chicago_shearer

I do miss the back flips.

Nice effort at brown nosing the new boss there. When is Nicky Butt going to fuck off?

If he 'sold' the naming rights or shirt sponsorship to Sports Direct, he would essentially be paying for it himself. He will sell sponsorship to the highest bidder and that isn't going to be him, is it?

I'm not going to worry about whether Hughton is good enough for the Premiership until we actually get there. It is still a long, long way away at the moment. If we do go up and Ashley is still in charge, or decides to put us 'on the market' again (so he doesn't have to spend money on transfers) then I'll be worried. Until then, I'll be happy enough if we can just get out of this league.

There have been a few American sports teams that tried a tricky renaming that brought on a corporate sponsor but retained the original ground name. Like 'Northern Rock Stadium at St James Park'. Just as bad of course, but something they might try.

Why would he sell naming rights to his own company? Calling it the 'Sports Direct' stadium would defeat the purpose.

Good post. But I would add that in his short time in charge this season Hughton has show some evidence of being able to keep senior players out of the side. I think he might just be the first manager since Souness to drop Nicky Butt, which is a major accomplishment.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Send Harewood back to Villa.

Fucking shit.

Need to really up the tempo by the sound of things. Or we could just wait til the last 10 minutes to show some urgency. That might work too.

Because there is no one else? Eh? There's the central midfielder he stuck out of position on the right hand side for a start. Guthrie hasn't exactly been setting the league on fire this season has he? And who is next on the list? We don't have a lot of talent in midfield to begin with. I've no doubt we'll keep blaming team selection, but that overlooks the fact that the squad has no wingers except the under-performing Jonas, no pace at all, and pensioners like Butt & Geremi were retained and not replaced.

Because there is no one else?

Crucial that we score first and score early. We seem to start brightly in most games, but haven't made it count. Make sure it is Doncaster that are feeling the pressure (as they should be) and we will win this comfortably.

Didn't he basically say we were shit on Saturday against Forest? I can't imagine he will be too complimentary this time around.

Goalkeepers, fine. A. Adequate in defence, but woefully short in numbers. B. Poor up front, but adequate for this level. The idea & myth of Carroll & Ranger seems to be a lot more productive than the actual football players, but with Harewood, Lovenkrands (in the correct position) and a fit Ameobi it should be good enough as a unit. B-, C+ Shockingly, horrendously, and laughably terrible in midfield. Geremi and Butt wouldn't make it in most of the teams in this league. Smith is still shit. Jonas has checked out. No talent at all. F.

Aye I thought this, good to know I'm not the only cynic. I just don't believe a word they utter. I think everything is done for a reason for them and their ends. On the other hand giving Hughton the job would be typical, he's cheap, he won't argue and he'll say all the right things when Enrique, Taylor and Jonas are sold in January with another Harewood or Raylor coming in (or even worse) for three months. Even on a temporary contract, Hughton complained about the squad size. Calling him a 'yes' man is slightly unfair at this point. No one in his position is going to start mouthing off about the chairman. If you were a temp, on a month-to-month deal, are you going to start complaining loudly about your fat, incompetent boss? Or are you going to wait until you have a permanent contract and more security before you disagree with bad decisions? And let's say you're right, and Ashley and Llambas sell Enrique, Jonas, Barton and anyone else of any value. What should he do at that point? What is in the best interest of the club? Tell Ashley he's a cunt and resign? Leave the club at the mercy of Ashley, Kinnear, or whatever bad idea he appoints in the interim?

I'm also assuming this is a one year deal btw, and that we aren't tying him down to 3 years or something ridiculous.

I don't think the appoint of Jones, Curbishley or anyone else from the 'b' list of football managers is going to make us play any better. I don't think either of those two, or anyone on the realistic shortlist would make any sort of impact in the Premiership. And we know that nobody - including Hughton - is going to be given any control in the transfer market. So you either string on Hughton until we have a takeover, sack him and appointed an experienced 'b' lister who will work under Ashley. The argument that we should retain him on a temporary basis so we can sack him easily in the unlikely even that we get taken over soon is just stupid. Call me old fashioned, but he should at least be given the opportunity to fail before we sack him as a failure.

What is the realistic alternative, since Ashley isn't going? Names please.

Given the absence of a reasonable alternative and Ashley staying put, it makes sense. Decent results, so no surprise is it? I don't understand all the face palming, unless some people are really excited about the possibility of Kinnear, Dave Jones, Curbishley or the other alternatives. I don't see much improvement there personally. Nothing to get so wound up about. After 660 pages of nothing, some people might want to consider the possibility that nobody with any serious interest or money wants to buy us. This isn't a case of Ashley fending off interest from wealthy Arabs hoping to appoint Mourinho. And even if Moat & his American friends did take over, it is very unlikely they would sack Hughton and re-appoint Keegan, which seems like the only thing that will make some people happy.

How many of the managers in this division would you swap Hughton for? Adkins · Blackwell · Clough · Coleman · Davies · Di Matteo · Ferguson · Holloway · Irvine · Johnson · Jones · Keane · Laws · Mackay · Magilton · O'Driscoll · Pearson · Robins · Rodgers · Sousa · Southgate · Sturrock · Warnock

If I had to put money on it, I would say playoffs is realistic. You don't need a super computer to tell you that Newcastle are unlikely to go up the easy way.

¿Quién es Simon Bell? Even looks like Joe Kinnear these days.