The dust has settled on a disappointing – yet not unexpected – loss at Stamford Bridge. It’s a testament to the squad and how far we have come to see how much expectation there was going into this game and this was buoyed by the fact we were undefeated at the Bridge in the last 4 meetings there.
Looking at the teams on paper, particularly the ‘cost’ of some of those names, this result won’t have raised too many eyebrows. Their two best players on the day, Torres and Hazard, cost a combined total of £82 million pounds and are the two crown jewels in a squad that has had over 1 Billion pounds spent on it since some Russian with a coleslaw face and an outstanding accountant bought them. I would estimate the cost of our whole team on the day cost about half of those two alone!
I highlight the word ‘cost’ as this is completely different to ‘value’ What a player costs and what his value is depends on who you are speaking to and which day of the week it is. Unfortunately though, I can’t see Chelsea finishing below us this year. The gulf in class was evident for all to see and even though I would say we were the better team on the ball in the second half, it would be naive to think Chelsea had even pulled out of second gear being two goals up at home and against a team just back from the other side of Europe.
This isn’t just a scripture of excuses from me though, Chelsea had the quality on the day to win the 3 points, no arguments there.
I feel the top half of the table is more competitive than it was last season. Teams like Everton, Swansea and Liverpool are all going to be looking to finish above us and with us fighting on 4 fronts this season I don’t expect to see us floating round the top 4. We just don’t have the squad and this is something I find really disappointing. As well as we have done the past 3 seasons in exceeding expectations year on year, I wonder what we will class as exceeding our expectations this year with our lack of ambition in the transfer market.
I think we expect to have a decent cup run and by that I mean get to the quarter finals in some sort of cup competition and we expect to finish between 5th – 8th in the league. Can’t really see us doing any better than that, can you? To exceed expectations this year would be a cup final or a Champions League spot. Realistic expectations are for us to stay the same or to go backwards. If we aren’t ‘exceeding’ expectations this season…..will the fans be as happy?
You look at our starting XI and you would reckon we’d give anyone a game. I think we always have a strong chance of getting a result with our battling team, a positive mentality and the odd trick up our sleeves. A fully fit and sharp XI is going to be a rarity during such a demanding season in which rotation is going to be influenced by the inevitable yet unpredictable suspensions, injuries, fitness and loss of form.
We are now 3 competitive games into the season in which every single result matters. Points gained or dropped now can have such an impact at the end of things. There can literally be a point in the race for European qualification and a heavy windfall at stake. That’s why I don’t understand our preparation for this new season and why things haven’t been sorted a lot better than they could have been.
Pre-season was an absolute shambles in my opinion. It’s great we got to see how much potential Bigi, Amal and Abeid have but what we should have been doing is getting as many of our first team fit as possible. I know that a couple of the lads were given extended breaks after the internationals yet the majority started the Premier League season with no sharpness at all as our schedule was all over the place. Games were cancelled or re-arranged and this meant that time which should have been spent on the training ground integrating new signings and working on the 4-4-2 formation we have been playing was actually spent flying around Europe for hastily arranged friendlies with our reserve team playing for the majority of precious playing minutes available. It was good preparation for the second string in the EURO cup maybe yet I didn’t see too much benefit in Athens the other night and don’t see how it benefited us in preparation for a competitive start in the league.
The lack of concrete activity in the transfer market is concerning too. We have received a hefty wedge in transfer fees, TV rights, season tickets and the release of a new set of shirts at about £50 a punt. We also ‘sold’ our stadium name for no reason whatsoever other than to promote a tacky sports shop. We have shaved off decent earners in Guthers, Smudge, Loven and Besty freeing up resources to play with yet up until now, Anita is our only real strong signing who you would say could be a first teamer during this whole window. There is still time and they could still surprise us but why wait so long to strengthen in the right areas? I would have thought getting players in and settled before the season kicks off would have been the blueprint!
This isn’t your typical moan because we lost at the weekend. I’d have said the same had we beat them. We need signings and we need them now or else we face another season of mid table mediocrity and no real prospect of any silverware. European qualification via the league finish is going to be a much tougher ask when you lose more players than you bring in and have more games to contend with throughout the season.
There is a feel good factor around the club and we look solid on the pitch yet there are obvious questions regarding our ambition and whether we are just going to sit mid table until these debts have been paid or whether we are going to try and win something and/or get into Europe’s elite competition. I don’t think it’s too much to ask when you have an infrastructure and fan base like ours. Teams like Stoke are happy to sit like that and that’s because they are Stoke. They don’t have the stadium, fanbase or the city to demand success. We do.
A low risk plan without committing to large fees for top talent has been an excellent gamble over the past 2 years…where do we go now though? Finished 5th last season and qualified for Europe….the only way seems sideways or down at the minute.
A few days to go and we’ll know more about the plans of the regime…..we just have to pray that we keep this team together and hope we add some quality. Sounds too good to be true if you ask me!
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159 Comments
expectaions i think we will lose at least 1 player and mite bring 1 in and fatty will be quids in
i still want some rich arab guy
Enough about your personal life Batts…what about the toon?
BATTY dave must be worth a few quid,people queueing up to get stabbed
MORENO i judge nowt yet till window closes then 6/7 games played
I see what your saying but look at Spurs. IMO there were other clubs that had a worse start. Only getting Adebayor after the game with us and then dropping two points at home to the baggies in the last minute. One could argue that they have been floating around the top positions in the premier league for a lot more seasons than we have recently. So by the laws of nature they should be more established right? They still have players heading for the exits and they don’t know what is going on or what their squad is going to be like on the 1st of September.
