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But instead he took a Dutch team whose previous 10 league campaigns had finished with them anywhere between 4th and 12th and led them to a runners up spot and then the following season to the title.

Don't panic.

Fucking hell man. Seriously?

I particularly enjoyed his preseason prowess in the air against Villarreal.

Be VERY surprised if Nicky Butt doesn't.

I'm not against having a target man, you don't need to play negative football with one by any means. For instance, I'd count both Giroud and Negredo as target man and Arsenal nor Valencia play 'direct' by any means. Giroud isn't a target man He is.

There's quite some difference between shagging around and getting married mind you

I'm not against having a target man, you don't need to play negative football with one by any means. For instance, I'd count both Giroud and Negredo as target man and Arsenal nor Valencia play 'direct' by any means.

Really? He'll be earning far more at PSG than he'd get at Palace, surely?

Exactly. If this was one of our top targets I'd be concerned. I don't want to loan players from other Premier League sides. Not arsed.

Sinisa Mihajlovic to take charge at Milan.

If he was that great why did he get sacked from a championship club?we are getting him because he failed his objective in the championship,it makes no sense! I don't agree with this at all, I don't think he was sacked because he didn't gain promotion. I think it was more the constant links to us. Seriously baffled as to why at least one person on here said that Derby had the strongest squad in the Championship. They didn't. If we strengthen where we need to then, personally, I think McClaren will surprise a few people. Not just supporters of our club but fans of others too. Can't have been that bad. Looking at predictions for the season just gone most had them quite high up, for example: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/aug/08/championship-club-by-club-preview (1st). Oh right, a single Guardian reporter who also had Birmingham at 24th and Bournemouth at 13th, Brentford 14th, Cardiff 3rd, Fulham 7th, Wigan 5th....

If he was that great why did he get sacked from a championship club?we are getting him because he failed his objective in the championship,it makes no sense! I don't agree with this at all, I don't think he was sacked because he didn't gain promotion. I think it was more the constant links to us. Seriously baffled as to why at least one person on here said that Derby had the strongest squad in the Championship. They didn't. If we strengthen where we need to then, personally, I think McClaren will surprise a few people. Not just supporters of our club but fans of others too.

Utter Dad humor No fucking shit too. My Dad text me saying he's put a tenner on Blatter to be our next manager. Cringe as fuck.

Loki called me a scab in another thread actually. Be interesting to know how many games he's attended in the last few years.

Call it accepting Ashley, or accuse me of having lowered expectations Yep, you're a scab. alright man You laugh, but "scab" is the perfect expression. You're lucky it wasn't "fucking scab"... Is it really? So have you not attended a match since Ashley took charge? Under Pardew? Carver? But I'm a scab because I'm not suicidal at the thought of McClaren managing us. I think it's worth a little chuckle to be honest. There is precisely zero funny about the whole situation. Accepting, on any level, decisions made by Ashley that further the mediocrity of his reign is implicit support of the regime. Even worse than that, they don't even have ambitions to be mediocre; the evidence is that 17th is acceptable, and first-match exits from cups is preferable. So yes, comments like "but McClaren is the best we could expect in our current situation" are the words of a scab, because you're saying it is acceptable. McClaren's appointment perpetuates Ashley's reign, precisely because he will provide us with the Ashley dream of 12th-17th place finishes. What we need is for every prospective candidate to say "No". Every single one. And when they leave Carver in charge, and we go into free fall until they eventually have to sack Carver, and then every prospective candidate needs to say "No" again. Because the only way Ashley will go is if no one accepts his terms. The same goes for players. Sure, money talks, but when players start saying "No", and we fill our teams with dregs and kids who haven't had the stars kicked out of their eyes, then we might see some movement. "Call it accepting Ashley, or accuse me of having lowered expectations - it's the only way I'll get any joy out of football in the forseeable future", says you. Congratulations on putting your pleasure ahead of the club's pain, mate, because that's exactly how Ashley wins. I wasn't laughing at our situation at all, I was laughing at being called a scab because I have a higher opinion of McClaren than most on here. Out of interest, if we'd got Vieira I wonder how many people on here would be classed as 'scabs' for supporting the appointment, because there was some level of excitement when that was a possibility.

