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South Korea v. Iran, 0-0 at halftime. (crickets chirp) EDIT: FUCK those totalitarian dickheads and they're fucking jammy free kicks.

Because no manager worth his salt wants to work under the system Ashley has in place, we're stuck with him and he's stuck with the club. If Llambias is to be believed(), Dennis Wise is apparently glorified head scout and chief negotiator. Don't see why anyone would have a problem with that. Even given the scenario where he's lying through his teeth and the "evil dwarf" actually has control of anything, pretty much every manager who's ever managed in Italy of Spain has worked under that structure. The structure won't be an issue when finding a new manager. The fact that we're in deep s*** with no money to spend might be. Wenger, Robson and Ferguson have all come out and said they wouldn't work under a system like the one it appears we have in place (if they've got the wrong end of the stick or not we don't really know, because when the club breaks its stony silence about what the system actually is it talks in contradictory riddles). I don't think there's much doubt that this 'system' has seriously narrowed our options at a time when we're not exactly going to be beating managers off with a shitty stick anyway. They were all commenting on what the media and fans were speculating that the system was (ie. Wise pulling all the strings.) Regardless, there are enough options out there system or no system.

No Phil Brown please. The man's insane. He's like a younger, mackem version of Joe Kinnear.

Because no manager worth his salt wants to work under the system Ashley has in place, we're stuck with him and he's stuck with the club. If Llambias is to be believed(), Dennis Wise is apparently glorified head scout and chief negotiator. Don't see why anyone would have a problem with that. Even given the scenario where he's lying through his teeth and the "evil dwarf" actually has control of anything, pretty much every manager who's ever managed in Italy of Spain has worked under that structure. The structure won't be an issue when finding a new manager. The fact that we're in deep shit with no money to spend might be.

Might as well kick this one back up to the first page considering that it's suddenly become pertinent. Right now I just might take anything that doesn't involve Houghton being interim for the rest of the season with JFK coming back with a new contract in the summer.

We might as well make a hail mary punt for the likes of Sven or Scolari. No chance but asking can't hurt. Terim or Deschamps would bring some much-needed class here but I have no idea how realistic they are. Bruce or Curbishley are obvious choices if we're going for the safe option. Martinez, Bothroyd, or even Ketsbaia if we're into rolling the dice. My personal bet? Shearer. Because everything at this club must be absolutely fucking mental. It's the law you know.

Surely no matter how thick the board are they can realize that appointing Poyet would be a PR disaster of monumental proportions. Why can't they just (gasp) get someone who's actually qualified for the job? Shocking, I know.

Agree with Baggio in this case but... Man, isn't having Llambias as your avatar a bit much?

Wish they'd just put something out with specific questions and answers like the chronicle did yesterday. We really don't need all the editorializing.

erm i read that as Llamblias saying he was told keep his head down, due to the keegan thing

One other rather cringeworthy thing I gleaned from repeated reading. So Llambias is basically saying that he and Ashley agreed that Mort's constant communication with the media was a bad thing and made a conscious effort to reduce communication when he was brought on board? Bloody geniuses aren't they?

This - but the Medics might force the issue and then we will need a replacement. I find it 100% plausible that the board will come out with some sort of statement saying that "the job will be waiting for Joe when he gets fit" and give Houghton the reins until the end of the season. Then proceed to give him a brand new four year contract on his hospital bed. That's how much confidence I have in the sanity of our regime.

Damn. I wish Joe the best of luck and hopefully a speedy recovery. I may have wanted him sacked, but I would never wish any sort of physical harm upon anyone. My support goes out to him and his family. As for what now looks to be a managerial vacancy for us, hopefully the club won't fuck around and will get a new manager in as soon as possible, while compensating Kinnear for his service and efforts so far.

The other parts of the interview look like they'll be significantly more interesting. That one about friends

The "challenge for everything in five years" statement is probably the most overtly ridiculous part of that article. That's really not going happen even if we somehow hit the jackpot with every and every one of our teenagers from Scandinavia/Eastern Europe. I would have much preferred something along the lines of "we'll have NUFC financially stable in ~ years" or "we'll be able to maintain a sustainable amount of transfer spending through the clubs income alone by ~ years"

very true, and while we still have a good local support at SJP, there creeping in here, and some of our away trips to London id say are 20% out of town support. God help us if we ever get good again. If you're of the attitude that no one should be allowed to set foot in SJP unless their mother had them ten feet from the Gallowgate wearing a replica shirt and singing the Blaydon Races screaming "OOOOOOOOH ME LADS" at the top of her lungs then you're going to be rather severely disappointed in the coming years I'm afraid.

You're entirely missing the point. "Glory"hunters. Where is the glory in choosing to support Newcastle? or Everton? Or Villa? or lots of teams. When i see people walking around where I live wearing Chelsea tops, I really do want to vomit out a significant part of my lower intestine. These are the people I'm talking about. Their parents need to take a very long, hard look at themselves. Think you might be getting a pretty large infusion soon enough imo Fully expect to see my first Villa top back home sometime this calendar year.

Was just reading through his wiki article... ...Huh?

Sven Goran Eriksson is without question one of the best club managers in the world. His record speaks for itself. It's utter comedy that City sacked him after a brilliant first year and replaced him with a clueless hack like Hughes. The only reason that he's even in a position to consider offers from clubs like pre-takeover City, Portsmouth, or hypothetically even us is because of the stigma that unjustly accompanies him due to his time with England. Whichever mid-table club that gets him is hitting the jackpot.

If they get him I'll weep f***ing tears of blood. Two clubs in s*** situations and s*** managers. Portsmouth sack theirs and got Sven, we stick with Epic, just f***ing epic.

http://www.dailydemotivators.com/pics/Obvious.jpg

Everything else aside, it's just a monumentally stupid idea to have a protest without even stating what the protest is actually for.

The apology is much needed well accepted but also extremely late. The answer on NUSC was somewhat illuminating. As for the rest of the interview, Llambias really doesn't give us straight answers on anything. Look at how he answers the Wise question: yeah, he's director of football, we've known that for two years. Yeah, he goes out and looks for players, we've known that for two years as well. What we really wanted to know was what relationship he has with the manager, who has the final say on transfers. Is he selecting all of our targets and doing all of the negotiation? Or is he just a glorified chief scout? Are there separate transfer budgets? None of these questions are answered and instead we're given a bunch of form answers that are closer to truthiness than truth. I'll have to read the rest of the interview but for now I'm certainly less than satisfied. The expression "modest net spend of 15~20m" pretty much shows what's wrong with the fans' expectations now.

Think Kinnear might have been referring to the "questions for the chairman" thing Llambias is doing this week. Assuming that he wasn't just spouting nonsense again.

exactly. And so was Alf Ramsey. Morale of the story is don't believe everything people say or what papers portray them as saying Basic stuff really. Yep. Slagging off your players in public is the quickest way to lose the dressing-room.... usually followed by your job shortly afterwards. says : huh?