Will Rafa stay or go? (poll)

Mike does though. He craves creative friction.

 

Certainly a better defender than Yedlin.

Mind I will say that although I'd sell Manquillo in a heartbeat, he did ok towards the back end. This view is warped somewhat by him setting the bar so low initially and his fellow right back doing nothing to raise it.

You do have to wonder though. Would we not have been better sat here with Kevin Mbabu and James Tavernier as our right back options? Hindsights a wonderful thing of course, but it should be a lesson to us for the future. If the likes of Tavernier and Mbabu were seeing chances, would Gibson have left?

We seem very quick to discard players but many seem to be finding their way back which suggests we have maybe been too hasty. We obviously went through Debuchy, Janmaat so these players were not given a chance. Given the subsequent facts showing neither Debuchy or Janmaat cared much for the club, and also us being relegated, we didn't seem to gain a great deal by sticking with the big names.

Mbabu is still longing for a return to Newcastle and England by all accounts despite recently moving to Wolfsburg for 8m.

Cue the "its only Scotland" brigade...

 

We should have learnt from Danny Simpson. Not amazing attacking or defending but very competent at both.

I was well pissed off that we sent Tavenier on loan, he does well then we get rid. What really was the point?!

 

This is the thing we have done it a few times. You have to wonder where young Longstaff was going if we hadn't got all those injuries. Another loan and then the inevitable "well he hasn't been spellbinding in the Championship so he won't make the PL". Its nonsense of course and is a similar logic in boxing too "Fighter A beat Fighter B, FIghter B beat Fighter C previously, so Fighter A obviously beats Fighter C" - that is until Fighter C banjos Fighter A because styles make fights. If that logic was true, Harry Kane would be playing League 1 football now because his loan spells were nothing to write home about.

Simpson and his treatment by some of ours was poor. Fairweather fans crowing about our upgrade in Debuchy. It was about 6 months before he started angling for a move! A couple of seasons later Simpson, not Debuchy, is holding the PL trophy aloft. Yet still those same fans couldn't see the error stating he was ****e.

Don't get me wrong Simpson is no world beater. He is an incredibly solid and dependable player. Much like Tavernier and Mbabu.

 

According to Luke Edwards, the meeting between Ashley and Rafa is taking place today in London. Either way, we should have news by the weekend.

 

Friday announcement

 

Assume no news is bad news?

 

Or another day supporting NUFC?
It's like practice for the transfer window.

 

Not quite, the “for sale” sign hasn’t gone up yet!

 

From Mike Ashleys point of view. Why would he risk losing the glue that holds the club together? I genuinely think if Rafa leaves, people will stay away this time.

 

Then you are mad as a mongoose. We’ve been through far worse. The hyperbole soon dies down. We will keep going in our droves. Fans connections with this club are not about managers, owners or players. Hence they outstay them all.

We will keep Rafa if he falls in line, maybe with a bit of a bone thrown his way. The owner has stated time and again he will not be pouring any money in. The last accounts told us this club is not generating the money Rafa wants. So either a compromise will get struck (seems likely as Rafa doesn’t have loads of options for what he wants at this stage) or he leaves. There will be minimal input from Mike financially. Which means restricted budgets. I’m sure someone will be along with supporter maths soon to say the money should be there...

 

Just to keep Pouchy happy.

£33M repaid to Mikey in last set of accounts. That should be available this season as rest of loan repayable only on sale.

18M profit last accounts

£11M still available from last year’s transfer budget

Plus this year’s transfer budget £50M per window.

Plus player sales money

We don’t know what money Rafa wants but I’m sure that would be sufficient for him. Would guess the debate is more about procedures and infrastructure than actual transfer kitty.

 

Infrastructures that will need paid for from those funds of course. We spent roughly 54 over two windows last season and the 40m over the previous two. We had to sell 56m to achieve that. 94m divided divided by 4 is 23.5m spend per window. Provided we can sell 11.5 that is what would be available. Plus 29m from profit and non used funds. Us paying Mike 33m would not be involved. Unless we are taking out another loan. Which we won’t be.

On average that would make this windows budget after sales 52.5m if we then have to pay for our upgrades from that for the youth system and training, Rafa ain’t gonna get much.

Maybe they’ll allow loan, maybe they’ll allow him to spend future transfer window budgets early. There should be an upturn in our profitability over the next seasons which may help too. We are not long out the championship and like all promoted clubs we’ve had to juggle our finances to survive. Brighton are finding it difficult and I think they have a similar situation but lack a bit of the ability we do to generate funds.

Rafa isn’t looking to be a little bit better than Brighton though. He needs a sign from the owner he is going to personally invest, sell or seek investment. Otherwise the club can’t progress. Those are the options so our fans should get realistic and realise it can’t be done from club finance. No club on the league can do it. We are no some unique case. I don’t think he wants to **** off. He has a profit making business which his main interest is benefiting from. There is a price, but it’s higher than market because it’s value to him is high. I don’t think he will invest. I don’t think he can see any point. From a business point of view he’s probably right, but from a sporting perspective it’s infuriating. So you are left with investment which he has quietly muted in the past. His behaviour makes a partner unviable to anyone with a smidgeon if business sense. He is a narcissist and will want impose to himself and render their investment futile.

Basically he will kept us in limbo for his own personal gain. That is why these talks can’t break an impasse. He knows Rafas cards. His trump being his reputation, his weakness being his affection for the club and a desire to remain in England where he has few options. I personally believe if Rafas hand was stronger he still wouldn’t budge. He’d just let him walk away. So either Rafa accepts what we are, some dafty offers silly money or we enter another period of roulette.

 

Happiness and full of cheer on a Saturday morning

 

As I said, the debate will likely be about procedures and infrastructure not transfer funds.

 

Rafa ha

Well it wont send me anywhere I can't get any lower.

 

so is his contact Bwi or monty?

 

You’ve created a fake twitter account just to take the piss? ****s sake Albert

 

Its official Rafa is leaving