brummie

McClaren looked a witless chump at England, but he's not the first manager to fail in that job. Much like our (well my) own Sir Graham Taylor. He did well at Boro and is doing well in Holland. You can't really argue with that. If only he didn't make himself look such a total twat with such frequency.

I didn't go, but my mate did, and that is almost word for word what he said as well.

According to my mate, Doug Ellis was there last night. It's too easy to label him as only in it for the money, when he's turning up for youth team matches despite being clearly not long for this world. I find myself liking him more and more these days.

First bolded bit, damn right. Second bolded bit, damn right. Most fans of other clubs would raise the Sky bumming you got with tht "everyone's second favourite club" malarkey for a while. Third bit, damn right. Journalists need something to write about. Given what has happened at Newcastle with poor managerial appointments, Shepherd and co, Ashley and relegation, it is manna from heaven to them. They're going to go into overdrive if Liverpool finish 6th or 7th. Just like they'll go into overdrive if Spurs finish fourth. Just like they went into overdrive over a load of entirely unsubstantiated rumours about our manager last week. Just like they'll go into overdrive if West Ham get relegated. I'm amazed that so many people (not talking about on here in particular, just in general) fail to see these points.

She's getting murdered in the comments, though. It's like a journalistic equivalent of Messi systematically taking Arsenal apart.

I always read the Guardian, but recently in employing fuckwits like her, and that droning self-obsessed harpy Lucy Mangan, I've come very close to switching to the Telegraph. If only I didn't find Tories even more nauseating than shit journalists, I'd have done it by now

Is she for real? So, an unsubstantiated rumour starts on a message board, possibly started by idiots, yes, but is then broadcast on TalkSport and in the Mirror. So who, precisely, are the idiots at question here? The people on the message boards, or the trained journalists who really should have known better than to be broadcasting / publishing it.

Ha ha ha, excellent stuff. Made me exhale a small amount of wine through my nostrils.

Those who can afford tellies, obv. Both of them.

Chelsea out last round, Arsenal systematically dismantled last night, and now Man United getting shat out of the competition. I'm not one for watching matches that don't involve Villa, but I must say, this week's European games have given me a quite amazing sense of schadenfreude. I was thinking tonight, listening to that cunt of a commentator on ITV go on and on and on about no England representatives left (as if we, the vast majority of fans who don't support the Sky 4 are supposed to somehow give a flying fuck), that if i were, say, Scottish, I'd probably have punched my telly in this evening. It gets on my tits enough as it is as an Englishman, god knows what it must be like for the Sweaties.

Absolutely staggering. I'm a 41 year old man and Ive just found myself having goosebumps watching a footballer for the first time in about 20 odd years.

What's to be embarassed about? There are plenty of big clubs who went down and continued to go down, and stayed down for a very long time.

I spoke to Mike Ashley the season before last. I said something along the lines of "Hello, Mike". I can't remember exactly what, but it was a platitude. He was coming through the car park at the back of the North Stand, and passing through a load of Villa fans. Many of our lot recognised him and engaged in what is (annoyingly) termed "banter" these days, but many patted him on the back, wished him well, and asked for photos / autographs. He was very obliging indeed, posing for pictures, signing autographs, and took the mild verbals he was getting with considerable good humour. I thought he seemed quite a pleasant billionaire.

The obsession of modern footballers with always wearing oversized headphones makes me want to PUT MY FIST THROUGH THE FUCKING TELLY every time I see it.

Yep, that's about right. And a decent striker, too.

Is the correct answer.

Cost a million (or less), did ok for us in the UEFA Cup, probably on his way this summer.

Maloney - good player, couldn't settle, sold him back for double what we paid. Kiraly - emergency goalkeeper loan Bardsley - bog standard right back Sutton, Agathe - signed as unattached players as the takeover went through a couple of days before the window closed and we could only sign unattached players. Harewood, Routledge - shite Forrester, Lichaj - promising kids Davies - did very well until he injured his shoulder this season, played in some of our best performances this year (Liverpool away, eg) and was on the fringes of the England squad. Knight - didn't rate, but did an OKish job, got our money back. Scored some important goals. NRC - a limited footballer but plays the niggly, tenacious role in the middle well. Can't pass, mind. Cuellar - truly excellent centre back, shoved out of position at right back where he struggles, Good signing. Halfuid - promising kid Milner - superb Shorey - started awfully, did well tail end of last season, clearly on way out. Sidwell, Heskey - crap. Why, though, have you not included this season's signings Dunne and Collins - 10m the pair. What a fantastic piece of business that was. Downing - has done ok, but missed first half of season through injury, so is struggling a little Delph - has incredible promise, has done exceptionally well when used. Good buy, will be an important player for us. Warnock - been absolutely superb for us, great business In short, the shit ones are Routledge, Harewood, Heskey and Sidwell. The excellent ones: Dunne, Collins, Young, Carew, Young L, Delph, Warnock, Cuellar

It's the biggest non-story ever. We get booed a handful of times, when we've played really badly. It's no surprise anywhere in modern football these days. Martin does seem to go on about it, and not let it go, though. He's never been one to take criticism lightly.

Why? Because he looks worth every single penny (he does). If we sold him now, we'd get a fair whack more than that. He's also a stick on to go to South Africa. The people who should be crying in that case are those who were laughing at the fee. Milner at £12m is a good deal imo. Didn't look like one at the time but he's proved his worth. To be honest, at the time, although we liked him from his loan spell with us, we too were wondering about the price. Like you said, with hindsight, there's not really much to complain about.

John Robertson was slow and fat, but he knew how to cross a ball better than pretty much anyone else I've seen play in our league. He's obviously done something. Milner does look much the better player through the middle, though.

9 goals, 14 'assists' (I hate that word), runs for 90 minutes, works his bollocks off, game in, game out, and shaping up to be a decent central midfielder. It's between him and Richard Dunne for our player of the season.

He's a very, very difficult man to dislike. He's witty, eloquent, entertaining, thoughtful and intelligent. I get very, very pissed off with him, then I think how much I like him and how much I prefer him as a man to - for example - that wonky faced cunt Redknapp, who seems to have a vocabulary of 20 words (most of which aren't actually proper words - 'triffic' etc), or that bloated buffoon Benitez. He's also extremely popular with the media. Read people like Patrick Barclay and Henry Winter and they're practically groupies. Then there are the MOTD people who are all his mates. He's a popular bloke, but as you said, he has to deliver, too.

Lack of Plan B. Tactical inflexibility. Baffling selections (Cuellar at RB) Doesn't use subs unless he absolutely has to. Only buys from the home market. Assembles a squad of really, pretty good footballers, then just plays the same ones, week in, week out. So we fall away, three years running. I don't think for a nanosecond he should be sacked, that's absurd, but it is easy to say "OMG, they're mad, what are they moaning about?" based on 5 mins here and there on MOTD. He's a stubborn fecker, and as I've said on here god knows how many times, he drives you absolutely mad at times (which is exactly what Celtic fans said about him). I think he could keep us 6th-8th with his eyes closed, without breaking sweat. Has he got what it takes to take us top four? I'm not too sure about that. I think two things will hold him back - doesn't really play the transfer market as well as he could, and he's tactically very set in his ways. Having said that, he has certainly earned the right to keep on trying.

Why? Because he looks worth every single penny (he does). If we sold him now, we'd get a fair whack more than that. He's also a stick on to go to South Africa. The people who should be crying in that case are those who were laughing at the fee.