midds

I love the club more than I hate the current regime. They'll not drive me away from following my team. Fair play to anyone who decides they've had enough though.

Good stuff. Needs to have a good debut, no pressure pal.

Perfectly legitimate tactic given the scenario. Maybe Mourinho should be asking questions of his forwards for not converting one of the dozens of chances they had?

It still is. We won the 2006 Intertoto Cup and as a result qualified for the Uefa Cup. The prize is the same, and it was a European competition, not just domestic. So is that more or less successful than a League Cup win? The Champions League is a better competition than the Europa League. Ergo finishing 4th is better than winning the league cup, right? If all that matters is winning, and the fact it's a second tier competition is irrelevant, then we won the Championship. You really have to WANT to believe it, and do some delicate mental gymnastics, to consider a league cup win as the best thing in the north east for 40 years. Aye, can't wait to tell the grandkids about that one.

Sometimes the selling club name a price, we offer an amount way below what they want, it's rejected and we magically run out of time to meet somewhere in the middle before the window closes. Ah well, at least they tried....

Why strengthen a team not in immediate danger when you could just deposit £20m into the bank though? Crackers.

Oh you cynic. At least they tried. That's the main thing. ...and it was "substantial" so no-one can criticise them at all.

It's almost as if we lodged the bid fully knowing full well it had no chance of being successful.

No axe to grind here. He wants to be successful and win things and can't blame him for wanting the move. Deserves to be at am ambitious team and I hope he does well.

Poyet's turned Pardew over 3 times on the spin now. Got no faith in him to get us up for the game and I expect nothing from the game. That doesn't men we can't win I just don't expect anything from a Pardew team in the derby.

It's just bullshit. Bullshit aimed at pacifying the masses who swallow anything they hear/read. I don't believe for a second that that cash is going to be invested straight back into the team, it's just pathetic, empty soundbites designed to fend off disgruntled supporters. Constant stream of lies and bullshit.

He needs to play and he should be absolutely chomping at the bit to play on a big stage. He's been frozen out at BMG and needs to play if he's got any intention of getting into the Dutch squad for the World Cup. Throwing him into a derby on his debut with him full of adrenaline immediately makes him a better option than the dopey, lumbering alternative. Throw him a shirt and see how he does ffs.

Dislike the prick immensely but he doesn't pick the team. Starting Taylor ahead of M'biwa is down to one man alone. The grandstanding he does is just childish as fuck too, wouldn't matter half as much if he was good but he's not.

Aye but he's a compulsive bullshitter. I've got no faith in either him or the owner to act in the best interests of the team.

Start him and try to get and hour out of him.

Got virtually no confidence about Saturday at all. Not sure I even want to go.

John Gwynne is so northern it's offensive.

How have we set ourselves up? Ben Arfa central?

Absolutely no reason for Taylor to start tonight whatsoever.

I'd agree with other clubs but to us he was the guy the entire team and set up was should have been built around This would have required a modicum of ambition sadly. The limit of our ambition is simply to stay up whilst spending/investing the absolute minimum year on year on year. No wonder the fucker wanted out and I don't blame him in the slightest. We're simply a stepping stone to bigger things and we're delighted with that. Make up the numbers, stay away from either end of the division, sell Frenchmen for a lot of money and that's about it.

Some will still say he didn't know what was going on. The blokes as much a cunt as Ashley and JFK. Of course he is. He's absolutely complicit in every aspect of the shit that's going on.

They've cranked up the bullshit-maker a little early this window. It's still convincing a few though I see. Poor Pardew, my heart bleeds for the scum-sucking pig-fucker.

Didn't seem that hard to sign players a year ago. The money is there, the desire to spend it is not. Why would you possibly want to improve your team when you can just get by as it is? Stagnating is the new winning.

Bye bye Cabaye, bye bye Cabaye, sold by the fat cunt in the stands, cos he sold Cabaye, Yohan Cabaye, he's got a riot on his hands... etc

At least they've protected the club, that's the main thing. Phew.