Thats a great story you've made up there Naa, tried selling it to the Sun? Didnt know Jordan Rhodes agent was on here..

OK, first off. It worked out well for Pablo staying didn't it? RK has really shown faith in him hasn't he?

At the end of the day regardless of the veracity of my story Rhodes was allowed to go because the manager was happy for him to leave.

He's a young guy who knew he needed regular football to push on. If the manager is happy for him to go why on earth would he stay? He's basically being told he's not wanted and won't get many games this year.

So, however you look at it, however true my previous story is or isn't - Rhodes did not choose to leave, he was told he wasn't wanted and, by implication, wouldn't get many games this year.

He had only one choice really.

Also, we lose against the team that is 3rd in the league away from home and suddenly Keane outers are back in again, nothing heard from them after the last two wins, this is getting sooooooooooooooo annoying

but naa youve just stated that you made the whole story up regarding Rhodes being told he had no future at the club and that he was sold before being told about it, so basically any arguments you make are fairly pointless and probably fabricated

Naa your quote above - "If RK is the wrong person (and obviously none of us knows if he is or not at this point) then he will spend a lot of money taking us in the wrong direction.".

The point is ME & SC appointed RK. They considered him the right person. If none of us know how the appointment will work out, why call for his head? He has now had a full season. Whatever any supporters opinion of that appointment, the process of rebuilding the team is now well beyond the initial stages. A lot of players have come and gone. He has altered the spine of the team successfully.

The points haul from the end of October, after the disastrous start, is play off form. Statistics dont lie. There were reasons why JM's team last season werent good enough to reach the play offs. The Counago's, Garvan's, Shumulukoski's, Quinn's werent capable of pulling up their sleeves and fighting for the cause, and at the same time maintaining their discipline (Thatcher).

RK is getting and will demand honesty of effort and discipline. With regard to transfer funds, none of the 12/13 players he signed during his first season at Sunderland were big money signings, they were part funded from sale of existing players. He has a track record, and his connection with Sunderland and Steve Bruce should be considered a positive not a negative (Leadbitter, Coback and D. Murphy wouldnt have been signed without that relationship).

With regard to Chelsea, the difference is they already had a team. There was no rebuilding to be done. None of their squad were past their best. The Man Utd's and Arsenals show the importance of stability. Ferguson job was on the line for his first 3 seasons. Their fans are lucky they had a sensible chairman.

People blamed Kevin Keegan once for not winning the Premiership with Newcastle, they pointed out all of the things he did wrong. So they got a plethora of experienced managers (Dalglish, Robson, Gullit, Souness). They have never again challenged. The point is Keegan had built that team. Others came in, dismantled it and the rebuilding has never stopped. People say what a great manager Davies is, the Forest manager, and maybe he is, but it didnt stop his team finishing 19th last season, or his then team Derby getting relegated from the Premiership.
Supporters should do just that and support their manager, chairman and owner as Forest did and other successful clubs do.
RK has already won this division as a manager and even more importantly kept a team in the Premiership. He did spend a lot of money in his second season, but Sunderland's wage structure was low. Newcastle continued to spend for years, they ended up being relegated, money alone guarantees nothing.

'Never let the facts get in the way of a good story'

ITFC1985: I did nothing of the sort! Firstly, my story did not say anything about Rhodes being told he had no future etc, and being sold before being told. Where did you pluck that cack from?

What I did (and this may be confusing for you it seems) was state that RK was still responsible for Rhodes leaving, even if you refuse to believe my story (which was purely about Rhodes phoning RK).

I said that Rhodes place at the club essentially became untenable when his manager told him it was OK for him to leave (which he did by accepting Huddersfield's offer). That isn't a 'story' it's just interpreting the facts. RK did not HAVE to sell, therefore he was saying Rhodes wasn't wanted.

And at no point did I say I made my previous story up..

naa - this is from your post - "Keane had to accept the offer and decide he was happy for Rhodes to go before Rhodes was even told about the deal" thats where i got it from.

