If Rafa leaves

[HughieG]

I don't think he will, but what will you think of him if he does?

We don't know all the details of what's been going on and what he has and hasn't been promised by Charnley/Ashley, but other than disappointed I have to say I would feel a little disrespect towards him - that's IF he leaves within the next few months. On the other hand, if he stays and we find out he's been treated badly or has had promises broken, my respect for him will be even greater than it is now.

[Jammy89]

Can't wait to see Pboro's response to this XD XD

To be honest i'll feel disappointed he's walked but i'll primarily put it down to Charnley and Co - which i'm aware gives him and easy out - but that is what i'll feel. At this point in time.

I reserve the right to change this as information changes or comes to light XD

[toonlegend]

I'll be very disappointed, but wouldn't blame him at all, if he's been shafted by charnley ashley and co

[HughieG]

Can't wait to see Pboro's response to this XD XD

To be honest i'll feel disappointed he's walked but i'll primarily put it down to Charnley and Co - which i'm aware gives him and easy out - but that is what i'll feel. At this point in time.

I reserve the right to change this as information changes or comes to light XD

Pretty much the same for me Jammy. I suppose it feels unusual to me as Pardew or McClaren would've never walked away from this job, but now we actually have a manager with integrity. In fact, **** Ashley if Rafa goes.

[Nufc24Mag]

I don't think he will, but what will you think of him if he does?

We don't know all the details of what's been going on and what he has and hasn't been promised by Charnley/Ashley, but other than disappointed I have to say I would feel a little disrespect towards him - that's IF he leaves within the next few months. On the other hand, if he stays and we find out he's been treated badly or has had promises broken, my respect for him will be even greater than it is now.

If he leaves bc of Ashley the protests that we had when keegan left and when pardew was here will be nothing compared to what will happen this time

[HughieG]

If he leaves bc of Ashley the protests that we had when keegan left and when pardew was here will be nothing compared to what will happen this time

Aye, Ashley will want to sell the club there and then.

[toonlegend]

If he leaves bc of Ashley the protests that we had when keegan left and when pardew was here will be nothing compared to what will happen this time

ditto definitely a case of they ain't seen nothing yet, if the worst comes to the worst

[TheOtherTerryMac]

Ashley and Charnley don't give a flying phuck about Rafa leaving

They will just go out and get a yes man puppet to take over. All he is interested is promoting Sports Direct and getting the Sky payments. The money coming through the turnstiles is chicken feed to Ashley so he don't care about what the fans think or say.

[toonlegend]

Ashley and Charnley don't give a flying phuck about Rafa leaving

They will just go out and get a yes man puppet to take over. All he is interested is promoting Sports Direct and getting the Sky payments. The money coming through the turnstiles is chicken feed to Ashley so he don't care about what the fans think or say.

it may be chickenfeed at the minute

when sky goes bust/the tv gravy train ends/ things go tits up and relegated again

he will know how much he needs us

[TheOtherTerryMac]

it may be chickenfeed at the minute

when sky goes bust/the tv gravy train ends/ things go tits up and relegated again

he will know how much he needs us

That's the same for every club in the premiership June, the difference being that other clubs respect their supporters.

[ghostrider]

That's the same for every club in the premiership June, the difference being that other clubs respect their supporters.

If you think other clubs owners respect their supporters and Ashley doesn't you are being naive.
It's a ruthless business for them all at the top.

The only clubs that really do respect their supporters are those clubs that rely on that bread and butter entirely. And even then there will only be a percentage of those that genuinely have respect for the real fans.

[HughieG]

If you think other clubs owners respect their supporters and Ashley doesn't you are being naive.
It's a ruthless business for them all at the top.

The only clubs that really do respect their supporters are those clubs that rely on that bread and butter entirely. And even then there will only be a percentage of those that genuinely have respect for the real fans.

I agree, remember when Vincent Tan changed the colour of Cardiff's shirts? The fans didn't exactly have a warm connection with him.

