Doctor Zaius

Keegan did exactly this. When he came in, he had us playing some good football. The season before the relegation season, we finished strongly. Safe from relegation and playing well. He rejuvinated Owen as well, had him playing deeper and not off the shoulder as it was clear he wasnt as sharp anymore. Owen actually looked good too, probably his best spell for us. Obviously when Keegan walked because of the fat cunt, it all went to pot. If Keegan had stayed, I reckon Owen would have had a good final season for us and we certainly wouldnt have went down.

Suprised theyre not trying to farm him out to the Championship. Didnt he look alright when he played for Sheff Wed last season? Maybe Shola is just as shite at arranging loans as he was scoring goals.

Different players but neither good enough. Weird that the former is remembered fondly by some. He was shite.

It's never been about lazyness with Shelvey imo. There are occaisions when he is bone idle (Wolves at home) but he's limited in his ability to get around the pitch. He hasnt got the engine or stamina for the PL. Cant get around the pitch, can't tackle and isnt positionally great. A lot of the time that doesnt matter if you're able to control the game. Pirlo, Scholes, Carrick etc were never great in that respect but Shelvey simply doesnt have the ability make up for his lack of physical prowess. He's cant dictate the tempo, he isnt the type to run the game. He's simply isnt good enough. He's got an eye for a killer pass and thats about it. Now and again he'll absolutely run the show but its often against weaker sides and it's just not often enough for him to be starting all the time or build a team around him. Liverpool let him go, Swansea were happy enough to get rid and Rafa didnt fancy him. That alone tells you all you need to know.

Luke Edwards has shown himself up to be a total cock like. The quote him omitted is the standard from him now. Absolutely desperate to defend Bruce at all costs so he's his preferred journalist to go to I reckon. Fucking baldy cunt that he is.

22k rocked up to boo Perez as well. Laughable.

Mourinho wouldnt touch us with a 10ft barge pole. Not for any money.

I wanted us to lose games when Pardew was winless in eight. Usually when a manager has a run like that, they’re sacked. But I don’t want us to lose games now. I’d rather we just stay in the Prem. That way I can watch us on TV every week. Guess I’m not so different from those who want to go to the stadium and “get away from their wife”. I appreciate it'd be tough if overseas fans can't get to see championship games but: being in the premier League = Ashley never leaves So be it. Least we get to sign players like ASM. He didn’t sell when we were in the Champo anyway. It absolutely hurts either way. Last year when we had secured survival and were just playing games to get a higher spot absolutely sucked. Best I can hope for is for this team to really gel. Joelinton’s price tag means he’ll be here for a while. We’re resigned to losing Longstaff next year but 70 mil to build a new midfield sounds pretty decent. Foundations are there to break into the top 10... in about three years. The thing is, the foundations aren't there to break (and stay) in the top 10. Buy em and sell em on, with no thought for building a coherent team for the future, buying into a managers vision and creating a team has been a proven recipe for failure. It worked out for a season, when Graham Carr pulled out a few aces and we had a quality team. Soon enough though, with our incompetent manager and wantaway players that had been promised as using the club as a stepping stone things fell apart. The very best we can hope for is a flukey season where everything comes together and even then, he was spending more. The parallels between this season and the season we last went down are absolutely remarkable. A below par, proven failure as a manager. A young unproven striker. An erratic winger. The manager having little input on players. How can Bruce even begin to create a team if we're signing players based solely on resale value. You end up with square pegs for round holes. Even this season is totally reliant on Jolelinton. Where are the goals coming from? I meant they might gel and they might be alright but there's more chance this season will end up in relegation. I think we'll know a lot more after the weekend.

Totally agree on this, once Brewcie gets his feet firmly under the table and he's binned the fancy dan foreign muck for English blood and thunder and we're still getting whacked at the bottom of the table opinions will change. However that will just lead the press to confirm we're deluded and fickle like they've always said, double edged sword I'm afraid. No offense lads but that stuff is just pathetic horseshit, aye he's crap but his signing in his past jobs are from all over the world, he's many things but not what you're inferring there like. Exactly. He doesn't care if you're black, brown, yellow (orientals make very good workers). And he's signed El-Mohammady seven times. Its certainly not what I was inferring. He's always been more than happy to sign foreign players, even early on in his career. Christoph Dugarry saved his Birmingham side from relegation one year. I dont think the blood and thunder comment is about that though. If anything, its his rejection of modern tactics that have been shaped on the continent and that attitude of many of his contemporaries such as Pardew, O'Neil and Moyes that grit, determination and team spirit are more important than well thought out game plans. You could even argue that tactical nous is more important than ever in the premier league era. How many managers have an initial flurry of success then fade away as they fail to replicate it when the game moves on? There's tonnes. The game adapts, the game changes and no more so than in the past few years. Managers have to learn to adapt to change, switch their methods up and incorporate new ideas. Look at Mourinho and his failure in his last two jobs. This is Steve Bruce's 20th year or so in management, with his last 'sucessful' premier league spell being 9 years ago. The evidence is already there. Whatever he had that worked for him and his teams (if it ever really did work) doesnt work anymore. He's finished, he's old hat and he's destined to fail.

