egg

I have never expressed an opinion on NC. I am not speculating. I'm stating facts as explained by someone who knows them. The info is 100%. It's naive not to believe it..

It's a fact that there was significant overspend on staplewood and that millions were wasted. NC did not jump cos he wanted to from what I hear.

Ha! Not sure about that one Del. All I've been told is "he wanted the four seasons" and that £4 mil was wasted.

...

The cost more than doubled - it increased to £38 million. "Only" £4 million is attribtable to waste, the remainder was down to an expansion of plans and specification.

But what's to discuss? He wants to go but they don't like the offer. The transfer fee, and frankly whether we sell him at all, is a matter for us.

This, mostly. I don't buy all this he deserves a move rubbish. If he goes I'll wish him well but the board are doing their job by playing hard ball. Where I disagree with you is on the picking up the phone, I wouldn't and don't think they should have/do. What would it achieve in circumstances where the club don't want to accept the offer? Like you say, let him ask for the move if he wants it.

Based on what exactly? The fact that they've not told us that we've had bids on players and that someone wants our manager? How many clubs do that? Are Chelsea's board useless because PSG want Luiz for big bucks, and poss Hazard too? Were Everton's board not up to it last year because they didn't comment on Moyes speculation? Anyone who expects the board to reveal offers for staff and players and/or believes that the board are out of it's depth because offers are received, are stupid. To my mind, it's better that we do our business discretely then share info once that business has been done.

My guess is that it's linked to the Poch situation and that the departures are part of an overall restructure/plan. The club will have known that Poch was going some time ago and will have looked at Poch replacements. Contary to popular belief, the club is not run by idiots and I have no doubt that progress will have been made on a Poch replacemnt before before giving Spurs permission to talk. Such new man may well have his own ideas on the academy structure and/or it's coaches.

As I said a few weeks ago it's very likely that he'll stay this window and that when he goes it'll be to Chelsea, nowhere else. Lallana is different, it was expected that he'd go this window, or next at the latest.

I'm not sure where you've heard this but it's not consistent with very recent information I've heard from a very reliable source close to the club that he's very likely to stay this summer and that when he goes it will be to Chelsea. Things can change but the links to Chelsea are stronger than just being a fan.

To be fair the club have known for ages that he has ambitions. The expectation has been that if he doesn't go this window it'll be the next one. Whilst I'd love him to stay, I think he'll walk into the Liverpool team and take them up a level.

That didn't happen. The players income is linked to the merit payment (league position) so concentrating on the league benefits them.

Budgets were being signed off last week. Do you know something?

We're not reliant on a sale either. It's covered with available resources.

The stuff on this thread/forum is laughable. We're fine. We're not reliant on TV money to clear the immediate debt. The £22m overspend on staplewood is manageable.

But these aren't "very uncertain times". The club are in fine shape. Its just unfortunate that too many people wrongly interpret what is written between the lines and have an opinion on the figures without having the ability to understand them.

9/10 We're doing OK on the pitch. Katherina has committed to another large chunk of cash to meet our immediate commitments. TV money is on its way. Shaw is highly likely to stay for a season at least. All is good.

Ha! I hope that's not the breakfast equivalent of being "condemned" to play fox at lb once/if shaw is sold :/

It does, to a point. Your comment was in the context that Samuels condemns us as in he is critical which he isn't. The article (which I think is not innacurate BTW) suggests that, owing to the fair play rules, we are condemned to our current position and would be unable to spend our way to the next level if funds were available. ART, like Samuels, isn't wrong.

2nd definition http://www.google.com/m?hl=en-GB&ie=UTF-8&q=condemn

GS, are you implying that Kreugers comments could be interpreted to mean that he could muscle in on the managers job? If so that is one bizarre interpretation. If not, please clarify what you're insinuating.

Agreed. I'm not sure how anyone can read anything negative into what Krueger said. He's confirmed that it's onwards and upwards, that we're not for sale and that he'll leave Poch to get on with his job. Pretty positive to me.

I've got two spare tickets for the watercress line real ale train on 5th April. Leaves Alton 7.30 and returns 10 ish. Loads of good ales and food available. £15 each (face value plus the booking fee) which includes a free pint.

Loads of great places mentioned. Add Mr Smiths, Peggy Sues, The Old Oriental, to name just a few.