The 'Team Ethic' thing...

Question - Do we want to be a Wimbledon? full of team ethics, heart, fight and average footballers. Treading water in the league "but boy do those boys put some effort in" type team ? or...do we want to be a progressive team of winners (including the odd whinging overpaid egotistical but class player if need be). Building a team with speed, skill and a bit of class (HBA) to win games rather than the battlers we got promoted with.

Nolans sale, while sad, is a sign of progression in my eyes. The more i think of it the more i think its good for all parties. There is clearly an agenda at SJP this summer and the signing of Cabaye is evidence (to me) that it may be a good one (agenda)....lets just see how the summer roles out.

Its a little risky but how many teams have come up and done okay in their first season. Kept the core of that team and then got 2nd season syndrome and got relegated? Seems to me the managment are (while taking a risk) changing things to try and avoid that trap.

 

Good positive thinking. Now lets hope that it doesn't backfire in anyway at all.

I'm all for cashing in.

 

We're a trading club, a business. We buy players with a view to selling them on later. We have no ambition beyond remaining in the league so we can continue to buy the players we plan to sell.

It's ****.

Just as you develop an attachment to a player they're sold on to be replaced with someone who sees the club as nothing more than a stepping stone to 'bigger things'.

 

Every team needs spirit and im sick to death of hearing it will go if Barton and co leave. 2 men do not keep a TEAM in spirit.

Nolan will be missed but for me if he wanted to stay he would but he won't be that much of a loss.

 

I might get lambasted for this - but I'd rather see a passionate team giving 100%, with team spirit and a genuine love for the club and it's fans.

if i just wanted to see talented mercenaries win stuff, I'd be a Chelsea fan.

And winning something (anything) with a team that fought for it tooth and nail, and was there with the fans the whole way - means a LOT more and is worth waiting for.

 

Might I suggest going to see your local non league side?

I'm all for heart, but we're a professional football club and you need to get better players to improve. Just because someone is better than Kevin Nolan doesn't make them a mercenary, and the fact that he's happily dropped a division tells you about his love for the game (or the level he's able to play it at).

 

Like Birmingham...

 

There is a part of me who feels a bit let down by Nolan and Barton, I think Ashely is a massive tw*t for how he is ruining, sorry I mean running the club but reportedly Nolan reject a 2 year extension to his contract which would give him another four years which I think is perfectly fine for both club and player and Nolan demanding an extra year and leaving because of that is a bit unreasonable.

As for Barton, well I think he really owes both the club and supporters for sticking with him in very testing times and helping to build him back to one of the best English midfielders, so even if the club offered him a two year contract (or extension I am not really sure) then I think he should of accepted it and not demanded a 4 year deal and shut up shop because he was not offered it.

 

In my 36 years of support the toon i know only one certainty. Our fans will never settle for average football. The team ethic thing got us promoted, it kept us in the league last season but rest assured the fans will want to see entertaining attacking football again at SJP and that time will be soon.

Were the 'entertainers' mercenaries? No, but they had a great team ethic too. If our team wins games the team ethic will be there as winning breeds the positivity in the team.

 

I'm on your side. Maybe I'm too much of a romanticist but I prefer watching players that give 100% than better players that give 80%. I remember how sick I felt after watching us play in 08/09 and I don't want to risk that feeling again. I watch football to be entertained (which is impacted heavily by winning) and I just don't get entertainment from watching players I despise (step up Michael Owen)

 

We're a trading club, a business. We buy players with a view to selling them on later. We have no ambition beyond remaining in the league so we can continue to buy the players we plan to sell.

It's ****.

Just as you develop an attachment to a player they're sold on to be replaced with someone who sees the club as nothing more than a stepping stone to 'bigger things'.

Its the attachment to the player that gets played on. Nolan has used the fact he has put in the season of his life to get a 5 year deal, Barton has put in one good season in 4 and Enrique is the same..... Jonas, he wont get a look in next year anyway and without Jose covering him he will be pony....

Get rid of Nolan, Barton, Jonas and Jose if thats what they want, as long as they are replaced i dont think they will be missed.

Cabaye already in, potentially Gardner, Reo Coker, Barnetta, Neil Taylor, M'Bengue, Ba and Erdinc. If these go through the above wont be missed.

Like many before him Nolan got greedy.... 50k a week until he is 34? We are only just getting rid of Smith why let Nolan fill his shoes. He is slow now at 29.

 

Younger foreign players aren't necessarily mercenaries are they? Look at Sol Campbell, Michael Owen, Mark Viduka, Babayaro, Geremi etc. We aren't buying past-it, overpaid players anymore. We're investing in young, exciting, highly rated youngsters with their best years ahead of them and on relatively low wages (Ben Arfa, Cabaye etc). It's inevitable that we have to replace our favourite players from time to time.

I'm all for team spirit but if Joey Barton's antics continue to damage the club's image and rile the fans then he can **** off an'all.

 

It's about balance for me. You build on the good things you have. Maintain the team spirit while adding quailty. Just as it is no good having a team full of triers, it's also no good having a team full of good players but no one in the squad with an understanding of the league. You need team spirit aswell as quality. These guys are pretty clueless for me and are once again showing their naivity with regards to football. They don't understand the need for balance. It comes down to money and I'm not surprised to come back from holiday and find these developments. They have shown time and time again they don't understand football. Jose and Barton will be next. We're pretty stupid. What we needed to do was add quality to what we had. Instead we're getting rid of our quality and replacing them with unproven talents in the hope we make a profit. It's the way the club is under this regime. Make no mistake about it, the likes of Barton, Nolan and Jose are the heartbeat of the team. To those who think it's as simple as just buying good players and dropping them in and it all works, its naive in the extreme. Football just does not work like that.

 

Exactly this! If you look at teams like Man City, they started out this season as just talented players, over the season they grew as a team (see the win over Man U in FA Cup) by winning games...hopefully this is what we can aim for!

 

Nothing could damage our club's image.

 

I like how because HBA and any other skilled players we'll sign are skilled, they apparently only give 80%. I seem to remember Ben Arfa giving 100% in his first couple of games until De Jong struck.

How about our team progresses... with talented players who always give their all, like Tiote, Saylor, Jonas, Colo and Barton do. I can only think of one player at this club who is a talented mercenary guilty of not giving 100% all the time.

 

Massive difference with Man City. Daft comparison. They are spending 20m per player. The risk is greatly reduced. Buying guaranteed world class players is completely different to what we're doing. Lets keep it right. I'd be very surprised to see improvement next year if Jose, Jonas and Barton follow as is expected.

 

I don't think you could accuse any of our players as being mercenaries for the simple reason that Ashley will be paying them **** all. I still feel a lot of them are using the club to get a move to a top four side. Or Liverpool it would seem.

 

Well he's on 50k a week, is unwilling to negotiate a new deal and will probably sign for the sort of team that have more money than sense these days.

 

I dont see how we are 'cashing in' on Nolan. I bet it will be under £4 million. Thats barely anything in the current climate. We already have £35 million from the Caroll deal. I think we should have kept him, but signed better players as well, so he is only backup. THAT would be progress.