In terms our our squad I think we have some key problems that could have been sorted out and haven’t. Number one is the fact that we let two strikers leave and haven’t replaced either. So we are playing more games than last season with less strikers to pick from. Cisse and Ba can’t play every game. Next is the Simpson situation, for me he has actually been playing better in these last two games. He has his limitations but he seemed to know what he was good at in the first two games and stuck to it. Keeping back in a defensive position to allow for Ben Arfa’s limited defending. The club need to decide whether they are going to keep him or not and act on it. Otherwise it will become a Guthrie situation where we lose a premier league player to a rival for nothing.
Are swansea really seen as a serious threat to the european places because of two wins against shite teams, If they had played the two matches we have they would be rock bottom and odds on for relegation.
Jeezzzz some people are never feckin happy….
We’re 2 games into a 36 game season & already we’re doomed…. get a grip ffs, we have several players who’ve just finished ramadan, so won’t be up to speed just yet…. we’ve had a shyte pre-season due to not being able to play any games at SJP cause of the ollies & the whole squad had been dragged all over Europe to get some games sorted, as well at playing in the Euro’s too… plus the fact most of the squad have just returned from Greece with 24hrs rest before playing the current CL champs at there own ground…. I think they deserve some credit for keeping it at just 2-0 imo…
Our next 2 games are at home with 3 days between them, the we have a 2 week break for Internationals, so the team can get knitted together & sorted out…
If when we’re played half the season & we’re still playing shyte, then fans will have the right to moan but until then, give it a rest yeah, it’s tiresome & petty but then again, it is Batty I suppose
CC
Not in my opinion, can you remember B’pool? Hull City? What happened to them?
i completely agree with Moreno.
Lack of ambition and too much gamble from the board.
The only thing i have faith in is that the board have done this in the past three transfer windows and somehow it has worked out for the best.
Cabaye and cisses form is really poor and it speaks trouble.
Tiote will go to arsenal i think
a hard season ahead for the fans..
Hope i am wrong
Sorry for not sticking to a specific discussion point. Having not written for the site for so long I had a few different things I was thinking about and I didn’t want it to drag on.
DJG,
Difference with Spurs though is a new manager. Pards has had loads of time to liase with Carr and the board to get new faces in. I understand if clubs are playing hardball with fees etc….but howay, how much less were we bidding for the players we wanted against their price set by the sellers…couple of million maximum.
My point is that by being so bloody tight, we aren’t going to improve much this season and last season we punched above our weight I can only see us going backwards in the league
Moreno excellent thread Lad and I agree with you, I just think it’s a sad situation that we had a real chance to try to push on, and even Jabba has a chance to globally market his tacky sports retailing company, and up to now we haven’t took the chance we have.
we were already weak last season and we are even weaker now with a bigger workload, Jabba’s love of gambling seems to be out weighing his ambitions for the club.
Ice I know what your saying about judging after 6/7 games but I think I can judge now that we should have strengthened before now and grabbed the chance
If we brought in a cb and a quick attacking player, I would be more confident. As of now, I can’t see us doing better than 8th
It’s not a case of ‘not being happy’
In general, I am ecstatic. I love our team and watching us play at the moment. That doesn’t negate the fact pre-season and transfers have been total garbage
Ice, problem is that after 7 or 8 games, if there’s a problem it’s too late.
Successful businesses and companies forecast and are proactive rather than reactive.
Toon69 did the club not already know about the olympics ? because they should have had a decent preseason arranged ,
Most of the squad have just returned ? only 2 of them played so whats that got to do with it ?
AndrewT
I would say 8th is a realistic expectation mate. Will the fans (in general) be content with that though and 3 mediocre cup runs
Good read, I thought the same thing yesterday. Obviously we’re not all fit or sharp and Tiote was a miss. I perfectly understand about balancing the books and what have you but what good is that when the teams underneath us have invested. Chelsea obviously alot! Liverpool, Everton, Swansea, Fulham, Sunderland. They have all invested, some more than others obviously and I dont want Newcastle to go out and splash £12m on Steven Fletcher for goodness sake but I couldnt help feel that if we had perhaps brought in Debuchy, a centre half and a striker then our chances yesterday would have increased. For example I think Simpson is a good right back and had a decent game on the whole yesterday but none of our players bombed up the wing to float crosses in for our big men up front or at least press Chelsea deeper into their own half and give them something to think about. We lacked creativity and too many times we just went for a long ball that resulted in nothing or had no options and passed the ball back to a defender. Same old Newcastle really, I dont mean to be critical but it has to be said. We worked hard yesterday but were simply outclassed. I think without invested and congested fixtures we will finish top 7-10. Teams are gonna just play 451 against us and cut us out of games. Without adding quality to the squad we will suffer. Now if you think about it the failure to invest and a couple of notable departures would send us straight back to mid table mediocrity, nothing wrong with that, certainly not compared to relegation, but with a little ambition we could really cement ourselves as consistent european place contenders. Although im sure ive been saying that for the past 22 years.
