How are you feeling about this summer/next season?

I'm just wondering how all of you are feeling about next season.

Ofcourse i'm already looking forward to it and dreading this 3 months of no football.

However, i'm mostly extremely nervous.

I've just got this horrible feeling that we're going to lose a couple of our best players, and we're going to fail in our attempts to get the players we want and we're going to have to settle for someone like Carlton Cole and play all season playing hoof ball with either him or Shola upfront.

I've also got a bad feeling that's come on over the last few days, that Ben Arfa is going to unfit to start the season and he's going to be extremely injury prone and only play every so often.

I'm just having nightmares that Enrique and Tiote will be sold and we'll start the season with this -

---------Harper--------
Simmo-Taylor-Colo-Ferguson
Larsson-Barton-Guthrie-Gutierrez
----------Nolan--------
----------Cole---------

I know i'm just being pessimistic, but it's constantly in the back of my mind. I've just got this feeling that something is going to go wrong and we'll have a string of bad news.

I'll be hopeful though. It seems i'm either overly optimistic or totally pessimistic.

 

Too early for these questions, we only finish the last season on Sunday. Sorry but ask me again in July.

 

I'm getting myself ready for another season like 08-09 to be honest, I swear I'm not being pessimistic for the sake of it, its just I simply do not trust the higher ups at this club and even Pardew to a certain extent.

Can see us losing all of our best players and our team spirit will go with it, I can see a fair amount of players being brought in but from lower leagues or relegated clubs.

Once again its a case of everything looking rosy and us finally making headway, great season, dedicated players fantastic squad harmony.... first thing Ashley and co do is refuse to give Barton the contract he deserves....this has set a precedent for the rest of the summer in my mind.

 

Good noises from the club suggest they are aiming higher than Cole, but wether the targets sign or not remains to be seen and if they all reject us we may be left with Carlton Cole

These first few weeks are going to be nervous but a few quick quality signings would go a great way towards aleviating that.

 

We are at a MASSIVE crossroads.

 

Lets just say it wont be boring - it never is!

 

I can't wait for the new season to start. I'm not feeling the pessimism that seems to be infecting this forum but am already really cheesed off with all the media bullshit and the constant over reactions to it all.

Next season cannot start soon enough for me!

 

Where is Tiote when you need him. I feel he could sum up my feelings well.....

 

You had to say it didn't you? .... Stopwatch started ...

 

if pardew is right he's wanting to do his deals early so the transfers should be nice and early............ yeah right it's another roller coaster ride with big names dangled in front of us etc. I love being a toon fan it's never boring that's for sure oh and as for 3 mths of no football there's always the Under-21 European Championships this summer in Denmark

 

I really am sticking my foot in it today.....

 

I'm probably putting at least one toe in by saying ... i'm surprised he hasn't responded yet! And cue Tiote ...!

 

St James Park is like a woman. You sometimes love being inside her and just want more, more, more, but you sometimes cant stand her. You think god, i wish i just had a stable and consistant woman...

but then you think... **** that... she may not be perfect, but she's my crazy bitch and i love her, and i wouldn't have her any other way.



My coat.. i'll get...

 

I was optimistic until the Barton news. Now I'm worried about the next couple of months and our first signing will give an indication of the actual intentions of the club. Today really annoyed me when Ferguson gets a 5 year contract but they won't give our best player of this season gone 4 years and lower pay.

 

You sometimes love being inside her and just want more, more, more ......................................

And who would know more about that than BT?

 

I know mate, but there's some people that think Ashley is being sensible by not offering a 28 year old a 4 year contract. It's ridiculous. I know we don't want to see another Alan Smith, but we can't let bad past experiences stop us offering players that have earned new contract from getting them.

He's crazy not to give him a new contract. They signed Ben Arfa after only 1 game, and with a serious injury. They payed 5.5 million and gave him a 5 year contract, and yet they don't think that's as much of a risk as offering Barton a new deal after a near perfect season as our best player by far?

 

Don't ruin the joke mate. I said i'll get my coat.

 

Not offering the player of the season a new contract ( a fair one in my opinion ) is gross stupidity.

 

Exactly, and i sort of see the point some people are making about him being nearly 29 and offering a player of that age a 4 year contract would be a risk.

But is it anymore of a risk then offering a 5 year contract to a player who's not even proven himself at this club and who is still recovering from a massive injury and may not return to form again?

The club are just being stupid. They shouldn't just look at the age, they should look at how the player is doing now, and Barton is in top shape and in the form of his life, and has been our most vital player.

They give Ben Arfa, whos not even proven yet and has a critical injury, a new contract just because he's young?

 

I agree that it's risky to give any player at his age a 4 year renewal but Barton is committing himself for what will be up until the end of his football career and that shows great loyalty on his part. I think it's criminal to simply dismiss that as these days true loyalty is very hard to come by in football.

I just hope it get's resolved as soon as possible because it could hurt the team morale.