merlin

Would YOU employ an office boy to run a multi-million pound outfit which relies on his know-how to keep them successful..?

Probably this, and in this case both he and Sissoko should have been dropped ages ago and replaced by...Oh, wait..

Pearson the red-hot favourite in my view although Curbishley could get a chance because of his southern origin and the fact that he knows how to keep clubs like NUFC - er, I mean, Charlton - in the Championship....

Charnley is just an ignorant and promoted-beyond-capability stooge - Ashley is to blame for selecting crap directors to run the club, but that is what he wants ; pay peanuts get monkeys...

The southern media don't care about NUFC, we are just a 'small club in the NE' to them - they DO care about Sports Direct because many of them will have pension funds who had invested in it....more fool them..!

It comes from the top seems like it's more than that-- like there's a cancer in the dressing room, or something. somehow there's a pervasive apathy amongst ours that even Rafa (may his tribe prosper) can't penetrate. It'll take more than Rafa turning up. There's a deeply entrenched apathy that filters down from boardroom to the fans and pervades the entire setup. Same reason the atmosphere has been dead, the reason no one enjoys working for sports direct. The rotten institutional degradation has been the cancer for a decade to the point where even strong individuals will struggle or reject it. Exactly right - the club will decline and decline as long as the current set-up is in place. Prepare for a long spell of even greater mediocrity with talentless and uncaring players just picking up their wages.

I've said all along that relegation would mean him departing for Arsenal and I stick by that.....

Tyneside and Wearside used to be industrial powerhouses, as did the Midlands with the Motor Industry....as the country has declined in that respect, so have these areas ; the history of these clubs counts for nothing and if NUFC were getting Boro's crowds, nobody would bat an eyelid about our relegation...OR the other two either.

Actual competitive football clubs you mean? Possibly.............. however I wont be rushing home from work to watch WBA v Burnley on a monday night. I'm obviously just jealous but its a shame that the championship will contain a lot bigger clubs than the Premiership. If this means that in future 'big' clubs don't take their present stays for granted as we have then I'm all for it objectively non-toon speaking of course. All the so-called 'smaller' clubs mentioned on this thread have one of two things...either they are in a more prosperous part of the country(and this is beginning to count more and more....look at how many so-called 'big' clubs from the North & Midlands are fixtures in the Championship or worse), OR they are run properly by people who care and know what they are doing - NUFC is neither of those things and Ashley's people management is like a handbook by Cyril Smith on hang-gliding.... History counts for nothing now and NUFC will be in the Championship - or worse - for quite a few years.

On a cast-iron 9 now...just needs arithmetical certainty to move to a 10. I had no doubts that these players are the biggest waste of money - collectively - that I have ever seen wearing a B&W shirt. That is why I felt that this game was as pivotal to the future of the club as was the David Kelly/Portsmouth match at SJP in 1992, and as I expected, these players were NOT up to the job. They lack heart and skill....passing in the first half was deplorable for supposed PL professionals and they are clearly not bothered about the club - hardly surprising when the owner and 'directors' have such a cynical and financially-oriented view as to what the club is about....these same directors are responsible for signing such a useless bunch. Rafa should have been appointed after Chelsea at the very latest, but even then, he would have had a virtually impossible task with this set of misfits. The club will NOT recover from this relegation any time soon and now is likely to join the ranks of the Sheff Weds, Wolves and Leeds of this world by settling in to a second-rate future. In every respect apart from its fan base - which is also shrinking fast - the club is second rate and thinks that way....consolidation in the Championship will suit Ashley & Co down to the ground if he can get rid of players on relatively high wages and a large enough number of mugs keep turning up at SJP. No chance of Rafa staying in my view, and we will be looking at the likes of Curbishley to keep the club in a mid-table Championship spot for the foreseeable future. Totally disgusted at the whole sham and let's face it, after the cranially-challenged idiots who call themselves NUFC fans kept the ball and played with it, resulting in a second ball being thrown on as our players relaxed before the free-kick at HT which resulted in Norwich's first, does the club deserve any better..??

Hard to imagine the club staying up if Norwich win this and Sunderland also get points - we are fast running out of games and at this stage, confidence derived from a result in a 6 pointer like this will go a long way to determining how things go in the remainder of games. To me, this game is almost as crucial as the game v Portsmouth in 1992 when David Kelly scored that amazing winner as time was running out ; had we even drawn that game we would almost certainly have gone down and all that happened from then on would never have taken place. If Norwich win this, esp by more than one goal, they will have a huge boost for the rest of the season and the bookies will make us second favourites for the drop.

