BottledDog

I think it being pretty gusty might have a lot to do with it to be fair.

What's Blanc doing speaking Spanish? All seems a bit fishy to me like.

Yup. Was great there as well, but think the ball kept getting nicked? Ah fair enough. Struggling to imagine what repairs needed to be made to a solid bronze ball mind.

Yup. Was great there as well, but think the ball kept getting nicked?

Oh please be true.

Magic. Great spot for him.

Hooo.... Nah, some of the things I have said about Pardew were idiotic. Although to be fair, I never demanded his sacking or said he should be sacked, I just offered that I myself would replace him after the season ended if we were still putting in poor performances/hoof ball/dodgey tactics/not playing the likes of Ben Arfa. As for the whole point scoring/who is right/who is wrong thing, sadly when debating on here it can lead to that kind of crap and I've been guilty of it myself once or twice. In general, me, I'm absolutely delighted to see my team playing like we are and Pardew has helped that happen massively so all credit to him, long may it continue. And yes, he is winning me over and yes I was wrong to say some of the things I did about him in a personal sense and regarding replacing him. Oh and Bottled Dog, no I will not start getting stuck back into him if a few results go against us. I will criticise abject performances, bad decisions and poor team selections etc. though where I see fit just as I will praise good performances and good decisions whether we win or lose, and that has always been my way. Fair play.

Very balanced view that.

Thought his lack of international recognition would cause him to do a Jose and not sign, so was brilliant when news of his new contract broke. To get in the team of the year is fantastic and really hope he does gets further recognition now. Just fkn love it that he's our captain.

No doubt some of them have a neb at the forums, but yeah, (despite it cropping up in more than one post) I'm presuming that was toungue in cheek to be fair.

Spot on as usual. There have been a lot of valid criticisms and discussion points, it never got daft barring a very few exceptions. In fact I actually think this has been one of the best threads this season because nearly all of the content was well balanced and argued. Despite our results and position, Pardew had questions asked about his selections, tactics and style of play (some of which were prompted by his own comments in the media) and he has answered them emphatically in the run-in. Dunno why some are so preoccupied with point-scoring. Not point scoring as such, just a pretty unbridgeable difference of opinion. When people say that Pardew has actually had a fundamental shift in his style or philosophy (possibly even to the extent of taking pointers from this forum) it's difficult not to at least have a go arguing against that. Whether he could have got the team playing like this much earlier in the season is a bit of a mute point without knowing what was going on at the training ground, but as Noisewater and others have said, there was plenty of evidence in his past or at the time to suggest that he had as little joy in seeing us resort to clunky defensive football as the rest of us.

Supposedly? Fuck off. You highlighted in my post "Sometime that faith looked shaky at best, but I thought that there was very little to suggest he was a negative manager, or married to the concept of 'hoofball' that some here kept banging on about.", then suggest i'd not seen any of the games in question. But that's what I've said all along, not just this season but the last as well. I didn't believe he was tied to or had any desire for that kind of football, and I'm delighted he is now able to let the players off the leash to a certain extent. There is no revisionism on my part. As you say though, it's not about being right or wrong. But I think the case does repeatedly have to be made, for no other reason than the vain hope of slightly stemming the inevitable round of rants and bullshit the next time we hit a slump.

