Cronky

Taking legal action over a mistake by a referee has to be a no-no. If Ireland were seriously thinking about that, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Yeah I thought that too. Him playing on the wing coincided with Derby's best form since dropping from the top division too so must have done something right Yeah. Ultimately what matters is whether the decision was right, not whether Bamford liked it.

If he was that great why did he get sacked from a championship club?we are getting him because he failed his objective in the championship,it makes no sense! The real question here is why did Derby decline from top of the league to 8th in the second half of the season. My understanding is that the main reason was they lost both their main strikers, the results fell away, and after that it was difficult to regain momentum. They'd only just lost out on promotion last time round, and morale was probably a bit fragile anyway. Whether McClaren was distracted by our interest or not, I can't say. The above strikes me as explanation enough. At the end of the season, a parting of the ways was probably right all round. It would have been difficult for McClaren and his players to get motivated and confident for a third attempt, and a fresh approach would make sense.

It looks like you had to be guilty to succeed. What a mess.

Making an issue of McClaren turning us down twice before is getting a bit tiresome. On the first occasion, it was half way through the season, his club was chasing promotion, and it's perfectly right and proper that he should opt to try and see the task through. On the second occasion, he was asked to take over for the last three games of the season, for a club that was fighting relegation - not exactly a golden opportunity and probably an unwise step for our club to make regardless. There are two things that give me some optimism. Firstly, he's actually won a league title, a trophy, and reached the final of another competition. That's more than certain managers have achieved. Secondly, there's the quality of football that Derby were playing - keeping it on the deck and passing it creatively through the midfield. Anyone who denies that either didn't see them at all or caught them on a bad day. That style may not have been characteristic of his earlier career, but perhaps he picked a few things up from his spell on the continent.

Where has this good football myth come from? From watching them.

I think many are being a bit unfair on McClaren's record at Derby. He had them playing good football, and they were desperately unlucky to lose out on promotion the season before last, dominating QPR in the play-off final, but ending up beaten by a single goal. It's notoriously difficult to then re-motivate a team after that sort of disappointment, but he had them back at the top only to lose his two main strikers at a crucial point of the season, as I understand it. Their challenge then fell away. The major problem I see with McClaren is that he wouldn't be a popular choice. The minute things go wrong, I can see SackMcClaren.com starting up, and pressure building on manager and players. Vieira, despite his inexperience, would be cut more slack. Vieira represents an exciting gamble who could at least unite the club, which is what we badly need.

Edwards and the Telegraph were banned by the club last year. There's no love lost between them and Ashley. What seems clear to me from those articles is a) Edwards hasn't a clue what's going on and b) he doesn't want the club to appoint Vieira.

Any manager with self respect would walk if we fuck them over. I'm not even sure McClaren doesn't have enugh self-respect to walk if he gets fucked over. In this scenario we should just stay with John Carver in case we may end up with John Carver again. The best option probably isn't to hire someone who'd happily rather walk back home to Cheshire than look vaguely compromised by a physically grotesque secretary in a suit. By that logic, we should only go for someone who's slightly better than Carver. Someone who won't have the confidence in their ability to get a similar job, and who would therefore have to accept what they're given. A Souness-type appointment. And to save you the time, yes here speaks the man who likes Colback and Sammy, thinks Ashley walks on water etc etc

We know that Carver isn't up to it, whereas there's a chance that Vieira might be good, or even very good. That's the difference. Vieira has obviously earned himself some reputation as a coach, but who knows how he'll fare in the top job. Personally, I'd be happy to take a punt.

One happy bunny over here.

I voted for Carver just to annoy everyone.

I suppose he thinks that delivering an ultimatum will increase his chances of getting the job. As though they won't want to risk having no manager at all in a few weeks' time. I can't see that he's done anything at all to justify being given the job. They spent a long time before giving him the caretaker position till the end of the season, and he's not done anything to impress. In fact, some of his comments - particularly hanging Willo out to dry - were incompetent. Suuuuuuuuuurely not.

For once, I'm prepared to agree. Carver has shown that he's far too emotional for the top job, and I think he's lost the support of the players.

It's Keegan outlining why he feels his second stint didn't work out. Ashley wouldn't spend his money, and Keegan didn't have the free access to the owner that he had under Sir John Hall.

I haven't seen anyone saying that they 'believe' what Ashley is saying, based solely on the interview. Just that they're interested to see if he puts his words into action. No-one needs to decide, at this point, whether they 'believe' him. The view seems to be 'we've heard it all before', but this is a more positive, and public commitment to success than he's ever previously been prepared to give. And what's the alternative?

No surprise, I don't agree with a lot of what he said, but the big question in my mind is - Did he think that doing that interview just before today's crucial game was going to help the situation?

It won't be Carver. If it is, I'm crossing to the other side. He'll keep Charnley though.

I'd be honoured.

People should untwist their knickers. He's said that we've now got some surplus cash, and we're going to spend it. If that's bullshit, we'll soon know and the Ashley Out brigade will have some more ammunition.

Despite the numerous blunders, I've never completely lost faith in this guy. He's not made a statement like this before, so let's see what happens in the next few weeks. It's not as though there's an alternative. This has been the most horrible few months of supporting my club that I can remember. It felt like total self-destruct. I hope this interview will at least draw a temporary line under this, until we see what he delivers. That may be hoping for too much though.

Whilst Pardew is no Mourinho, it must be pretty clear now, to anyone with an open mind, that he's nowhere near as useless as the SackPardew brigade were saying. All this bluster about how it won't last is just covering up the realisation that hounding him out of his job was a mistake.

Don't worry, guys. Eventually, he'll have a bad season. With few exceptions, they all do. Then you can all shout 'told you so'.

I don't think Janmaat, Colo or Dummett will be able to handle Zamora in the air. I fear that'll make the difference.

I can't see Moyes leaving Real Sociedad unless his family have failed to settle. I think it was a good, positive move for him. He needed a fresh challenge and judging by results, he's been doing a decent job.