GideonShandy

Savvywoman.co.uk

Really? Even if it says so in Savvywoman.com?

4 home wins: Bournemouth, mackems, Swansea and Palace. Not impossible by any means. We've won less than 25% of our home games so far. 3 out of 13. So not impossible but highly unlikely.

Oliver Cromwell. So maybe it repeats twice.

Deserts. Just one S in the middle. As in "deserve." Unless you're predicting that he'll have a fatal encounter with an apple crumble or tiramisu or something. Which I wouldn't mind at all, tbh.

One group has to be the Group of Death. Pretty sure that's in the UEFA rules somewhere.

I was talking to a mag on a bike yesterday. Might have been him.

Suspect you meant "derisory." A derogatory bid would be something like: "Good morning, you fat, big-nosed dipshit. Newcastle United hereby offers to buy that useless piece of rubbish Florian Thauvin for 15 million pounds. Yours sincerely, Lee Charnley."

Spot on. Football club management strategy straight out of Monty Python: Bridgekeeper: Stop. Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see. Sir Lancelot: Ask me the questions, bridgekeeper. I am not afraid. Bridgekeeper: What... is your name? Sir Lancelot: My name is Sir Lancelot of Camelot. Bridgekeeper: What... is your quest? Sir Lancelot: To seek the Holy Grail. Bridgekeeper: What... is your favourite colour? Sir Lancelot: Blue. Bridgekeeper: Right. Off you go. Sir Lancelot: Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. [Crosses the bridge]

Married and has a kid. According to this (gay-looking) site. http://www.kickette.com/pitter-patter-philipp-claudia-lahm-welcome-a-son/

Rape charge dropped? http://www.nufcfans.co.uk/2014/02/loic-remy-rape-newcastle-investigation-dropped/

Xenophobic stuff from the Fairs Cup era. "You can stuff your Spanish onions up your arse" (v. Real Zaragoza) "You can stuff your macaroni etc." (v. Inter Milan) (To "She'll be coming round the mountain.") And then yorkshire puddings for Leeds.

Paying half-a-crown (=12p) to stand in the Leazes.

Keith Gillespie -- How I gambled away 7 million. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/pitchside-europe/gillespie-managed-blow-7m-wages-134405734.html

Google "George Caulkin" and "time for explanations"

Sorry. Was looking at Giggs' predictions.

So in his BTSport prediction he's tipping Norwich for 18th place and relegation. Yet in today's Daily Mail he says: "Norwich City: Last season's 11th place finish for Norwich must be respected, but finishing any higher this year is highly unlikely. The relegation scrap remains a possibility, but the club's new record signing, Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, from Sporting Lisbon should be able to propel the Canaries out of the danger zone and towards the top half of the table."

He played in an era when "flair' players like him (and Jinky Jim Smith and Tony Green) were routinely kicked all over the park, and thus tended to have short careers. With the protection that referees give today, he'd have been comparable to Messi, I reckon.

Here's the Rod Liddle article. "I WONDER what the pressing personal reasons are that have made Fabricio Coloccini express a fervent desire to leave Newcastle this very minute and return to his home country, Argentina? I suppose, if you were a cynic, you might suggest the belated realisation that he plays for Newcastle United is the sort of thing that might unsettle any chap. You might add that not only does he play for the Geordies, but they’re nose-diving towards the Championship and the team are reportedly “unsettled”. Fabricio has experienced the Championship and may not wish to do so again. He is wanted by the Argentine side San Lorenzo; who knows if they can afford his reputed market value of £7m or his £60,000-a-week wages? Coloccini has offered to take a pay cut, so desperate is he to get the hell out. All this unfolded before Coloccini played in yesterday’s piquant 0-0 draw at Norwich, managed by Chris Hughton, who dragged Newcastle out of the Championship, with some brilliance, and was then booted out of St James’ Park. A first full season under Alan Pardew that promised much and thrilled the neutrals has been followed by rapid and chaotic decline. Injuries may be partly to blame — although providing strength in depth is the hallmark of the sensible manager — but a disastrous summer of non-spending and a series of inconvenient absences has done most of the damage. Not to mention a dwindling sense of commitment from the team and some questionable tactics from Pardew, all of which has seen Newcastle slump uncomfortably close to the relegation places, with two crunch fixtures coming up against Reading and Aston Villa. If they were to slip further into the mire, the Gallowgate faithful might begin their annual bare-chested howl for the return of Alan Shearer or, through some reanimation process, Sir Bobby. What 16th-placed Newcastle would give for the five points Norwich have on them this morning, for even the most tentative intimation of mid-table security. And what, one suspects, the fans would give for Chris Hughton. In fairness to the Geordie supporters, they have been far less quick to blame the manager than has been the case in previous seasons. It is true that, on the message boards at least, about 50% wish Pardew to be given the boot (despite that extremely generous eight-year contract); it is said that he has “lost the dressing room” and has fallen out with the top players (most notably Coloccini), too often resorts to “hoofball” tactics and has been unnecessarily sycophantic, in the past, to the likes of Demba Ba. His somewhat Panglossian post-match excuses also go down rather badly and there were rumours, a week or so back, that he had already been given the boot. This seems to have been mere wishful thinking. Still, even those who have little time for Pardew concede that it is the board, rather than the manager, that is more obviously culpable. Newcastle’s precarious position is the consequence, they argue, of a failure to invest in decent players, which has left the Geordies playing each week with half a youth team on the pitch. The summer was a particular disaster for Newcastle because at that point they were bidding for players from a position of strength, with genuine aspirations to being a top six or seven side and holding out the prospect of European football. What do they have to entice talented foreigners now, as they stare towards the abyss, other than money? And not even that much money. They were all terribly excited at the prospect of landing the Marseilles winger-cum-striker Loic Remy, but Arsenal are now in the hunt, too. Who do you suppose Remy will choose? The relegation-threatened outfit in the far northeast of England or the Champions League contenders in London — a team who, incidentally, Remy supported as a kid? How much extra would Newcastle have to pay in wages to compensate for not being Arsenal? I suspected Newcastle would not fare too well this season. But equally, and despite the fissuring at St James’ Park and the discontent of the players and fans, it seems to me highly unlikely that they will go down. This season the relegation battle is being contested by a good half of the teams in the division. It would take only two or three straight losses for West Ham or Stoke or Swansea to feel the breath of doom on the backs of their necks, and only two or three straight wins for Newcastle to feel assuaged by a certain degree of comfort. The smaller clubs tend to fare less well in the second half of the season and many will have injury crises of their own to contend with, just as Newcastle’s begins to improve a little. All that being said, I know what box I’d tick on the poll question at the front of one of the Newcastle fan sites: “Do you think we will qualify for Europe this season?” Always running before they can crawl."

Think Nasri's T-shirt message was "Eid Mubarak," which is a Muslim greeting.

Burundians on a horse?