Answers From NUFC....

These are the sort of bullshit answers i expected though.

I have no doubt we were searching for a striker, but in terms of bidding for strikers, it's clear that the club aren't prepared to pay market value for most players.

They can easily make it look like they're searching for a striker, but in terms of buying them, all they were doing is seeing if a club were stupid enough to accept a lower offer so they could get a bargain, but the club obviously weren't prepared to pay most clubs asking prices for players.

At the end of the day we can't rely on free transfers and bargains forever, there are players out there that we could really use but aren't prepared to pay for.

 

Q2: Why the lack of communication with fans?

Why is there such a lack of communication with the fans from Mike Ashley and his board?

WHEN Mike Ashley bought the club back in 2007, we were keen to engage with supporters and did so with some regularity.

As a result of some of the things we’ve done in the past there will always be fans who will not like nor believe what we have to say. The upshot is that when we speak publicly more often than not we are criticised.

Some football club owners and board members talk regularly in public and enjoy it, others don’t. We much prefer to concentrate on running the club and letting the football do the talking.

After the statement I made last week, it was interesting to read comments from some supporters saying “I just wish they’d shut up!” Of course everyone has a different view, that’s football for you, which as we all know is a very passionate game.

We understand the natural appetite for information and the need for fans to have clarity on the direction we’re taking the club. It’s why we have committed to an annual mission statement from the board, along with regular communications from our media department.

Last year the media team facilitated over 500 interviews with the manager, players and other club officials which demonstrates that the club does place importance on communicating with fans.


Read More http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newc...f-communication-72703-29393042/#ixzz1XY77hztZ

 

"If non season ticket holders want to purchase tickets for away games, then it’s very simple to do so by way of a club membership."

It's also a very simple way of the club making 25 quid or however much it is for every single person who wants to attend an away game.

If I want to take my brother (he's 10, only goes to two/three away games a season) he has to have his own membership, or I have to find someone willing to join my family and friends group to buy one he can use/ find someone flogging a ticket they don't need any more.

Nice little earner

 

If the asking price is disproportionate to how much the club wants the players then they're obviously not going to pay it!

I'm fairly happy with the answers, they make sense and aren't as just the obvious stock answers...

 

They do seem quite thought out, not stock answers at all. Also the point about if MA doesn't fee welcome then he's hardly going to put money in for more players does kind of make sense.

 

"we didn’t want to create a new singing section elsewhere in the ground. We would far rather encourage a good vocal atmosphere around the whole stadium than in just one part."

 

Beggars belief

 

Standard stock answers for me and pretty much as everyone predicted. I'm not sure what people expected though? Do they really expect them to tell everyone if they haven't really made much of an effort with strikers? No one with half a brain would! You can only judge them by their deeds at the end of it all. Obviously they failed badly and the cold hard facts are 7 months is more than enough time to get a reputable striker, they didn't.

To be fair to the board they are not interested in the fans opinion and have only done this because they were asked to and didn't want negative press by not doing so. There isn't a club in the land who truely engage with supporters. Its big business and they'll do as they see fit like all owners. Its just we've been landed with cack ones!

 

If we're not prepared to fight for players then we're not going to get the quality we need, unless we get lucky like we have so far, apart from the striker part of course.

In my opinion the cost could be greater if the club aren't prepared to splash cash on quality.

What would you prefer, we spend 15 million on a 10 million rated striker, or get no one and rely on free transfers and the ****e we have at the moment?

It's a risk to pay a heavy sum for a player, but it's also a risk not to spend anything.

I think Demba Ba has potential but i'm not happy that he's the only striker we brought in this summer. I'd have preferred it if we were ripped off but at least brought a quality striker in, then get no one.

We could spend more than a players worth, but at the end of the day, lack of success can cost the club more than the few extra million we'd have to pay to bring in a quality player.

My two cents.

 

But we have signed a full back and midfielder who are worth a lot more than £9.5m between them.