DAVE @11 kna mate i meant i dont judge any team for 6/7 games,most know jabba is a tight git,as i have before they just kidding the fans along i mean pardew said last season “mike “wants to know when we are going to sign a c/b what a load of garbish ffs,who holds the purse strings,i just never know who they are trying to kid
Moreno,
I know what you mean but I prefer the way the club is run now. I think it’s very dangerous once you start paying the ‘extra couple of quid’ clubs want. For all we know Lille could have said we value this player at £6m and then we offered that and they turn around and say £7M, then £8M and so it goes on whilst they try and get other clubs interested. I think this has been the summer where we are getting found out a bit as well. Clubs will probably be looking to see who our targets are and we have been restricted to younger players like Amalfitano and Bigirimana. Who to be fair look cracking finds by the scouting team.
Moreno failure to maintain or build on from last season imo is failure, what else can it be seen as because it’s not success
MORENO @14 that comment was aimed at y/day game mate,players should have been brought in to join in pre-season where poss,club have said they are always looking two windows in front,more crap imo
Excellent article which highlights the cracks in our potential.
In order to move on clubs need to invest. We haven’t. While i believe in the MA blueprint and support it, it is not a long term strategy for success.
As fans, we are now looking at the team and wanting it to push on. Under the current squad, we do not have the depth to do that. Keeping hold of your star players is not a recipe for success – it helps, but clubs are familiar with us now and in order to raise the bar you need to add new dynamics.
While i’ve not supported the potential arrival of Carroll, i do believe he carries that extra dynamic and adds another element to our game we don’t potentially have.
I don’t see myself as a negger more a realist really .The fact is we have a chance to consolidate last years achievement and possibly move on if we strengthen where we need too. The fact we havn’t looks neglectfull ,in particular the issue of a CB which we have needed for so long it’s getting silly. Yes there are 5 days or 4 days and 23hrs from midnight tonight ,if you allow for medicals and what have you there’s little chance of more than one more through the door at this late stage. Still you never know the club may blow our minds and bring in 2 or 3 stellar signings in which case I will gladly tip my hat to them.
Failure to Prepare is Preparing to Fail Dave
Don’t get me wrong, we are stronger than we have been in years and I am not being doom and gloom and saying we are going to hugely struggle. You have echoed my sentiments exactly when you said:
” I just think it’s a sad situation that we had a real chance to try to push on”
Bingo.
DJG,
I agree with you on your point about the way we have been run. As a fan though it’s a bit lacklustre sitting in mid table with nowt to aim for with 6 games left and challenging for champs league with 2…I know which you would prefer as a fan. Same as all of us and this is achievable! We have brought in cash, we’re paying off debt…I am not asking us to bankrupt ourselves for the next Mark Viduka! Just spend a few quid like everyone else around us if they want to give us value for money and memorable cup nights
I agree with the idea that we have a starting 11 that can win against anybody. I also agree that we don’t have enough competition for places. However, we are much stronger than we were at the beginning of last season and appear to be building sensibly with have brought 4 players in all appear to be good for their role in the squad.
I don’t get this lack of ambition argument though. Ambition for what. There are at least 3 clubs chasing the last champions league place and we are one of them. No amount of spending would move us up to chasing 3rd as we do not have the cache to attract the likes of Eddy Hazard. We have to build and get the players we want. Which we are doing.
I think we need more players in, ideally 3. But every season I am seeing progress. So bolex to it. I’m happy …. ish.
Does anybody honestly think that we’ll bring in anyone before the window shuts? Usually I’m an optimist, but i just don’t see it happening. We will be lucky to keepy everyone we have
Ice from what I can see they have been pretty good at kidding a lot of fans.
From what I can gather Lille valued Debuchy @ £6 mil or 7.7mil euros and seem to have stuck to that the problem was that Ryder has been quoting our offers as euros while still quoting Lille’s valuation as £’s hence the last crap that Ryder spouted that we offered £6mil when it’s thought to be 6mil Euros they offered.
But I seen a few rags saying today that we are preparing to offer Lille £6mil, so we’ll see what happens there. I also thought it was a bit of a joke that Pards came out and had a go at teams and agents for valuing players to high when we helped create the crazy prices by asking for £35mil for Carroll
Spot on Hoggy9 – It’s a case of stick or twist. Not doing anything we’ll easily slip into that mediocre midtable set up. With a little bit of ambition and investment, we could really push on and create something special.
Moreno @ 16 more importantly will the players be happy with that if its down to the club not showing enough ambition to build on last seasons success
We also need to realise that fresh faces have an uplifting effect on the existing squad as they see our intent to build for the future and the owners realisation that extra bodies are needed and that they arn’t expected to struggle through the season. It’s very important to keep the top players happy that we have ambitions and not just content with survival in the league imo.
Prem,
Always respect your opinion. In this case you have said that we are a team challenging for champs league places, so that’s yours and no doubt many fans expectations.
I don’t think we are. Last season we were out of both cups in no time and just had the league to concentrate on, the CL challenge was totally unexpected. If the board’s ambitions matched that expectation you have…we’d have spent some money.
It’s all about consolidation and clearing the debt in my opinion
Dave ,snap
That’s another argument that is pure speculation. The players won’t like it and will leave. Evidence. Only Arsenal and then only after 7 years of failure.
Prem you say we have brought in 4 players but even Pards himsel said that 3 were players with potential for the future he clearly doesn’t see them as the answer for now.
