Benwell Lad

Agree. The notion that Ashley will keep him because of a previous statement, contract, friendship or whatever is wrong. Ashley is a ruthless operator when it comes to running his business and wouldn't think twice about cutting his losses. That said, I think Pardew will be around next season.

Although some aspects of his game have been quite admirable, Cisse's conversion rate has been awful this season. Aye, I put him as the biggest disappointment on the Chronicle survey. Obviously I didn't expect him to continue last season's ridiculous strike rate but the number of excellent chances he's missed has definitely contributed to our downfall. It'd help if we had other players capable of scoring more like, though the defensive nature of much of our play hasn't helped this. Our cagey unambitious set up has definitely made it a tough season to be playing as a lone striker. Striking options have to be the absolute priority this summer.

Until Wigan are leading 1-0 with 5 minutes to go tonight, then all the anxiety of the last few weeks may come rushing back.

Although some aspects of his game have been quite admirable, Cisse's conversion rate has been awful this season.

It's all about stability Bimpy. Stability is great if the manager isn't a clueless idiotic fanny magnet. Whats wrong with being a fanny magnet like ? Hasn't stopped Jose Mourinho (or me) from being successful

Sadly I can't see that happening. True. Very unlikely, yet not impossible. Re-assuring however that a Wigan relegation will be the next best thing.

The "soooopah poster" and "forum royalty" comments have certainly improved it.

"Luckily for us we had Harps, who came on as if it was a Sunday afternoon and he was going down the pub with his dog. That calmed everybody. It certainly calmed me down.” Pardew's words regarding Harper coming on at such a crucial time on Sunday. It strikes a note with me and a few others I go to the match with as we've always joked about Harper's cool nonchalance in pressure situations. I really think his intelligence and calm demeanour could be an asset around SJP in some capacity for another season or two.

"Luckily for us we had Harps, who came on as if it was a Sunday afternoon and he was going down the pub with his dog. That calmed everybody. It certainly calmed me down.” Pardew's words regarding Harper coming on at such a crucial time on Sunday. It strikes a note with me and a few others I go to the match with as we've always joked about Harper's cool nonchalance in pressure situations. I really think his intelligence and calm demeanour could be an asset around SJP in some capacity for another season or two.

100 plus pages of "OMG OMG OMG has he been sacked yet" hysteria, and now two acerbically witty posts on one page. Things are looking up.

I drove past a town in northern Holland called Makkum recently, and I pondered for a moment whether anyone from Milan had ever been there ?

Give over, man. http://images.wikia.com/uncyclopedia/images/0/0e/Morrissey-crying.gif Some of the stuff that gets written, man. Is this place going to be a cataclysm of faux-depression all summer? It's not like supporting Newcastle has ever been anything other than a rollercoaster of unmitigated pain. If you can't be bothered to scramble for stream on a Saturday in your Oslo bedsit, life will go on. and

Imperious.

Probably got a better offer from an alcohol or gambling organisation.

We need a Football, a General Chat and a "Pardew" section to tidy things up a bit round here.

Paolo di Pinkseats. http://www.themag.co.uk/the-mag-articles/sunderland-cement-their-place-at-top-of-empty-seats-league/

Could have written that myself.

I'm all for care in the community but should they really be refereeing Premiership games ?

That might as well be one of my posts from February. Point A: if we sacked him, I still don't think we'd get the right man. Point B: we should give him until Christmas-ish. It's too late for any of that now. He's taken one of the best squads I can remember to the very cusp of relegation. Persisting with him until Christmas, where we won't have improved but we will have spent more money... it's just pointless. He needs replacing. Not really, main point is that they will not fire him until a replacement is lined up, and not knowing which division we'll be playing in next season makes that very difficult. May be that they're working on a replacement already with contingincies in case the worst should happen.