So depending on January, would you rather pay over the odds for a £10m rated player, or rely on our current squad for 4 more months before paying £5m for a player worth £10m?

 

I think when it comes to quality strikers, there are no shortcuts. For 5m you get Shane Long. A good striker I'd have been happy to have but not the top class NO.9 the club are seeking. The problem is selling clubs know what they have, so aren't going to sell you a 10m striker for 5m. Everyone knows top strikers are hard to come by. The club is being shortsighted and taking prudence too far. Sometimes you have to get your hand in your pocket to get the right one.

 

They're obviously contempt with letting everything kick off in the Strawberry Corner for the rest of the season, or they could give us a singing section and everybody would be happy.

 

Yes, we've got bargains, but you're missing the point. We need a striker, that is the part of the squad where we need strengthening. The club have done some good business, i'm not denying that, but they should have been willing to pay market value for a striker, instead of putting in pathetic bids and hoping that a club would accept, or waiting last minute to finally put in a bid for a player that's already in discussions with another club.

Of course i'd love it if we kept on getting lucky and getting quality players for bargains, but we can't rely on that luck to continue. At the end of the day, we'll either have to pay highly for a striker, get lucky with someone proving themselves from the reserves or through the ranks, or get no one.

Either way we'll be taking a risk, but you need to take risks.

 

I have to say, to me they seem well thought out, good answers. Not everyone is going to be happy with the policy, but it does make sense, and they are explaining why they are doing it. Surely you can't complain just because you would have a different approach if you owned the club? From their answers it seems a rational approach.

The most telling line was the one about Ashley being abused by fans. In fairness, if I was him, I wouldn't want to put loads of extra money into the club if the fans hated me - would you? As a result, the clubs has to run itself and be self sustaining. At least he isn't taking money OUT of the club - that would be disgusting.

 

I'm not impressed by any of the answers really but some of the questions chosen by the Ronnie Gill were wasted opportunities. They asked about replacing Carroll and spending the £35m seperately whereas they could have been asked as one question. I really would have put them on the spot over gate receipts and season ticket renewals. Especially the latter, to see if it tallied with their response that "season ticket sales have increased". If they've increased, where's the money going?

I'm strictly not an "Ashley out- BOUYCOUTT!" muppet and I think we're doing well not to waste millions (like them down the road for example) but Ashley and Llambias are mugging us off. No two ways about it.

 

What an absolute crock of ****e.

So the fans hate you, that means you shouldn't put money into the club, and make the fans hate you more and want to lynch you? You need to take the criticism just like managers and players do at times, and keep your head down and try and provide.

Also, a different approach? Yes, my approach would be to get real and pay a sum for a striker, instead of pissing about putting tit bit offers in for months until the last minute when we put in the first good offer for a striker of the whole ****ing transfer window, but he's already signing for another club.

The club convince me time and time again that when they put in offers like the Ruiz bid, that they're doing it because they know they will be unsuccessful and say "oh well we tried, they can't blame us now".

 

I don't think I'm alone when I feel that the board's answers have only led to more questions.

 

Best answer so far

 

So you are basically Freddie Sheppard mark II - thank **** you're not running the club.

My point is Ashley doesn't HAVE to put any money into the club - there's no obligation for him to do so. So why bother? If someone who just slagged you off all the time and you really hated told you what to do, would you just "put your head down and get one with it?" - bollocks. It's ridiculous you have an expectation that Ashley should do exactly what you want him to do. Grow up, this is real life, and real business. Unfortunately, it means we're stuck with this **** on the football field because we don't have an owner who treats the football club as a fun hobby. Oh well, I'll still be supporting through thick and thin so - in your words- just get your head down, keep supporting the club, and get on with it, stop pissing and moaning about ashley.

 

.... and by the way - I hate having Ashley as an owner so don't put me down as an "ashley fan" - I think these answers go quite a way to explaining what they did, and isn't that what we wanted?