I agree with jbb

ITFC1985: well yes but so what? do you think they'd put an offer to a young player to see if he wants to go or not and let him just leave if it's a player they want to keep? Hardly.

If RK wanted Rhodes to stay they'd have rejected the offer. Simple as that.

I don't agree with the "getting rid of Keane will set us back 2 years/have to start from scratch" etc etc comments either..look what can happen when the "correct" appointment is made at a club i.e. Notts.county..a good manager has been brought in and there's been no major changes to playing personnel just a manager/coaching set-up that knows it's arse from it's elbow.

Something we should've done before Xmas.

I see David Wright was dropped "again" on saturday..when will Keane ever learn?

Anyway, I really didn't mean this subject to get so drawn out. I didn't realise my 'story' context was going to start such a debate.

I think we can all agree that RK sold Rhodes, whatever the intricate details were.

It annoys some of us, others have learned to move on, and others couldn't care less.

Let's leave it there.

Considering the club is a business then i would say yes, Keane has made it very clear all season that every player at the club has a price and £800k for a player who had hardly played and only scored 1 senior goal is pretty good money. Which once again brings me to the point that Rhodes could have rejected the contract offer from Huddersfield and stayed with the club much like Pablo did with Swansea, a player has as much say in a deal as the club and manager selling him

as we are leaving it now, i would just like to mention that my above post was a response to your previous post.

ITFC: yes Rhodes could have rejected, of course he could. As I said though, why would he want to? He needed regular football. It's obvious that he wasn't going to get it here if we were willing to sell. His career could be on the line if he sits around on the bench at his age.

And in your description of Rhodes (hardly played, only scored one goal) you do forget to mention that he was 19 not 26. It makes rather a big difference.

Pablo had no such situation. He's in his 30s and not so worried about his long-term prospects.

Damn, yes I should have left it too. Just had to have the last word!

This can be the end of it (and I'll let you respond to my previous post too without carrying it on even further)

naa - no worries mate, i think tensions of what has been a generally horrendous season just went over the boil abit, imagine if we had been Man Utd fans discussing Berbatov lol!!!

I was at the Forest game, and the difference between the teams was that Forest had some pace and played to the full width of the pitch. Presumably Keano asks Walters to wander all over the place. He was never in a wide position to receive the ball. How he remains in the team playing for a full 90 minutes every week I will never know.

Apart from that if Town had put away one of several good chances in the first half the result could have been different.

True! Even RKs most expensive flop pales in comparison to Berbatov.

afro: yes, what is Walters up to at the moment. Last few weeks he's really started this 'wandering around' thing. Can't say it works, and leaves right-back rather exposed.

We are in desperate need for pace and width (and someone up front who can bang in decent crosses, should they arrive).

Okay, I have had enough and Keane needs to go !!!! The pro-Keane fans on here are delusional. This club will get nowhere under this management. A couple of wins and everything looks rosy but it is basically pathetic. Next season will be the same and I can see posts on here on the last day of the transfer window with people complaining that nothing is happening. Keane is useless and time will prove it. Burley or Curbs or whoever - come on down !!!!

Im not delusional, im a realist, the people who think we should be winning the league playing arsenal style football are delusional

I would swap places with Arsenal but I am a realist and the reality is that I would swap places with Blackpool !!!! BLACKPOOL PEOPLE !!!! That is what "Golden Boy" has done for us this season. Looking up the table at Blackpool. The table does not lie and the manager is ultimately responsible for his team. Clearly Keane needs to bugger off to Celtic or wherever.

blu_dru: i'm with pirate. I don't demand promotion but when you see Blackpool and Doncaster up the league and us being given large amounts of money to spend then I don't think it's unreasonable to expect us to be challenging for a play-off spot and definitely above those two. After all, we challenged for the last two seasons and few people were happy then.

It is not unrealistic to expect improvement after spending money.

But most of all I just want to see us play some attractive football. That'd be nice. And no, that doesn't have to be at the expense of results - it wasn't for Burley or Royle in recent years.

roy keane town legend PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF