Beefy is a legend

quote user="nutty nigel"The board run the club as a co-operative with all the income going back into football. That''s all we can ask for. If you want even more money try another share issue. Although it''s unlikely many of us would like any more of our hard earned ending up in players wages. /quote Well said Nutty. Throughout virtually the entire period that I have been a supporter, the Club has had significant debt. Debt that has been a noose around our neck for so many years, preventing us from competing with Clubs that should be our peers. We''ve now, finally, relieved that debt having paid off some £15m last season which left us with the lowest amount of money available for wages/fees in the division. Having done that, this season we were in the position to spend the most amount of money that we have ever spent. I hardly think the Club can be accused of not loosening the purse strings given the spending on RVW, Hooper, Fer, Redmond and Olsson. Further, I can''t remember the last time that NCFC sold a player ''against our wishes''. As has been said at all Club/fan meetings, the Club is run as a co-operative in that all funds are re-invested into the football side of the business, including infra-structure. As well as the huge spending on players, the Club is now planning a 7-figure overhaul of Colney. Further, one of the current U18 squad lives with me and I assure you that for a significant number of away trips this season the U18s have travelled and stayed in a hotel the night before the game. The Club has done remarkably well to stabilise it''s finances from near oblivion just a few short years ago. It is spending what it has available and it is simply not true to say that we are ''cash rich'' - there are not millions in the bank unspent. We have a very successful board of Directors at the Club right now. Criticise, by all means, what is going on on the pitch if you must, but Delia, MWJ, McNally and Bowkett deserve a huge amount of respect.

Only a Sith deals in absolutes Reggie...

quote user="Reggie Strayshun"quote user="Beefy is a legend"As I''ve said before on this board, it all comes down to unrealistic expectations. Many on this board think it only reasonable to expect us to play attractive football and to comfortably avoid relegation.?/quoteCan''t speak for others, Beefy, but no such lack of realism from me. The number one priority in my book is to stay in this league. Period. Not really too bothered at this stage how we go about it.If we do so playing Barça-esque champagne football then that would be the icing on the cake.But if we win all our home games, up to and including WBA on Apr 5th, one- nil, then that will do for me./quote Well then we agree on something!

quote user="Reggie Strayshun"quote user="lake district canary"You''ve asked me this before, but situations change. It is never all black or white, /quoteYes I have indeed, and, sadly your reply this time is as vague and full of bolt holes as it was last time !It''s a perfectly simple question. You have opined that the performances are improving . Implicit in that is that the results will too. I''m merely inquiring at what stage over the course of the next few weeks will you change your policy if ''situations don''t change'' ? And if your policy does change, what do you guess it will be ?/quote Not wanting to fill LDC''s shoes but I''m not sure how anyone could reasonably answer your question. If I turned it on its head and asked you whether you would change your ''policy'' if we had a few wins in the next few weeks, I think you''d similarly struggle to definitively answer it.

What a shambolic thread. Fulham, who are now onto their third manager of the season, are at the foot of the table, being held up as a model for the NCFC board to emulate. Give me a break.

As I''ve said before on this board, it all comes down to unrealistic expectations. Many on this board think it only reasonable to expect us to play attractive football and to comfortably avoid relegation. That is not ''par'' - that is the best case scenario and so those supporters are setting themselves up for a fall which inevitably leads them to believe that there is something fundamentally wrong at the Club. As DM confirmed, last season we were 20th out of 20 in terms of wage budget. This season will be similar. Why, therefore, do so many fans expect us to be doing so much better than we are? Finishing 11th last season was a fine achievement, but why do so many fans not see it that way?

Steve McLaren seems to be re-building his reputation and certainly is having a fine season since taking over at Derby, so I''ll go for him and Ross McCormack.

I wouldn''t pin my hopes on the next two games. I''d say that we need to win 4 of the last 12 and maybe get a draw or two. We are playing some decent stuff lately and so a record of, say, 4 wins, 2 draws and 6 defeats from here is still achievable which will make 39pts.

quote user="Hughtons P45.2"So it''s a real shocker that west ham have improved to you then, new signings and carroll coming back shouldn''t have given them a lift no? Also just because your arguments weak doesn''t mean you need to insult me. All it does is make you look petulant./quote Interesting. So when you suggested that I was talking out of my ''Anus'' I trust you''ll accept that that was also petulant? It wasn''t at all a shocker to me that West Ham have improved - that was my point in the first place. The ''predictors'' are unable to sufficiently take account of the fitness and availability of players that can make a big difference - I certainly believe that our performances have improved since Tettey came back into the side, even if the results have not yet followed.

No. It''s a completely different West Ham. The rumours are true, they really have taught monkeys how to type.

quote user="Phil and Ted"If I have followed this correctly then P45,2 thinks the odds of Norwich going down are 3 to 1 against. Good man, I knew deep down that you had faith in Chris Hughton and the team all along./quote Loving your work P&T - Exxceellleentttt!

