Dr Venkman

good signing imo, certaily an upgrade on routledge

still saying shit like 'are the players good enough for LIVERPOOL!!!!!!! though'

i wish i hadnt looked at that

because the signs weren't there before he got injured?

that's where man-management and putting the team before your ego comes in though isnt it? these are the things that separate the good managers from the average. if 4-4-2 is going to benefit the team you find a way to get on with the player and give him confidence, you don't put your pride before the team. without bringing it back to bobby all the time i remember after he'd left and souness was moaning about bellamy, bobby was asked about the situation and he said something like 'of course i had problems with him, but i absolutely loved him on a saturday afternoon because he won me football matches'. that's management. There have been rumours of Ranger's constant lateness in training long before Pardew rolled up and I can't see many being better at putting an arm around the shoulder than Hughton. How far should we go for Ranger and when does he need to take responsibility? i'm not saying it's necessarily about putting an arm around a shoulder, i'm saying every personality and situation is different and you put your faith in the manager to be a good judge of what action to take and when. it's pardew's call how far we should go and how much ranger needs to take responsibility. personally i don't trust pardew at all on this given his past record and coming out and talking about it in the press only further's my dis-trust, whether enrique, ranger or anyone else is in the wrong is a moot point for me, should be handled in house.

saw steve harper at the train station a few weeks ago with Derek Wright. it means nowt, still think he'll be sold at some point though.

absolute indifference

fucks sakes

just occurred to me. being that we're in a a bit of a precarious position in the table, spending 5 million on a player who isnt going to be properly fit until march could be quite a gamble. that's assuming that we're not gonna spend much more during the window, but that's not too much of a leap of faith.

"older than yet inferior to Danny Welbeck" Fucking knackers. i grinned at that one myself

That's my view as well. I don't consider myself anti-Ashley in particular but I don't think either him or Llambias have much idea about football. So when the decision is made to sack Hughton and bring in a manager like Pardew I think it's fair to expect some high level consideration to have gone into it. Pardew isn't a Jol or a Owen Coyle who most football people could see the reasoning for appointing. It might well turn out to be a master stroke decision - but to be honest it needs to be because there could be no other reason to have done it. apart from providing a manager that knows he's lucky to be in the job and wont put up any sort of argument to whatever the owner wants to do.

Let me clarify, I'd hate to think I was responsible for your blepharospasm. It appears that we will be playing more direct football under Pardew, this may well leave us more exposed to counters and patient football - such as many of the better teams play so effectively. Alternativley our increased desire to attack may result in beating the poorer teams we've already succumbed to this season. I tried to condense all of this into a rather tongue in cheek observation called the 'Pardew factor' as I've come to realise many people on these boards won't read posts containing more than one sentence, not that I am suggesting for one moment you are one of them. Seriously I'm not. Honestly.. damn it now I have developed a blepharospasm. i know what you mean, when i see pardew factor though i think steven taylor, 4-5-1 and players moved about needlessly.

eurgh, i'd fucking hate to see keegan manage them, they'd be good AND entertaining (where's this coming from by the way?). big sam please, i'd laugh my tits off.

wish i could agree with you on that but i can't. his heart is in his wallet, this whole thing is an advertising deal and nothing more.

haha, i'm sticking to my guns like. he'd better shape up team selection wise because early signs are he's fucking clueless.

i'd agree with that like, not sure it has to rubbed in people's faces unless they're stoical in an NE5 way. just serves to make people wary of giving their opinion in future which is counter-productive on a forum imo. could be argued it'll make them think more before forming an opinion but then you'd just end up with everyone occupying the middle ground and if politics has taught us anything, that's boring as fuck.

