TRon

Right now my only concern is getting out of this division, once we've done that we can fret about how we'll survive in the Premier. I don't think it'll be as bad as some fear, the teams in the lower half of the Prem are not that good. Players like Nolan or Butt won't be able to make the step up because of the faster pace, but most of the first eleven could do a job. Obviously we'll need to spend some money and that's where we might have a problem if fatty decides to put the club up for sale again. Let's just hope someone has bought the club by then.

What difference does it make whether Fat Fred was a moron or a genius? He sold his shares and left with a nice wedge. Is there really any point in dragging up these tired old arguments year after year? If Shepherd didn't want to sell at a high profit he could have bought the Halls out and took the club private assuming he could raise the cash. If he couldn't then it's pointless discussing his merits.

Hughton saying there is no news to report on loan signings at the moment (Journal) so it might be a case he is waiting for his prime targets to get fit i.e, Harewood and Cathcart. Might not see much activity in the immediate future if that is the case.

Because this is exactly the thought process that landed us with Roeder as manager. We are comfortably stronger than most of the teams in this league and Hughton is doing a competent job at getting us the results we should expect tbh. Things would change quickly if he had some difficult personnel issues to sought out. He's not a manager but is proving to be an excellent coach who's done a great job in the short term, as Roeder did in the past. But don't be fooled, he hasn't got the backbone to do this gig for a sustained period of time. roeder was one of our better managers in recent times No doubt you have armed yourself with a whole bunch of useless stats to back up that argument. Key one is going to be that 7th place finish. I thought Roeder should not of got the job but I wont slag him off as he was good captain & when he has spoke about since leaving Newcastle United he has wanted us to do well. I dont get that vibe from Souey & BFS. The point made by afar still stands though. Roeder has only proven that he gets worse as a manager the longer he stays at a club where his character flaws get exposed. You have to consider the possibilty that Hughton could turn out the same and it will be interesting to see if he has the strength of will to ignore pressure from senior players at the club, and make tough decisions. the difference between roeder and hughton is that,as you say roeder got exposed as time went on, it had been proved before he took our job. that level of history isn't there with hughton, he could turn out that way but so could the majority of other managers with little or no experience.. thats not to say i want hughton in the job permanent. Oh yeah, I agree. A lot of this is just speculation after all. Just because Hughton has been talking up Nicky Butt as club captain doesn't necessarily mean he will actually pick him to start at the first opportunity for example. Also if Hughton turns out to have flaws they are going to be of a different nature to Roeder whose ideas weren't the worst. He was undone by his lack of character which led to lack of respect from the playing squad eventually.

Because this is exactly the thought process that landed us with Roeder as manager. We are comfortably stronger than most of the teams in this league and Hughton is doing a competent job at getting us the results we should expect tbh. Things would change quickly if he had some difficult personnel issues to sought out. He's not a manager but is proving to be an excellent coach who's done a great job in the short term, as Roeder did in the past. But don't be fooled, he hasn't got the backbone to do this gig for a sustained period of time. roeder was one of our better managers in recent times No doubt you have armed yourself with a whole bunch of useless stats to back up that argument. Key one is going to be that 7th place finish. I thought Roeder should not of got the job but I wont slag him off as he was good captain & when he has spoke about since leaving Newcastle United he has wanted us to do well. I dont get that vibe from Souey & BFS. The point made by afar still stands though. Roeder has only proven that he gets worse as a manager the longer he stays at a club where his character flaws get exposed. You have to consider the possibilty that Hughton could turn out the same and it will be interesting to see if he has the strength of will to ignore pressure from senior players at the club, and make tough decisions.

Top post Yeah good post that. I also thought Ranger showed a fair bit of awareness of team mates which was unexpected.

Because this is exactly the thought process that landed us with Roeder as manager. We are comfortably stronger than most of the teams in this league and Hughton is doing a competent job at getting us the results we should expect tbh. Things would change quickly if he had some difficult personnel issues to sought out. He's not a manager but is proving to be an excellent coach who's done a great job in the short term, as Roeder did in the past. But don't be fooled, he hasn't got the backbone to do this gig for a sustained period of time. roeder was one of our better managers in recent times No doubt you have armed yourself with a whole bunch of useless stats to back up that argument.

Aye screw player happiness and squad harmony, points mean prizes! Here we go then. How is a win going to result in adverse consequences to squad harmony and player happiness? By your logic, you'd rather lose than risk upsetting a player or two? I think the fact that Butt is being considered for a recall is the best example of not risking upsetting a player, especially a senior one. Obviously if his being picked gets us a win then Hughton is proven right. If he's picked and it upsets the balance of the team, which is more likely, then it will also reflect on Hughton but not in a good way.