“Ambition for what” ambition to invest a bit of money on quality additions that we clearly need to try to maintain our position with a slim chance of bettering it, I really don’t hear many people wanting us to push for top 3
Prem ,It’s a valid point though as most international players would want to be competing in Europe at one level or another.Do you honestly think Cabaye , Krul ,Tiote ,Cisse et al will be happy if we don’t make europe again.
well one thing for sure we will know which way the club want to go come the close of window,or will hear we did try or best for this player or that player and we will wait for next window, when owl-heed will say you dont get good value for money in jan,never ending circle imo
My theory on the CB thing is that the board and owl heed will say to Pardew, ‘well if ‘Coe lo’ is out play Perchy, and if Steven is out play Mike, and we have signed a young backup Curtis Good for you as well.
The striker situation is different IMO, Pardew should have Owl heed by the short and curlies on that one, he should be demanding AT LEAST a forward on loan coz Ranger and Xisco are no good, Shola is broken doon at the side of the road again, as is his brother.
Mormon I have an article with Toonsy re my predictions, I see Spurs & Arsenal making a hash of things so we have a chance. Yes a couple of players would be good but we specialize in players with complications which takes time.
…you could also say ambition to fill a 50k plus capacity stadium and market your brand around Europe and the World?
Prem @ 33 I think if you search for an interview that Pards did last year when he said that he secured Cabaye with the promise that we could push for European footie, maybe that why a few players have came out and said we needed to keep our best players and add a few
maybe Cabaye got told of for that as it wasn’t long ago , and maybe thats why he doesn’t look to happy.
“Yes a couple of players would be good but we specialize in players with complications which takes time.”
….and what if it fails? Time is of the essence mate. Gambling and bad planning or genius masterstroke….not long to find out I suppose
Moreno @ 41 ” and what if it fails?”
then we just throw away the chance we have and just go back to being a mediocre club with no real ambition
Spot on premandup. I don’t see any evidence that players want to leave. In fact, all our key players have pledged themselves to the club despite many fans being convinced some would leave this summer. As I recall, they have only talked about keeping the team intact which has been done
I’d be a little pissed if we finished 8th this year. After everything we did last season, it’s just been tossed to the side and ignored. If we finish 8th, expect of an exodus of players next year. Ben Arfa might be one of them; something to think about Mike & Derek
Good write up Moreno, and I agree 100% with the core of the article…
Big D….while Pardew has won a lot of fans over after last seasons performance, I think he’ll need some help from his management to try and keep everyone onside. I don’t think the fans are demanding a lot, perhaps two signings to stabilise the squad.
Pardew partially blaming the Greek soujourn in midweek for the lacklustre perfomance yesterday had me scratching my head…normally I can understand where he’s coming from, but that one had me…
I have always said Dave that my views represent the facts at the time…not what could or may be. I don’t profess to have an all seeing Grandparent tis all I’m saying
Sorry Moreno. Predictive text.
I just don’t get this, ‘players will leave’ thing. We might just have to accept that we are a club that spends one season getting to Europe and one season in it. That is what Fulham are having to do and this season they have raced out of the blocks already. It’s only the Man Cities and Chelseas that have the squad depth to play in both IMO. And even then Chelsea only got back in as title holders. We beat them and finished above them in the league.
AndrewT not sure how long you’ve been following the toon mate, but an 8th place finish is generally above par for the toon. That’s the thing that frustrates the fans at the mo, cos witha bit of canny investment we could maybe hit top 5-6. A Champs League spot is sadly out of our reach imo.
Haha Prem…I was thinking..eh? Mormon?
I had one wife and that was too much mate, those nutters have several!
MDS@ 43 ” Spot on premandup. I don’t see any evidence that players want to leave”
who said the players want to leave
DJG….FC Bayern also battered Chelsea in the Champs League final… but goals win games…
If the game had of ended fairly in FC Bayerns favour, Chelsea wouldn’t have even been in this years Champs League. They would probably still have found the wedge to sign Hazard et al though….
i read remy will be allowed to leave club for 10mil,anyone think he would be better buy than carroll??
Ice let’s show some ambition man. Buy both!!!!
AndrewT
2004–05 Prem 14th
2005–06 Prem 7th
2006–07 Prem 13th
2007–08 Prem 12th
2008–09 Prem 18th
2010–11 Prem 12th
2011–12 Prem 5th
Ice,
At 10mil he is a MUCH better option.
It would also allow us to put Ben Arfa in the middle to pull the strings.
One thing I do know about the toon tough is any sort of success at all and expectation gets cranked right up. Look at this thread for example. At the start of last season many of thee same people were predicting we would struggle to stay up as Nolan, Enrique and Barton left. As it happened we had to only concentrate on the league, we had a good first 11 that worked hard, we signed some strikers that hit form, one in one half of the season and the other after Jan. Other teams had a mare. We totally overachieved and finished 5th. Now these same people are regarding finishing below 7th-8th as a huge failure and step back. Give ya heads a shake man.
I will give the club time and as long as we have a decent season and are entertained along the way what more can you ask for. Like I say…cranked up expectations already. 
I’d like to see ONE of Cisse or Ba in the middle.
Marveaux start on the left and Remy on the right with Ben Arfa in the middle.
We could then play both Tiote and Cabaye or Anita deep.
DJG
August 26, 2012 at 19:53 (Edit)
One thing I do know about the toon tough is any sort of success at all and expectation gets cranked right up. Look at this thread for example. At the start of last season many of thee same people were predicting we would struggle to stay up as Nolan, Enrique and Barton left.
