Whilst Bobby hasn't had a lot of cash to play with, isn;t buying a load of sub-£1million players more of a waste than buying the likes of big Dunc.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2001

Answers

Yes

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2001

Dave LF,

Firstly, it's worth us all understanding that BR has spent £17 million on players in a little over a season. While he has recovered at least this amount in off-loading the general dross he inherited, and concurrently reduced the wage bill, we are nevertheless still one of the biggest spending clubs in the transfer market over this period.

Now to the real point you raise - IMO you're correct. Rather than using DF as the example, I'd prefer to use players like Gavilan and possibly LuaLua. These two cost £2-2.5 million each. By recent reports it looks as though BR has written off Gavilan. If he decides to off-load him we will get virtually nothing back for him. Same with LuaLua if he doesn't make it.

The problem with players like this is that if they don't work out, their resale value is almost zero. Whereas when buying more established players like say Solano, Dyer, Domi and even players like JDT, Guivarch before them, if things don't work out they at least have some resale value based on their established reputation within the game.

DF was a different story in that we made a huge investment in a known severely injury prone player. IMO this transfer was a financial disaster waiting to happen, and we were amazingly fortunate to get anything back for him. However, this also proves the point, in that it was only his established reputation in the game that enabled us to recoup anything at ll.

We've spent far too long buying substandard players - and whatever the underlying reasons, BR has continued this appproach - and are now seeing the consequences.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2001

Sadly, all our excitement is reserved for players leaving. Unfortunately the list of candidates for a hearty cheer on teh way through the revolving door keeps getting longer. The Bridges rumours are certainly more interesting than most and I can't wait to hear about his progress in the treatment room month after month. Gosh is that coffee I can smell?

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2001

We wouldn't have been thet excited about buying Bridges from Sunderland two years ago, so why now since he's been out for most of the time.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2001

So we haven't had many(any?) exciting transfers in under bobby's reign. Is this down to poor judgement on Bobby's part? Or the board tying his hands so severely that he can't afford to go after the players he'd really like. A bit of both? The names Bobby Robson and Alan Shearer, and the fan base, are only going to go so far in attracting top players....they've got to also see that we're a club with true ambition. I'm not entirely convinced the board have ambition beyond pound signs. On the other hand, we really can't afford to take on any more 'promising youngsters' who then don't go anywhere. Oh, I dunno. This is a mess.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2001

With the exception of Cort, for whom there are still many doubters we have little proven Premiership talent , and while it is understandable that some consider £2 - £2.5m considerable dosh when we see clubs like Chewsea in for Salas at £16m we must realise that this is a game we have yet to compete in.

Certainly we set the standard by getting Shearer, but setting and maintaining are two toatally different things. Aside from Dyer we continue to surround him with SUB-STANDARD talent. thus we have to live with performances like the past few weeks.

The fat lady gets fatter by the minute people. Someone is pocketing serious dosh on account of 52K at SJP and all the royalties that go with it. The fact that Messrs Shepard et al are clutching their pursestrings so tightly means that YBR will only be allowed to spend from dosh he generates aside from gate receipts.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2001

According to the Observer at the weekend, it isn't the board that're tying Bobby's hands. Shepherd reckons it's purely and simply to do with the uncertainty in the transfer market, and until it's sorted, we can expect no big moves on the transfer front.

Shepherd appears to be convinced that very shortly (?), there'll be no such thing as a transfer market as such - they'll all be employed like the rest of the peasants, coming and going as the mood takes them.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

..........and Nero fiddled while Rome burned down around him!

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

I keep harping on about this but what the hell do the board think they are achieving with this wait and see policy?

The EU transfer thing will run and run. It will be ages before the dust settles and the whole compensation issue is sorted. Clubs with ambition, Arse, ManU, Leeds, Chelsea etc are still forking out transfer fees because they know that whatever happens they must maintain progress.

If not and players really do become free agents who are they gonna join? A club in the top three with a Champions League slot or us?

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

At Xmas , most of us were in agreement that we needed about 4 new players , A central defender, left winger, left back and striker.