Call it accepting Ashley, or accuse me of having lowered expectations Yep, you're a scab. alright man You laugh, but "scab" is the perfect expression. You're lucky it wasn't "fucking scab"... Is it really? So have you not attended a match since Ashley took charge? Under Pardew? Carver? But I'm a scab because I'm not suicidal at the thought of McClaren managing us. I think it's worth a little chuckle to be honest.

Call it accepting Ashley, or accuse me of having lowered expectations Yep, you're a scab. alright man

I don't doubt that whatsoever! I said myself that with Ashley in charge what's the best we can hope for? You saw Ashley's interview man, he's going nowhere. He's not going to go out and get a top manager when it's going to cost so much, but McClaren is the best we could expect in our current situation. All I'm doing is trying to NOT make the next few years as painful as the last. For those fans who say "I'm done" and suggest they'll leave NUFC behind, they can't, it's not possible. So even TRYING to make the best of the fucking shite we've found ourselves in, is all we have. Protests, walkouts, boycotts - I've supported them all - but they mean fuck all without a buyer. Under Ashley we're going nowhere fast. But I'd rather we did that with someone like McClaren in charge then someone like Carver or Pardew, that's for damn sure. If we had a wealthy owner who bought us and wanted to challenge at the top of the table and we hired McClaren, I'd be fucking livid. We don't. Call it accepting Ashley, or accuse me of having lowered expectations - it's the only way I'll get any joy out of football in the forseeable future.

For what it's worth, if anyone isn't suicidal because we didn't get Klopp, Benitez, De Boer or Bielsa, some comments from Derby fans upon hearing he'd left. Worth a read, especially considering how some of us (myself well and truly included) get pissed when fans of other clubs say "Bet you wish you had Pardew back" or "Pardew's a good manager" etc, who better to judge then the fans of the team the guy has managed: We're all quick to shoot the guy down because we think we should aim higher, while Ashley's here (and let's be honest it will be for a fucking while) we're not likely to. By the sounds of their fans, they've been playing good football. With the players we've signed over the last few years all we've wanted is someone who can get them to play, and McClaren has managed abroad, he's not your typical British manager, like Pardew for instance. I'm confident that McClaren will play our better players and get them playing well. Who knows how good we could be until he's had half a season or so with them? Time will tell, but to be moaning like fuck already is a bit melodramatic. Of course it's not inspiring but what should we, realistically, expect?

It is pretty uninspiring but lets not forget this is what we do. Better than Pardew, infinitely better than Carver and I'm not particularly disappointed to be honest. Just need to see who we get in player wise. Vieira was exciting because he was unknown. Not successful or well regarded as a manager, but unknown. Don't get me wrong, I'd have preferred we'd taken a risk on him over McClaren but I'd also have preferred McClaren over Pardew, Carver, Kinnear and anyone else who realisitically could have been appointed. McClaren was working under Alex Ferguson for two years and, despite how long ago it was, did manage to finish runners up and then league champions with an unfancied team in Holland, plus played some good stuff with Derby - he's obviously not a complete mug. In reference to others saying his record is shit etc, what about OUR record? Not in terms of trophies but in terms of managerial appointments since Keegan in 1992: Dalglish - Decent pedigree but shite Gullit - Shite Sir Bobby - Different class Souness - Shite Roeder - Pretty shite Allardyce - Shite Keegan - Shafted over Kinnear - Shite Shearer - Shite Hughton - Likeable, great achivement to get us promoted but not good enough Pardew - Shite Carver - The absolute shittest of the shite One good appointment in 16 years? McClaren could easily be shite but he could also be decent, just like Vieira could have been. Christ, had Pardew's ego not got the better of him and we'd stuck with that 4-3-3 when we finished fifth, he could have turned out very differently (doesn't detract from the fact he was a massive bell end mind). If it is McClaren I wouldn't be too disappointed.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/09/18/1411044616998_wps_1_John_Carver_Newcastle_ass.jpg

That was yesterday man

It really is embarrassing having an 'English premium', he's a £2-3m CB at best. He's a defender for a relegated team for fuck sake. £10m is laughable. Welsh premium I blame that Bale fella. Oh shit he's Welsh!?

It really is embarrassing having an 'English premium', he's a £2-3m CB at best. He's a defender for a relegated team for fuck sake. £10m is laughable.