They're at what is more than likely their peak level, we can and most certainly will improve. I agree that we can improve as a team Mick, but I just don't think we have enough in our locker in vital positions to get the wins we need. Up front is a nightmare - relying on the likes of Cisse, past his best and wants to leave anyway, Mitrovic who turns less quickly than a battleship, will never get more than 10-15 goals a season and is best suited to being a target man for long balls, Perez, who, whilst having skill on the ball, has looked woefully lightweight in the past few games and Doumbia, who none of us know much about. Only Townsend offers anything like a threat when he runs at defenders and he is not a goal-scorer. I see why Rafa is playing Shelvey so deep - he probably wouldn't get much of the ball otherwise - but the players around him in m/f are suspect. Gini should be far more effective than he is and disappears for long spells ; Colback needs no further discussion and the same applies to Anita ; a fit and motivated Tiote MIGHT make a difference but when is that going to happen..? Sissoko is the ultimate flatter-to-deceiver in my opinion, should be a powerhouse, but mostly fires blanks and has an inflated opinion of his abilities. In defence, we have probably ONE PL standard CB, one who is drawing his pension already, one who takes 2 months off every season(and often makes stupid tackles)and a young(ish)player who is still adapting to the PL ; we have a RB whose best asset is his flank overlapping but can't often make accurate crosses and often gets exposed by a decent winger and NO LB worth the name, which is why Jogback is playing there and will pick up yellows by the score when he does because he lacks pace and gets frustrated. Mbabu looked decent against Chelsea, but would be thrown in at the deep end. Only Elliott has looked a PL goal-keeper - without him, we could well have lost the Derby..... So, yes - Rafa WILL get more organization into the side, but he is trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, thanks to the genius of Charnley & Carr in the transfer market....if we go down the blame lies squarely on these 2 and with Ashley for appointing them.

Cruyff was a great player - the Dutch total football side of 1974 were fabulous and it was sad that they could not finish as winners because they had been by far the best side in the tournament. Apart from Cruyff and his all-round ability up front, Johan Neeskens was a terrific powerhouse in midfield as well as other great players like Johnny Rep(who turfed NUFC out of the UEFA Cup in 1977), Arie Haan and Rudi Krol were all part of a great unit. They set out to humiliate the Germans in the final and after Cruffy won that early penalty, they attempted to toy with them...always a dangerous game. Holland reached the Final again in Argentina 4 years later, but Cruyff hadn't gone with them...maybe they would have pulled it off if he had. Too early a death for such a great player and intelligent guy - he will be missed. Quite a few high-profile people and stars have passed away in the last year or so.....

Hardly worth attempting to guess this - there will be so many ins and outs if we go down and it WON'T be like the last time. Benitez almost certain to leave, and all will depend on who the cranially-challenged idiots running the club manage to con into becoming the next fall-guy - I mean, 'manager'. Maybe only a few players left from the current squad and that would be welcome in my view...most of them are totally unsuited to battling for promotion from the Championship.

Even if we stay up Benitez might just say "Sorry, either it all changes or I'm gone." I wouldn't blame him for doing so now. If that happens then there should correctly be a lot of vitriol aimed at the owner. Once again though, that probably won't happen. Honestly, and I've thought this since the appointment, I think if we stay up he'd go because the club would want rid of him. He's far too much of a threat for them. They've brought him in to get them out of the s*** (ten games too late btw - typically, trying to do things on the cheap and gamble on SMc) and, if he does, they'll let him go. In the Championship, there is no way they would pay him a premiership salary so he'd be off anyway. It's a crying shame though because a proper owner/board with just an ounce of ambition would talk him into staying by convincing him to use the season to sort out his side, structure the club and get the systems right for returning to the big time. John Hall (or, dare I say, FS) would talk him into it, no problem. I've always thought Rafa would be likely to leave even if we stayed up - he knows the situation at the club and as I said previously, I reckon he will be a target for a PROPER PL club in Arsenal during the summer. Ashley's malign influence will wreck whatever progress the club looks like making and that aint going to change any time soon.

This is a very likely scenario although I reckon we could lose ; Norwich are showing great fight and will be well up for it whereas many of our players have hearts like chickens. Certainly down if we DO lose and even a draw may mean we fall short.

Not even good enough to be a Championship player - so one-paced and brainless that its not true. Should be gone when the inevitable clear-out begins...

You can't argue that he wasn't first half. Missed his opportunity to play through the middle For some reason, Sunderland were absolutely killing us in the middle of the park. They competed more and played as a unit...we were all over the place and didn't want the physical contest...a fit and motivated Tiote would have made a huge difference..

