Scoreboard82

No but if Villa get beaten off Chelsea we are. Please let this happen. Can't take much more stress. We've been thrown a massive lifeline last night, but the pessimism this club has instilled in me makes me think of how bad it would feel to still go down. When Wigan took the lead after about 56 seconds of a minutes stoppage time, it really did seem like we were fated to go down. At last we got a lucky break. Make it count Newcastle and make sure we don't get into this kind of mess again. As for Wigan, i'd be glad to see the back of them. Sick of all the hype about their powers of escapology, blah, blah. It's about time their luck ran out.

I see a common contradiction in this miserable, depressing but unfortunately necessary thread. Any team who have nothing at stake are "on their holidays" when they're playing one of our rivals at the bottom, but when they're playing us they are "playing with no pressure". Can't believe we've reached a point of fearing an already relegated club, rock bottom, with 2 points from their last 6 games according to the form table.

Terrible news. Seems so recent that he was a fit, strong defender playing in the 84 promotion winning side with Keegan, waddle and Beardsley. What a team that was. RIP Steve.

This has got such an air of inevitability about it. It's like trying to walk through quicksand. A feeling of being dragged down. The mackems should never have got back into that game with 10 men. Think it was Jerome who tried to side foot a great chance at 1-0 instead of putting his foot through it. I'm mentally preparing myself for the championship now.

Woke up at 4am by a bizarre footballing nightmare, that was unbelievably vivid. Couldn't get back to sleep for nervous excitement/dread of todays games. The nightmare involved old players but felt like it was now. Last day of the season v Ipswich, we needed a win to stay up. Leading 2-1 in the final minute, Mark Stimson had what should have been the simple task of clearing a slow moving ball off the line with our keeper beat. You've guessed it. He sliced it into the net for an OG to send us down. Bedlam among the fans. In my mind i'd lost my voice and struggled to say "Worst goal i've ever seen." Ipswich boss George Burley ushered his players towards the tunnel of what appeared to be the old West stand,(pre milburn). As they reached the tunnel, Kevin Carr and John Trewick, arguing about the game, came to blows in the centre paddock. Keegan and Mickey Quinn appeared to hold them both back. Told you it was bizarre. Really scary stuff. This relegation battle's messing with my brain man. Looking forward to todays games has been like waiting for a visit to the dentist.

I think they'll struggle again next season. Let's hope it's the club brought to it's knees instead of him being on them.

Wigan aren't playing the WBA fans though. They're playing a team of professionals who won't imo throw a game to keep the fans happy. I fear the worst between now and the end of the season, but talking about situations that don't exist doesn't help. I don't think our game at West ham is any tougher than Wigans at West brom. I'm not predicting this weekend's results, but certainly don't think West brom will roll over just because their fans want villa to be in trouble. I agree but the negative attitude of the fans is a factor imo. If the fans don't care if they win, the players are hardly going to be as fired up as they could be. I think we're all so worried just now, that it feels like every set of circumstances is against us.

Wigan aren't playing the WBA fans though. They're playing a team of professionals who won't imo throw a game to keep the fans happy. I fear the worst between now and the end of the season, but talking about situations that don't exist doesn't help. I don't think our game at West ham is any tougher than Wigans at West brom. I'm not predicting this weekend's results, but certainly don't think West brom will roll over just because their fans want villa to be in trouble.

Defeat for us and Wigan at the weekend (prob best we can hope for), would heap massive pressure on Wigan. Let's assume their game away at arsenal is a write off. They'd need to win the other 2.

Will they though? A cup final or even a cup win would be lovely, but is that more important than survival? They've only ever been in one major cup final and that was the League Cup, which isn't really that prestigious and they didn't even win that final either. This is their chance for the first proper piece of silverware in their history. If Newcastle had no major trophies would you take one now if it mean't going down? You could always come straight back up. Personally i'd rather stay up. Any prestige from winning a cup would be wiped out by becoming a 2nd tier club imo.

ill lend you a gun soon, cos clearly you have nothing to live for... get a grip! Why pretend that we're gonna miraculously recover and get points on the road, something we have struggled with all season? Not once this season have we been convincing, Wigan at home maybe but even then they were down to 10 early on. Last minute goals have papered over the cracks, we've been s*** all season so forgive me for being realistic and not being fickle enough to think that all of a sudden we're going to start ripping teams apart. FWIW I think we will probably stay up, just. But that will be down to Wigan running out of time, not because we're going to get the points ourselves. This clown has to go in the summer man, because I actually know that we have good players, just a useless t*** of a manager. I can't understand some of these quotes on the forum, the ones that suggest last minute goals don't count. Man u beat us to the title one year with many a last minute goal. They certainly counted.

