Unbelievable

That's my view as well. Yep agree with this Well you're all mental. On his day, he's unplayable. If we got rid, we'd soon regret it IMO. He's been unplayable only a handful of times in his 2 seasons here. He's a quality player. And this is the club that trusts Alan Pardew to get us out of Alan Pardew's mess, and replaced Andy Carroll with Demba Ba to then want to replace Demba Ba with Andy Carroll. I don't trust us to replace him properly, so I'd rather he didn't go. I'm not saying I want him away I just think there's a huge amount of hype around a player who doesn't live up to that hype a lot of the time. Tactics or no tactics top players enforce themselves on matches, just look at the way Colo made an impact coming back into defence. Cabaye has fantastic skill and ability but has he really done enough this season when we've needed him, I'm not sure he has. That said pretty much all our players have underperformed this season so he's not alone. Cabaye made a huge impact on his return from injury, much in the same way Colo did.

I would be devastated. He's had a disappointing season for his standards, but still pulled us out of the mire when he returned from injury. A key player for us next season if we want to move back up the table.

Benteke is out for this round, is Hazard too?

4 years..

Was thinking more as a basic squad player. We need a quality forward and winger/wide forward but for depth we could do with another body so someone cheap but with a bit of experience would be handy. Just seen his goalscoring record, not the most prolific bless him I would prefer to give someone like Campbell the chance to be that fallback option and get some playing time to see what he's made of (unless we're loaning him out) rather than a direct replacement for Shola. Don't see the point in experience if it is proven to be ultimately not good enough.

Di Santo is definitely better than Shola, but we should be aiming higher

Ashley is a very strange owner. He's sacked (or constructively sacked) managers when things were going well because he didn't get along with them. Seems like he'd prefer to have a struggling manager who will work within his restrictions compliantly than a successful manager who may actually make him buck up his ideas given he's not a football man and only understands finances. Have you had an epiphany in the last 10 minutes? You've gone from questioning the wording in that quote to perfectly understanding the root cause of why we are where we are within minutes.. I just want Pardew sacked . Honestly I have always understood the root cause but had a hope that Ashley would finally learn from his lessons (as we're stuck with him). I doubt any of the other 19 owners/chairmen would let him keep his job in similar circumstances. Just don't know why we have to be stuck with the stupid owner who knows nothing about football. Fair enough, just seems odd because to my mind expecting Ashley to sack Pardew at this moment in time and knowing how ignorant he is about football, and how stubborn he is about his approach to things in general are completely at odds with each other.. Since we're stuck with him the hope is always that he'll learn (or have a desire to learn) from his mistakes (he did show a slight glimmer or promise with the January transfer activity). That's basically how I've felt about Pardew lately as I have never considered the possibility of Ashley sacking him or him walking out of the job a realistic prospect. Sad really.

Ashley is a very strange owner. He's sacked (or constructively sacked) managers when things were going well because he didn't get along with them. Seems like he'd prefer to have a struggling manager who will work within his restrictions compliantly than a successful manager who may actually make him buck up his ideas given he's not a football man and only understands finances. Have you had an epiphany in the last 10 minutes? You've gone from questioning the wording in that quote to perfectly understanding the root cause of why we are where we are within minutes.. I just want Pardew sacked . Honestly I have always understood the root cause but had a hope that Ashley would finally learn from his lessons (as we're stuck with him). I doubt any of the other 19 owners/chairmen would let him keep his job in similar circumstances. Just don't know why we have to be stuck with the stupid owner who knows nothing about football. Fair enough, just seems odd because to my mind expecting Ashley to sack Pardew at this moment in time and knowing how ignorant he is about football, and how stubborn he is about his approach to things in general are completely at odds with each other..

Sunderland?

Ashley is a very strange owner. He's sacked (or constructively sacked) managers when things were going well because he didn't get along with them. Seems like he'd prefer to have a struggling manager who will work within his restrictions compliantly than a successful manager who may actually make him buck up his ideas given he's not a football man and only understands finances. Have you had an epiphany in the last 10 minutes? You've gone from questioning the wording in that quote to perfectly understanding the root cause of why we are where we are within minutes..

Tbh there will be plenty of people invading the thread saying "just be cool man, NUFC ain't that important really so we'll see how it goes, just get an annual Supa Snuka licence and stop moaning" but I'm with you. I don't want to watch that s*** anymore. The fun has been sucked out of supporting NUFC. Bollocks. We could bore my arse raw to success and I'd be happy. Dont get me wrong I'd prefer supafootbal but it's a bit of a misnomer because it's totally subjective regardless. Unfortunately given the nature of the game we support a sports shop these days but those who pretend not to care or pretend to care too much are tools but I'm looking forward to next season, you never know we might do the unthinkable. The hope will kill me. Think you need to clarify the word "bollocks" there tbh, if it's calling my opinion bollocks then I think you'll find my opinion is beyond dispute because it's my opinion and that. It was very often a chore watching us last year and obviously this season's been even worse. I don't watch football for us to fear the opposition and try to sneak a goal, I think I'm at the end of my tether with it. Forum end..

Not if you have 100% confidence and have been reassured by the owner. That would be 'I will be' rather than 'I expect to be' Meh. If he'd said 'I hope to be' then I'd understand. It's possible that Ashley just assured him the meeting would still be going ahead and he's read that as 'you'll be staying as manager'. Not saying he will be sacked but they don't sound like the words of someone who's had that definitive backing yet.

Does not compute.

Thanks Big Mike..

but if we win it would in Ashleys mind justify keeping him As if this isn't justification enough: They're absolutely clueless, and there's no way they'll publicly lose face a mere 9 months after this arrogant declaration of adopting a model where stability ensures success. Edit: well, that Dave post pretty much confirms the above then..

Agree. In fact he cannot say that any player is staying. No manager can. I watched Laudrup say exactly that in a tv interview tonight. What would people expect David Moyes to say if asked whether all the star players will still be at at ManU next season? Something more diplomatic or deflecting maybe? No one can be sure but in the image of improvement you can insist you have no intention of losing your best players when you've preachy claimed the squad was too small to deal with the season just past and if anything you are hoping to strengthen it to improve on a disappointing season maybe? Something like he did days before Ashley sold Carroll?

Agree. In fact he cannot say that any player is staying. No manager can. I watched Laudrup say exactly that in a tv interview tonight. What would people expect David Moyes to say if asked whether all the star players will still be at at ManU next season? Stop being so reasonable man. Pardew is the devil's spawn.

Nah man, sounds perfectly plausible..

Standby to be disappointed. See?

I'm not amongst the many people on here who have written off next season before it's already started..

One, well you can't even call it a quote, from a nothing source, without any context whatsoever and we're back to suicide watch. I ask again: did/does anybody seriously expect Pardew to be sacked?

So glad we won't have to return to the DW next season..

True I guess. Still, if you discount the honeymoon effect they haven't obviously improved that much.