Smirking_Saint

This, he did good things and he did bad things, from a footballing sense its hard to argue with his success. Money wasting ? If you are talking about signings, its arguable, every club makes mistakes, nature of the game. The training ground ? Yes his constant changes added to the costs, the contractors were stood down and still 'paid' during the redesign. But ultimately its hard to reason that he was in sole charge of Liebherrs bank balance completely unchecked, if that really is true then would you really want such a poor businessman/women in charge of the club ? I dont really see anyone slamming the new board, questioning ambition yes, whats wrong with that ? Where is the intent ? So in essence you are basically the same as those you are slamming, except the other side of the coin, a classic overreaction to things written on a message board without properly looking at the other side of the arguement which is pretty poor debating practice. Without NC we wouldnt be in this position in the same way as being without the Liebherrs.

Highcorner inn ? Its in the middle of nowhere but v nice http://www.highcornerinn.co.uk/home

Its not a bad gane actually, the dutch have some really exciting young players

I find him to be a bit of a cock, I really dont enjoy bannings but I have enjoyed this place without the two tits. Reasonable discussion, a bit of banter, been ok really.

Id expect you to struggle with footballing analagies anyway TBF

One way or the other things never seemed so up in the air under the little hitler. I take it that he was a v poor people and worse PR person, but he had a better grasp on things then what Ive seen so far. It is however, far too early to form an opinion, Im just hoping things improve from the smiles and silly hats we are getting right now.

I did know that, I was just making a point that the market tends to be pretty unpredictable

Regardless of his very poor season at Utd he was very very good last year at Everton. And basically it was a rushed signing after Utd had failed with other transfers summed up by the fact Moyes bought him after his buy out clause ran out, Everton knew that. Though I do think Lallana should be worth 30m its hard to quantify any fees when you get the likes of costa and aguero going for similar prices to Carroll.

They were talking about Spurs but you can continue ranting if you like ?

Obviously lost players require being replaced, Ramirez could step up to the Lallana plate should he consistantly play at a solid level we have seen he can. As per Shaw, there will be replacements, Im not hot on the LB market TBH but Im sure 30m will pay for a decent quality player. Any lose however will be big, Id rather not lose Morgan, was pretty much the best DM in prem according to Opta halfway through the season

Thats sort of a given

Pretty much need a keeper, CB, Striker IMO to be effective, nothing major, if players move on then replace. Striker would be my top priority

Christ this place is much better without the usual two ****s ruining every thread

We will lose one of our players atleast, big players, I dont suppose the board can guarantee anything on that front and I wouldnt believe them if they did. But we are in a very unique position, we have a team on the cusp of something special with a manager getting them to play atteactive and effective football. With a couple of additions we could start to threaten the top 6, along with this you have squad supplementation from a good academy. For me the board need to build on it, Im not talking about vast sums of money either, just an ambition to try to keep the squad together and atleast allow for replacements to be made and new signings brought into the squad. Perhaps a kitty of around 30m + anything made on transfers. That would be motivation for me, and Id argue Poch. He seems happy with his lot here IMO, but he talked about 'asking the board' when questioned on his future, thst speaks volumes to me. Spurs is one of those moves, he could easily be out of a job in 6 months with a tarnished rep going there. Plus are they really going to spend masses again after last year ?

It depends where he goes, between us or spurs I reckon its as simple as us offering ambition and guarantees

Forgotten what ? It was a non event really, arguably yes he could've fielded a stronger team. But then Sunderland beat us twice, once with our full squads and one when both of us rang the changes. We arent going to know the reasons why, was it to challenge top 6 ? To prove to players to stay ? Was it because Poch hated cups ? Regardless he is a very very able manager that we'd find hard to replace

Basically what Ive been saying, if he goes its a massive failure by the board

You'd rather have Balo or Tevez then aguero, Dzeko and Negredo ? Really ? Personally Id go for Rhodes

Rumour doing the rounds that Mourinho has been sounded out for the Utd job, personally I dont believe it but he has 24 hrs to decide. Certainly is silly season

Ultimately I agree, its a difficult difficult position, the only real way I can see of avoiding pressure from the players is to try and match their ambition and ask for one more year. I think the players will buy into that, as such thst is what they were saying in the press in regards of building and I even think that was Poch's original plan. I honestly think, definately with Adam, if he goes it heralds the end of the ambitious young side we have become accustomed to and yes you are right, should we lose one or two then everyone starts questioning the ambition, even I would and Im a fan. We dont know the inner thoughts of the new board, but players are ambitious and loyalty goes both ways.

We wont be able to rebuke every advance IMO, there comes a point when Shaw will believe we are being unreasonable and the bids start becoming too large to reject. Ultimately Ill be dissapointed with him leaving but if we play hardball and get a large fee then I dont think most will argue

Benitez isnt a bad shout either no

Personally I think Lallana is more of a blow then Shaw, and no, losing them doesnt anywhere near confirm we are a feeder club, especially if we recieve large fees. It confirms reality, that we are currently a mid table side without investment that contains some very good young players. As for Poch, I dread losing him, genuinely. But reslistically all three would be very hard to replace with any amount of money.

Mackay is dull as dishwater and largely took Cardiff up due to their financial push TBH. He is solid enough I suppose but a million miles from what we want. As per being one voice in the transfer stakes looking at some of his purchases Im not entirely sure he is what we want, besides, he will have to operate with the comittee that is equally adept at spending exorbitant fees on underperforming foreign strikers. For me, I dont know. AVB (not that I think he would fancy a return to England) Poyet (But he really is a ****) Rosler De Boer (if spurs cant snatch him why would we ?) I dont think Poch will be as easy to replace as most think

Ever thought that the 'apparant' 35m transfer kitty was net inclusive of any transfer income from these sales ?