Nolan sticks by decision to sell Carroll.

Nolan on Carroll and money.
Kevin Nolan has today insisted that Newcastle were right to sell Andy Carroll and claims that the money brought into the club will benefit NUFC in the long run.

Naturally there is going to be a lot of focus on the whole Andy Carroll saga this weekend as it is the first time that former striker and former club will come together. The travelling fans are expected to make their feelings known if Carroll is fit enough to feature and I imagine that he will be a target for some considerable abuse from the Anfield Road end of the ground.

Nolan had a hand in helping Carroll make his mind up at the time, and it’s perhaps understandable that the Gateshead lad would have looked to Nolan for advice given how close the two players had become during their time playing together.

“People blame Andy for going but you can’t really blame anyone,” Nolan told The Independent. “You can’t blame the owners. The money they got was absolutely unbelievable. Andy was sort of, ‘What should I do? Should I go? Should I stay?’ If a club wants to pay £35m for you, anyone in any business, when they sit down and think about it, they’d say you’ve got to go.”

“It was for the best for the club. It’s worked out for us better that Andy has gone, although we’d love to have him still here and if he was we’d probably have a few more points on the board and would probably be able to build a great team around him.”

“But to get £35m for him… we’d probably have taken £10m for him the season before, or £4m before we got relegated. It just shows what he’s done in a short space of time. But now he’s got a new chapter in his life and we’ve got a lot of money to spend.”

Ultimately the real test of whether or not selling Andy Carroll was a good or bad thing will come in the summer when we see if the owner and management are serious about spending money to strengthen the team. I don’t expect us to start throwing around cash on star players all of a sudden, but I do expect the team to be stronger than what it is now. Nolan seems to share my view:

“£35m! Come on! You can get four or five players in for that. It works the best way you can possibly think of. We’re in such a fantastic position now. At the time we had to let Andy go. The money we got was astronomical.”

Nolan is still in contact with Carroll, which goes back to the fact that they are mates I guess, but he does admit that Carroll has changed in the run up to the match. This game will allow everyone to get their feelings off their chest and will hopefully allow people to move on – even Carroll. Nolan continued:

“He’s been a bit sheepish with me this week. He’s desperate to play against the lads and it will put a bit of closure to the thing – the fact that he’s not a Newcastle player, seeing us playing against him, and kicking him of course.”

“It’ll hit him when he sees Newcastle, the team he grew up with and loved for so long, and Liverpool, his team now, are playing against them. If he does play on Sunday he’ll do his best and it’s up to him to deal with that.”

Some interesting stuff there. Nolan is right that the Carroll deal could be good for the club, but only if the money is spent on improving the squad and keeping hold of current players. If we do neither then what was the point in selling Carroll?

Ah well, time will tell.

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

89 thoughts on “Nolan sticks by decision to sell Carroll.

  1. I just can’t wait until he comes back to SJP and sees what he’s been missing, the atmosphere, the fans, the city etc. He could have had it all but instead he will have 50,000 fans abusing him constantly for 90 minutes. At that point he will realise what a huge error he made in leaving.

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  2. So Nolan said “you’ve got to go” then? Nice. Cheers skip.

    I suppose it won’t matter if the squad is strengthened though, but I’m still a bit disappointed that Nolan was no trying to say to Carroll that his future was here.

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  3. I hope the team is not stranger than what it is now come summer toonsy, we need strength in depth 😆

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  4. In spite of the furore surrounding the sale and the bad blood, £35m for an injured player with 6 months prem experience, is good business.

    That said, I’d sooner he was in the black and white.

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  5. If what Nolan is saying is right and Judas was asking his advice, it’s nice to know our club captain has confirmed yet again that he more or less packed Judas’s bags for him and couldn’t wait to get him to join the bindippas that he supports.
    I don’t blame the club for selling him once he wanted off, but i think Nolan who obviously has influence over Judas, could have done a lot more to convince him to stay. Would be interesting to know if he would have been so positive for him to go if it had been any other club than Liverpool

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  6. Given the choice of Carroll in black and white stripes or 35m quid in the bank for team strengthening, I’d take the cash.

