The Weekend ITK Discussion Thread - The Oddieus the Eunuch Edition 6/7 July 2013

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God damn that Levy! Wanting to run a profitable business! Shame on him for not spending a measly three million more on a player! Getting really sick and tired of owners who want to run a football club as a business, we all know that football was never designed to make money!

Right, I get it, mate: the game is all about business; it's all about profit. These are the values we extol in our football club.
Fuck me, Billy Nic would turn in his grave.

 

[Parkie]

Wait! WAIT! As I was about to slash my wrists and blame my suicide on Levy's inability to do business in a transfer window, I caught sight of the date in the polished surface of the razor blade and realised we are only 7 days into a window that is open until the end of next month... I paused and, as my hand lowered, the reflective surface showed me an image of Paulinho smiling and holding a Spurs scarf.

Might give it a few more days...

 

[smudger]

Two more points in the last two seasons would have made his business at least £50m more. Sometimes it's worth paying extra for proven quality.

and some times hindsight is a wonderful thing, dont get me wrong we definitely need the players and it would be nice to just say "go on then we'll pay it" but we both know levy runs us properly he's not a arab or a russian billionaire and lets not forget we finished last season with our highest ever points total last year , think everybody has forgot that sometimes and we've just signed a 17 million pound player

cheers up guys

 

[YiddoInPoland]

We could sell our best players and either not replace them, or replace them with players of a lesser quality. Of course the only time that has happened was when we sold Carrick...and Berbatov...and Modric....oh and VDV.

Maybe, but that works two ways. We have upgraded Bassong with verts, Brad with Lloris, Palacios with Sandro, Jenas with Dembele, Huddlestone with Paulinho to name a few.

And say what you want about Adebayor, in his first season he was more effective in the league when you compare against Berbatov's two season, last season he was not so great but you will have to blame the clubs crystal ball for that.

To bring this sort of back on topic, Villa is a great player but if after factoring his age and the overall package is too rich for us then we move on

 

[Cyspurs]

Maybe, but that works two ways. We have upgraded Bassong with verts, Brad with Lloris, Palacios with Sandro, Jenas with Dembele, Huddlestone with Paulinho to name a few.

And say what you want about Adebayor, in his first season he was more effective in the league when you compare against Berbatov's two season, last season he was not so great but you will have to blame the clubs crystal ball for that.

To bring this sort of back on topic, Villa is a great player but if after factoring his age and the overall package is too rich for us then we move on

Ok I agree with the first bit, but Adebayor was never fit to even lace Berbs boots! And I'm talking about never in his whole career! Berbs was hitting over 20 goals a season for us plus that many assists! How was Adebayor better? Holding the ball up?? Berbatov was the best player we've had in yonks years in that department as well.

 

[smudger]

Ok I agree with the first bit, but Adebayor was never fit to even lace Berbs boots! And I'm talking about never in his whole career! Berbs was hitting over 20 goals a season for us plus that many assists! How was Adebayor better? Holding the ball up?? Berbatov was the best player we've had in yonks years in that department as well.

thats why we sold him for a tidy 20 mill profit

yours faithfully

d.levy

 

[wpd659]

Jeez, guys. This is all a bit dull, eh? I thought we'd reached a new low with "Predict the ITK" but to restate the old, universally-known policy on ITK and the rights and wrongs of their bashing makes for pritty, sorry pretty, dull reading.

It's a beautiful day outside, go and wank in a bush or something. We'll come and get you if anything interesting happens.

I think i won the Predict the ITK game

 

[Bill_Oddie]

I realise this is wholly unwelcome and frankly Bolshevistic chat, but is not one of the great things about the David Villa news that we are genuinely, irrefutably chasing a senior, world class striker that is proven, expensive and well, pretty fucking good.

This isn't Levy pushing wheelbarrows around Spain on deadline day. This is extremely early in the window and a statement of intent. If we eventually feel the deal isn't quite something we can stretch to, we have time to move to another candidate whose value is close (even if not quite as good) as The Kid's. Naturally, we might feel Villa is worth it at 8m, but not at 13m, say. On those terms, maybe Soldado at 18m is viewed as better value when you take into account risk, return and wages?

Anyway, all I know is my Arsenal supporting friends are extremely worried and annoyed by our business this summer so far and that makes me rather happy.

 

[CJMurray]

Gards is allowed in here AFAIK so...

 

[EnfieldYiddo]

Anyone know anything about Nacer Chadli?

 

[easley91]

Someone tougher to get?

 

[Spurger King]

and some times hindsight is a wonderful thing, dont get me wrong we definitely need the players and it would be nice to just say "go on then we'll pay it" but we both know levy runs us properly he's not a arab or a russian billionaire and lets not forget we finished last season with our highest ever points total last year , think everybody has forgot that sometimes and we've just signed a 17 million pound player

cheers up guys

I'm pretty positive really. We're interested in Villa, which is a good start. Everything else (whether ITK or newspaper reports) are liable to change at any given moment, so no reason to be excited or depressed right now.