It was irrelevant to West Ham 3 games ago.

quote user="Aggy"The site doesn''t explain exactly how the results have been worked out, but it does itself conclude by saying it''s little more than an educated guess really. Trying to work things out on stats this season is largely irrelevant - you try and figure out who''s going down based on points per game and remaining fixtures etc. but you get one or two slightly "unexpected" results and you suddenly jump up the form table and are predicted to finish comfortably mid table! It''s that close at the moment that it''s virtually impossible to predict, even with the clever algorithms and whatever else the computer on this site is using./quote Exactly Aggy - that''s why it''s irrelevant.

quote user="Hughtons P45.2"Talking out your Anus again I see Beefy!! I can assure you i''d get absolutely no pleasure AT ALL from us going down. That seems to be the inners best argument these days. Have you all got bored of the "stick to hit the club with" comments?? So just so I know anyone who thinks we will go down, or that Hughton is not the man for us are rubbish fans that hate the club as they must hate the club to want us relegated right???/quote I''m sorry but that entire paragraph made no sense. What point were you trying to make? By the way, there''s no need for a capital ''a'' in anus.

Where did I say that favourites never lose? The answer is that I didn''t say that and you are setting up a straw man argument so that you can knock it down. What I said was that the bookmaker''s analysis suggests that we are more likely to survive, right now, than we are to go down, whereas many of you seem to be attempting to argue that we are almost down already.

I doubt you''re wrong John, about time the guy was banned for a second time because of the number of brain dead threads being created. Of course, us staying up doesn''t assist their argument. That''s the trouble with being an ''outer'' - it makes you stop wanting us to win because when we win your argument gets weaker.

Seems appropriate... http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/poetry/rudyard-kipling.html

And is it relevant that we are currently outside the bottom three?

Considering how certain some of you are that we are going down you should be getting the mortgage on our 13/8 price. Conversely we are 4/9 to survive - the bookies therefore indicating that at this stage we are more likely to survive than be relegated.

A few weeks ago West Ham would have been ''projected'' to go down. It''s utterly irrelevant.

Nutty Nigel Wrote: Where the realism bites is the realisation that to improve the situation a viable and better alternative has to be in place first. The wide belief that anybody would be better than Hughton is as flawed as it was when the same mentality and in many cases the same people bleated that anybody would be better than Worthy. The reality of that nonsensical view bit home bigtime and yet seems to be forgotten over the last 5 years. A very good point Nigel. If you don''t have a credible plan in place then you don''t have a valid argument. All the outers will say ''there must be someone better''. That may not be the case. Sacking the manager could make our survival chances worse. West Ham have turned the corner, whereas Cardiff and Fulham continue to struggle despite the change in management. To criticise the way NCFC is run, as some have in this thread, is incredibly myopic. What the board have helped to achieve in the last 5 years has been quite remarkable. A double promotion and total debt clearance means that, whatever happens this season the Club is in far better shape now than ever it has been in the 20 years that I''ve been a supporter. You might disagree with faith being retained in the manager, but have the good grace not to start slinging mud and the people who have rescued this Club from the abyss.

Very good posts Purple.

quote user="Reggie Strayshun"quote user="Gingerpele"Of course there have been some disappointing results and performances, results more than performances lately. And it does seem likely that Hughton isn''t the man for the job, we aren''t getting results and we don''t look like turning it around. But even if he doesn''t get sacked, why on earth should the man at the helm of our fantastic five year period for the club go?Its so ridiculous i''m not sure why I bothered replying./quoteI agree that it is ridiculous, GP, but what I do fear is that, if we do keep Hughton and if we do get relegated, Mc N will effectively have backed himself into a corner, and feel he has little choice other than to step down.It''s a bit like the situation where after a period of good years business in a company or financial institution, it goes through a lean time, often caused by blunders by senior management. The long term CEO or Chairman then feels he has to take ultimate responsibility (the buck stops with him), and promptly resigns.I''m just very concerned that privately McN knows damn well he should have replaced Hughton some time ago, but as a result may feel recently that on balance he''s better off sticking than twisting. Of course there will be those who disagree, but , as you say, it really would not be in the best interests of this club if such an able guy should feel it necessary to go. For those in any doubt, just remember the régime of Neil Doomcaster and his cronies./quote Pretty much agree with you Reggie, although I damn well hope McNally doesn''t feel that his position is untenable if we happen to go down. In many respects I would suggest that the board as a whole makes the decision with regard to the manager, not just DM, and so with that collective responsibility in mind, hopefully DM won''t feel like he has to ''carry the can'' because he has been heavily involved in a remarkable 5 years for NCFC and just because of an ordinary 6 months, the well of good will that he has built up should not, in my view, run dry.

So if Hughton is so bad how did his Newcastle side win the Championship with 90 goals and 102pts, and a G.D. of +55?

Quite simply, now is the time for the crowd to produce the kind of atmosphere that was prevalent in the Citeh game for the remaining games. That gives us the best chance of surviving in the league, which is what every NCFC fan should want. Then the board have the opportunity to take stock and consider the options in the summer.