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Ashley is an idiot, should have sacked pardew in the summer when there were quiet a few interesting managers available. I think i would be shocked if he actually sacked him... I can see it happening if the next few results go against us, especially another battering at the hands of Liverpool, and we'd all welcome that. However, the reality of who might replace him will soon kick in.

I personally find it baffling that Pardew is still here. Ashley is often portrayed in the media as a 'ruthless businessman', and he seeimgly sees our club as a business venture. I think it's obvious that his motives with us are purely financial. Buy these players from, primarily, France as they're seen as 'good value' in order to sell them on at high profits, but the chances of finding buyers for the kind of money we want, these players have to be playing well - under Pardew they're not. Ashley has to speculate to accumulate. If he wants these big transfer fees for our "better" players, then surely he needs to see that they're motivated to play for the team and give their all every game. You pay peanuts you get monkeys, that's the case with Pardew. Individually these players are very, very good. With the exception of Obertan who, in the last few transfer windows, have we been genuinely disappointed to have brought in? We've bought promising players at good prices but the manager isn't good enough to find a way to play them as a team. If Ashley wants financial reward for his investment, he needs to invest in a good manager.

Or clearly a perfect fit for them. Yep.

That Santon in the crowd like?

Turn it off again...

Fucking "DOOLUFU" I'm not the most cultured person in the world but surely the Spanish don't pronounce it like this?

If Naismith scores I think I might cut off my penis, just for a laugh.

Too much cheap foreign tat, not enough British spirit. Absolutely no balance in that area. I'd argue the following: 1) If anything, we need a foreign (or foreign based) manager, as opposed to constantly appointing mediocre British managers. In 20 years or so in the Premiership, we've appointed only one manager from abroad, Sir Bobby, and he was an Englishman and boyhood fan of this club ffs, on top of being a recognised world class manager. The only foreign national - Gullitt - was an ex-Chelsea manager and therefore recruited from within these shores. Why are we so insular in looking for the right person to lead this club? Search the globe for the right man irrespective of nationality, not just these shores. It's the root cause of why we've never amounted to much despite our resources - we've had owners incapable of seeing beyond the ends of their noses when appointing managers. 2) We had expensive British talent when we were last relegated. Barton, Nolan (2 of the 3 mentioned by Dave), Butt, Smith, Owen, Duff (counts as domestic), Raylor, Saylor - some of the biggest contributors to our relegation at the time, players on massive salaries who let us down just as much, if not more, than other "foreign mercenaries". I'd like to see more British talent in the team, but the key isn't to bring in more British players for the sake of it - we need more quality players fullstop. Though I'd harbor a guess that this squad of players would look infinitely better under a good manager. 3) Confidence is 10x more important than "professional pride" imo. E.g. players under Allardyce in the months leading to his dismissal (horrible football, individuals unable to do basics like pass or control a ball, couldn't see where goals were coming from, etc) compared to exact same group under Keegan a few months later when he had instilled some confidence and got them playing decent football again. That must've taken a while to write.

Will Tiote ever learn this his goal against Arsenal was a massive one-off?

Tim Howard's head seems to be upside down.

Oh fuck off, Alan. Please just go, please.

Ross Barkley is a cracking player to watch like.

We've all been there, we're just old enough to expect it now and then.

He's got an important sacking to do at 21:50

Cracking substitution from Pards, like...

Ashley's fat fucking face then. He's dozing of man.

Different class when he came on...

FYP FYP

In favour of...

He's our kind of player, we're his kind of fans. Love him.

The guy is laughable. Spent the entire window saying we need players and when Ashley and JFK don't deliver he backtracks. He probably couldn't believe his luck when he got the job and has been played like a puppet from day 1 and stillshows no sign of tactical aptitude or a backbone to speak out and criticise the board. Fucking coward.

Aye, thought someone has issued a ban to EVERY 12 year old lad.

Pardew out

Thread title has made my day!

Oh no. Thought he was coming here...