shurlock

Oh dear Small Fry. One off-the-cuff quote becomes the categorical, considered statement on our near-term ambitions, does it? Forget others have spoken about keeping the squad and bringing in two or three players. Of course, I can see where I've erred. Clotese's (lol) dangerous precedent in spending City-like amounts each season has given rise to false expectations...oh wait I don't doubt that Shaw, Lallana and others will leave at some point - where did I claim otherwise? But it's not inconceivable that we could get another season or so out of (some of) them before a ceiling is hit. Time is largely on everyone's side. The answer's simple Small Fry: perhaps the board doesn't share the goal of incremental improvement, another solid summer of strengthening, since it thinks we've maxed out, though that's arguably b*****ks. Indeed, a net strengthening is still possible, though more difficult without Shaw, Lallana et al. We'll soon find out from your Darling of Davos.

Shoulder to shoulder -should have been booked. Glad Shaw ironed the cheat out later on, a worthy yellow. Ref had a niggly and mediocre game - how the hell Clyne didn't get a free kick after Evra's cynical bodycheck is beyond me. There also looked like a handball in the area at the start but would have to see the highlights.

Agree completely. Too many morons on here -FILL IN THE BLANKS- conflate ambition with the top 4, a disingenuous strawman. Most fans aren't thinking about the top 4 - they just want to see incremental improvement, perhaps a shot at cracking the top 6. There is nothing unrealistic about this if we can have a good window and keep the squad together. The impression is that most of the squad would be happy to stay if the board matched this commitment. All the scaremongering in the world won't change the fact that this isn't a route to financial implosion, not least because success on the pitch is a precondition for commercial success, not the other way around. Perhaps we won't meet our goals but to prematurely dismantle the squad, claiming necessity and glass ceilings, would be a huge shame not to mention an utterly false choice.

We rarely spend in Jan. The exceptions were the first season where we had missed on the summer window due to the takeover and were virtually rebuilding from scratch; and the championship season where promotion was riding on second-half results. MP's interviews at the time -Arsenal postmatch iirc- suggested we had lined up a signing, so our lack of activity might have had more to do with execution than intent. While it's difficult to infer much from Jan, am still bracing myself for a tumultuous summer.

Where's it being reported? Surprised Cole isn't in there but great for us.

Of course, he's going to play.

It's the little things in life that count. Right Small Fry?

To file away with your other pearlers and your unfailing ability to dress up a few posters views as mongboard gospel. Hope your day turns out better than how it's started

Strange given how close he is to the first team relative to the other Academy players and everything Reed has said about the loan system. But nothing would surprise me.

By the time of the last thread (Fonte on holiday) after his ITKery had been proven correct, most took him seriously while others didn't like his style (as opposed to the substance). Shock horror people revise their judgments based on the FACTs. So much for your grandiose claims, sunshine. Found it odd too that he was banned but only proof that mods are inconsistent and get a lot of things wrong.

Seen alongside all the other threads (the later ones after his ITKery had been validated) the point stands - his posts were in the main taken seriously. Alas you focus on the one post that by Leftback's own admission was the vaguest and flimsiest. Cherrypicking = who would have thought it :lol:

You steaming in without properly reading what others have written, who would have thought it.The majority of posts took Leftback pretty seriously, confirmed by rereading those threads. Perhaps shows the mongboard isn't that off the mark - that it's not monotonously happy-clappy but can deal with'bad' news as long as it's credible. Credible = everything you're not. Must try harder sunshine.

Could be Wally Downes

Small Fry if you don't think the last five years involved adversity and required vision, you're an even bigger moron than I thought.

Coz being a top 8 Prem side that is getting full international recognition gives you no more leverage or bargaining power than a newly promoted side to the championship which we were with Oxo.

FIFA 14 reminds me it's Lallana's birthday today. Let's hope some goals tmrw and a call-up on Monday are the only footballing presents he wants...

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”

True, though it's more for rhetorical effect. The fact is the journo probably knows MP and his staff better than any other journo operating in this country.

Is that what you meant by 'aspirational and credible vision' from our Darling of Davos? It's certainly credible. I'll give you that Small Fry.

What are they going to do? Take market share from Goodmans? They're a local business and ambitious but ultimately they're another cookie-cutter outfit that sources stuff on the cheap from Guangdong - a sprinkling of design doesn't change the fact that it's a low R&D/value-add/differentiation business model.

Coz there are lots of examples of companies spunking 20% of their revenues on sponsorship deals...

Their turnover (before costs) is only £10m - if they've paid the most (£1-2m), that's one ballsy gamble.

As are Millets and QVC

Going to ditch my Bose IE2 earphones for their £29.99 sweatshop badboys.

Coz the new board is providing rays of sunshine and assurance on the playing front. Guess one reason why a song and dance is being made is that the board claimed to be prioritising the commercial. Beyond fuzzy, fan-friendly, this is the concrete first thing they can be judged on. Now it might be that the deal was brokered on Cortese's watch and this is another example of his cavalier attitude to revenues. Of course, you'd have to go back months, possibly as far as November when he tendered his resignation and began to withdraw from the club to make such a claim; or it might be just be that the board's plans are a bit flaky which doesn't augur very well for the most important parts of the 'business'.