Lush Vlad

Should be the second striker or as the no.10 behind Mitrovic. He'll get plenty of chances to play there, too. Not as if De Jong is going to stay fit for the whole season. I just hope Sissoko isn't second choice to play that position, as he's not very good at it.

If we are still trying to get him, I have no idea why. Seem destined to fail with our bid, sounds like the player isn't interested and we clearly need to strengthen 2-3 other areas first. Another name where we can say 'we tried. But we just failed to get him over the line."

Modelling his game on Diego Costa So there will be a bit of racism (allegedly), spitting, throwing snot at people, elbowing, stamping and diving. Looking forward to it

I don't want Austin. Assuming we're looking at going 4-2-3-1. I'd rather we spend the money on another defender and someone with a bit of pace. Who can play an attacking, creative and/or wide role. As others have said, I don't see him and Mitrovic working that well as a front two. Neither are going to be happy being on the bench too often and I don't particularly like 4-4-2 anyway. I know we need competition for places. But with our budget, I'd rather we spend money elsewhere. This saga has been going on far too long any way.

That's what I thought. Just conveniently ignore his record, his embarrassing interviews and comments, the horrendous football, all the hammerings we took. The bloke having a go at people, saying they should have applied for the job

My god!!! That is scary and hilarious in equal measure. Over the line mentioned twice. Getting professional help because he is clearly deranged. Probably should have gone to a psychiatrist and been locked up in a padded cell, mind. We are so lucky that he is gone.

I remember being at Goodison Park for his debut. At least I think it was his debut, very early in his career anyway. HBA was immense that day, but Tiote was pure class and was MOTM by far. Always in position, completed most of his passes and just kept it simple. I remember feeling very optimistic after that game. Can't say I've felt like that too often since.

Urgh. The Contrarian Deadout has reared his ugly head again. Back in your cave you hideous monster.

He has no composure whatsoever and that was evident from day one. But I remember watching the City game at the start of last season and being really impressed. Looked strong, bit of pace, worked hard. I remember after that game thinking him and Cabella would be useful for us. Yeah, bit wide of the mark there

Erm. Isn't he just more of a standard central midfielder? A DM even? If anything, he'd be replacing Tiote, who never plays anyway, as he's always injured. Not seen him in a while mind. Didn't even realise he had gone to Sevilla.

Are there any Belgians on here that have given us the lowdown on this lad? Have no idea if he's even any good or not?

I think VI has a point. He is ill-disciplined, in his positioning, as well as his tackling. Racked up the cards last year and would also charge in like a loon and just press all alone, leaving massive gaps behind him. That could well be down to bad coaching as much as anything, though. Why was this not picked up on? Why was he pressing on his own? We've had years of playing as individuals, with no real set-up, structure or identity (sound worryingly like Brendan Rodgers there) and he's hardly been on his own in being a bit shit and inconsistent. I don't think he's a very good. Just another generic British midfielder, a bit of a nothing player. He acted like an utter prick towards us when he was with the mackems and all. But he deserves a clean slate under the new setup, like the majority of the squad do. His work rate isn't in question IMO and he did weigh in with the odd goal and assist.

We had a replacement in Carroll, but Ashley peddled him. Wasn't Carroll 16/17 when Shearer retired!? Bit of a stretch to have him marked as a replacement like Exactly. Add in the fact that he's an average footballer, with an awful technique and I really don't get how he could be seen as a replacement?

We had a replacement in Carroll, but Ashley peddled him.

Because The Contrarian Deadout came riding in to go against the grain (again) and profess his love for Alan Pardew. And I aint gonna allow that, in any of you. Not one.

He's absolute f***ing toilet. Aye, that and all.

