Exiled in Texas

Really enjoyed that; thanks Wow, sounds like there had been some thought put into how the players should play and how they should interact, and move both with and without the ball. Amazing stuff (F*** you Pardew, you cretin)

And not a whiff of David Squires over on RTG despite Sunlun being featured

Leslie Mark Hughes [emoji3]

Just pat them on their head and smile

Grrrrr.... Do not make me laugh when on conference call with the boss :D

Exactly this. He tried but was out of his depth (and burdened with a crap setup from Pardew)

Such genius - so many hidden gems

Texas High School soccer/football used to use the hockey style penalty kick as a tie breaker, with the ball sited 35 yard out (approx. 10m from the penalty area. They scrapped it and went back to FIFA style penalties due to the high injury rate from collisions where the keepers were diving at the feet of the players to smother the ball and there were constant collisions/concussions. I hate the Stutter step in penalties - it seems very unfair to the keepers, and you never see anyone stutter step when in on the keeper solo so it doesn't seem to be a regular part of the game to then allow it in a penalty shot.

Totally agree with the principle... It's the blatant cheat, followed by the celebration of the cheat to complete the action

I thought those were aimed at Steve Bruce .... Did like hearing the Cheer up Stevie Bruce song at the end

Should have been a red. Nothing in LOTG to support that, although you could argue that it's one yellow for USB for the deliberate handball and another for USB for the "intending to deceive" celebration.

Should have checked dot in the 'i' of the swimming certificate. Whoosh to the young kiddos on here - who won't be able to figure out that reference

I think, since the PL has come along, and then the Champions League and the financial divisions that causes, the premier league is divided into different types of clubs. There are those who can compete for the title realistically, or to get to, and stay in, the Champions League. There are those who traditionally are considered to be doing well to even be in the top flight (West Ham, Stoke, Albion, Swansea etc) There are those who have recently been promoted, for whom it is all a big adventure (Leicester, Burnley, Palace) Then there are those who are pretty much always in the top flight, who have - in the past competed for league titles - but now find themselves in a situation where it is impossible to even think of doing that any more - Villa, Newcastle, Everton, Spurs (no matter how they'd like to think otherwise) It is the fans of clubs like those four for whom the Premier League is the biggest killer. Just staying up is right at the bottom of expectations, haven't just been promoted so it isn't all a big adventure any more, can't hope to compete (unless they get insanely rich owners who fancy a go at it) - basically, stuck in a "it will never be like it used to be" rut, and in some cases run by people with sinking ambition. Not cool. Well said Gentlemen. That about sums up the situation for both clubs (and much of the Premier League).

**** me.... I thought for a moment that Sunderland had signed Giovinco

Immediately their best striker - and the wages will include the Sunderland Coefficient.

That's a simple explanation .... big clubs come from big cities, you cannot have a big club in a small city. Big cities also have big clubs so any French teams playing in Champions League will be from a big city. Big French cities are Paris, Marseille, Nice, Lyon and Lille. St Etienne is a cute name and sounds like a small French town so they must be a small club. Et Voila!!

"Pardew did a decent job as Newcastle manager in difficult circumstances. He was never as bad a manager as some claimed, but neither was he has good as he thought he was." wrong, wrong, wrong. My problem with Pard-ewe was that he didn't do anything with the assets he was given and always focused on what he didn't have. It was like he was given a nice filet-mignon but only made hamburgers with it because it wasn't chicken.

Pretty fair assessment there

It seems that way every home game

My thoughts exactly.

Today he looked the the player I thought we had signed. Nice to see his Pardewing was not terminal and he looks like he might fully recover.

It's a free market for each company, be it football club, supermarket or random factory, to decide if the value of employing Evans is worth it when compared to a potential loss of sales, negative publicity, boycout (sic) of business. This is the free market working as it should.

Even managers are using us as a stepping stone to Arsenal now? I am actually quite OK with that process, as that means that they must have some quality about them and must have done well during their time here. (Rinse and repeat). Which hopefully lets us get better and better as a club.

Peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming and crying like his customers. This is the Mike Ashley thread, not the Ched Evans one. Very good

That's the key....who would he bring in as coaching staff