Theregulars

To sell papers

Because I loved Kinnear's Crazy Gang and can't contain myself at the prospect of him guiding us to total victory.

Every one of our players stops playing well after being in hands for a few months (except Anita, thus far...). Putting aside my contempt for his patronising, dim-witted and obtuse character, he's just so, so, so fucking bad at his job.

He's the worst kind of villain; the one whose motives are completely incomprehensible.

Oh, and "pitiful".

Sums me up too man. It's shocking how little I react to goals etc when we're playing now. Just falling out of love with football in general mainly because of NUFC. It's not about us winning or losing either. It's the fact that everything good about the club is being killed off and everything we're proud of is disappearing and there's nothing we can do about it. Ashley couldn't care less. He's ruining the club and he's going nowhere any time soon. Same for me. I haven't watched any games this season properly, I might keep my eye on the score and I still get excited if we are winning, but while I always care, I've lost interest in putting myself through it. There's not even the hope that it's going to pick up anytime soon. The club that gave me some of my happiest days is long gone.

I don't think so at all. I mentioned Ashley's regime as being part of a situation which isn't ideal for a person with the mental make-up I think he has. I think you might me to keen to shoe-horn my view into the pro- or anti-Ashley black and white stance which this forum has develped. Your argument is an interesting one, and suggests that there is an immaturity to him too. It's not that he's insecure/down on himself, he's actually spoilt. That's an interesting counterpoise.

I've been thinking long and hard about this one, because I simply don't believe, based on his first 6 months here, that he's a bad player. Players have had amazing purple patches and played out of their skin before, but for 6 months, he was as good as Cole, Ferdinand or Shearer in their pomp, and I seriously believe that. He isn't as good a player as any of them, but teams feared us because of him, which is the mark of a serious striker worth his salt. My conclusion - and I'm open for it to be wrong - is that he's weak mentally and quite an isolated person. I think that's more than just that he's a confidence player and he's totally devoid of confidence - that's part of it - but I think there's an element of fragility, a really strong element of self-doubt, that's battling against. You seem him a lot walking around with his head down, looking around a bit listlessly. I wonder whether he's in his own head, talking to himself a bit, maybe even having a go; frustrated because, objectively he knows - on the basis of his body of work when he arrived here his by all accounts strong record in Germany - that he's a good striker, but I wonder whether subjectively he believes it himself. My worry is that it has got to a stage where scoring a goal or two doesn't set him calm and get him feeling comfortable, if anything it adds more pressure to him. Along the lines of - "look, there's more evidence that I can do it, so why can't I do that more regularly? Or was it just a fluke" type of thing. Perhaps he overthinks; I have no idea, I don't know the chap, but based on a completely unqualified hypothesis from his body movement; his listlessness; his disappearance from games and his childish behaviour at times when frustrated (often a sign when an insecure, unconfident person kicks out externally against other people but's its really anger at themselves or frustration with their own performance/situation) just makes me think that he's a spot fragile. Maybe having Demba Ba when he arrived here - not because they were mates, but because he was effectively a really, really nice bonus and there was no pressure, and/or he slotted right into a very comfortable, functioning and smooth unit as we were then - was the reason that a fragility, or cloak of self-doubt were never really exposed. They never had to be. He was a bit off at the start of last year, and to my mind he was nowhere near ready to become the "main man", mentally at least, to take the mantle of our number 9 not in just shirt number but in talismanic status. I think he's been burdened by it and he doesn't truly believe he can do it. There was also a lot of bad luck involved last year - some incredibly incorrect offside decisions/goal line decisions, he hit the bar and post more than average, and maybe that's weighed on his mind and has him feeling that luck is going against him, which weighs in on the self-belief. I don't really know. I'm just somewhat stoned and having a little wonder down Frasier-level psychology lane. I don't know if it's something he's going to get out of, especially in a club where everyone know seems to know and believe the awful truth, that we have no ambition, that making money is the order of the day, that any player will be off (against their wishes if need be) if someone else comes in for them and pays what Ashley thinks is good money (the uncertainty of upheaval, family life, personal life and relationships is probably not considered by us as fans because we think "fuck you, you get paid in a week what we get in a year, just man up") they'll be off and they have probably sussed that Pardew is a very limited manager who may not develop them to their peak as footballers. This isn't the right situation for someone who has the issues that I suspect consume him.

He's shat himself and reverted to type

Cisse, man

4-4-2

How many fouls, man?

This guy's a player

He deserves praise today, well done.

If Steven Taylor, Tiote and Jonas are fit they all start automatically. Don't kid yourselves otherwise.

You must surely know that they are fairly indubitably Krul, Coloccini, Cabaye and Ben Arfa on the evidence of the last 2 years? Indeed, the frequent absence of all 4 last year was a large reason (not as large as the manager) that we were shit.

Not necessarily.

Well done that man. It's such a simple solution. He's only here to generate mild profit while he looks to sell. Starve sources of profit, he has to make a move. he's still a long way off from making any sort of profit mind. Even better.

Well done that man. It's such a simple solution. He's only here to generate mild profit while he looks to sell. Starve sources of profit, he has to make a move.

could = will

You all stop buying merchandise and tickets, hopefully, realising that this is the best chance of getting him out.

Makes perfect sense. He wants to sell as soon as he gets what he deems a good offer; so he's staffed the club with a manager and director of football who are his mates who will end up getting a huge financial payout (through length of contract) when whoever the next regime is may eventually takeover and inevitably sack them for their perpetual incompetence.

Why are any of you surprised?

Sorry if already asked - the half and half SBR match kit, can that be purchased by members online? That kit is lush, once you scrape Wonga off the front.

Your treatment of Ian is ridiculous. In a nutshell, he has said "you're overreacting". Your responses prove him completely right.