Will they though? A cup final or even a cup win would be lovely, but is that more important than survival?

Mo.ment.um; The impetus gained by a moving object. We're static. They've got AC bang on form. Nolan with a point to prove and a sound basis/formation/strategy. We've got 11 strangers with no desire, system or plan. I absolutely guarantee we will not take anything from the game. Oh crap. Thanks for letting me know anyway. You're welcome. You can ram that head back into the sand now if you like. No need at all for this, man. He's said a few post up that he's shitting it. You should know by now that taking the alternative view on this forum is forbidden, especially one with any hint of optimism. Not that I personally have much of that just now. I've got this permanently nervous feeling, and i'm finding it hard to enjoy normal, non football things in life. I'm sick of being in limbo. It really is dominating my mood.

Norwich are still in the equation. A point currently puts us level on points with not much between goal differences. They've got to play man city and villa too.

If we can just scrape a couple of draws it could make a massive difference. Would leave Wigan needing 2 wins and a draw minimum from 4 games. They've got to go to arsenal and one of their games is against a side currently worse off than us. Reach out for those straws.

I've tried to stay positive, but after todays shambles i'm starting to be swayed by the "we're relying on other teams" argument. Hard to find any hope after that. Having said that, next week we start again v West ham and you never know. Can only hope they're shamed into producing a performance. Doubt they'll lose any sleep over today if I'm honest though.

Anniversary of David Kelly's winner v Portsmouth (1992) today. Got to be one of, if not the most enjoyable toon goals in my time. So important in a bid to avoid dropping into the 3rd tier for the 1st time ever. I've just watched it again via the link to "Keegans Kingdom" on nufc.com. Fantastic. Still felt tense watching it now, despite knowing the outcome.

Being NETD is success in their eyes. The be all and end all. Losing that self invented title, one that only exists when it suits them, would hurt them more than relegation. That's how small time they are.

I don't think we've been particularly lucky. Not with injurys. Had decisions 'even themselves out' to use that old cliche. Got lucky at reading, not so at Wigan etc, but I don't think we've had more luck than others.

Sunderland got rid of the negativity within the club when they sacked the manager, we haven't done that. I agree, but although it seems to have paid off for them, it was a massive gamble. Regardless of what we think of pardew, I personally wouldn't want us to change managers at such a late stage. As Shearer proved, a new boss, late on doesn't always work.

Come on man, we are 6 points above (7 with goal difference) with 4 games to play. Wigan have just been beaten off west ham away and still have Spurs, Arsenal and Villa to play. They have a game in hand we are not looking like we'll pick up any points with the way we're playing. Like I said it's all reliant on them not being good enough as we're clearly incapable of helping ourselves. But we are picking up points. We're just inconsistent. As for the ' can't see where our next points are coming from' theory, surely the mackems and stoke thought the same until the last 2 weekends, after being on terrible runs. Still feel constantly nervous thinking about how things will pan out though. Maybe i'm just trying to convince myself.

Looks like their massive managerial gamble is paying off, but is that really success? Narrowly avoiding the drop and winning the derby? Not really. It's not as bad as it might have been, that's all. Surely they expected more at the start of the season. We did obviously, but we're not celebrating as if we've turned into some footballing superpower like they are.

I agree. We're in danger, but I think because of Sundays result, some are under the false opinion that our form is worse than that of our rivals.

We could say the same about us v West Brom. Are they already on holiday? Will QPR be on holiday by the time we go there? I'm pretty sure they'll be down by then. West Ham will probably be safe by the time we go there. While we're understandably worried, i think a lot of opinion is based on how people feel after the derby debacle. We shouldn't be any more pessimistic than the likes of Stoke. Having said that, i'll still be mightily relieved to survive.

The boro game was his 6th of 8 - a bit different. Can't remember exactly, but after that Boro game we were on a high and many people thought we'd be ok. We all know the grim outcome. Hopefully the mackems will meet a similar fate.