Wallace

Absolutely. I have long been of the view that it has been a deliberate policy not to recruit anyone who will challenge the hierarchy. Another example of you reap what you sow.

I can imagine Hull, Leicester and Sunderland all have another win in them so we need a minimum of a win now - a point won't be enough for us with our goal difference (only Burnley are worse). Their fixtures may be more difficult on paper but Sunderland won those last season when they needed to.

If he is the man they want then McLaren has a bit of a dilemma. Would McLaren want to leave Derby to manage another Championship club especially one that will be in total disarray and that is likely to have hardly any players left? If he waits to see what happens with us, will it mean he risks his Derby job because they are probably looking for him to commit to them this week? Or does he make the move now in the hope of having enough impact to save them from relegation?

Talking about Bobby Robson again in his Radio Newcastle interview.

TBF Liverpool fans are equally critical of their own club's pricing policy as they are of other clubs. On the radio the other night there was a spokesman for the Spirit of Shankley group that were protesting about the prices for the Hull game who also criticised Liverpool for charging £52 for NUFC and said they did it purely because of the numbers we bring but that our fans had wised up to being exploited hence the smaller take up of tickets than in previous years.

Didn't realise Chelsea were so far ahead of City.

Arsenal is the game in hand. Southampton the next match. Southampton (h) Is it not Arsenal? f*** knows, I just looked for their next match.

Hope they're as reliable as whoever told you about Carr. Isn't that around the time Kinnear was appointed? It has been said since that Carr had to talked out of resigning over that appointment.

I can't imagine a less likely Pulis player.

So many people saying we wouldn't be in this position if we hadn't got rid of Pardew!! Forgetting that a) he left of his accord and b) we have been in a similar situation for the last couple of seasons as well - only this time, it is going to be really close.

Don't they normally refuse to respond to any requests for information anyway.

jesus mary, that's terrible. He clearly doesn't give one tenth of one single s*** for the pride of one of his companies, looking at that. Lerner has been awful for us the last five years, but even at his absolute worst, he'd never, ever resort to something as tacky as that. No wonder you want him out. It is everywhere you can possibly imagine - in the Players tunnel on both walls and above the Howay the Lads sign, huge signage in the main reception area, in the dugouts, on the back of the steward's jackets, it takes up most of the space on the TVs in the concourse and so on.

totally agree. And the narrative in the media is now about Ashley and what he gets out of owning the club and why he is systematically destroying it.

I am glad the media are starting to see the bigger picture. If Ashley's running of NUFC is deemed a success (as it has been to date) then other clubs will follow suit and it will kill the league to the point where you might as well reduce the league to 10-12 clubs as everyone is just trying to do enough to stay on the gravy train.

I do think the injuries have taken a toll as well as bad coaching. And like other players in the team, he knows he is a guaranteed starter when fit because Elliot is useless.

Well there was talk when it was announced that Mark Warburton was leaving Brenford at the end of the season that they wanted Jemez to replace him.

I have always thought that. The club is a shadow of what it was when he bought it. He's sold off what he can and every area of the club is seriously under-resourced. The only value the club seems to have now is the potential TV earnings. He could also screw us on the commercial side depending on his conditions for a sale. People talk about new owners having to invest in the squad but they will have to invest in the club's entire infrastructure as the current operation is barely holding together.

I think relegation would be a disaster for NUFC but not for Ashley. It would just be an irritation for him but whether it would push him into selling depends on what his intentions are and as ever, no-one has any idea about that and probably no-one at the club does either. I just cannot imagine what kind of team we would be able to put out next season as the best players would leave and if the ones we want to leave end up staying then I can't see us coming back up. To have the right mentality for that league, they would have to look at British players and I can imagine clubs would hike their prices up for such players where we are concerned because everyone knows we have money in the bank. The parachute payment would keep them going for a while but season ticket cancellations and a significant fall in attendances would certainly have more of a financial impact than in the Premier League and I do not expect they would get the same kind of attendances as they did when we were last relegated. It could take years to recover but at a time when everyone else is moving further ahead, would we ever get back to where we were even a couple of years ago? I lurch between wanting relegation and fearing it. For Ashley, any losses are a drop in the ocean for him and as there is no emotional attachment to the club, if he decides to go, he won't care what he has left behind. One thing is for certain, if it happens, I won't be upset like last time. It will be down to the incompetence and arrogance of those running the club and it will serve themselves right.

But we only really have 2 key French players now - Sissoko and Cabella (the latter because of the fee they paid). The rest are just squad players.

They talk about our fans being deluded but Charnley, Carr and co. are deluded if they think any quality player would sign for NUFC in its current state.

Even if the first 11 he has put out every week is inferior to the opposition, the very least you expect is for the team to compete and for there to be a coherent gameplan. Even non-league teams manage that when playing against Premier League teams.

Just gambling for points, at least we obliged. You'd think if there was any chance of a charge they'd have left him suspended. Shocking decision. I think the PFA might have been involved - something along the lines that they could not continue to suspend him as he had not been charged.

Well that will be him gone. We don't re-negotiate contracts.

Why not Elliott? Krul on only £28k a week? According to the reports in the papers today, we have the 7th highest wage bill. So who is earning all this money?

Seriously? He's the cheapest option and a yes man, i.e. perfect in Mike Ashley's eyes. Pardew #2 basically. Well of course I know why they would give him the job. It just doesn't make any sense because it will ultimately cost them a fortune as such an appointment would be a guaranteed relegation and it would probably be too late to buy themselves out of trouble in January (which again would cost millions). But with Ashley, everything is about saving money in the here and now rather than thinking long term.