BlueStar

Isn't needing a striker and putting all your eggs in one basket by only following one target who, if it doesn't come off, leaves you not even attempting to buy a striker in about the 5th transfer window you've needed one "betting the house"?

If the club can get 50,000 people sharing your view, Ashley has got himself a nifty business model. Staying up is enough, and a professional footballer is a professional footballer, no matter what their actual level of quality may be. What is there to gain by buying now? We look on course to finish higher than last season, even if things don't go as well in the second half of the season we will be OK. If our plan is Europe in the next three years then it is better to make steady progress in developing the squad than betting the house on a player to get us there in 6 months. Because it's quite possible that the 7th position we currently find ourselves in could make this our most attractive period in terms of appealing to players for some time if we now slide down the league? Let's be honest unless we have European football to offer there isn't much difference between finishing 8th and 14th. Also the point I'm trying to make is that whoever the new 'panic buy' striker in January was they would have been a massive gamble. High transfer fee, high wages, long contract and not enough reearch done to ensure they are right for the team. For a club that currently has Alan Smith and Xisco on its books and had Albert Luque on its books for many years surely we should have learnt the problem with this strategy. So presumably if we now buy Cissokho you'll condemn Ashley for making a mistake in not waiting until the summer? Or is there doublethink going on here where if he doesn't buy a striker now his only target has "fallen through" it's because to do otherwise would be foolishness, but if he does then that's just fab?

I don't believe Maiga would fail a medical at any other club judging by his agents comments. Ba & Santon passed our medical ffs. Seems very apparent to me that once Steve Taylor got injured we needed to buy a defender and Pards was told defender or striker. Defender was a more pressing need, so Maiga was binned off - probably had a small injury or something. If we did sign a second striker to play alongside Ba where would that leave Ben Arfa? If he's never going to play on the wing and if we have Ba and a striker we've shelled out on up front, you couldn't keep everyone happy. We need a striker whilst Ba is away definitely but Maiga wouldn't have been here anyway. We'll know in a couple of years who was right on this one. However, on the medical side though I'm pretty sure it would be illegal for someone with a medical licence (as our club doctor will have) to lie about the health of someone i.e Maiga. Surely the doctor just gives an honest report and the club set the bar in terms of what a fail or a pass is?

If the club can get 50,000 people sharing your view, Ashley has got himself a nifty business model. Staying up is enough, and a professional footballer is a professional footballer, no matter what their actual level of quality may be. What is there to gain by buying now? We look on course to finish higher than last season, even if things don't go as well in the second half of the season we will be OK. If our plan is Europe in the next three years then it is better to make steady progress in developing the squad than betting the house on a player to get us there in 6 months. Because it's quite possible that the 7th position we currently find ourselves in could make this our most attractive period in terms of appealing to players for some time if we now slide down the league?

Perhaps he shouldn't have been our only possible option out of all the forwards in the in the world? There's always a possibility of a transfer falling through, most clubs don't have to go "Oh well, we can't get that guy to come and fill the big centre forward shaped hole in our team, so that's that then, we don't get anyone." Why fucking not? Didn't we have this with Erdinc last time, where we chased on guy for months, it didn't come off, we had no back-up plan and just gave up? Presumably in the summer it'll be better to save our money and get someone we really want in January? Or do you want us to go all crazy and spend £8m on a player who isn't on crutches or doesn't have a boarderline personality disorder or who may not really exist when we could be going for the one available person who ticks every Ashley box as a cheap gamble who's unexpectedly on the market and might treble in price in a season's time?

Newcastle United abandon striker hunt after Modibo Maiga move collapse http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16345791.stm Mint. Luckily Harper's back up north, he used to want to be a striker, didn't he?

Was a very short list then

Am I reading too much into his first reaction after scoring being to point at our fans? Wondering if it was recognition of the support he's had and the fans chanting his name when he's on the bench.

The way they've turned on Collymore like, fucking hell.

@Daryl_Conning: Patrice Evra is a dirty fat nigger! Hope he dies of aids like his ancestors #slave @WMPolice West Midlands Police @Daryl_Conning Your comments constitute an offence under the Public Order Act.We have received a complaint & advised them how to report it Deleted his account, bet that put the shits up him

Don't really agree that kind of stuff is just to be expected. I blame the fuckwits posting it rather than thinking it's something like the Kick It Out campaign that made them do it.

Eh, ok. It's more about the witch hunt nowadays really. Every single word needs to be carefully thought through. It really is tedious at times, and people react accordingly. This kind of"acting accordingly"? http://twitter.com/#!/StanCollymore/favorites

So presumably seeing as racism is less common in football and society in general now, there must also be less anti-racist groups and less PC advocates going on about racism. Because otherwise it would have increased, naturally.

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Put that over a photo of Steve Bruce and hey presto! Inept fantasy manager, the meme.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/672/captureoyh.jpg

70 so far this week, not bad again. Topping my pub league, second in the work league.

Took a screenshot of that early on today and came to post it here. Did a proper "okay" face when I saw people discussing it.

That really fucked my lass off, she ordered a pair of gloves for someone for Christmas and had to go and pick them up from the depot because they wouldn't fit through the door thanks to the enormous free mug - which was smashed by the time she got the box anyway

Should have come to manage us, we didn't have to play anyone good for like 12 games.

Sunderland currently have as many premier league wins as they have players on bail.

On it

58, not bad. Friedel got me 10 points thanks to an unexpected 3 bonus points. Already shipped him out to give me money to upgrade Arteta to Nani, but oh well.

Bendtner Maybe his foot's still sore from kicking wing mirrors.

Imagine O'Neill will get something like "Sit down you leprechaun" at the derby.