ilikenewcastle

He's a massive bellsniff, but I can't be bothered wasting energy hating him. If he didn't get the job, it would just be some other clueless, unqualified jobber.

I honestly don't know why people even entertain the idea of getting a half decent manager, have you been following the club since 2007? McClaren is as good as we'll get I'm afraid. Not that I'm happy about that but that's why I stopped giving money to the fat man ages ago.

BTW Tuchel is Dortmund boss so we can forget him. I can understand why some people would want McClaren as he'd be our best manager in some time. I've gone off the idea of having him myself though.

If we go down, the idea of Ashley losing money would be very amusing. I'd also love to see that smug worm Charnley (who's always seemed very pleased with himself because the club manages to finish midtable and avoid cup runs) explain his way out of it. But it would be a disaster make no mistake. Us going down probably won't make Ashley leave any quicker. I've also seen people getting excited about playing in the Championship because of our positive experience last time, but we'd soon get bored if we had to spend more than a season in that division, and if we get promoted, we're back to aiming for midtable mediocrity again. That's if we ever get promoted back again...

It's not difficult to make the knockout stages with reserves for most PL clubs, we were rarely at full strength. I agree the format is ridiculous though. Just angers me to see a very safe midtable side actually not wanting to play in Europe. This whole 'they'll be desperate to avoid the Europa lool' nonsense really p*sses me off, especially for teams like Southampton and Swansea.

At Liverpool. Only challenged for the title once.

Rafa used it to win stuff, though. That's true. Apart from fluking the European Cup, I feel Rafa should have done wayyyy more with the squads he had.

Wullie stated his contribution last season on a game by game basis, for pens won, goals scored, and assists provided. At Hull it's was always gonna be s*** with Bruce in charge you maniac. Aye, and I think he stated 3 games? Oh yeah sorry, forgot everybody in football is s**t except for Hatem.

I was massively excited about 07-08. A manager who was much better than the two that came before him, a new billionaire owner, some decent looking signings. What could go wrong?

I don't think he would have won us any more points than any of our current players. Get to f*** man. absolute lunatic. probably part of the 'Alex Ferguson couldn't have done any better with these players' brigade. Maybe I'm wrong, but his limited contribution this season for Hull, last season for us, plus the fact that everybody's given up tells me he'd be no different. Amazing that I'm the one being laughed at in this thread when there are people who genuinely think there is some international conspiracy against Hatem started by Pardew and Bruce!

Is Rodgers actually good? I really don't know tbh.

The most generous compliment I can pay Pardew is that he was a better manager than John Carver.

Rubbish. For a start he wasn't hounded out at all. Secondly, I don't give a s**t what he's doing for another club. The last 3 seasons under Pardew were terrible, did you enjoy them? Did you enjoy the indignity of being managed by a crass chancer? Did you enjoy the record defeats and losing streaks?

I would be amazed if he manages this! I think it's actually the best scenario if we lose and stay up. Carver will have lost 10 out of 11 matches making hiring him full time untenable. The club hierarchy have started to come under criticism nationally for letting it drift and the current run of form has been an utter embarrassment whichever way you dress it. I said in January that the best thing that could happen was for us to finish 17th. We need fans to stay angry, but I fear a couple of average Ligue 1 players being signed will kill off a lot of anger.

I'm sorry, but are you saying every manager in Europe is too thick to buy Ben Arfa? I remember someone saying earlier in this thread that it was the fault of every manager Ben Arfa has played under that he hasn't achieved his true potential. Sorry, but this is ridiculous. "It's everybody's fault except Hatem's that he isn't playing for a top club".

I don't think he would have won us any more points than any of our current players.

It has nothing to do with the sun shining out his arse. It's the FACT that he is a dangerous offensive player who can turn a game on it's head and win you points out of nothing. When we play teams do you think they were doubling up on Ben Arfa or Gouffran? Do you think all week in training the opposition labelled Obertan as the "Main threat". Why do you think only Hull and Nice will touch such a dangerous, offensive player then? Is the whole continent under Pardew's spell?