I'm amazed, and delighted, that we managed to hold onto all three. Like you say, they all seem to get on and Enrique & Jonas combine really well down the left. While Coloccini isn't woth what we paid for him, he's still a lot better than the journeyman or rookie we'd probably have replaced him with. All three are top players in this league and all are vital positions where we don't have much cover. Sounds like there is an esxcellent team spirit throughout the squad and if it's filtering down to the foreign contingent all the better.

Shearer did drop Owen and Nolan though. If Shearer stuck with Butt it was more to do with the situation rather than lacking the nads to make a tough call. Whether Hughton can do it we'll find out this weekend, but i have my doubts. i hope you're right but i'll have my doubts till i see definitive proof. its the "big reputation = great player" myth that practically got us relegated so it's a touchy subject. On Shearer there isn't any proof either way so I don't see how you can come up with a statement that his reputation practically got us relegated. Turning round that situation in such a small window was always going to be a hard task.

Shearer did drop Owen and Nolan though. If Shearer stuck with Butt it was more to do with the situation rather than lacking the nads to make a tough call. Whether Hughton can do it we'll find out this weekend, but i have my doubts.

I think the key point that comes across from that interview is that him, Coloccini and Jonas obviously have a lot in common and it makes for a happier and more settled trio if they are all still here. All of them are pretty crucial this season in such a small squad.

This seems to be backed up Hughton's heavy hints that he will overload the midfield this weekend to accomodate Nicky Butt's return. If this happens and it ends our winning run then I think we'll have seen the limitations of Chris Hughton laid bare. A yes man unwilling to make hard decisions won't last in this business.

A man goes into a pub and says "Will you give me a free pint if I show you my talking dog?" So the barman says "Tell you what, if you show me a proper talking dog I'll give you two free pints". Brilliant, thinks the bloke. "Now then boy, what's the opposite of smooth" -Ruff "What's the long grassed section of a golf course, just off the fairway called?" -Ruff "Who's Scotland's most capped goalkeeper?" -Ruff "Fuck off" says the barman "and Stop wasting my time". When they're outside the man has a go at his dog "Well that didn't go too bloody well, did it?" "Sorry" says the dog "it's not Jim Leighton is it?" good one

First of all, of course it's unprofessional and out of order for Riise to be mouthing off against a current team mate. That said he's absolutely right and considering the useless cunt got us relegated there's absolutely no need for anyone to pipe up in defense of Duff.

If all Hughton is doing is massaging Butt's tender ego then that's fine. There is no way he can possibly justify dropping one of the midfielders to accomodate Butt. There again he might just take the easy option and move Smith up front, dropping Ranger instead. Big test of Hughton's character coming up in this game.

In September. Absolutely fucking pathetic. The key is getting at least two bodies in over the next week or so. With our outstanding start even the fact it's late won't be a handicap as the points have been banked. The concern is that both of our loan targets are injured so I just hope this isn't another PR exercise.

Disagree. In the couple of matches Smith played in the holding role, Smith was far superior to Butt.

Is it long term?

Chuffed to finish in the top 6? It's not like the other CCC sides have massive squads, we should be disappointed if we aren't automatic promotion favourites. We need a couple of players in on loan still to make that a probability, so if we can do that I think we'll be ok.

It hasn't been highlighted much but we are a fairly tough side physically. We might be passing it around ok, but the fact we can mix it up in the middle of the park has meant we don't get bullied by the more direct teams. One of the reasons why I think Smith has been crucial in this division.

I wouldn't worry too much about it, Ashley will be keeping the club for the forseeable future.

The one thing that stands out for me in this division is that when we make a defensive blunder I am fairly relaxed because the standard CCC striker will blaze the ball wide/over the bar. It's a division of mdiocre cloggers for the most part, and we're just slightly better than all of them.

It's like last season never happened.

A season eh, the local lads don't even get a day. Smith, Nolan, Taylor, Duff have all been branded shite since the day they signed whereas no matter which mediocre foreigner we sign from a mediocre club they're class and have their own little fanclub. I don't see how this is a foreigner issue, it's more similar to the Michae Chopra situation imo. A lot of people thought that Chopra never really got a chance to prove he could do a job and if they don't get first team chances then it's hard to make a call on whether they would sink or swim given the opportunity. Xisco was obviously last in line behind even the junior strikers so obviously he'll want to get away. Far better than sitting on a fat pay packet like Geremi or Cacapa at the end of the day.