    I’d bet Nolan thought the same thing.

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  7. No wonder young Carroll left. The club wanted the money and told him there’s the helicopter and his best pal at the club and captain advised him it was the best thing. Offered £80k per week and a signing on fee of around £4m.
    Hmmmmm. And you criticise Carroll.
    It’s the club and Nolan you should all be looking at . 😥

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  8. it still hurts but every time I think about it properly I’d rather have 35mil. SO so so vital that this money is reinvested properly. Thanks God for Graham Carr cos I would not trust Pardew and his ego to get the job done himself.

    Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero Kevin Gamiero
    please.

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  9. Nah I’d never question Kevin Nolan. I think this just sums him up, he’s honest and a real top friend to the players.
    It would have been amazing if Carroll had turned him down and become a geordie great,but Liverpool along with Man Utd will always be huge, they have done enough that their worldwide appeal will always be there.
    I’m really trying my best not to hate Carroll cos i think he will be class for England, if we spend the money in the summer and get some good replacements i think that’ll be ‘closure’ for me haha!

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  10. Bobby…why shouldn’t we criticise Carrol, as fans of the club we love, lots of people obviously feel let down. We can also criticise the club and Nolan at the same time, and rightly so, they all played a part, and in the end caused an uproar that the paying punters had to deal with. There was a whole comedy of badly timed errors and deceit surrounding this issue.

    If you look at the figures that you quote, young Carroll couldn’t say no, and the club either imo.

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  11. Will always despise Carroll for leaving half way through a vital season when we werent anywhere near safe, Agree with the nolan sentiments about buying 5 or so players with the cash, I compared it to when Everton sold lineker to barcelona, used the money to bring in 5 other players and ended up winning the league and trhe cup winners cup the season after.

    Not saying well be winning owt but if we can sign two strikers, a winger and some defensive cover and keep vital players at the club its good business…

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  12. Solanos trumpet, dead right mate, there will be some “closure”, and from that perspective I hope that Carrol does play on Sunday to get this most definitely venomous occasion out of the way. But for me personally the site of Carroll in a Liverpool and England strip is going to wind me up for at least for the next couple of years… together with the media fawning just to rub our “deluded Geordie” noses in the mire.

    What could help overcome this would be some healthy activity in the transfer market during the summer, and some signs that the toon are heading in the right direction on the field….we all wait with bated breath… 🙄 🙄

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  13. On the same subject, there will probably be an increased police presence on Sunday to cope with the 3000 worked up and radged Geordies decending on Liverpool, I mean the scousers aren’t gonna let the opportunity pass them by to rip the p out of the toon fans either….it’s gonna be an electric occasion if Carroll plays, hope the right toon 11 turns up for the occasion… 😆

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  14. I can’t argue with Nolan, you just can’t for what he’s done for us. But when he went on Liverpool TV after we sold him and basically rubbed it in even more was wrong of him – that pissed me off.

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  15. Toonsy @3 and GeordieDeb

    Well we dont know the full story, what happened and how eagerly Carroll wanted to leave and maybe we will never know, unless Joey Barton writes an autobiography….

    This statement has come from Nolan just to calm Carroll down, who is not sure about the reception that he will get and is obviously nervous and most probably wont feature against us…

    After seeing JMou and Pep cursing at each other and each accusing the other for conspiracy and then claiming they are good friends and respect each other, its nice to see a genuine respect among old team mates. Sums up the spirit in the camp.

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  16. Personally – I don’t blame the club for wanting and taking the cash. I don’t blame Carroll for wanting and taking the cash (though I would have waited and got a contract when it was next renegotiated)

    I do blame Carroll for telling lies and laying a false trail saying he was forced out. He knew the trouble that would cause the club and the upset of the fans, they may have turned against the club again. But he lied and tried to cover his tracks instead of being a man about it – some wouldn’t have liked it but they would have understood.

