huss9

at least now with premership status secured we can start taking this thread seriously (or as is the norm, start getting wildly excited about unlikley targets). was awful listening to rumours knowing fine well we could possibly be in the championship next season.

everyone else in the back four lifts their game when he's on the pitch - mapou has had his best games at LB

if he's going to stay he needs this preseason sorting properly. needs a new fitness coach (needa a whole new coaching staff to be honest) but we havent had a well drilled preseason for ages and the players have looked unfit and purely prepared. think ashley should forget any overseas friendlies outside of europe no matter what it costs us financially.

i think that was a stunning cross (best of the season) and great header for the disallowed goal. pure sex but now forgotten as it was wrongly chalked off.

wasnt an easy chance.... imagine if it had fallen to cisse. cisse's a fine finisher but hasnt the calmness that chance required.

just hope that ashley has a few football-savvy mates that he listens to. otherwise pards is gonna give him his usual guff about injuries/europa/refs etc and convince him he's still the man.

Would Ashley really be willing to pay him his worth?

get set for some huge macktracking by pards tomorrow. bet he's had a raging Ashley and llambias on the phone already

I honestly believe he was probably just trying to be funny with those quotes, but he's ended up offending an awful lot of people. clueless.

think cisse's should have stood, and had another cleared off the line. poor performance but could have been 4-1 on another day

Boswinga?

gouffran = 21st century david kelly

give it a week, I've a sneaky feeling Mike Ashley will come up trumps.

you'll change your mind, man. it's love.

sure there's been a bloody conspiracy at the FA to get us relegated. 3 ludicrous decisions today alone, and their decision not to give pards the England job after Capello.

there you have it. all u fucking need to justify his sacking..........we had to grind out a win against the worst team in the league.

come on wigan - 2 wins PLEEEEEEEAAAAAAAASE

Seem to have... Noticed it against us before and against the unwased the other night. embarrassing and quite sad

do all the stoke players have towels stitched to the insides of their shirts?

Stealing Magpies: Newcastle almost convinced Alex Ferguson to leave Manchester United for Tyneside 11 May 2013 22:30 PLUS: Departing Old Trafford boss is the favourite to end his career with a fourth LMA Manager of the Year award Time wasting: Ferguson was frustrated by United's stalling on a new deal Time wasting: Ferguson was frustrated by United's stalling on a new deal Getty Amid all the salutes to the departing Ferguson over the past week one hugely significant story, which could have changed Old Trafford history, has remained under the radar. The Sunday Mirror can reveal for the first time that Newcastle United were close to prising Ferguson away from Old Trafford in May 1996, towards the end of the season when the Eric Cantona-inspired Reds pipped Kevin Keegan’s Magpies to the title. The Newcastle board were alarmed by the inner torment that gripped Keegan after Ferguson won the showdown with Keegan in the run-in, sparking Keegan’s infamous “I’d love it if we beat them” TV rant after a victory at Leeds. Keegan tendered his resignation as his Newcastle team prepared for a vital showdown against QPR with SEVEN games remaining. That move came a few days after Toon’s famous 4-3 defeat at Liverpool. Keegan was persuaded to stay but indicated again that he would leave after the final game of the season, the day Ferguson’s side clinched their third Premier League title at Middlesbrough. But long before that Newcastle- through the connections of their Glaswegian chief executive Freddie Fletcher- had become aware that Ferguson was unhappy that the Old Trafford board were dragging their heels over offering him a new improved contract. Fergie was furious, but chose his words diplomatically when discussing the tense stand-off with a national newspaper reporter. “I want to stay here. I’ve been waiting to see what the chairman is going to do and I am still waiting,” he said. Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan in 2008 'I would love it': Ferguson's mind games famously got the better of Keegan Getty Newcastle, alerted to the delicate situation and the fact that Ferguson was far from the top earner in the Premier League, decided to launch an audacious and top-secret bid to make their nemesis an offer he couldn’t refuse. The Magpies willingness to replace the floundering Keegan with Ferguson and make him the first £1million-a-year manager in the Premier League was relayed to the Scot. There was also interest from the Republic of Ireland and from England headhunter Jimmy Armfield, tasked with finding someone to replace Terry Venables after Euro 1996. Newcastle had the financial clout to blow away the interest of the international outfits and the proud Scot quipped at the time: “Can you really see me with three Lions on my chest?” Newcastle were serious. And there was no way Fergie regarded Newcastle as “a wee club in the North-East” back then. In the countdown to the Cup Final the political landscape at Old Trafford worsened. On the eve of the game Fergie had a heated discussion with Maurice Watkins, the lawyer and United director. Newcastle were convinced there was a strong chance they could get their man. Fergie admitted in his autobiography Managing My Life: “I was absolutely disgusted... It got to the point where I was not prepared to be ridiculed and felt that on a matter of principle I might have to resign.” But Newcastle’s hopes of getting their man were dashed. A domestic Double sparked United to offer Ferguson a new four-year deal worth £650,000 a-year plus bonuses. Newcastle were devastated. Their reaction was to offer Keegan a pay rise and a new two-year deal. They shelled out a world record £15m in July 1996 to buy Alan Shearer from Blackburn. Ferguson may have lost out financially by not moving to Newcastle in 1996 but his decision to stay at Old Trafford rewarded him with the legendary status that goes with becoming the most successful football manager in British history. And Newcastle and the rest of the Premier League were left to wonder what might have been if Fergie had hit the Toon in 1996. Meanwhile, the Manchester United boss is favourite to win LMA Manager of the Year award. FROM AROUND THE Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/newcastle-convinced-alex-ferguson-leave-1882381#ixzz2T1UjtS3P Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook

wigan took the game to city, whereas as the pre-match negativity from pards when we played them probably had the team feeling they had no chance and were gonna be on the end of a drubbing. they went out on to the pitch already beaten.

just got a feeling that if he stay's he's gonna be even more negative and focussed on the opposition next season. think his aim will be mid table safety, no more no less. never once has he mentioned that the team needs to be more positive in their play. it's been about shape etc.

was it Scope?

ashley thinking sack pardew, and get in a local striking legend as the new manager - might work the second time round.

allegedly keegan had said to him after the third, "now you've got your hattrick, how about helping someone else score." to which supermac had told him to " fuck off and get your own".