Altamullan

Just seen result at Southampton...shitting hell... Worried Subway-chomping-Sturridge may have a boot-off/toes exposed.

:lol:

Took my 7 year old nephew to his first game this season (Sheffield Wednesday...). Despite the poor atmosphere, despite the performance and result, there were some beautiful moments. Standing near the pitch watching the players warm-up his eyes were the size of saucers. He even saw two lads from school and tried to come over all "this is no big deal..here every week". Seeing his real passion spill out as an attack built. Showing him pictures on the walls at half time (had platinum clubs tickets) of past players, and telling him about his Dad's and Grandad's favourites. Remembering my own first visit to SJP: coincidentally also with an uncle, not even to a game - to welcome the team back after losing a cup final - 40 odd years later I still have 'flashbulb' memories of walking through the town and sights around the ground. I've taken my own children to games (they support their local club, Man City) and it was lovely to see their excitement... but there was something about sharing that bond, the heritage, the same (much changed) physical location which was special and way beyond who the current players were, who the owner or manager was, what the sponsorship on the shirt said. It stripped away the superficial layers, back to the base of: this team represents our area, and good, bad or indifferent always have done and always will do. Thing is though, that was all as much about me/my values and connection as about him. You could create the same sense of shared connection and pride ( probably a great deal more) with Gateshead. Even though surroundings/ the 'event' itself is not as impressive, the most important thing is time together the shared experiences and interests and how that builds the bond between the two of you.

Colo now just IS Cissie Braithwaite (...Chancel as Ada Sidebottom?). Fab Jagger... Colosaurus: new interactive kids toy--love that it has the same range of movement as the real thing! Hilarious! Thanks folks.

Share your sentiments on the terrible trio. However, instead of a suicide pact how's this for a plan b?? http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/bowls/4747148.stm

All scoring to be confirmed by Magpie. Week 14: On average, an unremarkable week scoring wise: I make it an average of 15.6—just below our season average of 16.8. This masks the full story though, with some marked variation in scoring: good weeks, bad weeks and very bad weeks even among those who have been ultra consistent, or at least regularly high scoring. The highest scoring game returned 95 points (Man City v Steaming). Lowest scoring was Bournemouth v Everton (16 points), with most of us going for an away win. I can see three 10-pointers, pick of the bunch being BillClinton’s confidence in Fat Sam’s Macnamaras: the only correct score and doubled-up to boot. Lawro would have scored 17 points this week, and his guest some NBA Arsenal fan, 11 points. Our group guess, would have returned 11 points. Out of interest, over the last five weeks these 10 players are the highest scorers: 1. ShoTime with 102, 2. Magpie 101, 3. BillClinton 92, 4. Barnes23 92, 5. jdckelly 92, 6.Jill, 90, 7.POOT, 90, 8. Disco, 88, 9. Bleeds..., 87, 10. timEd32, 87. These totals may need tweaked when Magpie submits official scores for this week.

One away win all weekend It's tough being a trailblazer!

I'm done for now too. I've removed the anger and just nod my head in belief that the club needs ownership changing and full on clear out. That's all I'm focused on and will focus on for the forseeable future. f***ing hell, was so excited to enjoy football again, clutching at straws from the summer and even the opener when we looked vastly different. Even smashing Norwich at home and thinking oh s*** this could be something. Nah man. All for nothing. Once again. I'm not sure I should be, but I feel strangely comforted to read others expressing my exact feelings. To use a favoured childhood expression, "Fuck this for a game of soldiers...".

After 17 sets of predictions our group guesses (median home and away goals, turned into results) are shown below. I’ve also shown the range of results predicted. Aston Villa 1-1 Watford (Home Win 5: Draw 9: Away Win 4) Bournemouth 1-2 Everton (Home Win 1: Draw 1: Away Win 15) Crystal Palace 2-0 Newcastle (Home Win 11: Draw 4: Away Win 2) Man City 2-1 Southampton (Home Win 17: Draw 0: Away Win 0) Sunderland 0-1 Stoke (Home Win 2: Draw 7: Away Win 8) Leicester 1-2 Man Utd (Home Win 4: Draw 5: Away Win 8) Spurs 2-1 Chelsea (Home Win 12: Draw 3: Away Win 2) West Ham 1-0 West Brom (Home Win 9: Draw 7: Away Win 1) Liverpool 2-0 Swansea (Home Win 17: Draw 0: Away Win 0) Norwich 0-2 Arsenal (Home Win 0: Draw 1: Away Win 16) Our game has the most nominations: four, three losses and a win (C’mon!). No nominations yet for the games at Sunderland, Leicester, and Tottenham.

