Improvements since Ashley came.

[Geordie1974]

I don't see where we've gone backwards.
I'd say we're more evened out over the time by %.

Come on Ghost.We hadn't been relegated from the Premier League,we were an established team.We were in Europe regularly.
Now I support Rafa but the football isn't anywhere near the football under Keegan.
We know you love Ashley but come on be honest.We have gone backwards and deep down you know it.

[HughieG]

I don't even know what moving forward means in this day and age of elitist clubs. Seriously.

I think we do well enough to just stay as cannon fodder.
I'd seriously accept championship football for the rest of my time rather than just be cannon fodder for the elites.

I'm absolutely serious.

I am absolutely fed up of having to see this game of who gets the crumbs and having to almost believe that trying to hold out not to get beat is the way forward just to have some kind of brag of being part of a premier league, whilst sacrificing real excitement in doing so.

At least in the championship the football seemed much more real and grass roots.
All this league is is a game of who dares spend the most to get the best of the rest of the players the elites don't want and who can pay the highest wages for a sniff of the elites aris crack.

At the very least whilst we are in the prem, I'd like us to have a go without excuses as to why being careful is the way forward.
I'd honestly expect no owner to do any better with this club because of the above mentioned.

Any different owner would...at best (in my absolute honest opinion)... would do a West Ham type of attack or an Everton flirt, before taking their place back into the pecking order and ready for other chancer teams to have a few sniffs before their fate is sealed.

That's what we're dealing with, it seems.
I have no real option but to endure this horrible football because I chose to be in it for the long haul. But good bad and ugly I'll do just that.
However, my love for the premier league is waning by the day and I honestly find myself being a bit envious of the fight the big clubs in the championship all have, almost every week, where the lottery of that league throws out a much more enjoyable and intense battle to the death up at the top end.

So what do you suggest then? We stop spending altogether because what's the point? We don't build a competitive side and slide down the leagues? I don't understand why you don't want to be among the best.

You talk about elites. But money has been part of football for a long time. I've gotten used to it, maybe you should too. In many ways it's ridiculous the amounts of money being thrown around, but that's how it is.

[ghostrider]

All that might be well and good Ghost,but and here is the but.We are falling behind the spending of Championship clubs.So if we go down as far as I am concerned we will gradually keep going for as long as Ashley is here.So where does it stop.
Look at Wolves.Their owners are worth over 20 billion.Picked the club up for peanuts.See where it's going.
Who is going to pay the price Ashley wants when they can pick up Championship clubs for a tenth of what he wants,with no hidden clause that will continue to line the former owners pockets.Like what Ashley will be putting into the deal as well as the price.


Ashley OUT!!!!!

We aren't falling behind the spending of the championship clubs.
Just because the odd club has had one big spend, doesn't mean they can keep it up.

Our wage bill eclipses all those championship clubs for a start.

[ghostrider]

Come on Ghost.We hadn't been relegated from the Premier League,we were an established team.We were in Europe regularly.
Now I support Rafa but the football isn't anywhere near the football under Keegan.
We know you love Ashley but come on be honest.We have gone backwards and deep down you know it.

We weren't established in Europe before Ashley took over. We were established in the art of severe debt so bad that we were going nowhere other than down the pan, rapidly.

[Geordie1974]

From 94/95 to 2007 we missed out on European football 2 or 3 times.If someone knows exactly as I am going of the top of my head.
No we weren't established in Europe.Been there once under Ashley.

Ashley OUT!!!!!

[ghostrider]

So what do you suggest then? We stop spending altogether because what's the point?

I suggest we spend what we can afford like we are doing.

We don't build a competitive side and slide down the leagues?

We have a competitive side. What we don't have is a manager that's willing to make it competitive in a positive manner. That's what we lack.

I don't understand why you don't want to be among the best.

I do want to be among the best but we aren't allowed to be for all kinds of different reasons and not just Ashley's economy drive.

You talk about elites. But money has been part of football for a long time. I've gotten used to it, maybe you should too. In many ways it's ridiculous the amounts of money being thrown around, but that's how it is.

Yes, that's how it is. It's a game of who can spend the most to keep in touch of the elites, as I said.
I'm well aware of the money situation that clubs go for.
The minute we go into that mode, we're in trouble, because it's then that we end up with mercenaries that are hard to shift.
We need good old honest to goodness grafters and a manager willing to teach them the art of playing football once again, because this manager has no clue how to play football or he's too stubborn to allow it.

[Geordie1974]

Do you win anything at the end of the season for a decent bank balance.I mean phuck the players on the pitch.Why bother playing for 90 mins.Apparently it's all about a balance sheet.

[ghostrider]

Do you win anything at the end of the season for a decent bank balance.I mean phuck the players on the pitch.Why bother playing for 90 mins.Apparently it's all about a balance sheet.

Yeah you do win something. You win the right to keep on being a football club.
The balance sheet might not mean anything to you at the minute. You want the money spent and fair enough...whatever money you know there is to be spent, mind you.

But what happens when it gets spent and wages have doubled and we are no better off in the league stakes or trophy stakes?
Do we just go again in trying to ship out players on high wages and long contracts only to find they won't budge because no other club will pay that kind of wage.

What then?

Just remember all this because we've been through this.

[toonlegend]

I suggest we spend what we can afford like we are doing.

We have a competitive side. What we don't have is a manager that's willing to make it competitive in a positive manner. That's what we lack.


I do want to be among the best but we aren't allowed to be for all kinds of different reasons and not just Ashley's economy drive.

Yes, that's how it is. It's a game of who can spend the most to keep in touch of the elites, as I said.
I'm well aware of the money situation that clubs go for.
The minute we go into that mode, we're in trouble, because it's then that we end up with mercenaries that are hard to shift.
We need good old honest to goodness grafters and a manager willing to teach them the art of playing football once again, because this manager has no clue how to play football or he's too stubborn to allow it.

fact is though we would have a lot more to spend if ashley - the lazy **** who couldn't be bothered with such stuff because all he was interested in was sports direct - hadn't got rid of all the money making hospitality and commercial revenue boosters - not to mention siphoning off merchandise to his beloved sports direct..

nufc doesn't make nearly as much profit as it used to which means we can't afford as much as we whould have been able to.

[ghostrider]

fact is though we would have a lot more to spend if ashley - the lazy **** who couldn't be bothered with such stuff because all he was interested in was sports direct - hadn't got rid of all the money making hospitality and commercial revenue boosters - not to mention siphoning off merchandise to his beloved sports direct..

nufc doesn't make nearly as much profit as it used to which means we can't afford as much as we whould have been able to.

What extra would the club have to spend. Any rough idea?