Colos Short and Curlies

Everton need a PFM, not some footballing ponce like Rafa What does PFM stand for? Footballing dinosaur ala redknapp/allardyce/pearson Proper football man - someone who has fight and Pashtun that will lead everyone on to victory the English way Don't forget somebody who can last the distance on a night out drinking with Reidy

You also know that if Rafa does stay on there will be no talk on the training groung of just going up - we'll be going for Reading's 106 points record

The guy next to him looks like a Johnson in the making. Sam's spotted a pie as well

Presumably this will mean all our players will be staying, since now is probably not when their stock is highest? Obviously there are going to be exceptions to that rule. I just don't see the actual club itself, as a saleable asset, ever being an exception to it. A shrewd businessman knows when to cut his losses and run. Maybe Mike Ashley's ego won't allow him to do that but its not an immovable position that business men only sell when the assets stock is high. Just look at BHS - sold for a pound by Phillip Green, the Scunthorpe steel plant, sold for a pound, the rest of Tata's UK stell operations - being sold at possibly its lowest ebb. There is now a decision to be made regarding NUFC - throw money into the club to get it back to a top 8 position in the Premier League (or allow 100% of what it makes to be spent by people who know what they are doing), let it fester in the Championship and hope for the best, or sell now and minimise any future losses. Would a full on exodus of fans make a sale more likely? maybe, maybe not. But if the end goal is to remove the owner only and not worry about football results in the mean time then it would be effective in making Mike Ashley review his position. Personally I want to enjoy winning some games next season (albeit from an armchair in South Wales), get back to the Premier League and become a top 6/8 club with a chance of challenging for the cups and Champions League positions. I think an empty ground makes that less likely but I can see why some people will take the position that removing the owner now is the most important thing.

Didn't Villa reject Rafa based on fan opinion?

They do write nice emails as well every now and then

Well at least Mike wasn't lying with his 'we wont be in this position again' comment. Last year we had a chance to save ourselves on the last game

I still can't believe that they didn't even have to answer to the FA on why they played Johnson knowing that he was pleading guilty. A points deduction would be wishful thinking, but its blatantly bringing the game into disrepute and deserved a hefty fine at least.

I find mentioning Johnson to fans who would rather Sunderland stay up promotes quite the moral dilemma.

I'd take him for a season in the Championship

Unfortunately he's off at the end of the year apparently. As for Bloodless, I'd rather try and res Bigirimana, him from 2013 offered way more more than this c***. The bigi that apparently struggles to get a game In league one? See Ben Arfa, not good enough for Hull to being linked with Barca. Unless his leg has fallen off we saw enough of Bigi to know he wouldhold his own in the Championship

Can't decide if I'd prefer a Sunderland draw or loss on Weds. A loss obvioulsy makes it 'more likely' that we stay up as either a draw or loss for them on Sunday and we stay up* A draw only gives us one outcome on Sunday that keeps us up* but gives Sam an excuse to play for a draw, which could increase the liklihood of a Watford win - ala us in the 92 play offs * Assumption that we beat Spurs of course

If not Rafa then Temuri. Rather take a chance on him then going for a Bruce/Harry/Warnock type

I think he'll be off in the summer. There will be a few bottom half clubs who will see him as an experienced head in that level of team. (please)

Draw on Wednesday then Sunderland lose to Watford. We draw 0-0 on Saturday. Its the Newcastle way

We lose one of Norwich or Sunderland from our thinking after Saturday I reckon

Everything has aligned for them perfectly this season, right up to needing a low points total to win the league. History shows that its harder for a club to get top 4 for a second season running, not sure if Spurs have done so now but a few years ago the list of those who had managed it were: Manu, Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle - and we did it before new money became a factor. Leicester will do well to pick up a couple of wins in Europe and finish top of the bottom half in the Premier League next season. Same goes for Spurs, they've finished second when a low points tally would have won the league in a year when none of the main challengers had a good year. In reality they will need 3 more wins next year to stand still, with increased competiition from Liverpool, Chelsea, City etc. Could be as good as it gets for them for a few years

84 page match thread lol

4 years ago

We beat Palace and Villa we beat Spurs imo, I'd be nervous if we don't get 6 from the next 2 though

The thing is that the jury has spent over 2 years listening to argument and evidence and have decided unanimously that the fans weren't to blame. There will have been fans who'd had a drink or didn't have a tickets but they'll be few in number. The police have drummed this lie from the off and despite this verdict there is still a doubt for some about where all the blame lies. I'm more than happy that the jury has got it right. I was at Newcastle away games twice in 1985 at Hillsborough, the approach to that end was a bottle neck and once in it was cattle run up that tunnel and you couldn't see the terrace beyond, you had no idea how full it was. The 2nd game was on a Boxing Day and a policeman got hold of me accusing me of being drunk. I hadn't had a single drink, we'd come by car and as was normal we'd been stopped as we left the motorway and the police had escorted a number of cars in at a time, telling you where to park. Hillsborough was a great day out but that end of the ground was a constant problem. It's time for the truth to be shouted and for previous lies to be acknowledged and condemned. I dont disagree with that at all, I just think that everyone has a responsibility to assess how we as a nation act around big events to make sure any possibility of future tragedies are minimised - this is regardless of the rightful balme being placed squarely on the authorities here Alcohol, jumping turnstiles, fighting in public before hand etc etc. Absolutely the actions of a small minority but has a huge impact on the safety and enjoyment of the majority

(1) Delighted that those responsible for maintaining crowd safety that day who ultimately caused the tragedy now are being held accountable. Any cover up was despicable and anyone who used it for personal or professional gain should also be brought to account. (2) I'm not comfortable that the behaviour of the crowd has been completely discounted though, you get 50,000+ people in an environment like a semi final then it only takes a small minority to be overly intoxicated and/or acting in a poor manner to create the possibility of a similar scenario where somebody then has to make a decision on how to handle the crowd - another poor decision could not be ruled out here. I guess what I'm saying is although we've come a long way since the 80's, there is still a potentially unhealthy relationship between big sporting events and behaviour. Unless we continue to look at ourselves as fans (and people) and continue to work on this as a whole population then we are running a risk. Discounting any blame from behaviour will check this progress. Overall though, really pleased with the ruling and the thorough dilignece and process that has been taken to get here.

I'm going with us winning 3 games in this scenario - including a thumping win on Saturday. If we get the 9 points and stay up, would people prefer Sunderland or Palace to go down with Norwich and Villa? I can see Palace losing the next 4 with the cup final on the horizon which would bring us level on points. a few 2/3 wins wins for us and losses for them could bring the goal differences in line so its not cmopletely outside the realms of possibility that we can catch them.

You let yours out?