bealios

Although I reckon some people have to genuinely leave early i.e. trains etc. I reckon most leave early as they get pissed off and want to get a beer back in the pub before everyone else. I've done it once, at Fulham away a few season ago when we were losing two nil and I had tickets in the Fulham end. Never done it at a home game, and in the current predicament it makes me wonder what sorts of fans would leave early if they didn't have a genuine reason to do so

Although I agree with you, there's never a problem with the away following to be honest. Its the home atmosphere which is often generally lacking apart from the last few games. Against Fulham, you could hear very early on the crowd having a go at the players for misplaced passing etc., which just affects confidence. You could see it visibly drain out of Jonas.

Row C Seats 1 and 2 Q2 lower. Had originally planned to take the missus but now having second thoughts. Although she insists she is coming, so may be out of my hands. I'm planning to be reasonably drunk, so if the worst happens the pain is delayed a bit.

Although I don't think anyone on our team is performing seriously below what I would expect in this sort of match, I think Martins coming on now would scare the shit out of them. Problem is that if Martins comes on they will be so scared they will sit back by an extra few yards, and we haven't got enough creative players to get through a defence that sits round the goal. Maybe Carroll would be a better bet - our best chances seem to be coming from set pieces, and if that continues then I would prefer Carro9ll to Martins.

Anything above a 5 means its more likely than not that we go down. So if we beat boro I would say that we are more likely to stay up than Hull - so I've gone from a 8 to a 6 today, and will move to a 4 if we beat boro! Who can possibly still be on a 9 or 10?

Fine, as I can only see Hull getting one more point at best in the last two games

Thank Fuck

This can't be real

Get in. Come on Bolton, make it a good day.....

If I'm completely honest with how I feel at the moment, if I could choose between starting in the Championship next year with Shearer on a 5 year contract, or scraping survival this year and experiencing another season like this with Joe Kinnear and Chris Hughton at the helm, I know which one I'm going for, and its not

One of the greatest footballers of our time, a geordie, and someone who loves the city and the club. Lets have a pop at him though. He's clearly screwed himself up on booze and drugs long term, as he did not have the sort of mind that could cope with being one of the first mega-celebrity footballers in modern years. When "Gazzamania" struck, he was the only nationwide footballing name. Now there about 20 or so players whose names are known nationwide by non-football people. The only other person who got that level of individual celebrity attention in football was George Best. Fair play for trying to sort himself out.

Saturday is as big as Monday. I'm bricking it for Saturday more I think. A win for both Hull and Mackems (Hull especially) and we're under so much pressure to win on Monday, I'm not sure they could do it. Draw and we're as all but mathematically down. But until then I'm thinking optimistically. Stoke to the business on Saturday and we go in to Monday's match knowing a win has us outside the relegation zone, and with easier fixtures to come than Hull do.

Form over the season we're the third worst team. Form over the last 10 games puts us second worst I think. The reason we will go down (if we go down) is that unlike previous seasons where we have been close, we haven't picked up the extra points from home fixtures against teams such as Hull, Wigan, Blackburn and Stoke. If we had won just half of those games we would most likely stay up.

Basically when it boils down to it we're all fickle cunts. There's nowt fickle about not wanting to be relegated. I'd have much more time for him had he said from the start that the finances were fucked and we weren't going to be spending much until they were sorted out. Instead you have numpties like Llambias STILL coming out with shit about us challenging for everything when we're knee-deep in a relegation battle. I can't back this up with direct quotes so I may be wrong, but wasn't it said from very soon after the takeover that the finances were fucked? Anyway, back to the original question. On the financial side of things I think he does have my support - you can't escape the fact that we were financially fucked. Now we're slightly less fucked. If the unthinkable happens and we do go down, I still believe we will have a club to support and would be favourites to come back up. If we had gone down before Ashley's intervention, knowing what we know now about the finance side of things, I wouldn't be too sure we would come back, or avoid administration. On the football side of things, I can't see how anyone can sensibly support him. If the 3 year contract for Kinnear was true rather than just a story to give the impression of consistency, then I fear for the future. If however he sticks with Shearer, or replaces him with a competent manager, and looks to appoint a Rick Parry type to do Llambias' job, then he can still salvage my support, and perhaps the majority of fans. Any support for Ashley is likely to be ridiculed in the current predicament we're in, but I believe the current state we're in is the result of a long decline from 2004, not entirely as a result of 9 months of poor decisions.

Came from the nufc.com website. Apparently the club are trying to generate an atmosphere with these gimmicks - although Graham Darby appearing is a good thing. This is going to be a cracking atmosphere anyway without the gimmicks.

Probably about right unless something spectacular happens in the summer. Stumping up £600 is difficult to justify in current times, especially since you can purchase tickets for just about any game on a match by match basis. If the club give it some thought they would realise they need to incentivise people to show that level of commitment. All season ticket holders should get the "Membership" privileges i.e. the monthly magazines. Season ticket holders should get some sort of incentive to drink at the ground - cheaper beer or pies. They could even throw in some free league cup tickets. I'm sure that these measures would in real terms cost the club very little, and the additional revenue they get from the season tickets and more people attending the cup games would go some way to compensate it. Clubs need to lose the attitude that they don't have to complete for supporters cash. We're not going to go and support another team, but we might go and spend our £600 on something non-football related.

Actually I've changed my mind. Its a shit idea. We're not Chelsea, or any other plastic team. Do they hand out scarves on the Kop? Do they fuck. If we're going to do flags they might as well play some banging house every (the only) time we score, or something equally crap. Turboshit indeed.

I probably agree with you in principle, but you have to admit the free scarf thing at Shearer's testimonial produced a cracking spectacle.

Why would that be facetious? These appointments of people with no experience are clearly shit and horrendously unambitious. Ince - Fail Keane - Fail Southgate - Fail Sgrabia - Fail Etc. *edit. I see your edit, yes I agree completely and it's rare that I agree with homosexuals. Rubbish point really - For the names above I can see you and raise you Keegan, Zola, Hoddle (he started off good and then got worse as he got more experience!) etc. Of course we've had the experience of Joe Kinnear this season so we should be alright. A recently retired player who has himself been managed by a string of top managers IMHO is just as likely to have "experience" than the journeyman managers such as your Pardew's, Curbishley, Bassets, Wilkinsons's etc.

I'm going to this and before I book my train tickets wouldn't mind knowing if there is a decent away fans boozer near the ground or whether its best to stay around Birmingham New Street etc., never been to Villa Park?

Although not the best technical goal, the favourite has to be Martins against Man Utd - yes, that was this season. Fifteen minutes into our first game of the season, Keegan in charge, one - nil up at Old Trafford, on our way to 4 points in two games. Happy times. Little did we know as that ball hit the back of the net that in 8 months time we will have had 4 managers in the season, there would have been an unsuccessful attempt to sell the club, and we would be odds on certainties to go down with only 5 games left. If that is depressing, then just think that it can turn around the other way just as quickly - see Fulham, Everton in recent years etc.

Whatever happens between now and then end of the season its pretty much certain that we will go into that last game at Villa needing something to guarantee safety. I'm not at all happy about that.

Yeah, I think the Butt hating is counter productive. He makes mistakes that get noticed, but he was more involved than Nolan. Duff's another one. Arsenal game I thought he was more involved than any other player. Even today he played his part. Jonas has to start though. In a relegation battle, little things like your attacking midfielders tracking back and stopping crosses make a massive difference.

Was just about to say the same thing. What was learned from this game could be as big as what KK learned from the Birmingham game. Shola should sit the rest of the season out. I think Taylor also seems to be taking a bit of time to adjust.

Butt is not the worst on the pitch today