Ronaldo

To be fair, no good PL manager in their right mind would've given Owen a contract at that point as it was painfully obvious he was finished. SAF only did it to aggravate the Liverpool fans. I think Phil Brown was the only other one interested.

Allardyce tried to to swap him for Bellamy in 2007. Rafa said no and sold Bellamy to West Ham.

He looked OK in one game. Given our CM options if Rafa has no time for him he must just be abject, which, to be fair, his career before coming here would probably substantiate. No need to look too far into it. Another godawful Carr signing who'll leave for peanuts in a year or two.

If Rafa doesn't fancy him above Jack Colback I'm willing to bet he's probably just shit.

Yeah, that's right. We lost 3-1. Was our 6th consecutive defeat in that run of 8 under Carver.

Cheap shots as always... More like a dose of brutal truth..... Nah it's unmitigated wank. McClaren lasted less than a year, Ronaldo no doubt thinks he should have been hounded out in a matter of days, much like his beloved Chelsea did with Rafa. Always makes me laugh when people wank themselves silly over the likes of Liverpool & Man U's fanbases. I'm eternally grateful we're nothing like them. There's a lot to dislike about the Liverpool fanbase and the Man U fans based outside of this area are generally the worst of the worst. However, the real fans of those sides see themselves as the custodians of their club with a responsibility to do right by it and defend it when necessary. They won't stand for being antagonised by chairmen, directors, managers or players. Ever. This is partly why they'll never be too far away from success. They expect to get back something like what they put in. That's the way it should be. As to ours: In 2007 we lost 3-1 to Rafa's Liverpool at home. Remember the (largely deserved) vitriol towards Allardyce that day? Possibly not, but I do. Skip to the same fixture in 2013. We'd lost 3-0 to Sunderland in the preceding home game, fwiw. Liverpool (managed by Brendan Rodgers and missing Suarez) absolutely dicked us off the field, winning 6-0. Six fucking nil we lost at home. Contempt for Pardew in the stadium? Virtually none. People just sat on their hands or went home. By the time the next home game (another listless defeat) arrived his name was being sung again. Our fanbase has obviously changed drastically under Ashley. They've been beaten, bullied and inveigled into submission. You might not see it. Honestly, I think you're probably the type that goes to games solely for what you get out of it - ie restpite from the mrs, your mum, chance to get drunk and bitch on about how crap your job is, whatever. That's your right. A true fan, for me, is a little different to that. Unfortunately at SJP in 2016 I don't think you're the exception.

Has someone pressed your turbo stupid button or what?

Aye, we're talking about fans who resisted efforts to drive out Alan Pardew after losing multiple consecutive games several times and losing to Sunderland at home 3 times in a row, ditto with Ashley. Loads of us said the supportthateamman attitude would eventually see us relegated and it did. Any other set of fans would've driven a two-bit loser like Steve McClaren out long before he got the boot, same with Carver - who also nearly took us down. Hands up who thinks cunts like Ashley, Pardew and (to a lesser extent) McClaren would've lasted even half the time at a Liverpool or Man United? Thought not. For every decent fan at SJP now there's probably 3 or 4 with not a hint of independent, objective thought between them.

The majority of those at SJP are sheep and would regard promotion and a couple of seasons in 14th place as massive success for the club.

9s for Lazaar? What don't I know about him that you do?

Freddy Shepherd as a PL Chairman in today's financial climate would've been suicide. He gave Souness £50m to spend. Today's financial climate just being the strongest in English football history. You badly need to extend your reading past the Beano, like.

Other way round. LvG started playing him as a midfield workhorse.

Why do these threads always turn into a debate about HTT's sexuality?

Yeah, I forgot Brighton. I'll put them in instead of Derby.

Honestly, you lot, man.

Us, Norwich, Villa, QPR, Derby, Ipswich.

Sissoko played for himself and, quite frankly, wasn't that good. Then, quite frankly, you're not that bright.

He was, yes. There's not much competition, like. Who would say it is?

Mate, he was gone the second we were relegated, why are you having a hissy fit now. Personally I'm happy I no longer have to see the bloke in a Newcastle shirt again and have faith that Rafa will improve us once we've won promotion this season. Nowt to do with Ashley having money in his pocket. If we fail to go up, your whinging will have some merit. There's no hissy fit. I just really don't see anything to be happy about. We sold our best player in the last hour of the transfer window with no possibility of a replacement. I don't strongly envisage the money being reinvested in the team in January or next summer, either.

Yeah, OK. They were 11 points behind the winners on 70 points - the same amount we achieved in '02 when we finished 4th.

83 people happy that billionaire Mike Ashley's £6m a year richer.

Lee Charnley. I know, tell me about it. Some people just can't wait to stick their tongue up a different arsehole.

Absolutely fucking exactly.

Another one who got a contract he did precisely nothing to deserve.

He's basically reverted to pre Rafa days simply because some absolute prick who did fuck all to keep us up last season and is desperate to leave is now leaving, baffling like IMO. I wouldn't be saying owt, but it's being celebrated like it somehow puts us in a stronger position to get promoted. It really doesn't.