I don't think the 'highest points ever' logic really works. If a car is leading a race by a couple of laps, it doesn't need to go flat out. The number of points is almost irrelevant compared to our ability to keep the pace and surpass the teams around us. In the end we didn't. The flip-side of your argument is that our highest ever points total Still wasn't enough for the top 4, so it's arguably more difficult than ever before.

Maybe, but that works two ways. We have upgraded Bassong with verts, Brad with Lloris, Palacios with Sandro, Jenas with Dembele, Huddlestone with Paulinho to name a few.

And say what you want about Adebayor, in his first season he was more effective in the league when you compare against Berbatov's two season, last season he was not so great but you will have to blame the clubs crystal ball for that.

To bring this sort of back on topic, Villa is a great player but if after factoring his age and the overall package is too rich for us then we move on

Not denying that we've made some great signings, however last season was the first time since selling Berbatov that I felt we'd taken a backwards step (and I still think that). Paulinho is a great start. Absolutely brilliant really the more I think about it, as it gives us so many options in terms of tactics and injuries.

However we need a top class striker to push on. That's not going to happen with just Adebayor and Defoe, and Villa is the best available option in my opinion. If he's actually willing to join, we should move heaven and earth to get him.

Seems like the reverse of the times where we were apparently running around Europe with our wheelbarrow full of money, throwing it at strikers, only for none of them to actually want to join us. As the saying goes, where there's a will there's a way, and if rumours are to be believed, Villa is willing.

 

[C0YS]

Nah no need to rush, COYS. I mean, it's not like we need a striker. We could just take the risk of starting the season with 2 (which is 1 more than last season). We could just take our time; a bit like we have with the Leandro deal; leave it until the last day of the window in true Levy style, and see what (or rather; who) pans out. Or of course, we could pay the additional €3 million required to secure Villa as a matter of urgency, and actually START the season with a world-class striker.
Sorry for the sarcasm, mate, but I'm just hoping your "no need to rush" comment doesn't come to bite u on the ass on Deadline Day when that "list of many striker targets" is diminishing by the minute, and we're scrapping around for the latest Louis Saha disappointment. It's not like we haven't been there before.

man, it's early days and we have no idea what is or isn't happening, a deal can be done in a few hours if need it be we don't actually have that much money and need to be clever with it, we can't just buy Negredo for £20 million for example. Thus if we believe something to be too financially taxing for its reward then we should not do the deal unless we have to. If we can find a cheaper and more worthwhile alternative then one should. I personally really want Villa but understand our limitations and also understand that to get the best deal these things take a lot of time.

Sure this mode of doing transfer is frustrating and sometimes spectacularly fails but it is also a large reason for our success. We run a stable ship and have a stadium coming up we need to tread carefully. If the club acted like some fans want us to we might make massive loses and reach a point were we have to sell en-mass simply to break even. I would rather have a new stadium and a well run club then wasting money in economically bad deals which lead the club into tough positions.

 

[wiggo24]

Gards is allowed in here AFAIK so...

Would be a great signing imo....challenge Lennon, can play on the left of an attacking 3, will provide creativity and pace. I don't really care it's another midfielder tbh, we don't have anyone really like him and we're all confident we'll get a striker at some point so it doesn't really matter if this happens before. Mind you, this is the bit where at least on person will complain that we need a striker.

Wonder who the other one is? Didn't someone say Villa had visited, but then Gards probs would have put that info upright cos everyone knows we're interested....hmmmm

 

[SlickMongoose]

Gards is allowed in here AFAIK so...

Bloody well hope he has legs.

 

[Lilbaz]

Right, I get it, mate: the game is all about business; it's all about profit. These are the values we extol in our football club.
Fuck me, Billy Nic would turn in his grave.

No I think Bill Nick was intelligent enough to understand the reality of today's game. We don't have oil money and have to do the best we can.

A lot of you want Levy to fail so that a shining knight ready to invest £billions will ride up and save us. Guess what, it's not going to happen. Even Chelsea and city can't spend money they don't have anymore.

We've just come off the back of our best points tally and added a Brazilian international to the squad, we are looking at bolstering the squad even more, but still some of you want to have a dig. Wait till the window is over, see what has happened and then air your disappointment. Doing it every time we have a setback is annoying.

We made £400k profit the other year, with £70m debt where do you think the money comes from as we only had £11m in the bank last season?

 

[Lilbaz]

Bloody well hope he has legs.

Do we not have wheel chair access?

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

We made £400k profit the other year, with £70m debt where do you think the money comes from as we only had £11m in the bank last season?

Premium Bonds?

 

[Skye Sauces]

There are zero guarantees that any extra buys would've led to those fabled extra points. Sure, it would've made us stronger on paper, but that's why you play the games. Hell if Sandro hadn't got injured, we might have got those points too.

Spot on. We didn't have a problem scoring goals - in 20 years of Premier League we have never scored more.

 

[wiggo24]

Anyone know anything about Nacer Chadli?

Nacer Chadli (born 2 August 1989) is a Belgian professional footballer of Moroccan ancestry who plays as a winger for Dutch clubFC Twente.[1]

Creative, quick and skilful. Think he's about 6'2 so he's not gonna be pushed around. Can play anywhere in an attacking three, as played as a striker before ( in his youth), but much better out wide...