[smorgan86]

I personally don't think he'll walk. I 100% think that he's having doubt about what he got himself into but at the same time, he see's the insane prices that are being requested for mediocre players. If we're in a relegation scrap by January and the proper players aren't bought, we'll be looking for a new manager by February and the fans will start the protests for the 1000th time.

[ghostrider]

We all know Rafa deserves more money to spend considering the current climate with the transfer system.
We all know that Rafa has to offload players to even get to spend any money on offer.
We also know that very few managers are going to be happy with their lot at any time, never mind starting a season.

It's easy to lay the blame at Ashley's and Charnley's door for some things and rightly so on occasions, but this should also be a test of Rafa's mettle, because ultimately this squad is almost Rafa's, when you consider the major playing side.

The players he has brought in, albeit not superstars, are at least capable of progressing a notch as well as some even producing way above our expectations.

We all want Rafa to have cash on the hip but all the cash on the hip in the entire world is not going to do any quick assembling fixes until we shave off the excess underachievers and no hopers for advancement.

Pie in the sky at the minute but I'd hate it if Rafa had spent £150 million on a mass rebuild, only for us to fare no better than we do this season.
I'd much prefer him to be a bit miffed as it stands and knowing what he still requires, but game enough to push on with the challenge, than to back away shouting " it's no good, it's no good."

There's no reason to suggest that we are in any dire straits just because we're a few players short of the ultimate quality we all believe we need to make a fist of it, because there's still a lot of days left till the window closes for one and also January as a refresher both in offloading and adding real potential advancement on the quality going out.

There's too much been put in place for any side to scupper. A real backbone to the entire professionalism of the playing/coaching/medical side and a real coup from Charnley and co to have enticed Rafa in in the first place, regardless of things not being at optimum happiness at bringing in identified targets and offloads of identified dross.

[Nufc24Mag]

If you think other clubs owners respect their supporters and Ashley doesn't you are being naive.
It's a ruthless business for them all at the top.

The only clubs that really do respect their supporters are those clubs that rely on that bread and butter entirely. And even then there will only be a percentage of those that genuinely have respect for the real fans.


We should be miles ahead of at least 10 teams in this division we had the chance to mix it with the top 6-8 the season after we finished 5th but we spent about £6m on Anita now we are so far behind clubs like Watford Southampton stoke quality wise and money wise it's a fecking disgrace and only one man to blame and it's Ashley

[tooslomofo]

£21m is shocking for a premier league club

We will get £100 million this season even if we're relegated if we stay up we would Be guaranteed another £100m the next year.
Surely it's better to speculate to acumulate rather than try and scrape by or panic buy in January if things are going pair shaped.
Come on Ashley back Rafa!.

[Izitme]

At last' a good assessment of where we are

[ghostrider]

We should be miles ahead of at least 10 teams in this division we had the chance to mix it with the top 6-8 the season after we finished 5th but we spent about £6m on Anita now we are so far behind clubs like Watford Southampton stoke quality wise and money wise it's a fecking disgrace and only one man to blame and it's Ashley

We aren't miles behind any of those clubs. Those clubs are not in any way far and above us in the quality player department.
Man Utd, Man city, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool and arguably Everton are far and beyond us.
The best of the rest are a lottery and in no real better shape than we are.

Out of the best of the rest, only the London clubs like Palace and what not appear to look like they're able to attract better calibre of players but the reality is more like players using the London connection to get their feet under the table for large pocket money.

It's not like years ago where you built a squad over a few seasons and added youth to ensure you were Beckham,Scholes, Neville, Carrick like Man utd type strong to the core.
All the so called best of the rest can fall apart in a heart beat and end up back to also ran status in very short order.

Cash on the hip, money no object owners of so called unfashionable clubs is fine but they're not creating real squads of do or die players. They're not creating the trench war mentality.
They're creating snivelling back chatting wannabe tycoons in shorts and socks.