Now some are reasoning that he shouldn't get more time (like Fergy once did) because he didn't win anything before he came here. You mean like what Dalglish, Gullit and Souness had ? Personally I'm not sure where I stand regarding his departure. The way some are clamouring for his head instantly you'd think Mourinho or AVB was waiting in the wings to come in, but the reality is that we'll most likely just stumble into another appointment which will split the fans. Let's face it apart from Keegan and SBR no one has had great support from the fans for very long. On reflection I think I'd give him until the end of the season and possibly the begining of next season with a firm understanding that if there is not a significant upturn in both results and performance levels then it's curtains.

Aye, I'm just happy we've got him tied down on an eight year deal, what with ManU, Chelsea and Bayern all looking for new managers ;-)

The blaming of Pardew for everything thats ever gone wrong regardless of whether true or not just gets funnier and funnier. Not going into too much detail but :- Point 1. Wrong. We've scored a few from set pieces over the last two years, we just seem to be having a bit of bother with scoring from corners. Point 3. Wrong. We've done it a couple of times this season, possibly in consecutive games without checking. In your summing up you'd have sounded more credible if you'd said SOME of it was down to bad luck, injuries, poor refereeing etc., but MOST of it is down to bad management. But hey, lets not let facts get in the way of a good rant :-)

Eh ?? Have I missed something ? I can think of several reasons why Pardew's position may be in jeopardy, but it may well be support from the dressing room, not lack of it, that keeps him in his job. He has clearly lost the dressing room. See Liverpool game, and recent reports of unrest. Utter nonsense. Even if he had "lost lost the dressing room", there's nothing "clear" about it. Liverpool was a diabolical, humiliating performance but had Ferguson, Lambert, di Fascisto, etc etc "lost the dressing room" prior to similar results ? Recent reports ? Aye let's believe the scurrilous Luke Edwards rather than anyone who is actually in the dressing room such as the club captain who's just said "The manager and the players are together. People can criticise when they want, but we always give our best on the pitch and on the training ground.” There's plenty of scope to get at Pardew without having to make s*** up to validate the criticism of him. PS "lost the dressing room" is such a stupid expression, I can only assume it was someone like Lawrenson who first used it. You lose your fuckin keys not a building with showers and coat hangers. I believe Edwards in that he was told something by someone. No smoke without fire. To be fair, I'd be disappointed if, somewhere along the line, none of the players questioned what's going on/went a bit negative (towards the manager). Of course players will say there is no problem. We are in the middle of a relegation battle. To be fair mate you will find that at almost every club to some degree, even those who are performing well. It is however a very diluted version of what you said earlier about him having "clearly" lost the dressing room.

Eh ?? Have I missed something ? I can think of several reasons why Pardew's position may be in jeopardy, but it may well be support from the dressing room, not lack of it, that keeps him in his job. He has clearly lost the dressing room. See Liverpool game, and recent reports of unrest. Utter nonsense. Even if he had "lost lost the dressing room", there's nothing "clear" about it. Liverpool was a diabolical, humiliating performance but had Ferguson, Lambert, di Fascisto, etc etc "lost the dressing room" prior to similar results ? Recent reports ? Aye let's believe the scurrilous Luke Edwards rather than anyone who is actually in the dressing room such as the club captain who's just said "The manager and the players are together. People can criticise when they want, but we always give our best on the pitch and on the training ground.” There's plenty of scope to get at Pardew without having to make s*** up to validate the criticism of him. PS "lost the dressing room" is such a stupid expression, I can only assume it was someone like Lawrenson who first used it. You lose your fuckin keys not a building with showers and coat hangers. So if he's not "lost the players" and they are trying their hardest in training and on the pitch then surely that intimates that there are fundamental problems with the coaching and tactics, which essentially also lies at the feet of the manager. It's clear from previous games and the reasoning behind buying these players, that they are a lot more skilled than recent performances have given evidence to. In your frothy haste to reply you seem to have missed my point which is that he has not "CLEARLY lost the dressing room". Apparently the opposite in fact, if people inside said dressing room are to be believed. For the sake of balance however, I broadly agree with the two highlighted points you've made.