AyeDubbleYoo

I still think he bought the club for the fun factor and that went with the protests against him but I still agree that he should have tried to tough it out. He'll never have a better time to come back now that most people understand the state of the club and why some things have been done in the way that they have. Completely agree, he may as well give it a shot, if it turns around he could well end up being liked again. As impossible as that seems now, people have short memories.

For me the Bobby days are almost even more special, the Keegan era is a bit hazy in my mind but the Robson days were amazing.

@ the truth in that one! But why? Can't be the facts, they've never stopped anyone before!

I think it's time Ashley came back to the games, we need him to be involved. I don't think he should have ever stopped, obviously he would have needed to move to the director's box to avoid being ripped to shreds, but he should have stuck with it.

would love him here. Me too, would be amazing. Was the first person we should have turned to when keegan left. we would be in a completely different situation right now if he had been brought in. Owen would more than likely have re-signed, more players would be interested in joining us and might well have already done that. Given our current situation he would be a great choice to take over in the summer, there will be few better options available. He'd of been my 3rd choice behind Deschamps and Zico. Deschamps becasue he's young talented knows Wise and will have a good grasp of the market, and Zico becasue he's used to working in this type of set up, has a decent coaching record and is a huge name in the game both like playing attacking football. Houllier might actually appeal to Ashley as he might fit the system quite well and is also a 'name' that might pacify the fans for a bit. Almost dare to dream it might happen!

Given Taylor Coloccini Bassong Zog Jonas Barton LuaLua Lovenk Owen Carroll Edit - unless Enrique is fit, if he is he goes in.

That type of attitude is exactly the reason why we are in so much s*** at the moment. please elaborate. Over paying on wages for players that in reality, aren't that good and not worth anywhere near the money they're on. Also at the wrong age and off the back of a major injury.

would love him here. Me too, would be amazing.

I agree with you 100% my man, unfortunately we reacted like Keegan leaving was the apocalypse and we can't undo the damage we caused. At the same time, Ashley should have just ridden the wave and stuck to his strategy... he was naive in thinking he would always be popular with the fans.

I wouldn't mind seeing Martins on the right of a 433, might be he can cut inside more and get shots in.

not a chance. Not unless the owner does not care about being popular with the fans and just sticks with a manager they believe in. Looks like we need this kind of manager like Moyes who can manage on a shoestring and steadily improve until such time that the club is in a healthier financial position. This could take a few years and would take patience that I do not believe our fans have got enough of. Most fans of most clubs are the same now, but some owners are prepared to take the wrath of the fans for the short term, while quietly building for the longer term. To be honest that's the key, I'm the first to say our fans expect too much and turn against the club/team too easily, but at the end of the day it's up to the people in charge to see past that and stick to their long term plan. No club can be run pandering to the changing whims of the fans.

That's the key, but the difficult thing is - how do you know when someone should be given time and will turn it around, and when they're just shit? In our case I'm pretty convinced our managers were just shit. I am as well, I always disagree with people who say Allardyce should have been given more time.

But we can all see from the accounts and what Ashley said about clearing tonnes of debt that money is tight, and everyone is still whinging about the lack of signings.

That's the key, but the difficult thing is - how do you know when someone should be given time and will turn it around, and when they're just shit?

In a related question, how come all our celebrity fans are freaks? Actually, Gabby was probably the most normal one :-[

We've still got that horseracing bloke, don't worry.

I don't rate her TBH.

Have a quick scroll up to the top and see that 80% of people on here don't think that NUSC reflects their views. They've got a tough job on now because their start has been so monumentally awful so far.

To be fair, bringing in youngsters is the easy bit. Well we've never managed to do much of it before. we have,we've always had academy teams,youth teams etc, some have even included foreign talent, pinas,kiedel but either we were identifying kids who werent good enough or we were crap at improving them (my opinion is a bit of both) Well fine, maybe I should have said we never did it very well before... or it never produced any decent players. Obviously we'll have to wait and see what happens with the current lot, but I'm encouraged by what I've seen so far.

To be fair, bringing in youngsters is the easy bit. Well we've never managed to do much of it before.

I've actually got a decent example to back up the lower leagues thing. My missus was teaching at a school in Southampton the year after they'd got relegated. They all went to St Mary's every home game with their dads, but they also called themselves 'Chelsea/ManU/Arsenal and Southampton supporters'. I don't reckon they'd have been spending so much time at St Mays if they had the option of watching a 'big' premiership game instead every week. I've got rid of Sky as well Gol, had it at uni (bill split between 6 didn't seem so much...) but now I'm living with the missus I'll go to the pub if there's a game I want to see. Means I enjoy the games I watch a lot more, and don't find myself watching rubbish I'm not interested in. I'll miss the cricket coverage more. Interesting, I definitely wouldn't get Sky until it is properly customisable and I don't have to take loads of stuff I don't want.

Tuesday's press conference should be interesting... "Which one of you is Simon Bird?"... Think we know the rest!

Balde isn't any good, but we aren't signing him, so it's OK.

Don't think it makes any difference whatsoever.

I've always wondered what would happen to crowds if 3pm games were on TV... maybe Mowen is right it might affect the lower leagues more. But 'the market' seems to decide everything else, if people would rather watch the game at home then maybe they should be allowed to?