Let's put it this way. If we finished in the top 10 this season, or just outside of it, then would that be a fluke or would it still make us inferior to theso called best of the rest brigade?

[ghostrider]

£21m is shocking for a premier league club

We will get £100 million this season even if we're relegated if we stay up we would Be guaranteed another £100m the next year.
Surely it's better to speculate to acumulate rather than try and scrape by or panic buy in January if things are going pair shaped.
Come on Ashley back Rafa!.
No matter what happens we still have to ship players out and also get value for money in this mental market.
Ashley might be a greedy skin flint and Charnley might be a smarmy whatever, but the postcode we reside under ensures that many targets will no doubt wait for the better postcodes to show their hands...or countries.

Speculate to accumulate is great as long as you do it right and do it in the right way in terms of both outcomes.
Speculate to accumulate higher league standing and cup potential.
Speculate to accumulate a better player and therefore a gain on outlay for sniffing clubs, enabling us to deal bigger and bigger.

This would be great and I hope we could get up there, but the reality at the moment is, we cannot compete with the throwaway cash rich clubs that can simply buy to sustain or progress on a whim, not build by the book.

[HughieG]

No matter what happens we still have to ship players out and also get value for money in this mental market.
Ashley might be a greedy skin flint and Charnley might be a smarmy whatever, but the postcode we reside under ensures that many targets will no doubt wait for the better postcodes to show their hands...or countries.

Speculate to accumulate is great as long as you do it right and do it in the right way in terms of both outcomes.
Speculate to accumulate higher league standing and cup potential.
Speculate to accumulate a better player and therefore a gain on outlay for sniffing clubs, enabling us to deal bigger and bigger.

This would be great and I hope we could get up there, but the reality at the moment is, we cannot compete with the throwaway cash rich clubs that can simply buy to sustain or progress on a whim, not build by the book.

This is also some of what I've been saying Ghost. Glad to see you're talking sense unlike so many others.

Whilst I would say that this hasn't been an ideal transfer window as we could have signed some better players in the beginning - which Rafa has also confirmed - but missed the opportunity, the fact still remains that there's a queue to sign the good players. And there are many reasons why we're not first in line. We have to wait our turn and it's frustrating, but hopefully we can get the necessary players in - and if not it's disappointing, but I still think we've signed some decent players knowing what kind of a coach Rafa is.

^This is also why, going back to the OP, I wouldn't call Rafa blameless if he did leave as he is well aware of the craziness of the market, though I don't know what he's been promised of course.

[NorthernRock]

We aren't miles behind any of those clubs. Those clubs are not in any way far and above us in the quality player department.
Man Utd, Man city, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool and arguably Everton are far and beyond us.
The best of the rest are a lottery and in no real better shape than we are.

Out of the best of the rest, only the London clubs like Palace and what not appear to look like they're able to attract better calibre of players but the reality is more like players using the London connection to get their feet under the table for large pocket money.

It's not like years ago where you built a squad over a few seasons and added youth to ensure you were Beckham,Scholes, Neville, Carrick like Man utd type strong to the core.
All the so called best of the rest can fall apart in a heart beat and end up back to also ran status in very short order.

Cash on the hip, money no object owners of so called unfashionable clubs is fine but they're not creating real squads of do or die players. They're not creating the trench war mentality.
They're creating snivelling back chatting wannabe tycoons in shorts and socks.

Let's put it this way. If we finished in the top 10 this season, or just outside of it, then would that be a fluke or would it still make us inferior to theso called best of the rest brigade?

Excellent post Ghost.

THIS is the flip side of the coin that most are failing to recognise on here but is what's giving us hope for a positive future... We have a manager that can build TEAMS and in relation to the above post, by that I mean, he instils ethic, work rate, commitments, pride etc etc... These are CRITICAL to building long term success and budget has nothing to do with any of that.

A man earning minimum wage can show the above qualities... Not all men on 50k a week can though...

No doubt we need to continue building by signing players and improving our player quality throughout the squad but we are going in the right direction under Benitez and we need to remember what actually matters.