Who on here now said we would struggle to stay up ??
JJ thing is remy tends to play left side a bit what we do with ba
mind he can play along the front line (remy)
Just watched that cameo of HBA from the Chelsea game. The bloke is mint in my opinion. I’d really go as far as to say that he is the best dribbler / footballer I’ve ever seen playing for the toon. Am also ecstatic for the lad that he has recovered 100% from his horrendous injury. He also didn’t play too much close season, I really think he will get even better. Man I cannot wait…
I would really build the team around HBA. Give him the ball ffs, let him play in the hole between the midfield and the forwards at the front of a midfield diamond. A guaranteed success story if you ask me. It’s easy this football lark…
DJG,
As I posted prior to this…we hadn’t finished in the top half on the Premier League in 5 years before last season. When we sold our best performers of the season before, many of us were quite right to express a bit of concern about this, don’t recall mentions of relegation like. I remember a similar debate like this but certainly no statements like that!
Comments were made at that point of time without the ability to look into the future. You sit speaking with the benefit of hindsight and I didn’t hear anyone at the start of last season saying we would be sat top 4 for most of it and miss out on CL qualification by a whisker. No one expected that at the time we were selling our stars…
It worked out and credit has been given where credit has been due, no doubt about it.
Ice well Remy is supposed to have a bit of a dodgy ticker so maybe
MM I agree mate he is a star but I really don’t think he should be shackled with having to defend and should have a license to thrill
Moreno @ 63 spot on I know a lot of fans had concerns that if we didn’t replace players we would struggle, but I can’t remember any of the regulars expressing concerns that we would struggle to stay up or be relegated, which seems to be a bit of a stick to try to beat fans with but as far as im concerned its a total bull shit quote .
Big D. I agree, we should have Tiote, Jonas and Anita doing the water carrying work for HBA. We could then switch Santone to his preferred right side, bring in a specialist left back who can get forward and cross the ball…. Bob’s your nephew… It would work in my opinion. Easy this football lark ..
I definitely recall people thinking we would struggle. Maybe not relegation but we were all still worried about second season syndrome at that point. Likewise with hindsight it’s easy to say now you thought we would be fine etc. We had lost players like Carroll, Barton, Enrique, Nolan to be replaced by players that hadn’t played in the prem before/for many games.
Whoa, I’m not thinking that we deserve to be up with the top. We just finished 5th last year and don’t want us to drop back to mid table mediocrity again and have to completely rebuild our squad next summer
MM it gets easy the more you drink too
Moreno @55 You left out the years previous to 04/05 when we had two 2nd place finishes and a couple more 5th if memory serves me well.
That is since the start of the prem like, I looked it up the other day,it worked out about half our finishes in or around 5th and the rest 12th 13th or lower and ofcourse the relegation year . All our lower finishes were under crap managers who never lasted ,I don’t consider Pards a bad manager and the board should back him to the hilt imo.
At that point we lost the main goal scoring core of the team that got us promoted/ kept us up. Barton providing and Carroll and Nolan scored a lot of the goals so people were concerned even though Big Dave is trying to paint a different picture entirely.
DJG yeah and its all to easy for you to make up a bullshit statements like
” Look at this thread for example. At the start of last season many of thee same people were predicting we would struggle to stay up as Nolan, Enrique and Barton left.”
without having any facts to back it up, if any off us that your referring to have said it, the facts will be there in the archives to back it up.
So would it not be better to sorts your facts out before making the statement as it would save you from looking like a fool
There was a table prediction thread from last year so people can see who predicted what at the time. Can’t say I remember the results though…..
Dave, above I was referring to there being no evidence of our players being unhappy or caring about whether we sign players or not. The argument that players will want to leave if the board doesn’t show the ambition that some supporters demand has been going around on the blogs for two years now with no factual support
Icedog…I haven’t had a drink since the last one…
AndrewT….howay man it’s there in black and white mate…”I’d be a little pissed if we finished 8th this year.”….
I would consider 8th place an ok finish, but wouldn’t necessarily be pissed off or ecstatic either. Of ourse it would all depends on how the season had/has gone, and whether we had made a good go of the season.
I see us between 5 – 8th place…purely based on the fact that several of the clubs which hope to finish in the top 4 have more spending power unfortunately and have better strength in depth
DJG @ 71 its really simple you made a statement refering to people on this thread > ” At the start of last season many of thee same people were predicting we would struggle to stay up ” i’m saying its real easy for you to find out if any of us said that and if you can find that I have said that I will apologise to you that I was wrong and you were right, but if you don’t have the facts to back up your statement then don’t accuse people of saying things that they didn’t say
.
Thats not that much to ask really now is it
Aye kim @ 70…..but only ever use facts that suit your argument
Ever since Sir Bobby went we have been inconsistant ,history shows when we have a decent manager who can man manage we do well ,so with that in mind looking at what Pards did last year why not have an optomistic outlook. Why shouldn’t we expect top 6 again ,we did it last year and with a bit of investment it’s totally acheivable again. For so long now every season I look at the last 7 or 8 games to see what’s winable should we be in a battle ,that’s down to crap managers and what seemed a dodgy owner at first . But I have seen real progress over the last couple of years and we are starting to look like we used to at the start of our PL days, to gamble on our status of last year for the want of a couple of quality signings is stupidity in my eyes.
