ChrisJbarnes

Chris Kamara: "We'll soon know for sure if Newcastle are serious contenders... People say they are riding their luck, but anyone who saw them against Stoke City will have been given a wake-up call over how hard this team works. You can't buy team spirit and desire like that. The next three games will tell us a lot and if they can get five points against Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea then I'd say they are contenders for the top four alongside Arsenal who seem to have got themselves on track again. Tottenham are in good shape too. I was with Harry Redknapp last Sunday and I knew he was going in to have his pipes cleaned out, so I was pleased his team gave him a good result."

A point would be great here. Fill the side with workhorses and cloggers and play for a point. Best and Ba up front.

Doing anything to avoid watching the game! Birmingham in 8th with 2 games in hand in the championship, and doing well in Europe. Looks like quite a turnaround!

theyve got a nice Europa league trip to Ukraine on the Thursday as well. They might be a bit flat on the Sunday. I reckon it will be a frustrating game, lets hope for a 1-0 win.

Yes when I see him on the pitch what I feel is a Lahm . More of a lamb

Tiote to pick up his first booking of the season whilst negotiating for his visa

I bet he still manages to find a way to get a booking first game of the season!

replacement: Joe Kinnear: "If we have any more full back injuries, Chris Hughton and I will have to play. We were not bad fullbacks in our time" or something to that extent

For me, Ashley has had several (feeble at best) "excuses" as to some of our recent failures. The Keegan Fiasco- inexperienced, made a mistake. Relegation- unforgivable but he thought we could stay up with the players and make a permanent appointment next season. sacking Hughton- obviously wasnt the manager he wanted long term. He's had several "last chances", but this transfer window for me is surely the last of last chances. He has picked his own manager, he's got money in the bank from Carroll's sale and the club is in a more stable financial predicament with high earners Nolan and Barton heading off. He has absolutely no excuses if he fails this time. He has just under 1 month to buy some more of my patience. In this month, he must assemble a team that is capable of competing at a decent level (consistently top 10) in the Premier League. If we manage to sign these players on free transfers then so be it. If we manage to promote youngsters and they are capable of performing then so be it. At the moment, our squad is threadbare, and if Barton and Enrique are to leave, Ashley will have to fork out for arrivals. If he doesn't, then I will be firmly in the Ashley out camp come September 2nd.

The judges deemed Barton's acts to be deserving of a custodial sentence, but not Thompson's. Like I say, not going to defend either of these people given that they are both footballers in the public eye doing awful things, but perhaps the tabloids have made the acts done seem worse relative to his sentence.

Now, Im not sure about the actual specifics of the crime (I'm wary of media bias given it was from the daily mail) but there could be an argument that stubbing a cigar out in someones eye, and going to prison is worse than what this guy has done.

miserable bastards. this is an opportunity for some of their younger players to get some competitive experience and they deny them that because of one big chip on their shoulder.

your probably right

What have we got against this guy?

In an ideal world, he'd take Birmingham to the top of the championship and then get offered a premiership job at Wolves or something 10 games before the end of the season. Birmingham then end up finishing outside the automatic places.

No. Just no. Carr won't allow this. Actually, Stephen is a free agent isnt he?

Wigan away on boxing day please.

22 million would be a fantastic fee, if they are both to leave, which they seemingly will.

Sounds like a load of rubbish to me

favourite for Birmingham job

I'll whack some money on that to ensure he doesn't go to Villa. Surely you'd be wanting him to go to Villa?

what are they actually basing it on, other than that he has bizarrely resigned from Birmingham? Is it just hearsay and speculation?

1/5 on skybet.

Taye Taiwoof

Kenwyne bones