If they give it their all and go for a win, that's all I want and I don't give a **** about the name on the back of their shirts because with the real qualities, that all should come.

I'm now focusing on the players that we have rather than the ones that don't as these are the lads who's gonna be playing in front of us week in week out and will hopefully be giving us something to shout about.

Have a little faith and patience, we've had to wait this long, now lets get behind the team and manager and there's no reason why we can't create the same buzz we had back in the day, with a good manager you've got a chance...

HTL

[ashingtoon62]

Excellent post Ghost.

THIS is the flip side of the coin that most are failing to recognise on here but is what's giving us hope for a positive future... We have a manager that can build TEAMS and in relation to the above post, by that I mean, he instils ethic, work rate, commitments, pride etc etc... These are CRITICAL to building long term success and budget has nothing to do with any of that.

A man earning minimum wage can show the above qualities... Not all men on 50k a week can though...

No doubt we need to continue building by signing players and improving our player quality throughout the squad but we are going in the right direction under Benitez and we need to remember what actually matters.

If they give it their all and go for a win, that's all I want and I don't give a **** about the name on the back of their shirts because with the real qualities, that all should come.

I'm now focusing on the players that we have rather than the ones that don't as these are the lads who's gonna be playing in front of us week in week out and will hopefully be giving us something to shout about.

Have a little faith and patience, we've had to wait this long, now lets get behind the team and manager and there's no reason why we can't create the same buzz we had back in the day, with a good manager you've got a chance...

HTL

Post of the week...Even if yee were replying to your self...XD

[pboromag]

I don't think he will go

I think he will be sacked

Probably by xmas

But you won't be able to blame ash as he has given him what he wanted . Total control and he has been homest regards spendings

Incisive rafas squad to an extent with his back room team

I just hope Rafa is as good as some think and get the results we will need

[ex_pat_magpie]

I don't think he will go

I think he will be sacked

Probably by xmas

But you won't be able to blame ash as he has given him what he wanted . Total control and he has been homest regards spendings

Incisive rafas squad to an extent with his back room team

I just hope Rafa is as good as some think and get the results we will need

If Ashley and his puppet Charnley could shift out the misfits they signed on big wages and big contracts before Rafa came then Rafa would have a chance of making signings of his own choice.

Ashley and Charnley ****ed thing up in a big way by thinking they could make a Cabaye like killing on some average and some a bit better than average players. They though it was big business and could be done in every case, hence the STUPID LONG CONTRACTS which have become a millstone around the club's and Rafa's neck.

NO ONE TO BLAME BUT ASHLEY AND PUPPET CHARNLEY.

Rafa works miracles with his hands tied behind his back.

[pboromag]

If Ashley and his puppet Charnley could shift out the misfits they signed on big wages and big contracts before Rafa came then Rafa would have a chance of making signings of his own choice.

Ashley and Charnley ****ed thing up in a big way by thinking they could make a Cabaye like killing on some average and some a bit better than average players. They though it was big business and could be done in every case, hence the STUPID LONG CONTRACTS which have become a millstone around the club's and Rafa's neck.

NO ONE TO BLAME BUT ASHLEY AND PUPPET CHARNLEY.

Rafa works miracles with his hands tied behind his back.

Every club uses long contracts
With the Bismarck it's the only way clubs can get some kind of control and future transfer

They didn't invent them
And many players will only sign a long contract

[ex_pat_magpie]

Every club uses long contracts
With the Bismarck it's the only way clubs can get some kind of control and future transfer

They didn't invent them
And many players will only sign a long contract

Why then is the average contract in the premiership less than three years. And what kind of control has it given Ashley and Charnley over future contracts. You have beaten your own argument as they can't shift inferior players because of their contracts and wages.

Therefor NOT RAFA'S FAULT.

[Nephy]

Every club uses long contracts
With the Bismarck it's the only way clubs can get some kind of control and future transfer

That'd be Bosman, not Bismarck ;)