danswan

Indeed. The bird with the golf club bending over needs something handing to her too.

its not a love in... the fact is nobody knows what would happen. would you not rather take the chance than wait for another distinctly average manager to take over so that we can have this same conversation in a years time I have a problem with giving the job to a man with no managerial experience. He has absolutely nothing on his managerial CV...yet he wants us to take this leap of faith and appoint him as manager. If he was so interested in managing ,why did'nt he take up a job at a smaller club in the lower divisions.. that is what most ex players do. Keegan. Keegan. No doubt the most inspired and successful manager in mine and most of our supporters lifetime - your issues with Shearer's potential appointment would have prevented his appointment. What say you?

By the same token, 5 footballing reasons why Keegan should have been appointed? Anyone know if Shearer is on MOTD tonight?

Indeed. You raise another valid concern which springs directly from the apparently amateur way this whole episode is being executed - but by associating with Redknapp, I do feel, like you appear to Parky, that we have massively undersold ourselves and our ambitions. I think the honeymoon period could be coming to an end for Mort and Ashley now... Jesus. If that was the honeymoon, I'm not looking forward to the rest...

What's the problem? Did you really think it would be José?? Good manager, plays good football, big chance at a big club. Fucking pessimistic bastards!!

Plays better football than Sam.. I would love to see a 'Big Name' come in, but the question has to be, how and when did they become 'Big Names'? They weren't born that way. If the new appointment comes from a 'smaller' club or even from the lower leagues, there's nothing to say he won't be a success. Conversley it's not beyond the realms of possibility that someone like José or Lippi would come here and die on their arse. Right man, right job, right time. That is what we need, there are no guarantees. The new man, whoever he is, must come into the club with everyone pulling in the same direction, if half of us are whining on that he hasn't won the Champions League and the World Cup then we will have failed before he even starts.

I've often wondered when people say stuff like this, what would happen if you walked into Fenwicks and said 'excuse me, would you mind awfully opening your window display as I need to go in there and display my arse' Not sure it would go down too well.

Lol good plan. Could get a bit expensive unless they are prepared to sign a 3 month contract though.

All the betting is on Redknapp - according to *cough* Talksport *cough*

Sounds pretty defensive to me, that. But i don't know masses about Diarra. His signing would signal a 4-3-3, though. Him at the back of it, a la Makelele, the role he was meant to move into at Chelsea. Can you see us playing anything else? If anything, I'd expect to see us play a team that is a poor man's Liverpool or Chelsea as opposed to Man Utd or Arsenal. Sissoko/Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard is hardly gung-ho, neither is Makelele, Essien, Lampard, which was Chelsea's most successful midfield trio. Who will be our Lampard/Gerrard though? Had high hopes for Barton but that's not happening.

Cool, normally I stumble upon these threads after the libellous shit has been deleted and have to try and work it out

That Allardyce photoshop thread was funny.

I would go as far as to say that that defence is potentially as good as any I have seen here. Hopefully we will start to see them have a positive effect on results. I would like to have seen that defence married with Keegan's front 6

Enrique is ready for me, just needs the games. He is quick and strong enough, his distribution would be helped if he had any options. I'm impressed with what I've seen of him.

Well I don't think anyone could argue that we could do with a Beardsley-type player. Doesn't seem to be any speculation regarding him doing the rounds at the moment though...

Arshavin? Seems to have gone quiet on that front

Thats it If we pull off the Diarra move he will be it, but the other one of the pair is harder to think of. Maybe Sam has Nolan in mind for the other MF spot. I remember thinking Nolan looked OK a few seasons back, hasn't done much since. Not the answer for me.

Do you reckon the back 4 has actually improved Gimpy?

The back 4 that started against Watford last May: Nobby Ramage Taylor Carr Utter shite, I'm sure you will agree. 2 of them completely crap, 3 out of position. The back for v Stoke on Sunday: Rozenhal Faye Tayor Enriqué For Rozie read Beye, for me that has the makings of a top 6 defence. 3 of the 4 are Allardyce buys. There's also Caçapa and Rozie waiting in the wings, giving us some semblance of cover in the centre for the first time in a long time. There were signs against Stoke that they we beginning to gel and that they could form a strong unit which could be hard to breach, given a decent amount of protection. I know it was only Stoke.... That protection has got to start coming from a midfield which can keep the ball, and currently we don't have one. Sam's buys in this area aren't so good, no doubt. If he is building from the back then he has definitely improved us on paper. I just hope he gets a chance to really improve the midfield this window - Diarra certainly seems like a good start, but he needs to be paired with a creative partner and a proper right sided player. The question is, does Sam know this, and if he does, will the players and/or the funds be available to get the right people in? If he doesn't, I don't think he will see another season. All will become clear in the next 3 weeks or so.

He hasn't had a decent run upfront yet, NM. he's looked as dangerous as bath water up front Well you never know. Slip over, fall asleep and drown, get pushed in; bath water can be quite dangerous at times. Toaster in the bath is a killer.

Class. We have already played them twice

OK granted you can't refer to that which you did not experience. Put another way, think about the eighty odd football league teams (and their fans) who would love to have what NUFC has. Or even another way, think about our closest rivals in the "city" ten miles down the road. Do we still have a lot to complain and moan about ? There is no doubt that they would all love to be where we are right now. But that suggests we should rest on our laurels, happy to simply be in the top division every year. Happy to be above loads of other teams. Where I personally (and I'm sure many others) get so disillusioned is when I think about where we could be, with this stadium, these facilities, this ridiculously loyal fanbase etc etc. And before anyone points it out, I know the previous board helped us to get to that status. It's a terrible cliché, but we're the classic example of a sleeping giant. A 'could do better'. I don't see the issue with wanting the best. Of course there are loads of knee-jerking mongs (on the forums and at SJP), but who takes notice of them? I certainly don't. On a side-note, that's what wor lass calls me chopper. Why would she call your bike a sleeping giant Keefaz?

Aye, it's not that bad like. At the end of the day though, people are motivated to post on message boards a lot more when they have something to get off their chests than when all is good.

Looking back it is canny funny like. Haha! My mate changed his name on the poker to Ottmar

And another season draws to a close....