Mick

The only assistance Carroll had from Best was when Best missed the ball which got through to Carroll to score from, at least Best didn't end up on his arse this time.

The biggest surprise on that list is how few have voted for Barton, he's been nothing short of a liability since we signed him and shown no signs of that changing.

Yes and I'm counting down the (50)days.

Individually they would all be easy to replace with better. Only two of the players on the list Dave posted are actually regular starters.

Hughton wouldn't walk, he'd play him on the wing.

He's not a good player, he's a back-up championship player at the minute and that's just about his standard.

His most important challenge today was the one he shouldn't have made, at least he'll be gone within 2 months.

I would like to see thw back of Butt, Barton, Nolan, Best, Shola, Pancrate, Ryan Taylor and Smith. Out of that lot I can only see Butt going as he'll be out of contract, the others will probably remain at the club.

His decision to bring on Butt for Lovenkrands just shows how out of his depth he'll be next season.

That might be worse but it's hardly original, Sir John was trying to do that 20 years ago.

He's the first to do it since John Hall loaned the club something in the region of £600,000 in the early 90's.

It looks like it's escaped you and a few others but the thing about those who left and those who didn't is that the players who wanted to leave left, while those who didn't want to leave have stayed apart from Geremi who moved on in January. Somebody within the club made a decision before January to keep a squad of players that would get us out of this league and that looks like its going to pay off. They also decided to give the manager’s job to Hughton before January and again that's paid off and I've been one of his biggest critics but he seems to be growing into the job. Whoever made that decision looks to be right and I look to be wrong about him.

All of our external debt apart form a £20 million overdraft with Barclays, we've still got loans from Ashley but they don't cost us a penny.

That says everything which needs to be said.

He didn't do it and that's all that matters as it shows that he is learning. Next week is the big one for me as I think he needs to pick a more adventurous team away from home.

I expected it and was over the moon that it didn't happen.

He kept Butt out yesterday when it would have been easy to put Guthrie on the wing.

Thanks for eventually answering it. Also, thanks for the justification for singing anti ashley songs, as I've said elsewhere, Ashley was the last thing on my mind when we were 6-0 up. I've never at any time said that those in the Leazes corner think they are better than others, I do find your embarrassment strange though and I've never felt the need to stand up to show my feelings for the football club, I do that by attending games. I understand how others might think that those in the Leazes corner think they are better than others but that doesn’t mean that I agree with them. You might find it hard to understand but it is possible to understand somebody’s point of view without actually agreeing with them.

I thought the same as you.

So it was you who gave him the 10.

What does singing anything achieve? The usual suspects at it again in this thread. Week in week out Everyone just continues to throw around this myth about people in the LC thinking they're better than everyone else, yet when asked for evidence seem to have very little else to say. It's cringeworthy that we even need to pick holes with a part of the ground that always does its best to get behind the team when the only issue is what songs they're singing. I hate quite a few of the songs, nowt worse than the whole 'Easy' goal celebration that seems to pop its head up now and then. But chants towards away fans would otherwise just be dead silence in the ground. You can only sing for so long before everyone starts giving up (the first half was piss poor today, btw). Banter with away fans is part of football. You're not going to just stand there as one set of fans is giving you stick?! I really don't see the problem other than the cringeworthy constant singing of 'Your support is f***ing s***'. Also have to say, the amount of people who joined in with 'Stand up if you love the toon' was embarrassing today. Must have been about 5/6-0 and only a couple hundred in the lower Leazes stood. No problems with people not being able to hear if they manage to stand all the way in the NE corner, it was loud as f*** in the LC. And lastly, I sang the FCB chant at the match, and I'll sing it for as long as it's sung in the ground. I f***ing hate Mike Ashley, I think the blokes a c***. If you find this hard to grasp then the problem is yours I'm afraid. Nothing in your post answers the question that you quoted. I did like the bits in bold though. You complain about a myth and then in your next paragraph you help perpetuate it, that is class.

I'm sure the Portsmouth fans thought that every owner they've had this season would automatically pay the bills but they haven't. I'm grateful that our owner has paid our bills and that we'll hopefully be in the top league next season because without him this season we would be unlikely to be in the position that we are. That doesn't change what he's done wrong in the past and it doesn't make any mistake any easier, it just makes our future look a little bit brighter. You could rightly point out that he's part of the reason why we are in this division, that doesn't change where we are now and where we look to be heading. Like I've already said we can only hope to change the future, not the past.

If he looks at the Premier table and sees Birmingham 8 points behind Liverpool with a game in hand he might think we can do that.

It might have an effect on how much Hughton has to spend next season when we're looking to spend his money on new players and he wonders why he should bother. He might just decide that we don't need that many new players because the settled club will do enough to keep us up.