zolton

Great post, being discussed on football message boards across the country. I think it needs to be remembered the times were very different, the police were not there to control crowds so much as to prevent crowd violence, the barriers and fences that existed and which caused so many deaths were a result of years of football violence. The intension was to keep fans penned in, they worked.

C'mon Toon, stuff the Villa scum will you.

This very accurate post of a West Brom site about Liverpool fans. Well, trudging through a few pages of the Liverpool sites, I've come to the conclusion that when you have the calibre of graceless tits like that, I find myself mystified by those pundits who think they deserve better times and bigger glories. En masse, you can be impressed by the seeming passion of such a fan base, but closer inspection finds some really unpleasant stuff in there. Granted, some clubs fans have their repellent minorities, but the big clubs do have these low-rent snobs who've wallowed in their clubs glorious past with such indulgence that it's bred some sort of semi-psychotic (and completely serious) attitude that dictates that clubs that don't have stadiums the size of airports, a trophy cabinet big as a boardroom and a fan base that could populate Mars, aren't fit to breathe the same air as them. Put the laughs they produce aside and they really are wretched types. That's the trouble with seemingly fallen giants - the further they fall, the louder and more dreadful they become. Full marks to the Baggies poster on the Guardian match report for this gem: It's true what they say about Liverpool fans never walking alone...They were leaving in huge groups with 15 minutes to go.

Well we enjoyed that one, 3-0 against the arrogant knobs, done you a favour as they will be one of your competitors. Yacob was man of the match, freebe steal, another gem courtesy of Dan Ashworth!

Only passing on, if true, thats one relegation place taken!

From reliable source.

For those of you looking for relegation bets or first manager sacked bet. Laudrup been offered 1.5m to leave swansea (declined) Seriously dis-enchanted dressing room pi@@ed off Chairman & board by leaving centennial dinner unannounced,

I'm confused. Sorry, corrected it now, only joking. I expect Newcastle to have a decent season but, Europe will take its toll and I expect a finish around 8th. Surprised so many expect West brom to be relegated despite some very good signings, anyway, let the games commence.

You better believe it! Premiership Winners: Manchester United. Runners Up: Manchester City. 3rd-6th: Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool. Relegation: Norwich, Newcastle, Reading. Overachievers: Southampton. Underperformers: Liverpool. Top Goal Scorer: Sergio Aguero. Break Out Year: Nee clue. Season to Forget: Borini. PFA Player of the Year: Kompany. PFA Young Player of the Year: Hazard. Manager of the Year: Fergie. First manager to quite/be sacked/'mutual consent': Laudrup. Newcastle United Where will we finish?: 19th Top Goalscorer?: Papiss Cisse How will we do in the cup competitions?: 4th round FA and LC. Knock out round in the Europa.

Really chuffed by this signing, impressed by the footballing knowledge on this board by the way!

I worry for clubs having come up to premier league, be solid but unremarkable a bit, seems decent candidate if results stop being ground out. Possibly harsh, just didn't hear of much strengthening. True, but we don't sell our best players either, provided Clarke is tactically sound, I think we will be fine. Yacob was club Captain but ran his contract down, very good free signing in my opinion.

Hi Toon fans, Not been on here for a while, interesting to se many of you have us down for relegation, mostly because you see Clarke as a poor appointment, my view is, I don't know, Clarke is an unknown, but all new managers are a risk, I don't think Clarke is any more than most other managers. Just made a very decent signing in Yacob, plus firmed up Fosters position at the club so, I think we will have enough to do okay. Swansea, Southampton, and maybe Fulham are my choices. One thing for certain, it wil not be Newcastle, progressing very nicely these days, top five I would think.

Seems you quite rate him, I imagine he has fallen from favour as you strive for regular top six finishes. Midlands lad so would probably see a move to us as a good one, has approached the club apparently.

Yes, tend to agree, he is under contract until 2015 plus a year, so he will only go if we want him to, probably not the brightest spark.

Danny Guthrie is looking for a new club and has approached the Albion, what is the general opinion of him?

Every time we've played West Brom he's made Tiote look average. In same Mulumbu that got absolutely destroyed time and time again in the 3-1 this season? and the same Tiote that has bossed some of the best midfields in the league? I'll have what your drinking please Mulumbu is an average midtable b2b mid his types are littered all over France and they would'nt cost the silly money West Brom want.... Now if you wanted to pay 12 million for Dembele id understand it but for Mulumbu? no chance. He was one of their best players that game too. No all it says is Pardew came up with a game plan to make him look shat and it worked..... a DM whose job to protect the defence and he failed miserably that game..... How many times did we get at thier defence that game? even if you ignore the goals completely? like 10 probably. No matter what you say no sane individual can make a case for Mulumbu being better than Tiote ffs I think taking any one game in isolation is potentially misleading. I am aware of that, why i argued it in the first place.... I dont mean disrespect Mulumbu as a player as he's clearly a decent player but i dont feel he's good enough to pay the type of money WBA would want which is why i'd like us to look elsewhere and i have not seen anything from him to say he would be better than Tiote as a DM. To be honest, I do'nt think we want to sell him, it's his agent touting him, plus he seems to want to move.