Posts on here doesnt he? Think the first game of the season is the worst time to have a protest like. Anticipation is strong, football has been away for a while and at least for now, we're not totally shit. I swore I had no interest in watching but even I went out of my way to watch on Sunday. I suspect many others are the same. Like Yorkie says, only defeats will turn the match going crowd. Many refuse to see the bigger picture. If it was February and we were 6 points adrift at the bottom or on a winless run, there would be more appetite for it. Simply, I dont think we are shit enough yet. It will come though. Without doubt.

Was Sessegnon any good last season?

Wouldnt even have qualified for it if it was now. Look at their run for the cup final as well: 'Boro (championship) Southend (league 1) Brighton (championship) Sunderland (second bottom of the PL) Sheff United (league 1) Outright favorites for every game no doubt. Then 2-0 up in the final after 10 minutes and still lost it. See how he goes all you want but dont dress up his fucking failures as successes. must think we're all stupid.

He's really a stupid cunt like. FA cup LOSS with Hull where they played nobody above them to get there and a EL qualifying round loss to Lokeren is not success in anyones book. Most of the journalists this summer have talked utter utter shite. Luke Edwards saying we've had a good window despite being weaker than we were before. Pete Graves and Downie just tow the sky line. Barely an original thought amongst the lot of them. More insight, truth and sense is written on this forum almost every day than these clowns and thayts saying something.

The ridiculous attempts to demonise decent people like Shola, Lascelles and now Ritchie for making what most normal people would deem to be innocuous statements does nothing to help the anti Ashley cause. They're not innocuous though. Its clear they've been briefed by the club to say this (Lascelles) or are doing it to improve their position (Shola got a job out of it, Ritchie hoping for a new contract). They're not original thoughts or opinions. Its shite spouted to appease the powers that be and they're rightly hammered. The fact is everyone at the club knows the situation, Perez and Rafa have said so after leaving. The club has 0 ambition. If they dont want to criticise their boss fair enough, but you dont have to come out and talk a load of shit about honesty, mega money and saying you have no understanding of the discontent, its fucking laughing in the face of fans. We'll see how these shower of useless cunts get on this season. When we're in the bottom three due to the actions of Mike Ashley will any of them leap to his defence then?

Commited in what way? Because he runs around a lot? In our first season back up he was woeful for large periods of the season. He was decent in the championship tbf, but he's a championship player. Rafa has a knack for getting the best out of disciplined but limited players. Under Bruce he'll be woeful.

Fwiw I think he'll be completely found out this season. He looked okay filling in at wing back under a well drilled, solid Rafa team that spend a lot of time working on defensive shape. He wont look anywhere near as competent at right back under Bruce, thats for sure. He's not good enough to be a winger either, total inability to beat his man, questionable delivery and a total lack of pace renders him ineffective. Shouts at his team mates and kicks things when hes substituted so is assumed to be a leader in the dressing room, so he gets away with it a bit. In terms of actual footballing ability and effectiveness on the pitch he's championship level at best and itll become absolutely clear this season.

Ring up and say its too expensive/you've lost your job/there's better options wa wa wa and say you're gonna cancel. They'll try and convince you but then just offer you a better one anyway. The guys in the cancellation department are judged on how many people they stop cancelling, so theyll always offer you something. The best way though is to go through and cancel, then they'll ring you up later and offer you something even cheaper to come back. Seen people paying £30 for what others pay £90. Thats how it worked when I was there years ago, bet its not changed much though.

That Steve Bruce appreciation thread is hard going like. Mad to think his stock has fallen lower and hes achieved fuck all in the 6 years after that. That 10th place finish was as good as it ever got for him. Looking back Bent carried that team. 25 goals the previous season and 10 before being sold in January, after which they lost 8 out of 9. Mental that he's out manager like, he's an out and out failure.

Whats the Dybala hype all about? 5 league goals last season for Juventus is hardly inspiring.

I'd happily attend if he ran the club properly. Id have no problems with him being owner if he actually went for it. Never going to happen. This summer has been the final nail in the coffin. He was presented with an opportunity to turn it all around but hes fucked it once again.

Yep - he took Hull to a final (basically beat no one on route) “We can’t compete with the bigs boys at the top end so the cup is our best bet - it’s a lovely day out” Obviously doesnt realise we beat Man City last season. Stupid cabbage head cunt.

Cuckold FC at it again

Fuckin unreal man. Its actually been a while since we've been a total, total shambles but the circus is well and truly back in town. :lol:

That squad absolutely reeks of the Championship. How many are far too good to be playing in the second tier? Schaer, Dubravka and Lascelles you'd say? Maybe Shelvey and Longstaff. Unlikely the rest would be touched by PL clubs if we went down aside from Hayden.

He's never even managed Norwich man you fucking idiot