You've missed the point of the thread. I'm trying to find out why the supporters' view of the club isn't matched by the actions that our better players have taken in recent weeks. The majority on here are just waiting for Ashley to make his next cock-up, why aren't the players? what actions have our better players taken in recent weeks? Taylor signed a new 5.5year deal. Carroll re-iterated his desire to stay with the club. Barton re-iterated his desire to stay with the club. Ben Arfa seemingly signing on a 5.5year deal. Willamson & Ranger recently extended their deals? Granted, they're not key players but solid Premiership squad players for the next couple of seasons if they continue this season's form. while i take your point i think each case can be taken on its own merit in context. Taylor - not even good enough for the 1st team imo and there appeared to be fuck all interest in him from anywhere else. staying here is the easy option, especially since it appears pardew's made him first choice, he'd have gone elsewhere if hughton was here imo. Carroll - said he wanted to stay here until the end of his career yes, but whilst i consistently say i'm not a hughton fanboy, that was still when he was here and things seemed to be progressing under the man that brought him through. I'd suggest Carroll's commitment to the club has absolutely nothing to do with ashley either way. Barton - vilified everywhere else and a bit of a cult hero here, likely to be on pretty large wages. seems to have some sense of normality in his life since joining, more down to himself than ashley i'd suggest. Ben Arfa - in the shop window imo. Ranger's shown promise but nothing that would necessarily see him get a deal at another premiership club, there was no signs of any interest? Williamson couldnt even get a game at portsmouth so he's just happy to be here at all imo.

i thought we'd never see him in black and white again after the injury to be honest so this is all a bonus for me. just wish he was being managed by someone i think is any good.

there's a massive difference between being stupid and being wrong, the most intelligent people of all time are consistently wrong. as long as you're not dogmatic that's how you further your knowledge. i'm sure he knows that though.

You've missed the point of the thread. I'm trying to find out why the supporters' view of the club isn't matched by the actions that our better players have taken in recent weeks. The majority on here are just waiting for Ashley to make his next cock-up, why aren't the players? what actions have our better players taken in recent weeks?

that's where man-management and putting the team before your ego comes in though isnt it? these are the things that separate the good managers from the average. if 4-4-2 is going to benefit the team you find a way to get on with the player and give him confidence, you don't put your pride before the team. without bringing it back to bobby all the time i remember after he'd left and souness was moaning about bellamy, bobby was asked about the situation and he said something like 'of course i had problems with him, but i absolutely loved him on a saturday afternoon because he won me football matches'. that's management.

And regardless of everyone's opinion of it, it goes completely against the current regime's apparent lack of wanting to talk in public about club issues. So he's making them look like liers....again. if the stuff abiout enrique was when he was asked if he'd be fit for wigan,, he replied he'd find out in his tweet.....that was a good reply and is being deliberatly made out as something more by people on here who are looking for sticks to throw. the ranger one is a bit different and only rangers reaction will say whether it was right or not. people ought to remember the documentary on bobby when all the players were eating and he was talking about players today, being particularly scatrhing about a player wanting the bus turned round to go back and get a diamond earring, his eyes never moved and he was looking at one player, thought to be dyer. as bad if not worse than pardew on ranger. the difference being that bobby had more class about him in his little finger than pardew has in his whole body and he didnt need to talk about anyone personally to try and prove a point (THOUGHT to be dyer) please, please, never compare alan pardew and bobby robson ever again.

with great sadness, this.

Agreed. Great shame as Barton has been a surprise revelation on the right. It almost seems like Hughton stumbled upon that by accident one game. Bit of a learning curve he went through. Both he and the fans loved him there. Now we can't really afford for Pardew to go through the same learning process we need him to pick up the reigns and progress from where Hughton left off..... unfortunately my fear is pardew will have to go through the learning process as well and he'll start playing players in positions we already know they are crap/poor/not as good in to see for himself. We can't really afford this and this could be very very costly for us. Could even get us relegated. strange isnt it, even though he claims to have now watched all of our games this season. even stranger is there's people trying to make excuses for him being clearly destructive with this and the taylor over williamson decision. cant see us getting more than a point this weekend.