Firmly stuck on a 9...would have dropped it to 8 had we won today, but our survival is not in our own hands in the same way that it is in Norwich's & Sunderland's. We LOOK a relegation side too, with a lack of pace, courage and skill throughout the side. If we DO go down, it will be at least 3 years before we make a realistic challenge for promotion unless the club changes hands...Karren Brady's assessment of Ashley's running of the club was spot-on, as was her view that because of it, one of Britain's great clubs is heading for relegation.

If you look at the financial outlay that has been made on these players, you are shocked at how bad they can be...also, in the first half especially, there was a distinct lack of bite and willingness to get stuck in to win the second ball..Perez especially guilty, had a mare in the first half, and Wijnaldum disappeared(as usual) too. We lost possession far too easily up front and the only player to cause them any problems was Townsend when he used his dribbling/pace to run at them. If we go down - and its still odds on as far as I am concerned - both Carr and Charnley should be fired for some awful transfer buys as well as pathetic decisions about management. Clearly, Rafa will make a difference but was brought in FAR too late to have a realistic chance of keeping us up. Sunderland were clearly the better side in the first half and we have Elliott to thank for keeping them out for so long. They had a better balance throughout the side and the fact that we signed Colback from them shows what a mess our transfer policy is compared to their recent signings. Colback was dire and I am glad Rafa took him off because he and Janmaat were odds on to be sent off. Shelvey does not look happy in his current position, although it should be his forte. Although we got a late equaliser, it is hard to see how this side can survive - Norwich look a side determined to fight to stay up and that is something we lack in many positions throughout the side. I will be very surprised if we beat them when we meet and frankly, on this performance we will be lucky to get a point. Survival is Sunderland and Norwich's to lose....it is now a distant goal for us because we have dropped too many vital points to relegation rivals, cannot score goals and lack physical courage(apart from Mitro, although he lacks other necessary qualities for a striker). If Rafa had ANY doubts as to the size of his task, he will have had them well and truly dispelled after watching yesterday's game. If he had been able to sign a couple of players, I have no doubt he would have done so........

Arsenal are NOT NUFC....the two clubs couldn't be run more differently. Whereas they are ambitious and professional in all they do(the fact that Wenger has lasted 20 years tells you that..), we pick the wrong directors, managers and players as often as changing underwear...if Rafa gets any hassle from above, he would go there like a shot, even if we stayed up. Hard to imagine that we once beat them in Cup Finals.....

He has been there for 20 years now and I reckon this WILL be his last season. Arsenal are now going to want to be genuine PL challengers instead of also-rans and whilst he has been a great manager for them, they will now be thinking its time for a new broom. I only hope it doesn't turn out to be Rafa....

Had we been able to get Remy on loan, I reckon we would have got a point at Leicester and would win the derby on Sunday, probably by 2-1. As we have NOBODY who can score regularly in the forward line, we will probably struggle to get the points. Defoe could be the difference between the sides with his ability to snatch a goal from very little and although I think we will dominate possession and give them very little in terms of chances, the lack of a goal-scorer could be our downfall. Remy was great at playing on the shoulder of the last defender and beating the offside trap but NONE of the current bunch can do this. I hope I am wrong but I reckon it is likely to be 1-1 at best.

MOST of our players are better than theirs...but they have the edge in attitude, although this may be been altered by Sunday, and they also have a player who can snatch a goal, even though he is in the veteran stage.

The immediate impression was of a far more solid unit, esp at the back...Janmaat not galloping forward at daft times and leaving gaps as before and the link between defence and m/f, usually with Shelvey co-ordinating was better although this meant Shelvey was often too far back to offer any support to the forwards. The problems we have are all up front and to a lesser extent, in m/f. Unless Perez is able to have a run at defenders, we have a huge lack of pace ; Mitrovic has the speed and turning ability of a 40 year-old, never mind a player of 21. As ever, he was constantly isolated and when we had to resort to long balls, he was usually crowded out before he could lay the ball off and nobody was breaking through fast enough from m/f to support him. The only time we really opened them up was when Townsend beat his defender and got a good cross in. Anita gave the ball away countless times and I wasn't in the least surprised when Benitez subbed him. Yes, it WAS a pen when Sissoko's shot hit the defender's arm, but apart from that we created VERY few clear chances and Rafa will now know, only too well, the size of the task he faces. I was heartened by the overall tightness of the side, obviously down to his organization ; the whole set-up is more SBR than KK and this means we are likely to concede less than in the past, Unfortunately, it also means we are unlikely to score many either because in a tight compact formation such as this, you need either an instinctive scorer or forwards with pace and we have neither. The good side to all this is that if we avoid the drop, Rafa's discipline will make us tough to beat and this is the FIRST quality a side needs to get success or silverware. Decent signings in summer would make all the difference, but it will be a very tough job to stay up.