TRon

Think the term was "small club mentality" when Bruce said this a few month back,egg on the faces of a few posters on here me thinks. or maybe just highlighting that the Sunderland squad is far more expensive.

Yeah I enjoyed that, Pardew talked a lot of sense there. While I'm not sure he should be publicly talking about his own players as Championship level playing above themselves, that is the reality if we are brutally honest. That would suggest to me that he has ambitions to bring in better quality players rather than meekly accept Llambias' bargain basement deals.

Although no one has actually been signed yet I am encouraged by the type of players he seems to be looking at. Ireland is a flair player and Pardew has done his bit to get HBA signed up permanently. We have a hard working honest squad at the moment, Pardew has to use a limited budget to improve the quality which will go a long way to giving him some real credibility.

I would. What's so funny? He would do a damn good job

or alertnatively he could eat Pissi's mess.

I wish we could have signed Kluivert when he was 24.

and there's the bottom line. Ireland has lost his way and it may well be he's a hopeless case, but our squad is desperately short of quality in midfield. Nolan has done well but he's only really effective from dead ball situations where he gets in good areas and has scored goals. Clubs in our position are only going to get quality players with baggage but maybe Pardew is the right sort of manager to get him back on the straight path?

Then why the fuck loan him. He's already pissed off because he's not getting a game at Villa. We are not that thin in his role tbh, Gosling, Guthrie and Vuckic all do a similar job. We'll never know if he'll recapture that form because he'll never bloody play. If we are looking for a loanee then lets bring in someone for a position we are a little light on, DM for example. Why loan him? Because he's obviously desperate to come here if he'll agree a loan deal. None of those three midfielders you mentioned can do what Ireland can, he's a genuine midfield play maker who can score goals AND run with the ball.

You would do if you'd seen him play or heard some of the stories circulating about him this season. I'll be delighted for someone else to pay his wages for the next five months. What are the stories circulating about him out of interest? That would be my one major concern as we don't want cocaine sniffing train wreck players here, but if it's a notch down from that I'd be willing to give him a chance to rebuild his career with a loan move. The Nolans and Smiths in our squad aren't fit to lace his boots talent wise.

Well this thread is only at four pages so i dont think you are the only one! Personally i think it would be a good LOAN signing. Personally I am quite relishing this. People can pooh pooh it but on his day Ireland pisses all over our midfielders for sheer ability with the possible exception of Barton.

Riiiiggghhht.....keep taking the tablets.... He is. As far as the link goes. Doubt he would want to go to Italy anyway. Yeah Milan is such a step down from Newcastle for a Spanish player looking to break into his national squad. Why would he want to move to a high profile club like that?

Sturridge and Ireland would be two excellent additions to the squad if we got them. Would take my hat off to Pardew if it happens.

Is the Ireland signing official then? Or is it the crazy pills talking?

If S.S.R. was an employee of this website he would have been sacked for posting this sexist crap

That's fair enough but the trial by tv is for the viewers consumption, who knows what their real views were? Anyway my view is only as a paying subscriber - I don't like either Keys or Gray personally but I far prefer to watch them if the alternatives are Alan Smith, Peter Graves or any other non-de script. With any luck Jeff Stelling will get Keys job. As for the co-commentators the rest are all shit.

If you made sexist/inappropriate comments at work and someone made a complaint (not necessarily the person it was aimed at) you might find yourself sacked. The stuff about 'PC gone mad' is completely irrelevant I'm afraid. Didn't these two make their comments thinking they were off air? If people got sacked for what they thought in private not many people would have jobs. Off air is not in private ffs. You mean they meant the whole world to hear it? THEY WERE AT WORK. Do you not work? Not during a fag break.

If you made sexist/inappropriate comments at work and someone made a complaint (not necessarily the person it was aimed at) you might find yourself sacked. The stuff about 'PC gone mad' is completely irrelevant I'm afraid. Didn't these two make their comments thinking they were off air? If people got sacked for what they thought in private not many people would have jobs. Off air is not in private ffs. You mean they meant the whole world to hear it?

If you made sexist/inappropriate comments at work and someone made a complaint (not necessarily the person it was aimed at) you might find yourself sacked. The stuff about 'PC gone mad' is completely irrelevant I'm afraid. Didn't these two make their comments thinking they were off air? If people got sacked for what they thought in private not many people would have jobs.

Other than being a prick does he have any serious lifestyle issues? Ireland has tremendous talent, the sort that we need if we are ever going to do more than be happy to survive. If we can get him on loan it's got to be worth a punt.

He'd never leave anyway. The thread's a waste of time.

I don't particularly pay much attention to other club's players, so I looked up his stats. 16 league goals & 15 assists in over 150 appearances in 5 and a half seasons. On average a goal and an assist every 10 games, or 3 goals & 3 assists per season. I guess he must be in the form of his life now for you to say that then? If Stats could win football matches Graham Taylor would have been the best England football manager in history and Charles Hughes a coaching legend.

Shame. He's annoying as hell and sometimes you feel like beating him with a baseball bat, but his commentary was much more exciting than the likes of Alan Smith and other zombies.

Ranger is quicker than him no? Probably, but he's been used more as a target man to date. You don't see him getting in behind defenders like you would expect a pacey striker to.

Lovenkrands is the only quick (sort of) striker we have though. It might have been worth giving Routledge a run up front in light of Richardson's goals for the mackems.