Paullow

Anyone else absolutely shit themselves when the commentator said 'they're not going to like the outcome'?

4 mins injury time if they score now, 11 if they don't...

I wouldn't know Omega's tune, but the Arsenal man does love a good wrestling tune at half time, ha.

Think that's a bit harsh on Arsenal. Maybe an age thing, and that they have enjoyed a lot of success in my time, unlike say Everton, but I've always considered Arsenal to just be behind Man Utd and Liverpool, and definitely part of the 3 biggest traditional English clubs.

The social media thing obviously isn't for everyone and can quickly be dismissed, but I've often wondered why Newcastle's following is so low, relatively. Newcastle's IG followers have increased from 724k pre takeover to 1.3m today, and Twitter from 1.7m to 2.4m, and both will likely continue to increase the better we do, but in terms of IG numbers, West Ham are on 2.3m, Wolves are on 2.1m, Palace 1.5m, Southampton 1.2m. Leicester being on far more (7.1m) is somewhat understandable given they won the league and FA Cup in recent years, plus will likely have had a sizable increase from Thailand since their takeover. I guess it highlights the massive lack of commercial activity and progression during the Ashley reign, and general fan apathy at the time, but I still thought we'd have significantly more followers than say Palace or Southampton who have largely been operating in the bottom half with no European football.

Danny Cowley sacked by Portsmouth. No surprise really, started well, 6 wins and 2 draws from their first 8 matches, but since then only 1 win from 14, and none of their last 9. He hasn't had the managerial career some were expecting during his time at Lincoln, although still young at 44.

Klopp

Might be VAR'd again here

The kids commentary is horrific mind. I have occasionally changed channels just for the sheer curiosity, but not sure why anyone, who had access to both, would actually want to listen to that

Poor Stoke. Preston with a very, very late winner.

With Steve Bruce: P13 W1 D8 L4 PTS 11 Without Steve Bruce: P13 W9 D0 L4 PTS 27

7 clean sheets in those 9 matches as well, only 2 goals conceded, both pens.

Watford ahead, probably jumping from 9th to 4th in the live league table Just about deserved.

It's so strange. WBA would usually be fairly irrelevant to me, unless both competing for survival or promotion, but I've gone from wanting them to lose every week to hoping they win in the space of 2 months

0-2 now, oh and WBA ahead!

Boro ahead at Birmingham. Not many goals in the Championship today.

I went to have a quick look on their forum to see if I could find out more, and then spent the best part of 10 minutes reading this thread - https://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/307039/losing-love-stoke Just switched the match on the red button during half time of the man Sky match, and the crowd doesn't come across great visually and a lot of empty seats. It's a strange situation. You'd probably say they should probably be where they ought to be historically, but then after 10 years or so in the PL they basically skipped the challenging back to potentially yo-yo part and have been lower mid table pretty much since they dropped, and will likely feel a mile away from when they were midtable in the top flight for a while, and in a cup final.

Big win for Darlington away at Scarborough, 2-5, to go top of the National North (although Kings Lynn have 3 games in hand on them). That was a regular football league match in my early days, but obviously both have had really tough times these past 20 years, and have been much lower down the pyramid in recent years, but good to see both in promotion contention.

Shite. They never know when they're beaten, to be fair to them. Atmosphere has understandably gone as flat as a fart.

I was talking about becoming a regular top 6 team, whether that be 4th, 5th, 6th, and not a team that will have one good season, but then could easily finish 11th or 12th the next season and nobody would really bat an eye lid. Most of the top 6 clubs have had seasons outside the top 6 over the past 13 years or so to make way for West Ham having one season there, Leicester having 3, Everton maybe once or twice, us under Pardew - Chelsea have finished 10th, Arsenal and Liverpool 8th, Man Utd and Spurs 7th etc. but near enough 9 times out of 10, as individual clubs, they will finish in the top 6, and be expected to at the start of the season, but soon I don't think that will be the case, and someone like say Spurs in a couple of years will be 7th favourites in the title odds, or top 6, or top 4 odds at the start of the season, and they won't be used to that. Obviously finishing in the top 4 this season will be much more significant and powerful, but given the hype of the takeover, and away fans expectations, I genuinely believe if we finish in the top 6 this season then that will be a statement of intent, and the one or two 'big' clubs we finish above will be concerned about their potential standing in the English game going forward.

Yeah, but this would be a bit different and those sides wouldn't have been expected to at the start of the season and more a case of them over performing and one or two big 6 sides not doing so. The top 6 know that eventually we are coming, and once we do, we'll very likely stay there, whereas there was more chance the other no tradition big 6 sides would quickly fall away. Our pre season title odds were in line with the likes of Arsenal and Spurs and miles clear of 8th favourites Leicester, and if we get top 6 this season, and continue to go about our business, I'm not sure we'll ever see 6 teams deemed more likely to win the league than us for as long as the Saudi's are here. Finishing top 6, even 6th, this season would be a massive statement of intent at this stage of our 'project'.

Lens are having a cracking season, would go only 4 points behind PSG if they were to win today. They've won all 8 league matches at home thus far, and have even conceded less than Eddie's Mags (10 in 16), although that could change after tonight. Edit - seemingly changed before I pressed send.

Tomorrow's TV schedule on Sky looks decent: 12.30pm - Rangers vs Celtic 3pm - Norwich vs Watford, both currently just outside the playoffs, but it's so congested that the winner could go 4th 5.30pm - Brentford vs Liverpool 8pm - QPR vs Sheff Utd Probably be sat on the sofa all day

Come on Forest. A win would be lovely, but I'd take a draw all day long. I like them and hope they stay up.