Literally every player in the league has contributed to their team's points tally. By your logic, without Obertan we'd be relegated because of his goal v Leicester.

"At 15 and already labelled a prodigy, Ben Arfa joined Lyon, a club which had just won its first ever Ligue 1 championship. In August 2004, after spending two years in the youth divisions of the Lyon academy, he signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal, despite late interest from English club Chelsea and Dutch outfit Ajax." But that doesn't matter in your world because Sammy scored against Spurs and Obertan against Leicester. Wonder who was scouting them at 15? OK, I said I wouldn't say anything else but I'll bite. I don't care about him in 2004. Let's look at the clubs who've been interested in him lately, Hull and Nice. No matter how many times I say I can't stand Sammy, Obertan or Pardew, I obviously must secretly love them all just because I don't think the sun shines out of Hatem's arse.

You're forgetting that a depressingly high number of fans were wetting themselves when we came from 2 down to draw with Hull!

You know, just because I wasn't Ben Arfa's biggest fan doesn't mean I rate Pardew and hang on his every word... So your basing your opinion from actually watching him play then? I find that very difficult to believe when he was often the only source of any creativity or ingenuity in the whole side. Not only was he one of our best players, he was absolutely indispensable. I would have asked the full back on his side to not venture past halfway if it meant him staying in the side, and then have a midfielder cover for him defensively if need be. You know why? Because he was that vital for us. Please accept that I think he's a talented player who was a joy to watch when he played well, but never contributed anywhere near enough (in my humble opinion) to be revered to the extent that he is. I do not believe he would have made a significant positive impact on us this season (as he didn't last year or this year at Hull). Please also accept I am not an agent of Pardew, I can think for myself and wanted that bellend sacked while most of our fans were still going on about 'stability'. That's all I'm saying about it, I regret ever stating my unpopular (on this forum) opinion.

We're going to stay up despite a loss and I fully expect embarrassing patter from Carver and the lads about how brave they all are. I beg all our fans not to embarrass themselves by going OTT with their celebrations if we manage to fluke another season in this division. The season has been an absolute disgrace whatever happens.

You know, just because I wasn't Ben Arfa's biggest fan doesn't mean I rate Pardew and hang on his every word...

It's really not stupid at all to not like one player that you like. If Ben Arfa at least tried to perform even every other week, I wouldn't object to him.

So like the rest of the team, aye? Pretty much. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, if he was still here, it would make literally no difference to our league position. You honestly don't think he could have won us a game in this wretched run we have? Probably not. If everyone else doesn't give a monkey's then I don't get why the master of not giving a monkey's would be any different. Especially if his time at Hull is anything to go by. Also find it bizarre that people would think players like Marveaux would have saved us... Even though players like Marveaux did last time? How did he save us last time? Well his clever assist in the 94th minute against Stoke won us two points, which is what we're currently short of safety. He also set up the only goal late on against QPR at home, there's two more. He set up more goals than anyone else that season. I said players like him of course, Ben Arfa's contribution was also massive relative to the rest. Ah, I knew someone would mention that Marveaux provided most assists for us that season. There were 5. That's not to be sniffed at, but it's less of a contribution than many current squad members have made this season. Most players will score or set up a couple of big goals a season... We're two points short of safety. Ben Arfa had won us two extra points on his own by the time the first game of that season had finished. Another penalty that he won himself, which you don't seem to count. I do count it. BTW, we'd be down if it wasn't for Colback's goal v Everton, Williamson's goal v Palace, Obertan's goal v Leicester or Ameobi's goal v Spurs. It's easy to cherry pick moments to make players look like saviours when we know in reality, they're rubbish/average or whatever. That's all people do with Ben Arfa. Remember the good goals, forget the laziness, the bad attitude, the fact he annoys the players and coaches at every club he's been to. You could apply this forum's logic to any player. 'Colback's dead average but he's got us a few goals out of nothing, why do people want Abeid to start?' That's not my opinion before someone starts screaming at me...