, and this isn't a dig as he was right all along about Ashley, but I don't want to cause a row, I think his opinion was based on the fact he was fucking devastated FFS was no longer there, Ashley wasn't FFS, and a hunch, nothing else. I don't see how anyone could've known what a cunt Ashley would be in those very early days.

[manc-mag 1]

I could be wrong but is this thread now devoted to Team Delusional having a go at LeazesMag because he was right about Ashley, the only point in question seems to be exactly when he was right. Well before any other fucker it would appear; is that what is causing the outpourings of old quotes and attempts at hair splitting?

 

A truly pointless fucking thread this has turned out to be.

 

You've got to keep Leazes in check tbf.

 

One minute you can say Ashley deserved a chance upon arrival and the next he'll tell everyone you said "Anyone but Shepherd, I hated the 90's at NUFC".

 

This is the crux of it for me.

 

His recent digging up of old threads (in response to your posting that one where he predicts that Ashley will probably now go on to better Shepherd/Hall’s Champions League achievements) is a typical obsessive overreaction too. Digging them up to try and re-assert when he ‘first called Ashley’ or whatever misses the point spectacularly; he’s shown later to be saying he thinks we’ll be back on for Champs League under Ashley. Now only the other day he was agreeing with OBG that it was a Sports Direct model and this was all obvious to him from the start of his reign-well no it clearly wasn’t as he changed his prediction about Ashley’s ambitions when Keegan was appointed.

 

There’s nothing wrong with this per se (a shifting narrative where you constantly re-evaluate based on current information), in fact Chez does this and it stimulates good debate on here imho, but on the other hand if you’re Leazes and what you’re essentially doing is trying to claim some sort of clairvoyance it makes you look a tit- because what you claim you’ve always had some sort of intractable belief about is shown to be something that in reality you’ve also argued the complete opposite of at intervals. “Oh yes, I’ve always claimed he was doing this the Sports Direct way, and before anyone else might I add.....apart from the time when I thought he was going to beat our Champions League achievements to date. Can you just all ignore that bit please? Ta.” Classic cake-and-eat-it.

 

Going back to what you said above, that’s the essence of his “I was right you were wrong” nightmare patter. It involves re-inventions of the past both in terms of what he’s said himself and what other people have said about a subject. What’s even more tragic is that nobody else is arsed, and yet he’s been genuinely obsessed with it for 4 or 5 years now.

[Ayatollah Hermione 12767]

I could be wrong but is this thread now devoted to Team Delusional having a go at LeazesMag because he was right about Ashley, the only point in question seems to be exactly when he was right. Well before any other fucker it would appear; is that what is causing the outpourings of old quotes and attempts at hair splitting?

 

A truly pointless fucking thread this has turned out to be.

 

You've got to keep Leazes in check tbf.

 

One minute you can say Ashley deserved a chance upon arrival and the next he'll tell everyone you said "Anyone but Shepherd, I hated the 90's at NUFC".

 

This is the crux of it for me.

 

His recent digging up of old threads (in response to your posting that one where he predicts that Ashley will probably now go on to better Shepherd/Hall’s Champions League achievements) is a typical obsessive overreaction too. Digging them up to try and re-assert when he ‘first called Ashley’ or whatever misses the point spectacularly; he’s shown later to be saying he thinks we’ll be back on for Champs League under Ashley. Now only the other day he was agreeing with OBG that it was a Sports Direct model and this was all obvious to him from the start of his reign-well no it clearly wasn’t as he changed his prediction about Ashley’s ambitions when Keegan was appointed.

 

There’s nothing wrong with this per se (a shifting narrative where you constantly re-evaluate based on current information), in fact Chez does this and it stimulates good debate on here imho, but on the other hand if you’re Leazes and what you’re essentially doing is trying to claim some sort of clairvoyance it makes you look a tit- because what you claim you’ve always had some sort of intractable belief about is shown to be something that in reality you’ve also argued the complete opposite of at intervals. “Oh yes, I’ve always claimed he was doing this the Sports Direct way, and before anyone else might I add.....apart from the time when I thought he was going to beat our Champions League achievements to date. Can you just all ignore that bit please? Ta.” Classic cake-and-eat-it.

