Cronky

McClaren's record suggests that if he's given the right set-up, he'll excel. If things aren't set right, the wheels come off pretty quickly. Personally, I'm optimistic that the club will live up to Ashley's promise. McClaren certainly looks confident and well up for it.

They've both had their ups and downs in their career. If it wasn't for McClaren's Derby experience, I wouldn't say there's a lot to choose, but McClaren had them playing really good football. People should see beyond the collapse in the final half of the season, to look at what he achieved there. McClaren has also won trophies and has a broader range of experience, of course. But what I think will make the big difference is that McClaren will have better players to choose from. Hopefully, Dive.

Yes please. Of the linked and gettable players, Wijnaldum is the one who I'd most like to see us sign.

Surprised with the northern echo report about the qualities and experience mclaren wants there isn't more talk of shearer being on the team. He is a big advocate of mclaren and would fit the dressing room respect. I think Shearer has to stay away. The minute anything goes wrong, we'd have SackMcClarenPromoteShearer.com.

McClaren talks a lot about character and I can't see Cisse passing that particular test. He's not a team man.

Yup. He's just the player we need.

This is horrible. He's proven to be outstanding in the Championship, while our two have done nothing. Are you kidding me? Nope. Maybe the Championship is where he belongs. I certainly don't detect a stampede of Premiership clubs, eager for his signature, despite the amount of attention he's received.

Lots of clubs seem to have looked at Ince and decided no thanks. I'd rather stick with Aarons and Sammy. I don't think Ince is anything special and if it wasn't for his famous Dad I don't think he'd be getting half as much attention.

It's a bit peculiar. Real power will remain within the Ashley - Charnley relationship, but McClaren being on the Board might offer him some reassurance that the discussions that he has with Carr on football matters are reflected in discussions within the Board. There have been suggestions that Carr, Pardew and Lambias/Kinnear/Charnley haven't always been pulling in the same direction, so this may be a way of addressing that. Of course, the weak point of the system is Ashley being detached from the decision-making, when in reality he wields ultimate power. Mistakes have been made previously when Ashley has intervened suddenly in unhelpful ways - particularly in the appointment of Kinnear as DOF, which set us back a couple of years. From what Ashley has said, he has a firm intention of staying behind clear boundaries, and maybe he's learned his lesson. But we'll see. If what Ashley says is correct, and we have some surplus cash to spend, he won't need to be hovering over the Board's shoulder so much. While he was trying to - in his view - straighten out the financial ship, he probably felt he had to keep tighter control.

He seemed well up for it, and if we can improve the squad I think he'll do well. Let's just give him a chance pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease.

He sounded like an angry Boro fan who hopes he fails.

The Palace link shouldn't be a surprise. Cabaye would recommend other French players to join him at our club, so there must have been something about the Pardew regime that he liked / respected. He left because he had the chance of going to a CL club.

It's complete humiliation for Carver, after the way he was bigging himself up for the top job, even when we only just avoided relegation. Sad from that point of view, but the right decision. He made such a mess of the job and lost the confidence of the players, so there'd always be an atmosphere around him if he'd stayed on. He and Stone have been treated as a job lot, indicating that McClaren has demanded to bring his own men in.

Yeah, I think Carver needs to be nudged sideways and a new Assistant Manager brought in. Carver made such a public bid for the top job, and it looks like he fell out with a number of the players. It could get awkward.

Seriously? Second biggest job of his entire fucking life and can't be arsed to come back and at least pretend that he's interested? Perhaps he's got a wife and kids who were rather looking forward to their holiday? Managers don't get many chances for a break.

But it was unimportant, I tell you!

Apparently Patrick Vieira once asked Richards what he wanted to achieve in his career. Richards said he wanted to be a regular in the England team and win trophies with his club. Vieira replied, 'So how come you're always the last one on to the training field, and the first one to leave?'

Ehhhhhhhhhh Huh? Man City debut at 17, England's youngest ever defender at 18, Man City's youngest ever captain at 19. But he's not a talent? Talent doesn't always get fulfilled, but hopefully it's not too late for this lad.

I wouldn't be able to resist signing Richards. He's an amazing talent, but it seems to me that because so much came so easily to him, he never made the effort to iron out the faults in his game. Lazy, basically. McClaren gave him lots of chances in the England team, so maybe he'll be able to bring out the best in him.

This is a really dull point. The first time, he was half way through a season where his club was chasing promotion. The second time (allegedly), he was asked to take over for the last three games of a team fighting relegation. In the first case, it's the honourable thing to say no. In the second case, you'd be mad to say yes. But yes, the situation does allow you to construct the sentence 'he turned us down twice', and yes if someone didn't know the situation, that would look bad. Well done.

Name after name, blow after blow. Hummm.... Michael Laudrup actually said that he wasn't interested in another mid-table club. The article is quite carefully worded. The other candidates, were 'interested in talking' or 'amenable'. It doesn't go so far as to say they actually wanted the job. My own impression is that there were a number of candidates prepared to listen to an offer, but wanting to wait a while to see if something better came along. We could easily have been strung along for weeks, and ended up with no-one. McClaren seems to have been the one who actually said yes. He's the bird in hand. It was reported the day after that came out he wasn't talking about us and would be open to discussions. Is there a direct quote from Laudrup to that effect? The only direct quote I've seen from him is this one - "I would not accept an offer from a mid-table club in England or Spain. They are experiences that I have lived and, at this stage of my life as a coach, I'm looking for new things." But that doesn't include us?

Name after name, blow after blow. Hummm.... Michael Laudrup actually said that he wasn't interested in another mid-table club. The article is quite carefully worded. The other candidates, were 'interested in talking' or 'amenable'. It doesn't go so far as to say they actually wanted the job. My own impression is that there were a number of candidates prepared to listen to an offer, but wanting to wait a while to see if something better came along. We could easily have been strung along for weeks, and ended up with no-one. McClaren seems to have been the one who actually said yes. He's the bird in hand.

Yep. If Ashley does what he says and 'punches above our weight' in the transfer window, then I think McClaren can do well. In that event, it'll be a big opportunity for him, which should energise him. And yes people, I know we've heard it all before, and you can't believe that people can still be fooled and Ashley's a proven liar etc etc I know, I know.

Really skilful, determined player with a brain on him. The main question mark would be his ability to handle the physical side at the top level.

It'll be difficult to attract new players when the manager is only on a one year deal. Either they're dim or no-one of any standing wanted the job.