Kanj

Obviously have to back him and the board now even though I'm not pleased with their decision. I think we'll be OK next season - just hope we get a move-on the transfer front and making backroom changes in terms of coaching and physio/fitness to make sure we keep our top players on the pitch and not pulling up with muscle injuries so much. I just hope we get to see a fully fit Ben Arfa and Sissoko bossing it out there and Cisse with some thunder bastards of epic proportions.

100% spot on. We've been crying for a turn-around for every season since Bobby left! Minus last season of course. It's exhausting man.

Make the necessary changes in the backroom staff, sign players in-need positions, clear the wasteful members in our squad, sort our overall tactical plan and hopefully we improve. We must. Last season can't ever happen again.

Wish he had the foresight and dignity that he's clearly not up for the job and walked.

We should aim for a sugar daddy / Russian Billionaire / anyone in Arab. Dunno, i'm torn on that. I like our club the way it is. Nobody is laying us fat stacks, we do it ourselves. In the same vein I think George Osbourne and Richard Branson are both t***s but I respect Branson a lot more. Been thinking about this today, and things "we do ourselves" has given us mediocre finishes, a relegation, a Europa league finish, and a 16th place finish. What exactly have we done ourselves? This post is NOT aimed at you loki man, just really wondering about this whole thing. Mind you, I'm a finance person - I've always been fond of our lack of indebtedness to a bank and how we've scouted great young players before others have. I'm just sort of thinking I've fallen into the Ashley trap here. I went to uni in newcastle way back when. I worked 30 hours a week to pay my rent, tuition etc. Missed loads of classes due to work but I still got my degree, I didn't have any other choice. The guy I was living with was studying law and his father was a lawyer. His parents were divorced so he never had to work a day the whole 4 years. He got full grants, full loans and a generous allowance each month from his dad. His degree is worth no more than mine in the real world. Even to him, his degree is worth just as much as mine, as it should be, but you're damn f***ing straight I worked harder for it and that does give me some pride. Was wondering where you were going with the story, but nicely done at the end. I feel you man.

The only way they show ambition without sacking Pardew is sanctioning some really, really early signings of names Ben Arfa, Cabaye etc get excited about.

We should aim for a sugar daddy / Russian Billionaire / anyone in Arab. Dunno, i'm torn on that. I like our club the way it is. Nobody is laying us fat stacks, we do it ourselves. In the same vein I think George Osbourne and Richard Branson are both t***s but I respect Branson a lot more. Been thinking about this today, and things "we do ourselves" has given us mediocre finishes, a relegation, a Europa league finish, and a 16th place finish. What exactly have we done ourselves? This post is NOT aimed at you loki man, just really wondering about this whole thing. Mind you, I'm a finance person - I've always been fond of our lack of indebtedness to a bank and how we've scouted great young players before others have. I'm just sort of thinking I've fallen into the Ashley trap here.

What's so wrong with money? Why do people harp on "doing it right" when nobody is doing right, and never has. The clubs that spend the most money win trophies or at last compete for them. What is the point in sport if you just want to be "10th place"? There are few clubs in the world who actually win their leagues that have done it the right way, and those happen in leagues not dripping with cash. Soon or later, Monaco will start challenging PSG in France if not next season, and so it goes on. "Stability" - sure I'll take stability when we are consistently fighting for a title, a cup or a champions league position and the following year we can be optimistic that we could challenge for the title. But the fuck does stability have to do when you go from 1 end of the table to the other and you're penny pinching?

It all goes back to the top, if the man up top has failed to identify the quality of players he's OK'd to be brought in aren't performing because the man charged to manage the football team can't, then we've got an idiot owner who's failed us once again. Its all great to see Hatem and Colo on the pitch, but Pardew and co. are completely wasting the talent on the pitch and Big Mike is just as much to blame for backing him. I'll maintain this point and hope I'm proved wrong one day, but shit won't change until Mike sell's up. Its clear as day.

We've all been fed an incredible story about a blue print and hiring the man take us forward and push on. The lies started a long time ago when he bought us and they've never stopped or learned a damn thing.