 

Going back to what you said above, that’s the essence of his “I was right you were wrong” nightmare patter. It involves re-inventions of the past both in terms of what he’s said himself and what other people have said about a subject. What’s even more tragic is that nobody else is arsed, and yet he’s been genuinely obsessed with it for 4 or 5 years now.

 

omg, here's another "smart lad" jumping into help his chums Would you be saying this if your daughter brought home a muslim who makes bombs in his shed?

[manc-mag 1]

[Guest alex]

[LeazesMag 0]

Manc-mag gave me grief for sitting on the fence when I said a new owner wouldn't necessarily be better than Shepherd iirc. Forgot about that That was more just me being cynical than being Nostradamus though. I also got some ITK about KK being well pissed off because Modric wasn't signed (he trained with us but Ashley wouldn't pay up). Tbh I brushed it off though and even that summer I thought all would be well. I also remember Craig Burley (in the build up to Arsenal away - KK's last game in charge, I think) saying that all was clearly not well at NUFC. I thought he was just being biased against us and (along with the rest of the press) was playing a guessing game / being mischievous. He was spot on though.

When Setanta won the rights to the Premiership they had a show on a Friday on for about 90 minutes previewing the next days game, and the star man was Sir Les Ferdinand. There was no massive indication things weren't generally ok at that point other than the Milner rumours, and he said things are about to get cataclysmic at NUFC, without saying he'd spoken to anyone directly, and at the time I thought pipe down a bit Les, he was sadly right.

 

LM is a much better bloke than people give him credit for, and this isn't a dig as he was right all along about Ashley, but I don't want to cause a row, I think his opinion was based on the fact he was fucking devastated FFS was no longer there, Ashley wasn't FFS, and a hunch, nothing else. I don't see how anyone could've known what a cunt Ashley would be in those very early days.

 

No probs Stevie mate.

 

Devastated ? No, not at all. I never thought that Fred was the sharpest tool in the box, but he/they backed their managers and understood how big the club is and how big it could be. McKeag was an intelligent man but was a pygmy in footballing terms. Maybe it depends how you define "intelligence". Solicitors don't necessarily understand fuck all about football.......

 

The thing is, people like me of my age, we spent nearly 30 years supporting this club, run by shit directors who had no ambition but were supposed to be "intelligent people" etc etc.....between the years of 1964 and 1992 I actively supported this club, completely, it all became a sort of underachieving limbo in the end. Then these blokes came along and said it all has to change, everybody has had enough. And after a hesitant start, it came, and Keegan made it happen, he drove the board and they allowed him to manage the club when they realised he was doing it right. We all know what happened, and what nearly happened from there.

 

When the club became a PLC I had massive reservations, not about the board because Keegan had showed them how to make NUFC work and, if they had had any initial reservations, they had been convinced that Keegans way worked [under his management because he bought and spent the money well]. But when they floated, I was bothered that the backing of the club as we had got used to, would stop. I know Shepherd was the front man for the board by the late 1990's and while he wasn't so media friendly as Hall Snr, it didn't bother me so long as the direction and ambitions of the board didn't change. After initial doubts, they naturally subsided when the club continued to bring top players to the club and expanded the stadium. I wasn't bothered in the slightest about this "dogs" business, which I maintain was a deliberate attempt by the ManU supporting press to scupper the main challengers to their darlings and they were quite happy to whip up the frenzy, which succeeded. A relation from Jockland on wifey's side, taken in by this bollocks, asked me on the phone what I thought of it all, I said that I don't give a shite. She didn't understand that given a choice between media friendly or "nice" gentlemen running the club without ambition and a group who showed ambition and wanted success on the pitch, was a complete no brainer. The absolute LAST thing I wanted, at any price, was to have small minded unambitious people running the club again.