I am not talking about just any old player but good players. We realise that one in each position would be a luxury that we couldn't afford. We got £3 million for Domi and spent £800k on a squad player.As a result of the lack of investment in players we are now in the bottom half of the league. We won't get into europe as a result of a lack of investment in new players. IMHO, a £4 million central defender and £8 million forward would have given us a great boost and would have ensured that we were still in with a chance of a European spot. All this "tranfer market uncertainty" has done is given FS a good excuse for holding onto Halls money, until he can sell his share in the club.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

A lot of you will know that I own a small shop in Shields.

Let's supose that I was going to sell the shop and move onto a differnt venture what would I do? Invest in new stock, or run the old stock down?

What would I tell the customers when they came in and saw the empty shelves? I would probably say something like, I,m waiting for one of my supliers to clear some stock to me, keep on coming everyweek as fairly soon I'll have some great bargains.

Basically I would try to keep the customers coming in while behind the scenes I would be looking for a buyer for the buisiness.

Sound familiar?

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

taking that a stage further rik....

Imagine i own a company, Iworked hard over the last ten years to establish a solid reputation with customers and employess alike.

Many staff will leave [natural turnover]. Do i replace these experienced members of staff who were there at the start and grew with the company with untrained, inexperienced staff or do i replace quality with quality?

It's a little bit of both of course but the principle has to be the right one:

Replace quality with quality. Is Quinn a better player than Domi? I'd give 110% percent given the chance to play for Newcastle. doesn't mean i'd be any good though.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

Whilst acknowledging YBR's contribution to saving us from the mess that Gullit and Dalglish left I have to say that his incoming transfer dealings have been overwhelmingly poor. The only unqualified successes I can think of have been Gallacher and Helder. Cort hasn't had a chance and Quinn and Acuna look OK but aren't any better than the players we have sold. Bassedas, Cordone, Gavilan and Lua Lua (c 8M GBP)look are all a waste of money.

I remember Robson saying over the summer that he would have liked to sign Rebrov and Olivier Dacourt but couldn't justify blowing the all his transfer budget on 2 players. Surely however two quality players in the areas we are weakest in would have been better than 6 mediocre players.

What also worries me is that the two players we were prevented from buying by Dennis Roach's antics, Bellamy and Lovenkrands, have also been spectacular flops. Perhaps we should send Roach 10% of the money he saved us on these two!!!

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

well, Rebrov has hardly set Spurs alight - proving the point that one man doesn't make a team and i doubt Dacourt would've joined us anyway.

Add to that the fact that Rebrov has cost Spurs somewhere in the region of £19m+ in transfer fee, wages, bonuses and signing on fee and i'd take Luax2, Gavilan, Bassedas, Acuna etc given their POTENTIAL anyday.

The possibility of 4 players coming good out of 6 are better odds than one who can't play with the rest of the team cos they're not on the same wavelength.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

I think wages is the key word, Dacourt and Rebrov would cost a fortune in wages - money we haven't got. I think we just have to face facts and realise bobby has to shop in CO-OP not Harrods. Anybody wishing to see the back of Bobby would be playing a dangerous game, imho.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

Rebrov, although a quality player has hardly set the world alight and there is no saying he would have done so with us. Dacourt is slightly different because he's got that attitude that we lack, slightly cocky and arrogant but it works well in his football game and is something our team lacks.

Gregory is having major problems with his new striker so splashing the cash is no certainty.

Is cockiness and arrogance is something we lack?

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

There is one big difference min - if Rebrov doesn't work out at Spurs they will get their money back for him, no problem. If Gavilan, Luax2 and Bassedas don't work out here then we will get next to nothing for them.
That's the difference in investing in established names - it's actually less risky overall.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

i think we've got too much. witness the 'we're too good to go down' attitude of recent seasons/Aaron Hughes 'we're better than S*****land" quotes.

It can be one of the few plausible explanation's why we play well against the top teams and badly against teams that get stuck in and fight for a win. The players THINK they're better than they actually are so they go out onto the field with the 'Viduka' attitude that, well if i only play at 70% somone else will be playing at their best so we'll win no problem.

