brummie

Pardew is one of a pool of managers who could largely be described as "meh" - totally unremarkable, might do a decent job if they wind up at the right club at the right time, might get you lumbered at the arse end of the table. Unfortunately, bar the top six, we're all fishing for managers from that pool. Strikes me that, though he undoubtedly has his failings, Pardew has done pretty well for you lot this far. Given that, I reckon your last line is spot on.

It's working, he's been very good the last couple of matches. We played excellently against Arsenal last week, despite winning. It's difficult to play anything resembling football at this shit pit, though.

Stoke are revolting. Every single thing about them, their horrible gamesmanship and their retarded fans. Just horrible.

Look at some of the stuff Stan Collymore has been sent on Twitter about this. He's stuck them in his favourites. I despair of the fact that people this fuckwitted and evil still exist. https://twitter.com/#!/StanCollymore/favorites

Doubt we'd have gone this far if they wouldn't. There's no inherent reason why they would be against it.

Apparently we are in discussions with Birmingham City Council about converting the lower north stand into a "safe standing" area. Being as nobody ever sits down in the lower north anyway, it is a decent idea.

Oh, and to think we bought Zat and then sold Cahill. Madness.

I always used to quite rate that Muamba. NRC is useful at times as he's prepared to stick a foot in and break things up in the middle. That's actually something we didn't replace when we let him leave in the summer.

Yeah, most of those are old/deadwood so the majority of them will presumably be released whether we get relegated or not. How has Zat Knight been? Does he still do that "look and point at something in the distance in order to appear authoritative" thing when he's a bit confused by the game unfolding around him? NRC does that, too. NRC also has the added bonus of being the least technically adept footballer in the northern hemisphere.

This is what I have been moaning about with regard to MON for ages. He can't be arsed to have scouts and shit, or to look at foreign players, he'll go for the massively overpriced UK based player every single fucking time. And that kind of thing is precisely how he ended up leaving us with a squad choca full of overpriced, too old, massively over paid English / played in UK for a while players that nobody wants to take off our hands. He did a similar thing at Celtic (Bobo Balde on 40k a week. In Scotland) and he'll do the same at Sunderland. Lerner did exactly the right thing telling him to sort the wage bill a bit and move some players on before he'd let him spunk 15m on Aiden McGeady.

I can't describe just how much I want this to happen. It would be a perfect post-christmas present. Please please please. Although, nb, he's not a "defensive striker" anymore, he's a midfielder these days *slowly shakes head*

Rooneys hair. Looks like a doormat on his bonce.

It was a really good performance. A total, total change from the recent embarassments N'Zogbia had a blinder, and Albrighton is finding more form. If we'd had Bent playing, we'd have done better.

I can't quite believe it, but we were excellent tonight, and should have got three points, let alone one. Play like that a bit more and we'll fly up the table. Excellent stuff.

It certainly has. The results, weirdly, have not been too bad, but if it is at the cost of that football, fuck that. It also makes me annoyed when media idiots drone on about it being totally about him being a former Blues manager. It fucking is not. It is about the utterly shocking football we play.

Sitting in the office, waiting to go to the match. I struggle to think of the last time I was looking forward to a match as little as I am this one. There are rumours of it reaching the point of anti-McLeish banners tonight. It's a bit depressing, really.

I don't really care too much for the ins and outs of it all, but really, regardless of the clubs involved, that is unbelievably small time. it makes Man City's "Welcome to Manchester" thing look classy.

Phil Dowd - who redefines the notion of the "look at me" referee, surpassing even the comedically shite Uriah Rennie - yesterday booked Gabby Agbonlahor for having the ball kicked at his ankle by Jaaskelainen

whilst I agree, he did flatted to deceive, and he definitely had no plan B, he wasn't a long ball man, that's unfair. He was incredibly one dimensional, though, with wingers just twatting anything into the box. In that sense, it is a percentages game just like the long ball game, so there are similarities, but we never really just hoofed it at Carew, that's a bit unfair.

You're the worst side I've seen in a long time. You make us look decent. Defending is all over the shop.

I'd sever my right arm (that's the business arm) to have Milner back in our team. Barry, though, not a chance. I am amazed he gets as much time on pitch as he does.

Worst Man United side in a long time. They're still pretty good, mind.

No. I don't hate him. I do hate the fucking mess he left us in, and I hate the "Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa" thing the press developed while he was here, and the shit they laid on us - on US not him - when he fucked off five days before the start of the season.

I was about to post, it reads as if it tumbled from my own mouth. It didn't, mind. It is utterly, utterly spot on, though.

Well, in this era of McLeish Villa, tonight was the most entertaining football I've seen for a very long time.