This right here, gentlemen. I did not see it coming at all, I can't think of any logical reason that suggested it would come, nor was one suggested by any poster on this board. Negative tactics were accompanied by cries of "you idiot, how can you pass it from the back with simpson, willo and Krul in the team/ Cabaye is in terrible form" ect. Pardew's change of mentality also exactly coincides with Ben Arfa forcing himself into the team. Now try to remember objectively, Ben Arfa was not eased into the team or anything like that, he was thrown on as a wildcard, an "oh-s***!" button. And he preformed so well in those cameos that he simple could not be dropped from the team (fan pressure being a factor too). I'm not taking anything away from Pardew he's done unbelievably well. And I almost regret typing this already as this can of worms is in the past. But people gloating ' i woz right bout somethin' , 'will you admit you was wrong' is really irritating. But you're wrong. There were people that took in past form and what Pardew had said through his time here, his general interviews, his use of players, his explanations when we played badly and his admittances when things didn't go to plan and came to a different conclusion. Buy into what we felt he was aiming for, and the way he ideally would have us play. Sometime that faith looked shaky at best, but I thought that there was very little to suggest he was a negative manager, or married to the concept of 'hoofball' that some here kept banging on about. There will be many many more games where we f*** up, set up wrongly, or end up lumping it forward. I just hope the current form makes the likes of HTT hesitate from jumping off the deep end again when we hit a bad patch. I fear it wont. /Christ, it wasn't that many weeks ago he was still calling for Pardew to be replaced sooner rather than later. /But then, it wasn't many moons ago, he was fighting Allardyces corner, or siding with Souness over Bellamy and Robert iirc... Revisionist to the extreme, did you watch ANY of the games where he was accused of this? There was open conflict on the pitch as Demba Ba was arguing with Coloccini for Krul to stop punting it up the pitch every time he got it in at least 1 game that I saw. Krul, and Colo, to their credit, kept on doing what they were told to do by their manager. Open conflict on the pitch? Bollocks. There have been plenty games, possibly the majority of games where there have been players having a go at each other. Having go at each other for following the managers instructions on those occasions? Seriously? You really think that? Absolute bullshit. So you decide to not watch the game and call people who have seen it 'talking bollocks', internet-revisionist idiocy at its finest. You what? I've watched every game in full this season, none away in person, but a good deal at SJP. I'll ask again, when did you see the players have a go at each other for following the managers instructions? How can you ask 'again' if you didn't ask anything already? It's 1am and I'm not going to trawl topics for your benefit. Continue in your hazy bubble of revisionism for all I care lol. Question marks denote a question. lol.

This right here, gentlemen. I did not see it coming at all, I can't think of any logical reason that suggested it would come, nor was one suggested by any poster on this board. Negative tactics were accompanied by cries of "you idiot, how can you pass it from the back with simpson, willo and Krul in the team/ Cabaye is in terrible form" ect. Pardew's change of mentality also exactly coincides with Ben Arfa forcing himself into the team. Now try to remember objectively, Ben Arfa was not eased into the team or anything like that, he was thrown on as a wildcard, an "oh-s***!" button. And he preformed so well in those cameos that he simple could not be dropped from the team (fan pressure being a factor too). I'm not taking anything away from Pardew he's done unbelievably well. And I almost regret typing this already as this can of worms is in the past. But people gloating ' i woz right bout somethin' , 'will you admit you was wrong' is really irritating. But you're wrong. There were people that took in past form and what Pardew had said through his time here, his general interviews, his use of players, his explanations when we played badly and his admittances when things didn't go to plan and came to a different conclusion. Buy into what we felt he was aiming for, and the way he ideally would have us play. Sometime that faith looked shaky at best, but I thought that there was very little to suggest he was a negative manager, or married to the concept of 'hoofball' that some here kept banging on about. There will be many many more games where we f*** up, set up wrongly, or end up lumping it forward. I just hope the current form makes the likes of HTT hesitate from jumping off the deep end again when we hit a bad patch. I fear it wont. /Christ, it wasn't that many weeks ago he was still calling for Pardew to be replaced sooner rather than later. /But then, it wasn't many moons ago, he was fighting Allardyces corner, or siding with Souness over Bellamy and Robert iirc... Revisionist to the extreme, did you watch ANY of the games where he was accused of this? There was open conflict on the pitch as Demba Ba was arguing with Coloccini for Krul to stop punting it up the pitch every time he got it in at least 1 game that I saw. Krul, and Colo, to their credit, kept on doing what they were told to do by their manager. Open conflict on the pitch? Bollocks. There have been plenty games, possibly the majority of games where there have been players having a go at each other. Having go at each other for following the managers instructions on those occasions? Seriously? You really think that? Absolute bullshit. So you decide to not watch the game and call people who have seen it 'talking bollocks', internet-revisionist idiocy at its finest. You what? I've watched every game in full this season, none away in person, but a good deal at SJP. I'll ask again, when did you see the players have a go at each other for following the managers instructions?