I'd argue he's not even 'bang average' though. Everywhere he has been, he starts well, due to his motivating or whatever it is. His plan A works for a long time. Then it goes to shit, the football gets worse and worse and is magnified further due to results changing. He then proceeds to blame everything and everyone, get even more cocky and arrogant and the usually ends up getting the boot/leaving. He only lasted here so long due our owner being a complete and utter joke, the same reason Carver got the job and lasted so long. Pardew got to turn it around a bit, another win streak and then got us back to midtable mediocrity. Only because our owner wanted a cheap yes man as manager. 90% or more of other clubs would have got rid of him long before IMO. It'll be interesting to see how he does at Palace this year. Sounds like he may get backed with a bit of cash, but I fully expect him to follow his career record and it all to go horribly south. I'm sure we had West Ham and Charlton fans predicting the future for us and warned us about all of the above. I agree he is a streaky manager though. Puts together a load of dodgy wins and manages to keep the momentum going. Which is a positive of course. Also manages to go on record breaking losing streaks and get absolutely hammered by 'bang average' teams and out-coached by 'bang average' managers. The man is a charlatan and a complete fraud.

Doesn't change the fact that the 'best coach in the premier league' managed an actual club for 6 months and there was no chance of him being sacked He was sacked. After 6 months, not before. Made the whole club a laughing stock (No Offence) for that period and wasn't sacked despite serious threats of relegation No s***. So what's your point? That Carver managed the club and Pardew was better and still good enough for the Premier League Pardew only got 3 more points in the last 20 games of the 13-14 season as what Carver got in his 20 games last season. Carver didn't have the benefit of people like Mbiwa, Santon, Ben Arfa, Remy.... What about Pardew's best three 20 game spells? What about the two times he had us in relegation form, one time nearly actually getting us relegated? What about him benching any decent, creative, flair player? What about us playing the most negative, turgid football in the league. He makes Fat Sam and Pulis seem cultured FFS. I genuinely believe there were long spells under Pardew, that were worse than Allardyce. When you consider the players he had at his disposal. That is criminal

Well, I'm late to the party. I've caught up with the last 7-8 pages or so. All I can say is, I dislike that ITK woman even more now. The porno was terrible, a complete letdown. She spoke with some made up accent, the bloke filming sounded like a cross between Mista Jam and Fatboy off Eastenders and then when I thought something might actually happen. It ended abruptly. Fuming. Both birds had great racks, mind.

It's amazing how little he knows all things considered Most local papers at least have some idea what's going on but he knows absolutely f***ing nothing. It's staggering. Whenever anyone pulls him up on his writing ability/lack of knowledge/incoherent sentence structures he just replies 'I've been doing this for 20 years' as if that's some sort of burn I'm not a Geordie or from the NE but I hate the way this guy is the main representative for sports journalism up there. It's an insult to the region. Yep. I've heard him on Talksport before. They were pretty much openly ridiculing him and he came across like such a mong. Which is quite an achievement on that station. Seeing as about 80% of their presenters are complete buffoons. He is one of the reasons why the 'Geordie Nation' shite gets repeated and why a lot of fans of other clubs think we're unrealistic and have high expectations, expect success etc. I'm sure he's been on SSN as well and he was just as bad. How did he get that job, I wonder?

About as attractive a combo as a s*** flavoured lollipop. How dare you have a go at Serbians like that. Disgusting behaviour.

Assistant to the head coach. Guess the reference "Lieutenant, Sir".

I used to like him. Thought for all his mistakes and flaws. He was an effective DM for us. Then, he got a big contract, Pardew wanted him to be 'our Essien' and he's been injured and shit ever since.

Got a point TBF. Why would 'our famous no.9 shirt' mean jack shit to a modern footballer? In fact, why should it mean anything to anyone who's not from the area or a fan? I see it mentioned all the time and I think it's a bit embarrassing TBH.

I do love the bollocks the press are running with for this story. The gist seems to be. We're going to hold fire with our pursuit of him, whilst we find out whether or not he wants to remain in London/The South. How fucking hard is it to find out where he wants to live and play? FFS man. This club and the bits of info/lies they put out to the media. What a crock of shit.