I think the problem facing us now is that they've had their arses spanked live on TV by 'lesser' teams a few times and the letters in the press and the obvious anger that's brewing and it's affected their confidence.

No MENTAL character/toughness - something that has been with us since we threw the league away with KK...it affects players coming in as well.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

yep, BIG difference duly noted, clarky.

But it speaks volumes about Rebrov that he went mainly [imho suspect] because of the cash, then cos it was the Premier League, then cos it was London and somewhere down the line because it was Spurs.

Still, I'd rather trust my life with YBR than GG. ;))

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

Great point Clarky. I guess we have seen this principle in action already with the likes of Maric & Pistone.

Swift - I wasn't suggesting that we get rid of YBR; his achievement in saving the club last season was outstanding and I think that if given the necessary backing from the board he can take the club forward.

My only criticism is that given that he has limited resources he should have made more of them. Given the current injury crisis I feel that it is disappointing that three of his signings, amounting to 30% of his transfer budget, can not claim a first team place.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

spot on min, If GG was our manager i'd cry like a baby.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

We might have had a clean sheet or two in the past 23 games though.:0(

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

I believe the real weakness with YBR is that he is simply too prepared to accept the party line - it's part of his upbringing. I strongly suspect he's settled for accepting lesser players because he believes he's being a team player, and that that's the right thing to do in the cirmcumstances - the original Company man

For the sake of the Club's future, what we desperately need him to do right now is to throw a KK tantrum, and tell his boss "support me now and let me bring in the players needed to put this Club on the right course, or I'm off, because right now I'm wasting my precious retirement shuffling deckchairs on the friggin Titanic! Either we all wake up, roll our sleeves up, and get on with the god-damned job in hand - or I'm off! Your call Fred".

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

trouble is Clarky, if YBR were to do that, he might be out of a job, and at his age, where's he gonna get another?

Is there any precedent for him resigning? Has he ever resigned before on a matter of principle? He got hounded out of the England job, presumably resigned from Ipswich to take on the National job, and was bounced from Barca. What happened in Portugal? I think PSV may have been a short-term contract.

We know he is a man of principle, other wise he'd have come when KK left. Do his principles allow him to hoy his toys aboot or as you suggest, is that sort of thing not in his nature?

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

That's the very point I'm making Screach - it's not at all in his nature - and of course he won't do it. However, him being so compliant is not doing us any good at all - we need some management action to arrest the decline, it is very unusual for these situations to reverse themselves with out concerted management action - such as was taken to boot Gullit out and install Bobby.

BR doesn't need or want another job - he has no interest whatsoever in job security. He's 68 yrs old - he desperately wants to succeed at NUFC, but his time horizon is necessarily short.

We need something to shake the Toon Establishment out of their cozy complacency, and get them off their fat @rses.

Quite frankly, if we piss away a good chance of qualifying for Europe, as now seems likely, primarily because of management inactivity, they should all be bloody well cleared out - that's exactly what would happen in a 'real plc'. I'm fed up to the back teeth with the procession of lame excuses for continuing lack of action on essentially all key areas of the business.

IMO, it's time for action, not words.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

totally agree clarky, the talking is going nowhere

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001

Interesting to see comparisons with the run up to Gullit's departure and our recent run of results.

NUFC.com report on this saying that the 8-0 thrashing of Sheff Wed was the first clean sheet for 21 matches. Currently we have gone 19 games ( I thought it was more than that!) without a clean sheet. Extreme circumstances???!

RE: this clean sheet lark that has replaced the London winless record as most-quoted toon stat, our current 19 game league run isn't the worst in recent memory.

After a Solano goal gave us a 1-0 win at Elland Road on 6th Feb 1999, we then conceded at least one goal per league game until 19th September 1999, when Sheffield Wednesday suffered the 8-0 stuffing, a 21 game run.

To place that in context, we dropped from 12th in the league to 19th, shedding a Dutch Manager in the process.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001