I'm wrong about what exactly? You certinly won't see me jumping on Pardews back if things go a bit sour, I always said if he gave me signs I would be all over them. You have to remember, the crux of the problem was that we were playing a style of football that did not suit our players. This is what I criticized Pardew for. His past record suggests a lot of hoof-ball and many pundits and the like allluded to the fact that he always said he plays attractive football, while doing close to the opposite[this obviously set some alarm bells ringing]. I did not see his change in mentality coming, and I don't think these was anything tangible to suggest it would. I fully admit I was wrong in relation to the fact that I did not think Pardew could change his mentality/approach. People were making excuses like blaming individual players, not suggesting it(the negative approach) was part of some plan. Anyway I don't care anymore, I think Pards may have seen the light This is just a load of nothing btw I don't follow that he suddenly changed his philosophy, and I honestly don't know who these many pundits are, or what they said? Enlighten me.

This right here, gentlemen. I did not see it coming at all, I can't think of any logical reason that suggested it would come, nor was one suggested by any poster on this board. Negative tactics were accompanied by cries of "you idiot, how can you pass it from the back with simpson, willo and Krul in the team/ Cabaye is in terrible form" ect. Pardew's change of mentality also exactly coincides with Ben Arfa forcing himself into the team. Now try to remember objectively, Ben Arfa was not eased into the team or anything like that, he was thrown on as a wildcard, an "oh-s***!" button. And he preformed so well in those cameos that he simple could not be dropped from the team (fan pressure being a factor too). I'm not taking anything away from Pardew he's done unbelievably well. And I almost regret typing this already as this can of worms is in the past. But people gloating ' i woz right bout somethin' , 'will you admit you was wrong' is really irritating. But you're wrong. There were people that took in past form and what Pardew had said through his time here, his general interviews, his use of players, his explanations when we played badly and his admittances when things didn't go to plan and came to a different conclusion. Buy into what we felt he was aiming for, and the way he ideally would have us play. Sometime that faith looked shaky at best, but I thought that there was very little to suggest he was a negative manager, or married to the concept of 'hoofball' that some here kept banging on about. There will be many many more games where we f*** up, set up wrongly, or end up lumping it forward. I just hope the current form makes the likes of HTT hesitate from jumping off the deep end again when we hit a bad patch. I fear it wont. /Christ, it wasn't that many weeks ago he was still calling for Pardew to be replaced sooner rather than later. /But then, it wasn't many moons ago, he was fighting Allardyces corner, or siding with Souness over Bellamy and Robert iirc... Revisionist to the extreme, did you watch ANY of the games where he was accused of this? There was open conflict on the pitch as Demba Ba was arguing with Coloccini for Krul to stop punting it up the pitch every time he got it in at least 1 game that I saw. Krul, and Colo, to their credit, kept on doing what they were told to do by their manager. Open conflict on the pitch? Bollocks. There have been plenty games, possibly the majority of games where there have been players having a go at each other. Having go at each other for following the managers instructions on those occasions? Seriously? You really think that? Absolute bullshit.

This right here, gentlemen. I did not see it coming at all, I can't think of any logical reason that suggested it would come, nor was one suggested by any poster on this board. Negative tactics were accompanied by cries of "you idiot, how can you pass it from the back with simpson, willo and Krul in the team/ Cabaye is in terrible form" ect. Pardew's change of mentality also exactly coincides with Ben Arfa forcing himself into the team. Now try to remember objectively, Ben Arfa was not eased into the team or anything like that, he was thrown on as a wildcard, an "oh-shit!" button. And he preformed so well in those cameos that he simple could not be dropped from the team (fan pressure being a factor too). I'm not taking anything away from Pardew he's done unbelievably well. And I almost regret typing this already as this can of worms is in the past. But people gloating ' i woz right bout somethin' , 'will you admit you was wrong' is really irritating. But you're wrong. There were people that took in past form and what Pardew had said through his time here, his general interviews, his use of players, his explanations when we played badly and his admittances when things didn't go to plan and came to a different conclusion. Buy into what we felt he was aiming for, and the way he ideally would have us play. Sometime that faith looked shaky at best, but I thought that there was very little to suggest he was a negative manager, or married to the concept of 'hoofball' that some here kept banging on about. There will be many many more games where we fuck up, set up wrongly, or end up lumping it forward. I just hope the current form makes the likes of HTT hesitate from jumping off the deep end again when we hit a bad patch. I fear it wont. /Christ, it wasn't that many weeks ago he was still calling for Pardew to be replaced sooner rather than later. /But then, it wasn't many moons ago, he was fighting Allardyces corner, or siding with Souness over Bellamy and Robert iirc...

