ChrisMcQuillan

*sigh*

Played through the pain with a long-term hip injury to help us out.

The oracle has spoken.

TBF, he's also being heavily linked with the Scum, Fulham and West Ham.

Hughton was going to give the feckin' thing to Best, but Best turned it down.

That's the worst article I've ever seen.

0 pace at CB. Just get Carroll to run towards Taylor. Should spark a bit of movement into the backline. Or put Nolan into CB and open a McDonalds in the Gallowgate.

96% of the people in the other thread would disagree with that. He’s right though. The kind of football being advocatied (ugly, boring and negative) makes going to the match a fairly joyless experience. Winning provides a temporary respite from the drudgery but as it’s highly unlikely we’ll be winning many games next season what’s left is paying £20+ to be bored shitless for ninety minutes. While the ‘hardcore’ supporter might put up with it many will decide it’s a waste of money and find something enjoyable to do instead. Far better to invest a bit of money in the product and play your way to safety than reduce the pitch size and cross your fingers. I'm not sure anyone is advocating ugly, boring, negative football. The debate appears to be between those who would be willing to be relegated playing pretty football rather than ugly football, and those who can deal with a season of consolidation, where the football won't always be the best, but which lays the foundations for success in the long term, allowing us to progress to a level where we are playing great football on a weekly basis. I don't think anyone wants to see ugly football all the time, and given the choice between staying up playing attractively or negatively, it's really a no-brainer. That's not how this debate started, though. It started because a poster stated they'd rather be a yo-yo club playing nice football than stay up this year playing scrappy football. For what it's worth, my personal opinion is that we'll be far from an ugly side this year. I believe Hughton showed enough last season to suggest that he would, in an ideal world, like to play reasonably attractive football where prudent to do so (ie, against the majority of sides). How else do you explain his sticking with Guthrie over Smith, and his aquisition of a genuine winger in January? He's also shown an awareness of where the team needs strengthening, and his signings have addressed positions we all acknowledged needing sorting out, regardless of how you assess the signings themselves. What makes you think we’re laying the foundations for long term success? Our revenue for 11/12 isn’t likely to be much higher than it will be for this season, especially if we finish 16th playing negative football. If we can’t afford to assemble a squad that can’t stay up without resorting to stifling tactics this season there seems little chance it’ll change in the future. The debate started because it has been reported that Hughton has decided to reduce the size of the pitch. If true this strongly suggest we’ll be really going for it on the negative front. It might keep us up but I don’t see it as laying the foundations for playing decent football in the future. Once a team has gone down this route it is very difficult to change direction. For me we should have laid the foundations for the future last season. Committed ourselves to style of play a club of NUFC’s stature should aspire to. If that meant another season or two in the CCC so be it. What we got was a going up is all that matters attitude, and now it looks like it’ll be staying up at all costs is all that matters. Both are/were important but it’s all short term thinking. We’re not so much making progress as simply switching divisions. We'd have been so skint after that we'd have been signing Steve Claridge to play in goals as our star signing of the summer. The financial impact would have been unbearable. We're on the right course.

This story is gathering quite a lot of momentum now, though, which is a bit worrying.

All over the net that he's signing for us after snubbing a Celtic offer. All over the net that we put in an offer for Anthony Annan.

All over the net that he's signing for us after snubbing a Celtic offer.

Someone holler if the goals are on SSN again. Recording it in other room.

Saylor has a finger injury.

Lee Ryder: Can I just say as well that Anthony Annan will not be coming to NUFC according to Chronicle sources. ;D

I know, WTF was that lol.

Harper fumbled already.

All players missing have minor knocks apparently. Except Jonas and Simpson, obviously. Jonas is tired and Simpson's ankle's gone missing.

Hughton had said previously that Xisco had shown a good attitude and would be involved. Worrying sign when two of our already too few strikers are missing.

Fuck sake. Why not?

Solano to Hull http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/h/hull_city/8811193.stm

Harper Perch Taylor Coloccini Jose Routledge Guthrie Nolan Barton (I think he'll rest Jonas after world cup) Carroll Lovenkrands

I don't think betting against your team makes you any less of a fan. I bet on Whittingham to score first in the Cardiff home game this season. We were 4-0 in about twenty minutes, and Whittingham looked about as useful as a large tub of nutella on the pitch. I was still happy. I'd rather lose money and win than lose and win money. Winning a bit of money does soften the blow, though.

That's the worst thing I've ever seen. And I've seen Two Girls One Cup.

Johnson is SO shit.