On the face of it, our position is pretty bad and the mags are enjoying an excellent start to the season. But is all as it seems? I for one am reasonably pissed off by what's gone on on the pitch and have come to the conclusion that it's mostly down to Bruce's tactics which have led me to sign up to the BoB. If he can't put out an attacking formation against Norwich then he is not the man for me. We were supposed to be looking towards the european places with our overhauled squad and he's terrified of having a go at a promoted club? Lunacy. Bruce's tactics apart (and he may yet surprise me) our club is financially sound, owned by a man who has converted his debt into share capital (i.e. it's not "debt" any more), we have a chairman with the club's best interests at heart and a squad full of as yet unexploited talent. The mags on the other hand have something rotten in the heart of their club, namely Ashley and his debt. Everything else is turning out nicely for them at the moment, although Pardew's current "success" has much to do with Chris Hughton as anything, if you ask me. However, whatever their players achieve on the field, I still sense that lurking underneath is the old Ashley knack of sticking his oar in when it's not wanted. What if a nice juicy offer for Tiote comes his way? If Ba's knees start to wobble and Pardew wants another striker as cover? That's where their problem lies. We may have an issue with our manager's crappy tactics, but we're sound in all the fundamentals. The mags are doing very well on the football side and there's no point pretending otherwise, but their foundations will always be shaky until Ashley sells up. Having calmed down a bit after the surrender at Norwich (maybe we should play in yellow?) a quick think about our respective positions leads me to conclude that we're too down in the dumps and the mags are being a bit premature in their gloating. I no longer trust Bruce to get it right, but I think that if we can get a sound tactical brain in as manager soon we'll start to close the gap on the mags and maybe this year reverse our usual trick of starting well and then fading badly.
Laugh away Des. I would. But I think we're getting too down in the mouth now. Anyway, you've been bossing the derbies, so it's hardly all been going our way, has it? Anyway, I think the main point is that we're not far off being a decent outfit, if we can get some proper tactics in place, and Bruce is not up to it IMO.
Ashley is hated by many fans, including me. But he has paid off all our debt and doesn't want paying back, so has technically given the club a gift of £200million. You say what would happen if we sell Tiote etc, well the same was said with Carroll, Nolan, Barton, Enrique etc etc, and we have continued to go from strength to strength. We have a manager who has proven all the critics wrong and continued to get 100% out of all his players, taking us up to the next level. We have a scout that continues to unearth gems like Cabaye, Tiote and Ben Arfa for a total of less than £15million. All these things together mean that whatever daft move MA makes next, we have what it takes to come out of it stronger. We have team spirit and character, while you don't. That in my opinion is the main difference, no worries from me about what Mike Ashley does.
If Quinn does listen to the fans and peddles Bruce. Who would you want to take over? Chopping and changing managers isnt the answer. Were living proof of that.
Fair do's for once, CTR. But I think you're wrong about Ashley. He may not want the money back from the club, but he'll sure as hell want it back from any purchaser. And how much more is he going to stick in?
It would have to be a proven performer like Moyes or a younger up-and-coming type like Poyet or Lambert. Moyes for me though; he's done wonders at Everton.
Correct, in fact this is the reason he hasn't sold the club yet, asking price too high. But eventually he'll have to lower his asking price, or stick with us for the long haul. I think a lot of us are coming round to the idea of having an "eventful" owner anyway, better than the boring old Everton's/Wolves of this world where you never get any headlines, good or bad haha
Doesn't matter what is happening off the pitch as long as we're getting results on the pitch. We could be run by Gaddafi for all I care as long as we win games.
Got to say I think Pardew is doing a fantastic job. Christ knows what he really thinks of his teams deluded filthy scummy fans. Bart
he loves us actually, as does a certain other manager in the premierleague that i don't care to mention