Fuck! Powerful stuff. As someone who no longer lives on Tyneside, personally I really like listening to TG's take on things. The grasp of the match details, the accent, humour, and most of all the fact it means so much, reminds me of pub conversations/'post-mortems' back home in Gateshead, with friends and older regulars (some real characters). Wish we had more of that anger and unwillingness to accept half-arsed effort, coming across from the stands. It always used to be the case that there was nowhere to hide for players; if they weren't putting a shift in we would let them know. I think it made a difference: not talking the ultra critical entitlement which seems to filter through online, more firm but fair holding to account, veering from raw rage to appreciation where it was due.

Yep, plain to see we're not lining up chances for him to squander. There are loads of positive things I could say about the lad, but he needs to be more than a one trick pony/have more to his game, if he is going to help get us out of this, and in general to survive and thrive at this level.

God, I wish! TBH, I'd reserve my wishes for a much better squad than that one.

Mitro needs a big game. He's starting to disappoint...

Wherever, and with whoever, I fear you may benefit from getting there early and drinking lots. Personally, find the (sadly realistic) thought of losing at the Vulgarian's Parvenu, nauseating.

Yeah it would be nice to have a Dutch midfielder on our books who can tackle.

"Farmer Face"...

Gameweek 14 Aston Villa 1-1 Watford Bournemouth 1-3 Everton Crystal Palace 1-2 Newcastle Man City 2-1 Southampton Sunderland 1-1 Stoke Leicester 1-3 Man Utd Spurs 1-1 Chelsea West Ham 0-0 West Brom Liverpool 2-0 Swansea Norwich 1-4 Arsenal

All scoring to be confirmed by Magpie. Week 13: This week’s scores have taken a nosedive, rather like our hopes of a marked improvement from the folk lurking around the pitch at SJP, masquerading as a premiership football team. Second lowest scoring week to date (average of 14.4 points; Week 1 was 14.1). The highest scoring game returned 106 points (Chelsea v Norwich), and two games (at West Brom and at Man City) returned a single figure points total. I can only see seven correct scores, this week; none of them were doubled up. Pick of the bunch, for me, was NUFC54’s long-odds home win for West Brom over Arsenal (26 of us had gone for an away win, and two for a draw). The seemingly clairvoyant nature of this is tarnished (but only a smidgen... ) by the fact NUFC54 was experimenting with 2-1 for all games!!! This strategy may be repeated as it gave a score 2.6 points higher than this week's average, and 1.5 points higher than NUFC54’s average for the season... So fair play to you mate; lovely to see the spirit of empirical curiosity ( ) being rewarded! Lawro would have scored 16 points this week, and his guest Newcastle fan and pro-wrestler Ben “Neville” Satterley, 13 points. Our group guess (median home goals versus median away goals, turned into results), would have returned 15 points.

:lol:

Personally, I rate both of these more than I do SMc; if he didn't currently have the job, he'd be my third choice. The fact he has, makes me less sure of the benefits of change. Continue this form through the next four games, though, and I can't see us sticking with him for the Jan window.

John Carver, best coach in the non-league? I think he would complement the nearby hillock and make a smashing pair: Tit Hill and Tit Heed.

If there's any truth to the old saying: "there was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust," then 'random thicko cunts', the angry ones at least, probably think they are correct. Which, no doubt, makes them think it is people who don't share their remarkable insight into the human condition, vagaries of supporting sports teams, and the 'certainties' of the business world, who are the actual random thicko cunts.

Not that it makes much difference to a cack week (technical term...), but still pissed off that, for the second time in recent weeks, another 90+ minute goal from ManU robbed me of a low probability correct score: Schweinehunds! That said, most will have benefitted from the away win (Man U now nicked Arsenal's crown as most plentiful supplier of points to our league, btw).

'Kin hell. Here we are again, week 13 of what, I now have to admit, is looking a long and tortuous season. My optimism and patience has run out. Even the prospect of a good win in the next game, restoring confidence in the players, seeing some good football all feels a bit unlikely and hollow. I briefly enjoyed rekindling my love for NUFC, expanding the 'anthropomorphism', I now just want to kick its fucking head in.