... that and the fact that it's our home form that is tremendous and 3 out of the last 4 are away games doesn't bode well. But then, hell, it's an amazing end however it rolls.

Fair enough, a cup is a cup and, while they are pretty blasé about it, I've never seen us win one. But to be fair you'd be hard pushed to describe them as rivals at the start of the season after hoovering up our players, and to have ended up above them is massive. To have ended up being this far above them is just exceptional.

Ahhh, fuck.

Should be - Sleeps with wife Wish I was my wife

We need to stop this new to the top-flight crap, there is no excuse for some of the negative long ball crap we've served up this season which was in the main down to the manager's tactics, team selections and negative approach to the game. As for carpet football, no-one expected that, not me anyway, I didn't expect the calibre of players we do have in our side to struggle to play some possession football though which they did. Now that isn't the case and myself and others have been vindicated. I always thought we could play good attacking football from the off and we are doing that. As for a new team, bollocks, only Ba, Cabaye and Obertan were regularly in the side, hardly a brand new team as you put it - 3 players man. Oh, so we have you to thank for our current form and style? I'm so glad that you pointed out to the rest of us idiots how poor we were playing previously. One "blip" in form aside, we have been outstanding all season. There is simply no excuse for picking the bones out of Pardew's performance this season, other than sheer negativity or a simple case of being afraid to admit that you were wrong. Even when we were playing "poorer" football, i had no doubt that we would come through the other side. Not because i'm some know-all, but because i totally understood what Pardew was trying to do and i had confidence in it. I'm glad Pards has repaid my faith and i hope now that you too, will have the bollocks to place your faith in him. Well said that man.

Can't help thinking that using Sports Direct as a showcase doesn't particularly help sell the space mind. If I were a prospective advertiser, at best I'd ask for a heavy discount to put my brand anywhere near their ugly ass logo.

Well, could be read in different ways, but it certainly wasn't totally gash. Took a good deal of solace in it and what some of his old clubs supporters said after he was appointed which helped me start to get behind him a bit. /I seemed to have very different mates to HTT's Hammer and Charlton friends thankfully.

Whey that just sounds like a load of negative bollocks to me, sorry. They'd need the club to be a damn sight better than stumbling around the lower reaches of the table if Ashley were ever to sell the club and get any sort of decent money for it. But even if that was the plan, why would they need to take the risk and replace Hughton so as to keep things sweet with the supporters/media while keeping the club up on a shoestring? That is ultimately exactly what Hughton was doing for them. That's fair do's. I can appreciate why you would think that, given the form we are in. But it's what i thought at the time (aided by Golfmag P.I), and our form hasn't changed that. I'll always think the manner of his appointment was a bit iffy. Our form, as you say, has nowt to do with it and hasn't changed my opinion in the slightest. That Golfmag had a heads up on the appointment if anything suggests even less of a fluke - that the club had put a fair bit of time and thought into the appointment. If they only thought Pardew would do the bare minimum, how on earth would that help them get the fans and media back on side enough to attract buyers? It just doesn't make sense. Replacing Hughton was a risk not worth taking if they were just looking for a way out, and a 5 year contract for the new man strikes me as pretty unattractive to a buyer as well. They brought in someone who they could work with, and the effect on the media, fans, and prospective buyers was secondary. It suggested a new direction and as the trust built, Pardew got them to invest and push on with captures like Cabaye, Santon, and Cisse. If that continues (yeah, yeah, I know ) then hopefully they're not just the jammy bastards that understandably some see them as.