AyeDubbleYoo

We don't need a sale of the club at the moment IMO... the speculation over it would be too damaging, and Ashley pulling out of transfers etc completely would undermine Hughton too much in the summer. I would prefer if there just wasn't a murmur about ownership for 2-3 years, then we'll see how we are.

Didn't pick up on that, good post. Great work by Hughton there.

When he runs out at SJP for the first time it's going to be epic.

Saint Niall offering a public apology for the yesterday's magic carpet crash. Well I saw him in the director's box at half time yesterday making small talk, smiling and greeting old friends - didn't look overly upset about being 3-0 down. What a phoney. Don't think the Chairman of a club really needs to be crying his eyes out at half time or throwing things round the executive lounge. Quinn obviously cares about Sunderland.

To be fair, if everything had gone for us this season with decisions, injuries etc we could have a few more points on the board. But then again, an injury to Carroll/Nolan/Colocinni and we would probably have a few less. My feeling is that we'll finish lower than we are now, around 12th-15th, which would be more than good enough. If we stay up, and go about it in a way that doesn't leave us shitting ourselves for the last couple of months, it will have been a great season and we can kick on from there.

Used to babysit my mate... who's a Sunderland fan!

This was probably the most irritating weekend of TV ever... every single show had some sort of fucking Halloween theme. THIS ISN'T AMERICA!!!

Now you mention it, it is!

He's quite angry as well, but in a funny kind of way. I actually quite rate him as a ref!

Were there any other games this weekend? I missed them

To be honest I would prefer if they stuck to the plan of negotiating at the end of the season. We shouldn't be making managerial decisions based on short periods of time or on press speculation. If he's sustained his success then give him the contract he deserves.

Spot on. Who knows what this club could have achieved if we'd managed to sign this type of player a few years ago. We've all been desperate for someone to shield our exposed defence for years, we've finally got on. He's not like a human footballer really, he's like some sort of holding midfield cyborg or genetically-engineering superhuman, specifically built for the purpose.

I still think it made us a bit too narrow yesterday, but to be fair he had probably been allowed to tuck in to counter Sunderland's extra man in midifeld.

Would be like the millennium bug... scoreboards were never designed to handle 3-figure numbers.

I agree, still think Routledge can make it in the Premier League. Although obviously if Barton and Nolan continue like this his chances will be limited for a while.

None in mine, couple of friends though, I've resisted sticking the knife in so far. I'm more worried about the hundreds of Arsenal fans.

I felt a bit sorry for him TBH, must've been a nightmare. He badly misjudged that tackle though obviously, and he deserved to go.

Aye, I noticed that as well, what's he on about?

He had a big challenge to rise to this season, he was pretty poor during the relegation season and it was a big question whether he'd be able to cut it in this league. He's risen to the challenge, climbed above it and shat on it from a great height.

And it's spelled right!

Nice one mate!

Same here, I've heaped the scorn on Nolan in the past but I'm more than happy to eat humble pie at the moment.

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/5463/shola.png

He's maybe 10 seasons away from his peak... he's doing very well so far. Doesn't look perfect, but how could he be?