    He didn’t care about the club or fans – Carroll is a scumbag – nothing else. He deserves every bit of hatred thrown at him.

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  17. On the Enrique front, I think the sale of Carroll was the straw that broke the camels back. I don’t think there’s anything other than signing 4 class players that would change his mind.

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  18. @stardust
    Oh and you know Carroll lied?
    To be fair nobody knows other than who was at the meeting.
    What we all know as facts are the club are prepared to lie as has been shown by the Keegan tribunal.
    Previous bad character goes against them and therefore my side falls on the side of young Carroll.

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  19. And no I’m not talking to myself.
    If you want to see the two of us then come out for a drink for the w.brom game.

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  20. Bobby

    Carroll was the one who asked to leave, he’s the one who asked for a new contract knowing we would say no giving him an excuse to hand in a transfer request, he’s the one who signed a contract for Liverpool. Ashley rejected the 35 million bid until Judas asked to leave.

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  21. Carroll told the Newcastle Evening Chronicle on Tuesday: “[Managing director] Derek [Llambias] asked me to hand in a transfer request, so I was pushed into a corner and had no choice. I wasn’t wanted by them and they made it clear they wanted the money.
    “Then I flew down in [owner Mike Ashley’s] helicopter. I didn’t want to leave. I’m gutted that I wasn’t wanted at my home team after everything I have done and the progress I have made. I didn’t want to leave at all. Make sure they know I didn’t want to leave. The players, staff and fans were fantastic.”
    At 2.37pm GMT on Monday, Carroll told Wraith he was “not going anywhere”, but by 5pm Carroll had said: “They have kind of said we don’t want u but want me to say I wanna go. And I said I don’t want to go.”
    Newcastle claimed that they accepted Liverpool’s £35 million offer after the striker handed in a transfer request, but Carroll said: “No I didn’t that’s what I mean that’s what they wanted me to do and I said no. They said they wanted to accept it.”
    Asked if he had no choice but to move to Anfield, he replied: “Looks like it.”
    Wraith then asked Carroll if he had “any message you want put across to the fans?” Carroll replied: “They said they wanted the money. Gutted to be leaving Newcastle but I was kind of pushed out the door. Gutted to be leaving my home club but I was practically told to go. Didn’t want to leave that’s why i signed a five-year deal.”

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  22. Bobby – the fact the club have report Liverpool for appointing an agent for Carroll should help you along – my thick little legged mate

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  23. Read Carrolls version.
    The club are proven liars.
    I rest my case my little gimpy friend.

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  24. Bobby

    Read the facts, Carroll asked to leave after we rejected the 35 million pound bid.

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  25. This is pointless, Liverpool had the money to keep raising the stakes until the point where somebody cracked. Who cracked is irrelevant because sooner or later somebody was going to. as it is the club has more money than anybody dreamed he was worth. Carroll has career move he is happy with. move on.

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  26. Stardust – Agree. The fact that Liverpool hired an agent to work for Carroll says it all to me.

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  27. I find it funny how those who bleat in about the club being proven liars a couple of years ago aren’t willing to give them another chance, yet those same people give the likes of Joey Barton and Carroll himself chance after chance after chance.

    Hypocritical much?

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  28. Bobby – why are you always contrary? You’re such an attention seeker its almost as embarrassing as your half mast, crocs and orange tan!

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  29. @Andrew
    Clearly you haven’t read Carrolls facts or you just want to believe the clubs account.
    Again I say, they lied to us all over Keegan.
    According to Carroll they told him they wanted the cash and asked him to submit a transfer request.
    He knew he wasn’t wanted at that stage and was forced out .

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  30. If you are going to force someone, why would they have to ask? Surely they’d just tell him?

    I still say that Carroll didn’t have to put it in writing.

