Mick

He's not travelling to the USA to play against Mexico because he's having problems with his dodgy knee which is to be assessed by medical staff.

I'm glad it's Huddersfield, they'll spend half of their transfer budget just keeping their loan players.

The standard of attacking football has been really poor and I fell asleep at one point.

Most of it is made up shit, I rarely take the slightest bit of notice of any of them and while some people like the rumors, I hate them. The Chronicle are as bad as any other source these days and seem to go looking for anything to fill space.

I don't really care who comes up as competitors because I don't think either will be a threat, for that reason I'd prefer Huddersfield because they're closer to us and they're not managed by Jaap Stam.

Predicting anything at the minute is pointless, I would guess more than half our starting 11 could be different next season to last.

We just need to stay up this coming season and then kick on, we shouldn't aim for 17 but as fans we should accept it if that's where we end up. Mid table would be an excellent first season back up if that's what happens.

Older fans will say Sunderland for the majority younger fans will possibly nsay Pardew - sorry the bloke is just not important enough to bother me - absolute cretin but thankfully he is not an issue anymore. I want the worst for both, for that reason it's a pity he's ruled himself out.

The book should be arriving a week on Monday and I'll more than likely read it in one go. For that reason I wouldn't mind getting it over the weekend.

They start off by claiming they don't know him and haven't heard of him and then he becomes shit and the biggest waste of money ever. He's a winger who has a record with us of a goal every 3 starts in the league, that'll do for me and is almost certainly as good as any player they'll have next season.

No. They want to believe it and they want it to be true but they know it's not the case and that pisses them off. That's their way of dealing with us having a good manager, they're trying to blank out and not face up to the truth and the reality of the situation we're now in because it's easier for them to do that.

A mackem lying in bed at 1am on a Saturday morning has nothing more on his mind that Rafa, I actually like that. They are gutted and some show it more than others. A year ago we were down and we didn't care because we knew that we were in safe hands and even in defeat we knew that things were going to only get better and it was only a matter of time until we'd start seeing it in results. A year on and they're in our position, except that they have nothing to grasp on to other than they've got rid of an unpopular manager. We did the same and we struck gold, they're much more likely to appoint a turd. They're likely to get a manager who is at best second rate and they're likely to have a budget that wouldn't compare favourably to a corner shop, they're more than likely screwed. The only thing they look forward to is beating us and that's not going to happen any time soon, there's no way they'll be competing with us while we have probably the best manager we've ever had. When we beat them 5 times in a row and that mostly down to psychology and their managers being cowards and the same goes for them beating us 6 in a row, our managers were cowards. They're not getting a manager who will psych Rafa out and Rafa will never go into a derby game thinking he's second best. Their whole reason for existing has been flushed down the toilet and they know it. If we can stay up this season we'll be out of sight.

It's brilliant having a manager at the club who is trusted and good at his job, I have no worries about how the summer will go and that we'll be in the best position come the start of the season. I didn't know how good he was before we got him, I knew he was good I just didn't know how into football he was and how he leaves absolutely nothing to chance.

We should send him one from Newcastle, "Wish you were dead."

It's a pity he limited his retirement to only cover international football.

He's doing what he loves doing and probably doesn't need a rest.

Get voting, 1/2 an hour to go. http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11688/10891600/vote-championship-pfa-fans-player-of-the-season

I'd be more than happy with Townsend coming back.

If that becomes reality then it's likely that he hasn't played a game.

Allardyce retires, football breathes a sigh of relief.

I wonder which champions league manager they're going to appoint.

Pity, I was wanting him to stay.

I don't take much notice of any rumours, Rafa will not be going around telling reporters who he's trying to bring in, he'll be keeping things close to his chest so he doesn't invite bids from other clubs. I would just chill and wait until something more concrete is actually announced. Rafa is building a team and not a collection of individuals, I think how the team performs as a unit is much more important to him than individuals anyway. I can't wait for the new season to kick off so we can see how whoever comes in fits together as a team.

I hate their accent, it's awful.