His blueprint is probably a lie. This thing seems to pin completely on Graham Carr working his magic, and his cheap manager throwing some players about hoping one of them work their magic. Joke. (awfully negative post, sorry)

I'd happily accept being wrong, 100%. I'd celebrate being wrong. But backing the man who got us within points of going under again is incredibly unambitious. 1 season can destroy everything that was built. We were absolutely fortunate to have the players we had and the manager to bring us back up in style. Many clubs don't enjoy that same sort of luck man.

Please. As a football owner Ashley's an unambitious loser and it's reflected on each of the last 6 seasons. With Ron here. Its called 1 finish in the top 8 since he's been here including NASTY fan backlash in most of those seasons, a club relegated, and a club nearly relegated. We've done absolutely nothing since he's bought the club but hired 2nd rate managers. The only good thing he's done is cleared our indebtedness to a financial institution and brought in Graham Carr to scout for us. And those 2 things are looking at the bright side. Football is a results business and we've been woeful apart from 1 season. Add up our attendance records in the league and in all of Europe and he's sold us short for quite too long man.

Deep down you wonder/fear that nothing will ever change until he eventually decides to sell the club.

What would the club say? They told the world that hiring Alan Shearer was the best thing he's done and that he's working on making Alan the man to lead us forward. Only to not appoint Shearer and CH became our interim manager until finally getting the full time role. In all honesty, I'll back whoever is our manager as there's no point in wasting my own energy on being pissed off with the manager. Hopefully he changes, hopefully we bring in some new coaching to work on the attacking side, and hopefully we continue to bring in quality players.

Opportunity to push on failed.

My last bit of hope is we've heard nothing official from the club and I just think back to Big Mike Ashley basically telling everyone he was going to give Shearer the full time job only to not.

So much awesome there - Bigi singing and dancing the Cabaye song, Hatem proper loving on Colo, Debuchy has a f*** load of kids, oh and Colo Such a sucker for players loving our support, always feels good to see that.

He has worked with a couple of our players already, Debuchy and Cabaye to name a few. And if im not mistaken, a couple of the other french players aswell during his time as a national coach. The Under 21's i think. Good attacking football, got Lille to win the league and to the CL. Wants to manage in the PL. (more or less begging for a job in the PL if you believe the papers) That's Rudi Garcia Isn't Gerard just exactly the same but with Montpellier? Kinda but Girard has worked with Franch national team at all youth levels and a big part of why they won the WC in 98 and the Euros in 2000 behind the scenes. Didn't really work has a first team manager till Montpellier but youth coaching and behind the scenes stuff. To Parky and or other people who haven't read about Girard... Girard is my no.2 option behind Rafa if we were to sack Pardew. Everything I've seen, read or watched is that this a football man who's forte is working with young players, very attacking-minded (football is a game of entertainment) and never finds the "big clubs" who spend a ton of money as something to look down upon, rather he shows no fear versus these sides. He seems like he is close with Wenger and you can google a few articles on him. So on top of working with our players at youth level, he appointed Mapou as his captain and they went on to win the league with an under-valued, young side in a league where they barely spent much. He also worked for a madder man than Mike Ashley "I think our triumph is a real shot in the arm for French football. It just goes to show that everyone can beat everyone and that money isn't the be-all and end-all. We're a club of mates, a club that brings young players through and gives them a chance. At the end of the day, it's worked out well for us. We played some great football, with a well-balanced team and I'm overwhelmed." The Article I referred to which many people have posted and or seen before a month ago: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/10004456/Montpellier-coach-Rene-Girard-wants-move-to-a-Premier-League-club-after-discussions-with-Arsene-Wenger.html "I am proud when people say ‘Montpellier are like you – they have personality’. My philosophy is that I ask my players to be aggressive. I tell them you have to master the ball.”

All he needs to do is learn the deepest midfielder positioning for this team and use his pace and intelligence to read the game and either be in the right place first, or work on his timing of nicking the ball. I'm thinking with time, he'll learn that and be a top player (hopefully here). The young kid was schooled at Ajax man, his training was far superior before he came here to work under the excuse-man.

Kick in gut but I still believe we'll get a team

Skirge would lose his shit if West Ham sign Bony.

19th richest club in the world with the 10th highest in average attendances and we have a manager who constantly tells us "the big boys" will come in and sign our players and we just can't compete with those type of clubs.

I had typed up a few things, but then just deleted them in favor of basically this. Fuck Pardew.

Santon's hair is always generally shocking. Absolutely terrible