DAVE we could sruggle this yr might even gan doon
MDS @ 73 will would you not say that by Cabaye coming out publicily and saying we needed to hold on to our best players and add to them, and urging the club to sign Debuchy was basically him showing he cared about wither we signed players or not
Ice just aswell you put all the smiley faces at the end there otherwise someone could accuse you of saying we’ll go down
Moreno @ 76 or if you can’t find them make them up
Big Dave @79 Damn it ,beat me to it again
was my next point 
Actually I think a second player also said that too ,though can’t recall who at the mo. 
Big Dave I really don’t get what your point is. Okay I might have worded it a bit better but the general point of what I was saying came across to most people apart from you. This isn’t a court room and we aren’t under oath.
The statement I made was just a general statement of what people were saying at the time (that we arn’t spending the Carroll money and we will struggle). If you don’t like the exact wording of it then frankly, tough!
DJG total bullshit no one is talking about the Carroll money, you were trying to be your usual smart ass self by saying that some bloggers on this thread said we would struggle to stay up last season, and when challenged to back your statement up you knew you were caught out
even I feel slightly embarrassed for ye 
So know you are trying to make it out you worded it wrong but you are the one that was trying to be a smart ass lastnight aswell by saying I couldn’t spell and had an IQ of a goldfish, but yet you can’t even word your on little sentence ?
Kim there was another player and I can’t think who it was I keep thinking it was Colo but im not 100% sure
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@Moreno
Good article and you raise some good points.
You probably know I’m very cautious of the regime. The fact I refer to them as The Regime explains my views.
However, I can’t help thinking that based on our last seasons performance and delve in the transfer market, that you are jumping the gun.
We still have another week to go before the window closes and the Regime still deserve that time until criticism or acclaim is given.
We’ve beat Spurs which was a great result but lost away to Chelsea. I don’t believe anyone with any sense believe we could achieve anymore.
Moreno, you, like me, used to be on the same wavelength during the days of Ashley’s cock ups! But, due to the massive improvements over the short period of time in terms of professionalism in the media and transfer policy, then I believe you need to at least give them until the window closes before you criticise them like you’ve done.
Big Dave do you want some ketchup for that chip on your shoulder.
Djg. A lit of people said we would struggle last year.
Dave doubt cabaye cares one bit. Players want to get paid well and to win, both of which he does at Newcastle. Supporters are the only ones obsessed with signing players. If we stop having success as a club? Then sure players would want to leave just as it is at every other club in the world
BIG DAVE & KIM was it not Krul that said it .
The more other teams strengthen, the further we slip away, we have added a bit of strength, but can not really see it helping our league position, I think at the minute we are looking at top 6 at best this season and that is because I can not see any real challengers, it will be between us spuds arsenal Liverpool and Everton for 4th I would imagine, I think we could have made it ours with a couple of quality signings, but fair enough Ashley was stubborn and stuck to his plan, consequently it seems we have missed out on a couple of players.
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Troy do you mind if I borrow your disclaimer?
AXEL, I do believe your right mate.
DJG the keyboard warrior….
DAVE/KIM yous are not thinking of krul/pieters?
We have a great team. I can honestly see us winning the next 6 games. The clue to it all is Padrew finding the right tactics.
Troy I know your making the point to Moreno But I did say that up to now we haven’t yet grabbed the chance, I know they could still surprise us, but I still feel they deserve criticism for not getting the players we needed in sooner, I can remember Pards saying they were working on bringing in 2 or 3 players before the Euros.
DJG I don’t have a chip on my shoulder I just don’t like when people tell lies to make a point and if you don’t want to be challenged on it then don’t make stories up.
MDS yeah people did say we would struggle, I said meself that if we didn’t replace the players we would struggle but struggling for mid table is a lot different than staying up or getting relegated ?
Spencer how are ye young Lad
Just watch things take off when Demba Ba, Cisse and HBA start cracking the goals in.
STT where you been young fellow,we have had no one to pick on mate
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@ DJG
Yes. You are ordinary.
MM, I can’t see us winning at goodison park, Everton look like a proper team this season.
Not bad Dave you? bit disappointed , I was expecting a bottle of champs, fireworks and cake on my return!
MDS ,so if all he cares about is getting paid and winning ,why did he say what he did ?.
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@DJG
Adjective:
With no special or distinctive features; normal.
Spencer, aye you’re right, that’s the one game I was worried about. We’ll bring home a point though for sure.
Icedog, spent a year straight in the gym, so back off.
STT what swepping it out,the pay ok
Icedog, that’s Spencer putting you right there mate. Nee respect for there elders these days the young ‘uns…
You caught me out ice, nah the pay is poor, but it is a good excuse to perv on the ladies when they are on treadmill in there hot pants
Troy,
The areas I have criticized the boards in are during pre-season which is a past event we can now do nothing about. I concede that if we make some signings and keep our best players then my point about him not spending any of the vast amount of money that has recently come into the club is moot
Spence all good lad we did have champers and food but Toonsy ate and drank it all.
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@BD
We agree on most things on the Toon, but for me, the time to criticise or praise the club in the transfer market is once the window closes.
I don’t see it any other way.
The point is, I could not care less if we spend 50million or 5million, it is clear to see we are in need of a ST a CB and a RB that can push the first team.
Dave, I hope this was not whist driving?
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@Moreno
Same as above.