 

This is the whole basis of my reservations about anybody taking over from the Halls and Shepherd, in the last few years, when people wanted rid of them. Having supported the club from 1964-1992 I knew exactly what I didn't want, and as the club had been in a position where only 4 clubs had done better [sorry but it's relevant] what were the odds on someone coming in and doing better ? Its simple maths, and betting odds, commons sense, what were the chances of it happening ? The odds were stacked against it. Apply any sort of betting logic and it is obvious.

 

I saw the quotes from Mort, Allardyce, the PR stunts from Ashley and the nagging doubts I had quickly surfaced about him. Everything I saw and heard just added up to someone who wasn't going to attempt to keep the club competing at those levels. Add to that, what I've always said about football, which is that football clubs just don't make profits in the normal business sense, and it stuck out a mile what was going to happen. The club was starting to behave just like it had done during those decades of frustration prior to 1992.

 

I am still amazed that long term supporters like myself, who witnessed these years, took so long to cotton on to Mike Ashley.

 

I posted on NO for all that time, mainly NO, and people accused me of winding people up, I knew I was doing it but I also knew that I believed what I was saying. I wasn't going to say what people wanted to hear. They banned me for going on about it so much, but I just replied to people, and gave them what I thought was the truth, its that simple.

 

I didn't want to sell my shares in the club to Mike Ashley, but I didn't want to sell them to anybody. I quite liked having shares in the club, so when I opposed that forced sale of my shares, it was nothing to do with Mike Ashley and nothing to do with backing the old regime either.

 

I wanted someone to buy the club who would do better than the old regime just like everybody else, I only realised the odds were stacked against it. They are also stacked against whoever buying from Ashley doing it too. It's obvious when there are only 4 other clubs to beat so to speak. Now, only getting someone who restores ambition and direction to the club will be progress, such is the level this club has dropped to.

 

I am now convinced Mike Ashley wants his money back, and he is selling players to do that. He might sell the club when he has done this, or he might keep the club and run it at low operating levels and make a small profit, whichever he chooses, he will NEVER get anywhere near the old regime now, because he doesn't have the will to do what is needed, and realises selling a player to make a profit is easier than speculating on reaching the Champions League places. Which is the only way he is going to make a profit from the football "as a business", and is the only ways any club can make a worthwhile profit "as a business".

 

I'm afraid we face years of mediocrity with him as owner, the likes of which people never dreamed of when they were dishing out flak to the old regime for not qualifying for europe or the Champions League. It could be decades before anybody matches them, people may realise by then that they were a lot better than they thought at the time.

Edited September 9, 2011 by LeazesMag

[manc-mag 1]

Leazes, that third line remark about solicitors employs a double negative.

[Dr Gloom 19838]

I could be wrong but is this thread now devoted to Team Delusional having a go at LeazesMag because he was right about Ashley, the only point in question seems to be exactly when he was right. Well before any other fucker it would appear; is that what is causing the outpourings of old quotes and attempts at hair splitting?

 

A truly pointless fucking thread this has turned out to be.

 

You've got to keep Leazes in check tbf.

 

One minute you can say Ashley deserved a chance upon arrival and the next he'll tell everyone you said "Anyone but Shepherd, I hated the 90's at NUFC".

 

This is the crux of it for me.

 

His recent digging up of old threads (in response to your posting that one where he predicts that Ashley will probably now go on to better Shepherd/Hall’s Champions League achievements) is a typical obsessive overreaction too. Digging them up to try and re-assert when he ‘first called Ashley’ or whatever misses the point spectacularly; he’s shown later to be saying he thinks we’ll be back on for Champs League under Ashley. Now only the other day he was agreeing with OBG that it was a Sports Direct model and this was all obvious to him from the start of his reign-well no it clearly wasn’t as he changed his prediction about Ashley’s ambitions when Keegan was appointed.

