Crayola Kid

and for derby day: its time to start the music its time to light the lights its time to smash the mackems at the stadium of shite for those of a certain age, i suppose

reminds me of this Am I a mag, or am i a muppet? If I'm a mag, then i'm a muppet of a mag, but if I'm a muppet, then I'm a very mag-ly muppet....

Typo I said he wouldn't get them "about eighth" it should have been "above eighth". fair play. i think marty's party has a little while to run just yet, whilst agreeing with you on his methods and shortcomings. i wouldnt be too surprised to see a close thing between safc and nufc for best league position next season, before the problems we can all see with long contracts for players like brown and oshea, and the need to replace them before they leave, kick in

great stuff from brummie, save for one thing. can no-one see sunderland getting into the top 8? i think that could be the one to bite a few on the arse, as safc could well manage 8th next year. after all, what did we need last year for 8th in our first season up, 2 more points?

used to do the (slightly lispy) voice over to local goals round up on the tyne tees news? also did a bit for setanta before they went under. looks like a young micky quinn (sorry chris!)

it will be very telling how he sets us up for this one, as its clear that pardew likes setting his team up to press as far up the pitch as he can, but he has already acknowledged that this villa team are strong and quick on the break. this makes a risky strategy even less likely to pay off. it will be telling, because if anything sunderland are faster and stronger on the break, and i'd be very much happier knowing pardew has a ploy which can help us in such a game, especially after the way we were undone against fulham, and to a lesser extent the chances blackburn wasted through the week i trust him, but i'm hoping to be given even more reason to trust him tomorrow. 2 0 to us

if we hadnt won the derby, larssons handball would have been a much bigger deal and probably top of the list of injustices

how about when metro radio used to have one club on fm and the other on medium wave, but would interrupt each broadcast to give an update on the other, something like twice or three times a half?

the blonde at the front...let herself go a bit

i think the gap has been behind the midfield two in recent weeks, not ahead of them. both guthrie and cabaye are spending too much time just a little further up the pitch than they should, given the advanced positions of the wide men in the 3 of the 4 2 3 1. for me, this system relies on the central two finding defensive positions more quickly when we lose the ball in the oppos half. this is surely why our defence has suddenly looked more vulnerable to fast breaking sides lately?

you missed the fact that we cant get in ahead of sunderland unless MON is run over by a bus, and soon. we're sitting ducks man.

he doesnt want to rush into a situation where ben arfa's buyout clause becomes public, due to some saggy faced cnut. all in good time, arry.

spuds' legal team just as likely. transfer ban would be a kick in the nuts for them, over what looks like nowt more than s*** stirring

To be fair. SSN played it down well earlier suggesting Ba wants to stay. and there they have what they want though, yes? demba ba hasnt played any football this weekend, yet he's headline news and everyone wants to know whats going on - and that includes fans of clubs who think 'wow, 5m? are WE in for him??'. its called creating a spectacle, and its what sky are best at. they have no goals/action to show this week, so this kind of thing pops up. look how ridiculous the coveraqe of deadline day has become, its what a 'sports news' channel does, isnt it? or, i'm clutching at straws, which is also very possible..

perhaps the clause does exist, but has a specific time frame, ie, he can leave in the summer but not half way through his first season? i totally go along with those who say redknapp gains nothing - directly - from piping up, so maybe its shit stirring and keeping his friends at at sky happy by making news for them on the weekend espn have all the footy? if the story lasts until the prem games are being played, maybe not, but for now this is giving sky sports news exactly what they want, when they want it?

yes, 2013. then 2015, and back to every two years. january in 2013, dont know after that like

nah, next one is next january...

Where do the club currently stand when judged against the financial fair play rules, does anyone on here know? I have seen the semi-regular club statements suggesting Ashley has put money in each season, do we think it is enough to fall foul of these rules, should we actually manage to qualify for uefa competition? i dont know if this has already been covered, its a long thread, but could the sports direct sponsorship not be a way for the owner to put a few quid in at some point, without getting on the wrong side of the fair play rules? I'd imagine it would be set against the sports direct tax bill also, but that would stand against the apparent fact that he hasnt paid much at all for sponsorship so far (as i read it).

we got the result AND the kick up the backside. perfect really, dont you think? we'll have no complacency after that 2nd half....

anyone still thinking sunderland have the egde on us over squad depth should compare the benches today, btw

agreed, similar to losing the play offs all those years ago. someone said above though, that losing bramble was a contributing factor to relegation, and took a bit of stick for it, i was just adding another angle. obviously too simple to link one goal in one game, of course

if bramble hadnt been sold to wigan, and so hadnt scored the equaliser at st james in oct 08, all other things being equal, we'd not have gone down. so maybe its true that selling bramble relegated us!

there will be a lot of lads on here who saw gazza play for newcastle. i know they have completely different builds, but what struck me yesterday is how similar the way ben arfa holds himself with the ball at his feet is to the way gazza did at that age. up on his toes, weight forward, bristling with nervous energy, ready to burst forward but giving no signal of whether he's gonna go left or right until he makes the move. exciting to watch in the flesh. gazza got the winner my first time at st james, against wimbledon (85 or 86, sept for deffo), on the run from outside the box. if ben arfa hits a few of those, he could be the best we have had since then, and that includes a few cracking players

hehe, something funny about GEORGE BAILEY slating staying at a small town! love that film....

without losing beye and barton to this little shit, we would have stayed up in 09 regardless of the state of the club. one more point? i think we'd have managed that just with habib. for that, if nothing else, he's a total cunt