shurlock

So what? Can logically be both. Lots of people opposed the trust but welcomed with open arms (and ar$echeeks) a mickey mouse fan-pandering local consortium. They certainly did so a year ago....

saints fan on the wind-up, nothing less, nothing more....bin with the rest of the junk rumours.

fact

Find it surprising that first team players havent featured more regularly in games - no doubt a stronger team will line up against Readng and yes there have been injuries but reserves and youth players seem to have seen the most game time this preseason.

Superfan!

This

Not true - unlike the last bunch who aired their dirty washing in the public, wanted to be loved and let their egos interfere with footballing matters, NC is the total opposite. Yes he's made some questionable decisions (some, not all) but these are largely off-the-pitch matters. Under Cortese, the team is allowed to get on on business without distractions and as a result looks more professional than its has been for ages. For somebody who goes to matches, the club's new found sense of focus and discipline (something we last had under Strachan but which was always fragile) is a breath of fresh air. Can certainly feel the difference at away games.

Back from what was an unsurprisingly low-key game. Solid performance - we were never really stretched though we didnt threaten much either - cant remember their keeper having a real save to make. Carter got forward well and brings presence but on the whole the match passed him by (saying that we did seem to be hitting the flanks as quickly as possible bypassing the central midfield somewhat). Thought Dickson and Mills had decent games. Our lack of attacking options is clear for all to see- OC and Holder-Spooner aren't composed or powerful enough to be contenders just yet.

yeh tho will never work out that routine with lallana at wemberly where he sniffed AL's a$$ doggy-style.

That's not the complete celebration for the blue few...

Who knows - give him a decent length contract - 3 years and hypnotise him with the olde pardew pitch that when you look back on your career, what will you remember? the money and winding down your career on the sidelines at a big club as a shadow of your former self and a booboys favourite? or the medals and pride of being part of a winning team that will be remembered in posterity? Tell him that he has one last proper adventure in him and the club with him banging in the goals will be seriously going places - places that nobody can imagine just yet... hey-presto.

Isnt there the famous story of Pards pulling up to the training ground on his first day as West Ham manager in a flashy red ferarri and then proceeding to lecture the players how they were all overpaid prima donnas.

bottle(orlackthereof)

True though the way AP pretty brutally released James, at one point the first name on the team sheet, speaks volumes to the lack of depth in our midfield. With James and Gillett gone, there's now less of reason to address this area. That AP chose to experiment with a really inexperienced/second-string midfield (McNish, Mills, OC, Holmes) in our first preseason games -surprising at the time- suggests he wanted to establish how much our fringe midfielders, not just our CM, can do a job, perhaps with a view to requesting extra funds.

Agree with Alpine's midfielder comments - most positions have seen real strengthening yet AP has only brought in one CM during his time at the club, Hammond. If anything we need two players, the box-to-box CM others have identified and a CM who is good on the ball. Everybody knows that we've looked clueless whenever Schneiderlin has been out. To assume that a player who is still young and raw, has a suspect temperament as well as a history of minor injuries (at least in his first season) isn't going to miss or go missing in games is a hell of a gamble.

With interest rates at record lows and other options available, its still not clear whether the installment plan was/is the cheapest option for the fan. But we haven't managed to settle this debate, so best move on. Surely if the club was looking to line its own pockets, it would have eliminated the cheap ST renewals or at least significantly reduced the gap between them and ordinary STs (along with some of the kiddy discounts). Do I benefit yes? But even if i didn't, would i be upset if they scrapped these schemes to boost the bottom the line. Damn right. I can't think of many fairer ways to devise a sales policy than to reward loyalty, especially given our bleak recent history. Its one of the few constants in football and is largely blind to whether you are rich or poor (when I've been skint in the past, knowing that come what may I would be spending any future saturday at games made saving relatively easy). The lack of communication and notice (especially the latter) was f*cking diabolical but insofar as ST prices continue to recognise loyalty, I wont feel totally mugged off. And thats not because I and presumably others are "I'm alright jack" types.

All this if even just 1 fan has been unable to renew a ST this season because of the withdrawal of installments or half season options then the policy failed line is b*ll*cks. Putting aside all the other issues and looking purely at the finances, who know's what that 1 fan will do. He may end up paying on the day instead -not totally inconceivable- and if he goes to quite a few games, especially if we're doing well, the revenue generated on a match-by-match basis might actually exceed the revenue that would have been brought in by the installment plan. In other words, we won't know till the end of the season, so declaring the commercial failure of the policy now is misleading.

The fallacy is that because there hasn't been a blitz of transfer activity, we've been sitting on our arses. Nothing is probably further away from the truth. People forget that as our team takes shape, it becomes more difficult to improve on what we have - and, by the same token, the more we improve, the less likely players will want to come just to warm the bench. Of course we could simply get around this by shopping in the higher leagues but then that raises the question of who would want to drop down to L1. Even with the greatest will in the world, getting players in at our particular stage of development aint that easy...

A bit of perspective here - its not like the appointment of a sales and marketing head was the first change, as if the dastardly Cortese has been creaming himself to exploit new revenue streams and is image-obsessed. It's taken well over a year and in that time the footballing fundamentals right down to the youth team and training infrastructure have been the priority. While I'm slightly dubious about marketing people and the transformation of the game, especially the pandering to the fat and fickle silent majority who ONLY watch Sky Sports and think in terms of superstars and the latest FIFA release, Im no Luddite. Marketing and sales are running concerns of all football clubs, just that most equate a marketing or sales campaign with sticking a few badly photocopied flyers under somebody's windscreen wiper or flogging baby bibs emblazened with the club bladge. If we have a professional in charge who can get the best possible deal for the club with any given assets we have (no necessary contradiction with the fans interests), good. If it helps us be self-standing and greater consumer-focus improves responsiveness and communication, preventing misunderstanding, even better.

Mate have a word with yourself - you're incapable of looking at things on a case-by-case basis (the occasional bit of praise just smacks of tight-fistedness and insincerity). Don't know where this small d*ck sh*t of sticking to your guns because you feel cornered comes from...but the result is that you paint yourself into some pretty ludicrous corners and come across as an agenda-driven mug.

Saying that Arsene Wenger famously claimed that Pards was xenophobic http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/article-23380486-pardew-escapes-fa-punishment-over-wenger-row.do

Sounds like an amateur goal- long ball/cross swung in from the left and a header in and around the penalty spot. where did the marking go...

Barnard goal disallowed for a foul. French website says that its the kind of challenge that would have (probably) been OK in England.

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