 

There’s nothing wrong with this per se (a shifting narrative where you constantly re-evaluate based on current information), in fact Chez does this and it stimulates good debate on here imho, but on the other hand if you’re Leazes and what you’re essentially doing is trying to claim some sort of clairvoyance it makes you look a tit- because what you claim you’ve always had some sort of intractable belief about is shown to be something that in reality you’ve also argued the complete opposite of at intervals. “Oh yes, I’ve always claimed he was doing this the Sports Direct way, and before anyone else might I add.....apart from the time when I thought he was going to beat our Champions League achievements to date. Can you just all ignore that bit please? Ta.” Classic cake-and-eat-it.

 

Going back to what you said above, that’s the essence of his “I was right you were wrong” nightmare patter. It involves re-inventions of the past both in terms of what he’s said himself and what other people have said about a subject. What’s even more tragic is that nobody else is arsed, and yet he’s been genuinely obsessed with it for 4 or 5 years now.

 

all this from a so-called intelligent solicitor. cue misuse of square brackets and this smilie

[LeazesMag 0]

I could be wrong but is this thread now devoted to Team Delusional having a go at LeazesMag because he was right about Ashley, the only point in question seems to be exactly when he was right. Well before any other fucker it would appear; is that what is causing the outpourings of old quotes and attempts at hair splitting?

 

A truly pointless fucking thread this has turned out to be.

 

You've got to keep Leazes in check tbf.

 

One minute you can say Ashley deserved a chance upon arrival and the next he'll tell everyone you said "Anyone but Shepherd, I hated the 90's at NUFC".

 

This is the crux of it for me.

 

His recent digging up of old threads (in response to your posting that one where he predicts that Ashley will probably now go on to better Shepherd/Hall’s Champions League achievements) is a typical obsessive overreaction too. Digging them up to try and re-assert when he ‘first called Ashley’ or whatever misses the point spectacularly; he’s shown later to be saying he thinks we’ll be back on for Champs League under Ashley. Now only the other day he was agreeing with OBG that it was a Sports Direct model and this was all obvious to him from the start of his reign-well no it clearly wasn’t as he changed his prediction about Ashley’s ambitions when Keegan was appointed.

 

There’s nothing wrong with this per se (a shifting narrative where you constantly re-evaluate based on current information), in fact Chez does this and it stimulates good debate on here imho, but on the other hand if you’re Leazes and what you’re essentially doing is trying to claim some sort of clairvoyance it makes you look a tit- because what you claim you’ve always had some sort of intractable belief about is shown to be something that in reality you’ve also argued the complete opposite of at intervals. “Oh yes, I’ve always claimed he was doing this the Sports Direct way, and before anyone else might I add.....apart from the time when I thought he was going to beat our Champions League achievements to date. Can you just all ignore that bit please? Ta.” Classic cake-and-eat-it.

 

Going back to what you said above, that’s the essence of his “I was right you were wrong” nightmare patter. It involves re-inventions of the past both in terms of what he’s said himself and what other people have said about a subject. What’s even more tragic is that nobody else is arsed, and yet he’s been genuinely obsessed with it for 4 or 5 years now.

 

all this from a so-called intelligent solicitor. cue misuse of square brackets and this smilie

 

I hope you aren't going to start whinging on about wanting an ambitious board again when you were too stupid to realise when we had one.

[LeazesMag 0]

Leazes, that third line remark about solicitors employs a double negative.

 

don't tell me, McKeag was your inspiration

[manc-mag 1]

Uproarious stuff and no mistake.

[LeazesMag 0]

Uproarious stuff and no mistake.

 

you will be disagreeing with me for the next 4 year again, until someone else says exactly the same thing and you pretend you have always thought this.

 

You're an utter idiot.

[McFaul 35]

Uproarious stuff and no mistake.

 

you will be disagreeing with me for the next 4 year again, until someone else says exactly the same thing and you pretend you have always thought this.

 

You're an utter idiot.

I agree with all of the stuff you put in that big post. All of it. I have to say though a lot of the time mancmag isn't disagreeing with you, and shares similar views it just gets lost in translation somewhere.