BlueStar

That was my worry, but luckily it seems like half the fans haven already decided he's not good enough and want him out, which will probably lessen the chance of success under him. Having to come out and defend the appointment before you've even announced it doesn't bode well.

How bad is Walcott's injury? #fantasyfootball

Just put a quid on him getting sent off tonight at 33/1.

Hughton hopeful on new deal Magpies boss would welcome contract extension http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6363044,00.html

Discreet, nah there all banging women atm. Still, guess when you're rich and famous you can get them to do owt you like.

I used to wear one to every match as a kid, dunno where it is now. I'll have a look when I go to my parents place next.

Think it depends if you take the question as meaning if at the end of the season we're 17th you say "That's fine, we'll take that" or if it's if, if you had the chance to wave a wand and say we would definitely end in 17th place, you'd take it or gamble it and see what happens without magical intervention.

Are his sponsor deals really reliant on his 'family man' image? Was he chosen for that reason? Thought it was more because he was a rich little radgie who could kick a ball geet hard and that.

I think taking 17th place now makes us more likely to be relegated over the course of the next two years than just seeing what the season brings to be honest. Hull just stayed up in their first season, did that help them 'press on' or just give the feeling that the coming season would just be a stay of execution, now without the kind of first season excitement that saw them fly up the league to start with and allowed us to tonk villa? Look at the teams that have come up recently and actually did manage to push on and establish themselves as a fixture of the top flight, Stoke, Birmingham, Wolves, did any of them do that by scraping survival by a point or two in their first season? Compared to the two clubs I can remember finishing 17th in their first season, West Brom 04/05 and Hull 08/09 who then immediately went down again. If we finish below one of Blackpool, Wigan, West Brom and West Ham my relief of staying up is going to be tempered by the fact we're in some serious shit next season. So if the argument for voting yes is that it doesn't matter where we finish as long as we stay up, I disagree. It really matters. If we just scrape survival with Ben Arfa and Carroll, are we going to be able to keep them and, if not, what position would we take at the start of next season? 17th again? EDIT: Bradford did the same, promoted in 98/99, 17th in 99/00, relegated in 00/01. If we are to finish one position above the relegation zone in our first season in the premier league after promotion and then survive the season after, we may be the first team to do so.

He's a clever lad as well, during his time at Accra Academy he specialised in studying relationships between organisms and their environment.

Ben Arfa's tempting, but Mikel's only 5.1. Guess if I made that swap I'd only have 2 chelsea players and I could have Alex in defence though

Been added to the official fantasy game at a cost of 5.0 points.

I don't see how. The analogy was in reference to people winging over it, rather than the actual deal. Basically like someone behind that person in the queue going 'No, he shouldn't get it!' when they give him the breakfast. I don't even know what your problem is. You're being a bit of a dick really. But there's no competition between the people getting the breakfast. You're going to have to extend your analogy to make it so that they're buying the McDonald's breakfasts in preparation for a food fight upon which a large amount of money is being waged by asain businessmen.

It was the fact the transfer window was shutting that allowed them to get a bargain. They could have paid more 3 weeks ago, or taken the risk and tried to get him last minute for a knock down price. They took that risk, it didn't pay off, that should be it. You can't try and reap the benefits of a gamble without the risk.

Well no, but it would be better than going down. Thus you've just restated the original question really. But it may be better to gamble and avoid only delaying our fate.

I've just got a horrible feeling that we will see the inbreds completely and utterly kick and hack their way through a few of our lads. This won't be a pretty match and I can guarantee that HBA will be singled out for the inbreds 'hardman' (Cattermole?) to receive a shit load of physical abuse. Just you watch, it'll be like Ginola v Dixon. Don't worry, looks like he only intends to play once every four games this season.

If the question is if you have a hypothetical scenario where a genie can magically assure you 17th place, or you can just roll the dice and see what the season brings, I think it's important to realise that 17th might not be the safer of those options to choose, long term. A 17th finish next season could have a very negative effect on the season after, in terms of how attractive we are to players, both those we might want and those we may want to keep, on the morale of the squad and the morale of the teams we've nudged up the league, on the type of football teams play against us at SJP... I think we'd be in a much better position for the 11/12 season if we managed to avoid a relegation scrap this season, with the momentum to push on.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6352239,00.html Spurs hit Van der Vaart hitch Special dispensation required from Premier League Sky Sports News understands Tottenham Hotspur missed the deadline to finalise the paperwork for the signing of Rafael van der Vaart. Spurs made a late bid to bring in Holland international Van der Vaart and tried to complete the deal before Tuesday's 6pm cut-off. However, it is understood that technical issues prevented the necessary paperwork from being completed and Spurs have now requested special dispensation from the Premier League to add the midfielder to their squad.

Gamble! Gamble!

Moaning about us singing songs about victories Sunderland when we we're playing them Considering their entire songbook is about us, week in, week out, what a bunch of softcocks. They only stopped singing "Kevin Phillips in the Rain" when he turned them down for West Brom.

Looks like it's pretty much agreed it'll be Blacpool, Wigan and West * then. Mackems might make one of their late season charges for it as well, who knows.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6350039,00.html Skysports.com understands that Besiktas have launched a surprise bid to sign out-of-favour Tottenham striker Robbie Keane on a season-long loan.

If we beat them at any point this season we need to stir the pot with some "Steve Bruce is a Geordie" and "Brucie, Brucie give us a wave."

God, it's just going to get worse in the papers though, isn't it? "Wahhh, why is a good player at a club outside the top six, how is he going to single handedly win us the World Cup in four years unless he's playing for Man U or Chelsea, Liverpool need a striker and are interested in the 6 foot 6 centre forward, Drogba's getting old, Man City have money, why haven't they bought the 6 foot 8 target man yet yet, I've heard he's going to Barcelona, Real Madrid have had their head turned by the 8 foot superstar" Hope he can keep his feet on the ground and not believe his own hype too much.

Shef Wed fan in a critical but stable condition following violence after they thrashed Hartlepool 5-0. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11129586