Every time we've played West Brom he's made Tiote look average. In same Mulumbu that got absolutely destroyed time and time again in the 3-1 this season? and the same Tiote that has bossed some of the best midfields in the league? I'll have what your drinking please Mulumbu is an average midtable b2b mid his types are littered all over France and they would'nt cost the silly money West Brom want.... Now if you wanted to pay 12 million for Dembele id understand it but for Mulumbu? no chance. He was one of their best players that game too. No all it says is Pardew came up with a game plan to make him look shat and it worked..... a DM whose job to protect the defence and he failed miserably that game..... How many times did we get at thier defence that game? even if you ignore the goals completely? like 10 probably. No matter what you say no sane individual can make a case for Mulumbu being better than Tiote ffs I think taking any one game in isolation is potentially misleading, the game plan in the 1-3 worked perfectly because it exposed our full back weaknesses, Mulumbu was barely at fault as he was not in position to defend those goals, he has also played well in several of the West Brom victories over Newcastle. As I said earlier, he has not been at his best this season, partly due to Hodgsons team set up, his goalscoring record dipped severely as he was shackled, he is prone to mistakes in vital areas, but he is still youngish (25), regular MOM in the previous season so its hard to judge where he sits v caparative players. Two wins are several? Quite correct, 2, apologies! Actually, I just checked, he played in the 4-2 FA cup win in the promotion season, so its 3 wins, which according to the dictionary is several, just saying like!

Every time we've played West Brom he's made Tiote look average. In same Mulumbu that got absolutely destroyed time and time again in the 3-1 this season? and the same Tiote that has bossed some of the best midfields in the league? I'll have what your drinking please Mulumbu is an average midtable b2b mid his types are littered all over France and they would'nt cost the silly money West Brom want.... Now if you wanted to pay 12 million for Dembele id understand it but for Mulumbu? no chance. He was one of their best players that game too. No all it says is Pardew came up with a game plan to make him look shat and it worked..... a DM whose job to protect the defence and he failed miserably that game..... How many times did we get at thier defence that game? even if you ignore the goals completely? like 10 probably. No matter what you say no sane individual can make a case for Mulumbu being better than Tiote ffs I think taking any one game in isolation is potentially misleading, the game plan in the 1-3 worked perfectly because it exposed our full back weaknesses, Mulumbu was barely at fault as he was not in position to defend those goals, he has also played well in several of the West Brom victories over Newcastle. As I said earlier, he has not been at his best this season, partly due to Hodgsons team set up, his goalscoring record dipped severely as he was shackled, he is prone to mistakes in vital areas, but he is still youngish (25), regular MOM in the previous season so its hard to judge where he sits v caparative players.

Mulumbu is a very decent player, but, he has had a poorer season by his standards, overall a good assessment of him, near the top in the division on tackles and interceptions apparently, having watched him for two seasons, he has one major flaw, he is not always the quickest in his thought processes, which leads to him giving the ball away in bad areas on occasions or giving silly free kicks away around the box. I think he is no better than a mid table team player, as you aspire to maintain this seasons form, I doubt he is what you need. I imagine he will go for 8-10 million.

Thanks chaps, as usual a good set of opinions, I have read between the lines and decided that Hughton will be a good manager for us and look forward to his return to Newcastle for 3 points, have a good summer, cheers, Zolton.

As a neutral, it was my impression that Nolan was one of the major reasons for your promotion, I am surprised that Hughton is being criticised for playing him.

Nah, to big an ego. Talking to Raneiri, I hope not, never done much really. Show me a good manager who doesn't have an ego. They all do to a great extent, or no one would listen or follow them. Maybe so, but he likes to advertise himself a bit too much for my liking, good fun though.

Nah, to big an ego. Talking to Raneiri, I hope not, never done much really.

My personal opinion is that he would be a good appointment. When you were relegated, I thought he did a great job in gelling you into a team for your promotion charge, yes we played with more flair, but your were very solid and deserved Champions, at the start of that season, I thought a good start was vital for you otherwise you may struggle, he did a great job in getting that and building momnetum and team ethic. Not sure that we will appoint him, but thanks for your views. Good luck next season, well, apart from two games!

Hi Toon fans, Not spoke for a while, good season for you if a little dissapointing at the death. Just looking to canvas your opinions on Chris Hughton as the next West Brom manager, I know there was some disappointment when he was sacked. Do you think he would be a good long term manager for us?