    Still, been and gone now. He aint our player anymore and once we’ve had our pisstake of him tomorrow people can finally move on 🙂

    The future is bright, unlike Carroll 🙂

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  31. Bobby

    Why do you waste your time supporting us if you find the club are complete and utter liars? Why bother?

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  32. My avatar should change soon. Bobby inspired me to fix myself up with a Judas Carroll one 🙂

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  33. Starbob @ 25. Love to meet you for a drink at the West Brom game. You pay for me to get there and I’ll buy the drinks.

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  34. The whole Carrol situation is still too sensitive obviously, and will remain so for a long time I fear. But the headline of this paricular post “Nolan sticks by Carroll…..” is the real issue to be discussed imo…

    It surprises me that the part Nolan played in the Carrol move can be seemingly ignored by the fans ? I mean the club captain has gotten off seemingly scot free for his part. The Judas tag has been reserved for Carrol though…?… Yet the media, for example the Chronicle paint the Captain Marvel picture, great lad, held the club together, 12 goals etc, but he also went through a radge period with AC a few months ago which seems to have been forgotten about, and accepted by the club….new three year deal in the offing etc…maybe the club are rewarding his part played in the Carrol move ? But I’m perhaps a negative conspiracy theorist ? 🙄 🙄

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  35. @Andrew
    Clearly you are young and don’t quite get the understanding of supporting the club having experienced the times when I used to stand with 12,000 others in the rootless gallowgate end watching booby ******* shinton!
    Once you’ve experienced the Keegan and Robson era as well as the Richard Dinnis era then you
    jmay get a slight in idea why I criticise this
    regime.

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  36. Does it have to be Dinnis? I mean he did get us to Europe 😉

    How about the McFaul, Sugget, Smith and Ardilles era’s? Even worse than anything else before with the club on the verge of what is now League 1…..

    As for worst owners, you’ll never ever beat McKeag…

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  37. We all have differing opinions about the regime. I just believe we will stagnate and drift off to another mediocre size club under this regime. I genuinely don’t believe his policies will work.
    Time will tell and one of us will be proven right. I hope it’s you. !

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  38. One thing I will do, is also put my hands up and say I was wrong if, Nolan, Barton and Enrique sign new deals.

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  39. @toonsy
    They’ve sold 90% of last seasons tickets that’s all.
    We only averaged 44k/45k .
    Down 7k from a few years ago.
    That figure would be way less if they weren’t desperately providing good deals. That’s not will by the club it’s desperation.

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  40. Booby – you over many a pint have expressed your surprise to me just how well the club have done in getting much better players for little outlay.

    So why do you tell fibs here?

    HBA, Williamson, Best, Tiote etc?

    Come now Booby – tell the truuuuuuthhhh

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  41. @Josh
    The fans won’t always be there.
    You are clearly young.

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  42. MM your spot on I have said a few times that it surprised me how our Captain got away scot free, for advicing one of our best players to leave the club.
    Its just not what I expect from one of our players let alone Club Captain.
    Bobby if Judas was being forced out why was he asking Tugboat foradvice on wether he should go ?

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  43. Well id say the majority of the fans would stick by the club as we did during the championship season

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  44. Bobby – Incorrect. Read, properly, what the club said.

    – Season ticket renewals at highest for five years.
    – Of those that have renewed, 90% of them have opted for the ten year deal.

    That is where you are getting the 90% from.

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  45. Big D – how you doing fella – I was as surprised as you re Nolan but what I will say is that Nolan in todays Journal again says he wouldn’t leave Carroll with his kids as the house may get burned down or his car again. Granted it was said in jest but maybe Carrolls off field antics were another reason for all parties why a deal was a good thing.

    If Nolan was wrong I would have expected his team mates to react against him in some minor way – they haven’t so maybe that’s telling too.

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  46. @stardust
    They’ve done better than I thought, definitely.
    However, as I’ve said, the blue chip players are vital to the future success. I maintain, if you don’t provide decent prospects and wages for them they will be off.
    Back to square one.
    As I say, if they sign up then fair do’s but from what ice seen and read and spoke to players, I don’t think so.
    The players don’t know or trust the board the same as us .

