Ian Brown

Same for me! Can't wait for Wednesday to finally get it sorted.

Has anyone off here received a phone call/letter in the last few days with regards to an offer of a season ticket? If so, could you please confirm where you were originally on the list and where you are now? I'm trying to work out where I will be once all of the tickets have gone and the list has been fully updated. Thanks

Yeah I realise that now.

Phew! I don't think Dossena's a write-off by any means but he's been crap so far. Aurelio is ten times the player.

Is that a joke?

You could at least reply, Cardie.

So you're a liar as well now then? When did I say I wanted him gone?

That's way too simplistic. The lorry that Rafa wants is not for a specific order and won't cost anything. Why can't he have it? If the guy who works for you came and said to you, 'the lorry's not for a specific order, it will improve the business across the board and it won't cost anything because i'm selling that other piece of equipment we don't need', would you still say no?

OH MY GOD! You actually believe that a managers ability to conclude deals for the January window should be dependent on CL progression?! Just come out with it will you - you disagree with Rafa about how urgent it is to conclude deals and you know better than him, don't you?

Excellent debating 'mate'. Don't worry, i'm not offended at all because as you can tell I don't care what you think seeing as you're delusional. I hope this shows you up for what you are.

You'll get the usual 'but what if Rafa spent what he wanted to spend' response. Obviously the fact he's made a point of how much he actually spent himself, as a defence for his own position has nothing to do with it. I think the people who are being stubbourn and siding with the owners, or sitting on the fence about this, are people who pretty much don't care about Rafa and aren't bothered if he's replaced. They may as well just come out and say it, because their opinion totally goes against any reasonable logic.

so basically what comes out of all this is that you actually agree with the new owners and disagree with Rafa about the need to tie up deals quickly?! Why didn't you just say so! I'll say it again, i'll take the opinion of the likes of Jewell, Evans and Rafa over the likes of an internet warrior and two ice hockey fans. Open question to YNWA regulars, is this guy usually as daft as this?

Say he was actually well backed in the summer (which I don't think he particularly was), the whole issue here is that he's not getting backed in January.

What's your point then? You're saying that they want a different manager to make more money? Do you think that's good?

Yep that's right, so let's go and get Jose Mourinho or Martin O'Neill!

Torres, Crouch, Kuyt, Voronin, Kewell, Babel.... I don't necessarily agree about selling Crouch as I really like him, but the manager should be backed with his decisions. Simple. They obviously don't trust him then?

But, but, but surely that can't be the case! Spot on mate.

The same 'adults' who don't even talk to each other and don't reply to e-mails! As for your utterly laughable riposte of 'pick up the telephone' - what a total weapon you are. You're either a WUM or a bluenose.

We had £5/6M still left from the Heinze 'deal' and proposed to sell Crouch and Riise to Villa. Do the math.

Rafa basically said in the ECHO today that he sent various e-mails to the owners about sorting out deals which were ignored. How can he 'sort it out motr diplomatically' if the owners are never in the country and won't answer e-mails? What else do you do when all lines of commuication are cut? Just go, 'oh well better luck next time'. Tell you what, if I ever win the lottery and start up my own business, I nominate you as my manager because you obviously won't expect me to respond to any of your efforts to contact me and you also won't want all of the necessary tools required to perform the job to the best of your ability. Happy days - i'll just make money whilst you struggle to perform at your best. Woo!

Why are you talking about Bosmans when Rafa was trying to agree sales and signing of Kaladze for £4M, on top of the Mascherano deal? As for the bit in bold, are you really naive enough to think that bosmans are agreed after January 1st? Of course you're not, you just want to have an argument because that's what you do. Suppose it's good for you that I can't help but resist replying to a poster who knows feck all about what he's saying.

I agree that Rafa shouldn't have gone public, but do you think he has a right to be angry and frustrated about the lack of action?

I know he's not, but it remains a fact that a deal to sign him needs to be finalised or we risk losing him. Would you cry about it after it happened if it kept happening? Rafa's had plenty of occasions where he's missed out on targets because of a lack of action, so it's only natural he doesn't want it to happen again. Where do you stand on this whole thing then Cobs?

You've made it clear in this thread that you don't think the chance of losing out on Mascherano and future targets is not a disaster. Obviously Rafa disagrees, hence his comments. I'll trust Rafa' sviews on how transfers work over that of someone who obviously thinks he knows better.

Some people think it's all black and white. Obviously every deal is different but managers simply HAVE to agree deals now to increase the chances of successful completions. It would be downright irresponsible of Rafa not to do that, yet he's being questioned for it!