Shak

Reckon Fergie will do the exact opposite, thinking that with all those defenders missing for Barca he doesn't need to commit many to attack to get goals. Just sit back and defend, knowing that inevitably Barca will make mistakes at the back or they'll catch them on the counter. It's the right strategy too IMO, unfortunately.

Kiss my asphalt.

This. I'm disappointingly non-plussed about this game though, not looking forward to it eagerly at all. Reckon it'll be fairly dull viewing.

Wait, so the cops knew internal affairs were setting them up all along?

What actually makes you believe Barton is worth keeping at this point? The guy is a complete disaster, he's not going to just sort himself out and stop getting himself in trouble all of a sudden. It'd be nice if he did, cos he's a quality footballer, but it's time to face facts. The guy is an absolute cunt of the highest order and will be nothing but a cancer as long as he's on our books.

Would agree with that, except I'd want another striker brought in. Shola, Carroll, Lovenkrands and Ranger will hardly be good enough, even in the Championship.

Can you imagine the standard of crossing? Jonas would be great in the Championship though, I reckon. He'd go by some of the cunts down there for fun, and I don't buy this theory that he'd get kicked to bits and not be able to hack it physically. He's good and strong when he needs to be, it's just that he's a shocking diver. Get someone whose got some quality in his crossing on the other flank and we'd be sorted.

He'll be pretty decent in the Championship tbh, and his experience could prove handy in what I envisage will be a very young side. If we come back up and he's still here, then we'll have problems.

Yes, stupid tournament is every two years. Somewhere, an alarm just went off in Babatunde's head.

What a man. If Ashley and Llambias make a mess of the Shearer discussions and fail to appoint him as permanent manager, something I fully expect to happen, then he could still be off though. Great news though, if he's here next year he's the captain for sure.

Still be a decent crowd IMO, be surprised if we don't average above 40k. Prices will come down surely, and we might even win a few games and be fun to watch against a lower standard of opponent.

2 of my friends bought Sunderland tops and were going to wear them in the pub yesterday. I decided to watch it at home in the end, thank fuck. What a tremendous waste of money for them. In a number of ways, actually.

Oh, how sad.

They'll both be an important part of the squad, I'd imagine.

Should buy Gibson outright to be fair, guy is a neat passer of the ball and doesn't have a prayer of cracking the Man U line-up any time in the next decade. Alright, Uri. Eh? He's a decent player but not even near in the same class as Carrick or Anderson, his direct competition. He's also not excessively young or anything, he's actually older than Anderson.

Should buy Gibson outright to be fair, guy is a neat passer of the ball and doesn't have a prayer of cracking the Man U line-up any time in the next decade.

Aye, aside from the fact that he's completely unsuited to that role, there's no reason to believe he couldn't do a job there.

Will be a decent defender back in Spain or wherever he goes, simply not right for the English game this guy.

If he takes a pay cut I'd be happy enough with Duff staying tbh. He's been shite since he came here, but he'd be one of the better players in the Championship I reckon and could be key to us coming back up. He's also one of the very few who I think has looked bothered the last few weeks. Odds are he knows he won't get that money anywhere else though, and is looking to protect his wage. Money where your mouth is Damien, or else off with you.

I'd imagine we'll end up paying a percentage of the wages of players even after they've left. For instance, some mis-guided Premiership team wants Alan Smith but doesn't want to take on his 50k a week. Smith doesn't want to take a pay cut either, so we end up paying about 15k a week off his wage at the new club just to be rid of him. Kind of a kick in the balls, eh?

Nah, it was a tough day yesterday and you can't help but feel down about it but I can't imagine ever crying over football. Did as a kid a few times, but as you get older you see there are so many worse things that can happen in life than your favourite football team get relegated. I'll save my tears for those occasions.

Of course there are better candidates out there than an unproven manager with a track record consisting of eight games, most of which were defeats!! If people can forget for a moment that his name is Alan Shearer, then you'll see just how ridiculous that statement is. This is what I mean by the insular thing, everyone's reduced the number of potential managers down to a list consisting of one name. Already, before we've even begun looking!! There's more out there than Alan Shearer, there's more places to look than a list of previous players, than the Premiership, than England, than Europe. Look at where the two best managers in the league came from: Scotland, not even the Old Firm, Aberdeen; and Japan, Japan for fuck's sake, do people seriously not think we could attract someone from the fucking J-League!?! There's loads of potential candidates out there, it's whether or not we actually go and look for them or just go with the easy option and appoint Shearer uncontested. If he is the best that we can get then fine, but let's not assume that without even looking at the alternatives first. Do you honestly believe we have an owner and chairman capable of going out and finding the next management sensation in fucking Japan like? They'd probably come back with some ageing Japanese racist called Jo Kin Ira. What exactly gives you hope that Ashley and Llambias will produce a moment of brilliance and find the right man for the job given their record of absolute and total failure in running the club to this point? Do you think they're due or something? In Shearer we have a man who was one of the best players of his generation, a man who will command respect and do everything in his power to make this club great. He's always come over as someone who really understands the game, and while that's no gaurantee that he'll make a good manager it does make him a pretty decent managerial prospect, especially for a Championship football team.

Thanks. Sums Derek up really. To be fair, it's impressive he's managed a statement at all with Ashley's cock clearly lodged down his throat.

This all all Mike's fault, the man is a fucking curse of a sports fan.

Hilarious that some people still defend him. Johnny Giles summed it up very well on the Premiership talking about the job Ashley has done here. "He's done as bad a job as it was realistically possible to do running the club". Summed it up quite well.