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  47. But Bobby you chose to ignore what we were told just for the sake of the argument by “your source”

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  48. @toonsy
    Howay, don’t juggle things to suit. We all know the deadline day for the 10yr deal is brought forward.
    Hence the highest ticket sales in 5yrs, meaning at this stage of the year.
    5 yrs ago we were getting capacity crowds and sales had not fallen off due Ashley just arriving.
    Exasperation is setting in here.

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  49. Stardy hope all’s good mate, I was wondering where you went too, as I heard you were thinking of going back to .organd donors to halt the slide 😆

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  50. Bobby…as you mention at @46, you obviously go a way further back than a lot of our “younger” bloggers. But I think you’re shooting yourself in the foot big time when you slag off our current regime against the likes of Westwood, McKeag, Stan Seymour, Dinnis, Ardiles etc. I mean, the toon fans have always winged about the “people upstairs”…

    The first Keegan coming, and the John Hall era brought us out of the norm mundane toon situation that is virtually no “success”, no cups, average mid table finish, no success, pinning all our hopes on “the number 9 legend” which goes round the toon…

    Us older fans know (I used to stand in the old roofed Leazes End) that we haven’t EVER achieved owt. John Hall, KK, Alan Shearer & Sir Bobby (plus any other respected parties who helped us along the way) gave us a brief sniff of the big time, Champs League etc….It was a great era which was great to experience, but was allowed to die. In fact it was the fact that this was allowed to die, due to bad decisions, managers, bad aplayer purchases etc that opened the door for the current regime to take over ! etc

    Clubs go through “eras” when the stars collude, and crazy things happen….Nottingham Forest and Villa Champions League winners, Leeds United’s demise, Man Utd were also in the second division, Everton were once beating everyone throughout Europe with an absolutely brilliant team, Liverpools recent demise, Wimbledon FFS….everyone suffers.

    Why should we be any different, it could have been a whole lot worse if we hadn’t of bounced straight back up….(with the current owners too by the way)….

    We are rebuilding, but we need to be realistic…let’s support the black and white stripes !!! ….(end of nostalgia rant 😆 😆 😆 😆 !!)….

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  51. @big Dave
    What ever you do, don’t go for a pint with Stardust. You’ll look like Arnie and Danny d’Vito!! 😉

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  52. Lol Dave got to admit I do take some satisfaction from “what goes around comes around” re TC’s classic line “Wanky Tissue”

    “You reap what you so” and any other cliché you can think of!

    I am in my new house, the connection to the web is terrible but apparently Toonsys made a few setting changes so I can now post from my phone as well as read

    Alls well fella cheers

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  53. @Munich mag
    Believe me I do support them .
    I go to every game and some away and cheer the team.
    Just like many fans have issues with Pardew and vent their spleen doesn’t mean they don’t support the club. The same people who slag Pardew, call me for criticising the regime.
    I’ve no problem but it’s hypocritical .

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  54. Woo hoo hoo hoo!
    @stardy
    “you reap what you so”

    Thats a new one!

    I thought it was “you reap what you sew”

    What a gimp you are. 😛

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  55. If the club was still owned by the Hall and shepherd family etc.. where do you think the club would be now?

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  56. Nolan should keep his trap shut tbh, I like him as a player and captain, but he seems to put his feelings for Andy above the club…errr? 😛

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  57. Josh
    It’s about a balance.
    I don’t think there’s any doubt if shepherd and hall had appointed the right managers at the right time we would not have ended up in any financial mess.
    The manager were rightly backed by the board at the right time but the managers blew it.
    Ashleys pendulum is too far the other way, not by a great deal but enough to set us off in the wrong direction.
    Ps
    If it wasn’t for SJH original vision we may have gone out of business in 1991.

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  58. @stardy
    You are that thick, I tried to do you again and you still didn’t notice!!!
    It’s sow not sew. 🙄

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