Stifler

Absolutely. The main catch for me, with the last three Waffa campaigns, is that i've believed every single time that we could win it. I can't say that for any other competition... i was still a little bit young with our consecutive FA Cup runs. I know the Europa League has improved in quality but Boro and Fulham both made it to the final and were mediocre, to say the least, in the league. That year Boro got to the final - fucking hell - soul-destroying. Some of the absolute shite they played, man alive. Aye, they got 9K in for the first few games then complained when they only got 9K tickets for the final saying they didn't have enough for all the loyal fans who went to every UEFA Cup game. Also that Geordies at home watching on TV banner, fuck were are the bastards now? At home watching Premiership football on the TV is my guess.

Go on then. Why? Because when the Intertoto Cup was around the lowest place in the League someone could qualify for Europe was 7th with an additional Intertoto Cup spot, now the lowest place in the can qualify for Europe is 7th.

It seems as though we have effectively lost possible European slot because of the Europa League rebranding.

It isn't around anymore, qualifying rounds of the Europa League have taken it's place.

Shearer?

If we had Ben Arfa fully fit then I should imagine we would be 15 points ahead of Man Utd.

I'm not going to say lets make it our aim, we stand a chance of getting into Europe and if get it then great, but if we do get then the club really must bring in not only first team players but also good squad players as well. It shouldn't be our aim. our aim should be finish as well as we can, and if that means getting a European place then great, but lets not disappoint ourselves if we don't get it.

I saw the game, anyway the early goal meant we didn't need to get out of 2nd gear at any point during the game. After we scored we were 2nd best though until the 20th minute or so. I just felt like screaming at the team to keep the ball and let them chase the game. I was also frustrated that at that point we played too many long balls and kept losing it, though to be fair to the lads the pitch wasn't ideal to keep the ball on the ground. However once we did start keeping it on the ground we were the better team. The 2nd goal early in the 2nd half was another plus, really meant that basically we didn't have to anything at all and by the end Birmingham were knackered and we looked to take them on the break. We frustrated them a lot by simply not allowing the ball to get into our own box. A good win, like I said though we never really had to get out of 2nd gear. Jonas in the first half was awful apart from his assist, he came to life in the 2nd half though, two good assists though. If he can work on doing more of those types of balls then he will be the finished article. Tiote had a good shot in the 2nd half heading into the top corner, a good save only kept it from going in. Zigic showed that he is a dirty bastard.

Thats almost as petty as the LOST banning.

Fucking hell, thats a short turnaround. So do Fulham have tickets for sale saying "The best team out of Bolton or Wigan" Is that like saying which is slightly better, dying by being stabbed a thousand times, or by being ran over by van carrying Susan Boyle, Johnny Vegas, and an Elephant?

no only illegal sites like firstrow you could possibly watch it on Or in HD on my TV. Do you really have to post that every time we play I don't. I just post it the times you don't have it on TV. And the next time you do it, I might just ban you That would be even pettier than the LOST banning, man. Does every banning get compared to the LOST banning?, that was nearly a year ago.

none but one or two the weekend i think balckpool are playing and west brom have a huge derby vs wolves FA Cup weekend isn't it? They've been knocked out. Tonights game would have been on saturday if they got knocked out last round. Aye, thats what I'm saying, it's the FA Cup weekend, but some teams who are out are taking advantage of it by playing their games in hand. Are Bolton out? would have been ideal to play them this weekend instead. Bolton and Wigan replay tomorrow i think. So when the fuck do the winners play the FA Cup game?

none but one or two the weekend i think balckpool are playing and west brom have a huge derby vs wolves FA Cup weekend isn't it? They've been knocked out. Tonights game would have been on saturday if they got knocked out last round. Aye, thats what I'm saying, it's the FA Cup weekend, but some teams who are out are taking advantage of it by playing their games in hand. Are Bolton out? would have been ideal to play them this weekend instead.

none but one or two the weekend i think balckpool are playing and west brom have a huge derby vs wolves FA Cup weekend isn't it?

Damn, looks like I'm off to see North Shields play in anyway.

In normal practise I would say the workers should always come first, but when the players on their wages are involved I would say not. However I can't for the life of me see why they avoid paying the tax in anyway, the only reason why you wouldn't pay it here and then is if you are trying to con them.

We can't really compare us to them until the figures for this season come out. We got bankrolled last season, but promotion alone should be enough to see us making a profit or coming close to it.

Quinn yesterday pretty much confirmed that they are being bankrolled. If it continues then I can't see how the club will be able to stay afloat, at least not at Premiership level. He even said that if they get another 10k every home game of the season then they will still be short of what is needed. Only adding £2m per year to the club. So pretty much they need to get rid of their high earners, get people in the stadium, and sell a hell of a lot of shirts

So what are the other Premiership fixtures today?

Birmingham in the Premiership are awful. The only time I've saw them play any sort of decent football is against Villa, and the 2nd half againstWest Ham in the League Cup. If we get at them then their is no reason why we can't beat them today and in a few weeks time at SJP.

If we are leading by more than 1 goal and Oba scores at the end then his goal should be cheered, well thats probably more of a case for the game at SJP. But it should be Lee Clark applauded if he scores without it meaning anything bad against us.

Keep putting it in the dryer. Don't bother though, it will leave a black mark behind it.

I've heard that Shefki has rejected a contract extension. Newcastle offered him Peanuts and he wanted Cookies.

Yes, generally UEFA just give us 4 places, they don't really state who they should go too, we could give them to the conference winners for all they care. Thats how Holland were able to create a play off system for one of their places. It's the same with relegation and and promotion, it's just the fact that the top 2 and the play off winner in the case of promotion are given those places, and the bottom 3 are given the relegation slots in the case of relegation. Also teams in the case of European competitions and promotion can reject their places if they wish.

As I have already said in this thread, our next 6 games or so are all pretty much winnable. I'd like to think that we can use our next 6 games to get to the safety mark. Out of our 12 games left this season we only play 5 teams who are currently above us.