As for transfers in i have no doubt that Ashley wants players in but wont be held too ransom . Yes we have made big profits since he took over transfer wise but lets not all forget the debt he took on ,even if it was unexpected for him . The fact is he has splashed the cash when needed but also wants value for money , as we all do . If no more players come in this week it wont be for the lack of trying but because other clubs want top dollar for their “assets” , yes Ashley is not the only owner , chairman that thinks that way and that is something some people seem to forget . Here is now the thing , if say Debuchy or Douglas were worth what their clubs are asking then why have they not already moved . Inter Milan are supposed to be interested in Debuchy but if they thought he was worth the asking price then they would pay it . They have as yet not done that , the question is why ? we are , after all talking about a french international . The simple answer is all clubs ask top dollar early in the transfer window but when the last few days are entered in the window the price drops ,unless said player has a few years left on current contract . I still think players will arrive but only at a price they are worth , just like Cisse in january . i say let the week role on and before friday night a couple will be in , but at the same time a couple out (simpson and Ba) in (debuchy ,Douglas ,Carroll)
5 days and one and a half hours to get a couple in then , it’s gonna be emotional one way or another.
Axel ,If ba goes and Carroll comes in we are no better off striker wise though, we need to keep and add that’s the point.
what a doe-heed that ryder is he hasnt got a clue,the dummy in fenwicks window has more idea,his voice does my heed in too
http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/transfer-talk-show/120826/lee-ryder-tiote-carroll-debuchy-and-barton-179550?
The thing Ill say about Ashley and co. is they run the club without emotion and I think that is hard for us fans as we invest our emotion into the club. But we are moving forward and I think we will be thereor there abouts come end of the season.
Kim, why would Ba go? teams could of had him for £7 mil, why would they want to pay probably £15mil maybe more now?
Spence yeah whilst driving he is multi skilled after all
Troy I agree that you can’t really criticise the club over transfers until the window closes simple because they could still bring in 2-3 players before friday night, but I do believe that you can still criticise them for always leaving it till the last min, probably searching for a bargain
It’s interesting that we are frustrated by not being able to sign Debuchy for 6m euros, a class international. Yet if some other club came sniffing around Tiote with a £10M offer we would laugh it off and say come back with £20M. Can’t have it both ways unfortunately and improving the team once you get the the level we are at costs A LOT of money. The sort of money that the club actually doesn’t make. For me, (other people think differently) we can’t really expect Mike Ashley to just keep paying tens of millions. The people that say it is just an ‘investment’, how do you know that? We used to pay the king’s ransom for players and look where that got us. We could spend £50M this window and easily finish outside of the top 4 and Champions League money.
Ice yeah I heard him a while ago
icedog@117, aye but he’s got the best job on Tyneside, being paid to watch the toon home and away…
He must have some dodgy photos locked away somewhere… 
Spencer@119 , I was replying to Axel@114 who suggested Ba and Simmo might go and Carroll ,Debutchy and Douglas may come in.
Why would people want Ba to go? Amazing.
I have a feeling that the transfer window will shut – cue sound effects – something along the lines of pffffftttt…..and we’ve all been taken in once again…
It’ll be a tragedy mind.
Debuchy*
“we can’t really expect Mike Ashley to just keep paying tens of millions”
Eh? You make it sound as if we don’t sell players, merchandise, tickets etc etc and it all comes out his own pocket!
Ahh right haha!
4 wins and 2 draws from the next 6 games will have everybody back smiling again.
Djg@125, Axel didn’t say he wanted him to go just that he might that’s not the same thing is it.
DJG@121…..
DJG @121. This is where MA has to dig in his bank account to take us to the next laugh, how are we supposed to get that extra revenue without going to the next level?
I actually think there could be a more serious issue to the so far disastrous transfer window. How will this pathetic attempt at strengthening the squad be viewed by the players? Will the likes of Cisse, Tiote or Cabaye look and wonder if they’re at the right club? Will they be thinking there is very little ambition and a club where the business model and principle outweighs everything else?
What will Collocini and Krul think after signing extended contracts, where they promised squad improvements before signing?
As I say I think this poor window could well have greater implications than just effecting our league aspirations.
SPENCERTHETOON
DJG @121. This is where MA has to dig in his bank account.
Maybe he doesn’t want to?? How much did Shepherd spend out of his own pocket??
DJG@121 ,The difference between Debuchy going for £6m and Tiote for £20m is quite simple really ,Tiote is a proven Premier League DMF who is probably in the top 3 or 4 in the League which is why many other top teams are interested in him. He is also an regular international for Ivory coast.Debuchy has only just broken into the French side this Euros due to injury to Sagna and has no PL experience and would be coming from a weaker league as well.
I am not saying he needs to spend £15million on one player, but maybe he needs to spend £25million on 3/4/5 players? if we don’t spend we won’t go to the next level, and imo we will miss a great chance to get top 4 this season.
KIMTOON @136
But equally Lille could say… Debuchy is a top, proven French international, who was one of the top players for the French at the Euros. And he is worth £10M. And we don’t want to sell him anyway. They cold point to Cabaye who has performed incredibly well in the premier league and say, we don’t want to lose anymore of our top players for a sum that is less than they are worth, just because we are in French…
Spencer@137 ,In truth it may have been possible to get 3 in for £16M.
