BottledDog

Just that the supporters deserved better after the long journey and that he felt he could have done better. Nothing earth shattering, but seemed genuine, and was a nice gesture in amongst the usual 'Brrrrap brrrrrrrraaaaaapping'.

I don't think we went there trying to forfeit the game. There is a possibility we didn't risk Colo and Papiss which might have made a difference, but beyond that we just played like shit. That is the fault of the manager and the players, some of whom went there with things to prove, and beyond Ranger, simply looked like they were less than arsed about their chance. I appreciated Rangers tweet after the game, seems he is waking up to the fact he is very close to fucking up his future.

He's out of contract in the summer. And? We've upgraded a first team player... before he actually left! That's a rare occurrence. Embrace it.

No outgoings? Yes.

Dirk Diggler?

Right, fuck this shit, we've given him enough time. Time to move on, and move Heaven and Earth for Nikola Zigic.

Just for the off chance we can discuss shin splints again. Seems to be a real lack of that condition these days.

Sounds about right. Just scored his first goal in yonks.

There's just not enough training hours in the day for Alan to cover all these things, come on man we've been over this! Loved the fact that at the start of the season he said we'd cracked it. Our corners would be unstoppable!* *not an exact quote, but not far off.

Time to wake up and smell the coffee. Time to release an angry missive. Time to open the bed-sheet draw! Going off what Pardew has been saying recently, I think those that can do anything about it are perfectly aware we're in trouble.

How is that in any way better? Fuck knows, the ludicrous appointments post Bobby sent us on an almost consistently downward spiral that was the most predictable and depressing period I've known. Much prefer the surprise cock slap to the face of this season. Still plenty of hope for the team.

Who was our last signing? Anita? Him. Did we have any real competition for him though? Anita, Bigi, Debuchy, Cisse, Cabaye didnt descend into bidding wars, which suits us well. "Yes, it is true that Sunderland did want me but I chose Newcastle because they really wanted me, they kept on asking for me and that gave me satisfaction too." Ok, you could argue that that's stretching 'significant' a bit. I think we have to fight off a certain amount of competition for any player, and we probably loose out on most of our targets. But then we are at least going for a pretty decent caliber of player these days.

Who was our last signing? Anita? Him.

Good is gonna be great. Bassong x 2.

Do not toy with us Remy. Do not ponder, or tarry too long. We will give you more than money. More than fast cars and loose woman. We will give you (a stepping stone to) glory!

Spot on. Absolutely criminal decision. That tells me he hasn't got a clue how to utilise players at all Agree to a degree. I think Pardew wanted, and is very sold on the idea of a technical player like Anita (though wasn't expecting just Anita, Wullie), but just like his (probably genuine) desire to play good football, he seems to struggle to marry what he'd like to see the team do, with getting past his conservative nature and actually doing it.

Pardew does have a major say though. On the players we choose to pursue. Not so much on how far we go to pursue them obviously.

Aye, spot on. /And still find his name surprisingly brilliant. Not sure why.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-cSpYxwXnrDXxIDvlFfAzuc6zjx7g8sBC84HyMPG3M82jQS5uHmmY1nwVVg Thought you didn't think he had any say, but if we're going down that route... http://www.talksport.co.uk/sites/default/files/imagecache/ts_news_article_header_image/Demba_Ba_0.jpg

Quit sucking all the joy out of life. We clearly have a structure where we feel we can assign a certain amount of the budget to those on higher wages, and like every club it is difficult to justify having highly paid players sitting on the bench (or even in the reserves ala Xisco). Llambias just tried to simplify things in answer to a question. Of course we're flexible. Of course things change.

I am literally (half) shaking with anger here.

Well.... hope he lives up to his billing. Good luck bonny lad.

Scenario 1: It's filler, a little tidbit in a story to add interest but without any need for quotes or evidence. A nothing, throw-away line. Scenario 2: The club has to take the kids to school and sort out the shopping, oh, and nan's coming over at the weekend so they can't do anything til she's packed off hyem.

Does he need to do that ? I think we are all very clear on who is calling the shots It's certainly not a bad thing to say in answer to someone asking when a player might arrive though. He does his part helping persuade a player to sign, it's not up to him to finalise the financials. I honestly can't understand anyone having a problem with it. /doesn't surprise me though, obviously.

Good presser. Seemed very determined that defence was the priority and it was very much up to the board to deliver. And while he gave me no confidence that we'll see Ba's situation resolved quickly, he seemed unmoved enough to make me think it won't have too much of an effect on his selection.