Rich

Hartlepool win, at least. Nice to see Jeff happy.

Howay Jesus, you owe me one... late goals for Hull, Fulham and Bolton please.

My thoughts exactly. TalkSHITE have that game today for full commentary. Last Saturday they had Spurs vs West Ham. Sums that fucking radio station up tbh, fucking wank.

My thoughts exactly.

A draw is shit for both though really, and means we're only 1 win away from being out of the relegation zone. Got to look at the bigger picture PSYCHOLOGICALLY.

Complete opposite of Shola, if true.

So we've got 1 1/2 out of 4 going our way. Not great.

Ah bollocks man Portsmouth.

I want Hull to equalise now like, howay. Then we need Fulham to pull one out of the bag.

Get in!

Kiss of death.

Sunderland 1-0. Hmmm. Fucking Sissy, first in 8.

Matty Pattison for me as well... not Lewis Guy as initially thought.

Fuck man. Come on Fulham. Just hit post.

I saw Pedro and Dave talking about it elsewhere but I'd love it if we could bring the E-I-E-I-E-I-O song back for Shearer. It's hardly a big change having to put his surname in for "Keegan". Probably my most favourite chant ever, sounded fucking mint.

Fulham, Stoke, Bolton all need to win. Sunderland/Hull is a tough one - draw followed by a Sunderland win being best for us, in my opinion.

Not even with the new money that there appears to be over there (Gold Coast)? I've got to admit I know extremely little about Australian football, but I'm sure I remember reading recently about them and their owner on Soccernet. The term used was more to say he could have had the easy life over there than just the money, with the climate and everything and the lower standard of football. Worded badly.

Newcastle fans are the most loyal, please dont call them fickle or rubbish. Most people on here are pissed off that some players including Given were allowed to desert before the premiership season was saved. That is perfectly understandable. How are Newcastle fans more loyal than anyone else when we have seen Man City for instance filling out their stadium in Division 2. Imo it is dellusional to suggest we are the best when a 10 year servant of the club giving everything he has got every game is called a coward for taking an opportunity he may not get again, at his stage in his carear. Good luck to him, we have a more than able replacement. I think you should have a closer look at Man City attendances from fairly recent times mate, if memory serves correctly... They can't even fill their stadium in the PL. I'm sure they were one of the worst culprits for giving us the "where were you when you were shit?" rubbish when we were decent a few years back and I'm sure that they themselves had some really, really shocking attendances in fairly recent times to that.

Newcastle fans are the most loyal, please dont call them fickle or rubbish. Most people on here are pissed off that some players including Given were allowed to desert before the premiership season was saved. That is perfectly understandable. How are Newcastle fans more loyal than anyone else when we have seen Man City for instance filling out their stadium in Division 2. Imo it is dellusional to suggest we are the best when a 10 year servant of the club giving everything he has got every game is called a coward for taking an opportunity he may not get again, at his stage in his carear. Good luck to him, we have a more than able replacement. I think you should have a closer look at Man City attendances from fairly recent times mate, if memory serves correctly...

Aye looking at Sunderland and Hull's remaining games a Mackem win might actually be best for us. It's a difficult one. A simple way of looking at it is that a Sunderland win puts them on 35 and Hull on 34, whereas a draw puts them on 33 and Hull on 35... obviously if we're taking both into account that's one less point for us to have to claw back on them. Obviously it's not as simple as that like, not in any way, shape or form! I'm torn really because you figure to stay up the Mackems are going to have to win their home games. If they can't beat Hull at home after putting in a decent shift against Man Utd it could really unsettle them heading to face the Baggies away from home (who in fairness managed to hold Portsmouth at Fratton Park!) If Sunderland fail to win today and then don't beat West Brom (even if they draw both games) then looking at their remaining 4 games you could say that they were DOOMED. It's not completely out of the realms of possibility...

His attitude towards Viduka is spot-on as well, in my opinion and is not one I honestly would have expected him to display. A manager knowing that in order to manage certain players you need to treat them completely differently to the rest of the squad (in terms of training regimes, motivational techniques, etc.) is a really thrilling thing to hear about after the dismal times under the likes of Souness and Kinnear, who appeared to adopt a "one size fits all" policy that didn't really pay off. I thought he would just sack him off personally and write him off as a waste of space, like many of us have, but he's obviously had a word with the FAB, had a good response verbally and since that point has had an even better response through Viduka's actions. Shearer himself has said he's been coming in for extra sessions every day, in early and while he'll never be "100%" again he knows that an 80% fit Mark Viduka is still a force to be reckoned with. He could have sat on his arse and been off for a payday in Australia come the summer but instead has put the graft in and is working himself back to fitness. Obviously you could say it's probably the least he could do for NUFC after the wages he's had out of us (well upwards of £5m in 2 years, I'd assume, especially considering sign-on fee...) but maybe a bit of good management earlier on would have seen him play far more games for us and give far more back to the cause (his only decent run has been when KK was here, really, shockingly another good man-manager). Like everything else it may be too late in the day, but if Shearer keeps this up then I'm even more optimistic about him being our manager than I was before he came in. I just thought we'd be getting another high-profile "Geordie legend" appointment to get everyone galvanised more than anything, and I appreciate it still is early days, but all the signs so far show Al to be much, much more than that. Don't want to get ahead of myself, but it looks good on this front whether we stay up or go down... provided he stays of course! The comment "we'll have to look at it come the summer" regarding Viduka's contract fills me with hope, though.

Howay Fulham, howay Bolton, howay Stoke and howay a draw between Hull and Sunderland (or a Sunderland win)! Portsmouth and Blackburn aren't out of the woods just yet and anything less than a win for both of those sides today will keep the pressure on them big-style. I would love it, love it, if none of them on 34 points or less won today like, but I still think Hull are our main hope of a team to catch ahead of all others though, based on their run-in and current form, and so a Sunderland win today wouldn't be too bad for us at all either (Hull have to play Liverpool and Villa afterwards...)

I know, I got that. There are bigger things at work here though my friend than your attempted humour (which, for once, wasn't all that bad!). Stop dodging the question and provide me with an answer. Otherwise I won't be able to enjoy my Friday evening safe in the knowledge that our squad is absolutely brimming over with top-class international footballers.

Be careful I know these two lasses who said the same when he played for them. Howay then, Almighty Zen of Football... until you confirm it is indeed Nacho on those pictures I can't bring myself to 100% believe it.

Care to direct? I don't have a fucking clue what he looks like On the massive "jogging" photo Wor Nacho is at the back near the centre, just over Carroll's shoulder. Then further down he has his back turned behind Oba ("Up and Oba").