Debuchy£6m
Douglas£4m
£6 m up and coming striker
or even £10m on an established fwd = £20m in total
Maybe if we got paid for the re naming and all the tacky advertising we might have had the money to spend
DJG ,Debuchy is not a proven French international he has only just broke into the team and only then because of injury to Sagna. He hasplayed 3 times for France that’s all ,he is never worth £10m . As for Lille saying his value will increase like Cabaye ,that may be true but on the other hand he may flop badly ,the point is it’s Toon that have to take that gamble not them. Also they set the fee for Cabaye presumably for what they thought he was worth
It’s us that have taken the gamble on him adapting to the PL.
DJG ,for what it’s worth I do agree that the whole Cabaye thing has pissed them off somewhat ,but that’s life as they say.
Just saw this on a Chelsea blog…….
‘When Ashley Cole combines with Ryan Bertrand, the result is, defensively, pretty incredible. Although Newcastle boast a pair of good strikers, their real threat comes from the midfield, specifically Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa. The former is a traditional distributor, which means his play can be disrupted by simply defending well, but Ben Arfa is a different proposition. He’s the type of player who loves simply going through the opposition, and that sort of attacker requires some very intelligent defensive play. With Bertrand, Cole completely shut him down, and barely put a foot wrong all match. Nicely done.’
Can’t argue with that and we were pretty predictable in the 4-4-2 to defend against.
KIMTOON
Carr doesn’t do gambles.
My thinking about players out is Simpson is in his last year of his contract and has refused to sign an extention . A player can not hold Ashley to ransom just ask Nolan and Barton , Ashley will sell this week if a bid comes in and it will . As for Ba nobody knows the details of the get out clause but it’s fairly obvious their was one ,now was it one sided ? ie if his knees were knackered he could go or maybe from the players side if a club that plays CL bids he is allowed to , go or if we just as his former club got relegated he could also go . Here is now the thing , if Ashley really wanted him too stay no matter what , their would of been no clause . He was a gamble and its paid off he has now played 1.5 seasons in the premiership and stayed the course and scored a boat load of goals ,he is a player that we could after getting on a free bring in 12-15m . That is the sort of money that would bring a born Geordie back too the club and Ashley knows we as fans are a forgiving lot ,yes we slagged the pony tailed judas off for going , but we would cheer him if he came back and started banging the goals in again .That is the way we are , for Ashley it makes business sense he would have then made 35 million and brought a player back that not only the fans love(because in the end he is one of us) but got rid of a player that is often on international duty and misses games . Just a thought , i could be right or i could be wrong ,which according to the other half i often am
When do Lille play Copenhagen? And is it in France or Denmark? Apparently Lille will listen to our 6m bid if they don’t get get the CL qualifying money.
DJG ,sshhh don’t let the world know
Andy ,it’s a home time they lost 1.0 away.
Axel @145,Christ you been giving that some thought, you may well be right ,I wouldn’t be surprised at that scenario actually ,always expect the unexpected with this lot .
All the same I would rather keep BA and have Carroll but then I’m a greedy cow. 
Home time
best yet
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2193976/Arsenal-plot-Yohan-Cabaye-transfer.html
So one rumor says Debuchy could still be bought and one says Cabaye will go to gunners for £15M. One has to be wrong! Don’t think Debuchy would come without his best mate.
Cheers Kim, is it Tuesday or Wednesday they play? Anyone else watching bond on itv?
Andy , not sure mate ,Nah got Project Dawn Strike back on sky
Don’t think Debuchy would come without his best mate.
perhaps 40+k a week may tempt him.
Cheers kim
Mark
Think it’ll be 30k and that still probably be triple his current wages.
Right I’m off now. Hopefully tommorrow a signing will be announced while I’m at school
Just been looking at this weeks European ties.
Wednesday Champions league 2nd leg
Lille 0 v 1 Copenhagen
Thursday Europa cup 2nd leg
FC Twente 1 v 3 Bursapor
Right results there may free up 2 players.
looking at our September fixtures Home to Villa & Norwich; Away to Everton & Reading. We could be at SJP coming into the Man Utd game with a record of p6 w4 d1 l1 which would be ahead of last seasons results.
I’ve just been reading through relatively recent past articles and someone is also using the name Nobby.
They seem to know a bit more about football than me so I’ll just let it lie.
Nobby@157, Now that’s what I call a plan
Spending a lot of money, even 16 mil does not equates strengthening and surely does not mean it will take us to the next level. Some people say lack of spending equates lack of ambition. We don’t even know his ambition this season? CL? Europe? Top 8? Different people have different ambition. The fact that I don’t buy a Ferrari now does not mean I don’t have any ambition to buy one in the future.
Does investing a lot of money guarantee success? Look at Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool now? They are all below us. Swansea spent less than us but whey hey they are second now. So surely investing a lot of money does not mean taking them up another level. Still early to judge you say? Ashley can say the same when we urge him to spend.
As far as I know, he spent 1/5 of his money to realise his ambitions, not the fans. Fans may think differently, they bought the season ticket, shirts, etc, so they have a share right? Tell Apple to sell their iphone price at Nokia price. C’est la vie.
The point is we can shout till our face turns blue but he got a game plan and he sticks to it. My heart says we need to buy, head suggest that we give him and the team a chance. If his project fail, well, we can always hope for rich Arabs that we can shout abuse at. Cockney mafia seems to be so yesterdays news, became stale after our ‘we-didn’t-spend-carrol’s money-yet’ 5th place.
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