SteV

Even if they managed that, and Bolton were to draw with Barnsley, they'd still be needing Barnsley to not win any of their last four matches after Bolton.

No chance until summer 19 (when the external debt is due) at the earliest. Even then, the cost-cutting measures they have put in place have probably secured against it. It’ll be interesting to see how those measures continue in to League One. Certainly can’t see any significant transfer fees being paid.

:idiot2: http://www.football365.com/news/mediawatch-the-real-reason-manchester-united-won-the-derby Blowing a Gale There are plenty of takes surrounding West Brom’s capitulation this season, but you have to hand it to Sky Sports News pundit Tony Gale for finding a piping hot one. Asked to explain who was at fault for the club’s relegation, Gale argued that there was “nothing Alan Pardew could do”. Pardew was appointed with 23 league games remaining by a club outside the relegation zone. When pushed to apportion blame if Pardew didn’t merit any, Gale had his answer: “The West Brom fans are the reason they are going down”. As we said, piping hot.

Why would he play a weakened team in the Europa League? That literally makes no sense. Because it's a dead rubber, they're 4-1 up and extremely unlikely to lose 3-0 I know Moscow aren't any great shakes, but if Arsenal put half a team out, with their seemingly fragile mentality away from home, they really could get turned over 3-0. No chance Wenger takes that risk. They'll be full strength or thereabouts.

Presumably Maguire is going as backup to Stones? You would think they wouldn’t play together. You would also think Jake Livermore isn’t a international quality midfielder mind....

Both of them started last Thursday mind, so if they go with a similar team in the second leg I’d be surprised if they were both turning out against us. Might go with Elneny on Thursday now like. Doesn’t matter anyway, big Mo batters them all.

Have to concur with the general consensus of the away end today. Positive right from the start. Not too many ‘shit’ songs. Dubravka was loving having his name chanted in the 2nd half. All in all a great trip. Thank you Rafa.

It does appear like that from the outside, but if you look at their home form it's pretty good. They only really lose to the top sides at Goodison. Just as well for them, as their away form is really poor. Which makes our loss against them earlier in the season, even more frustrating.

He'll be in the play-offs with Fulham. Assuming he's allowed to play in them?

Worth pointing out we only picked up 1 point from games earlier in the season against our remaining opponents. However, that was basically in the midst of our terrible run without Lascelles. You'd also have to say we've got much better prospects of getting something in home games against Arsenal and Chelsea than we did away. Although vice-versa when it comes to Everton.

Benzema 5/6 with SkyBet to have a shot on target tonight.

He really has become a physical beast in the last three months or so. So weird that he never really demonstrated that in the previous 18 months, albeit mostly platoon a position that didn’t require it.

The first guy replying trying to justify it

It does seem bizarre that it's taking so long. As .com point out it has to be some point between Tue 1st May and Thur 10th May. Not that that really helps anyone trying to plan.

Whilst all of that is true - Ashley wont see past the fact that we’ve survived relegation. In his eyes, it will have been an overwhelming success and further evidence that he doesn’t need to spend millions of pounds on players whilst we have Rafa. Infuriating but most definitely true. Suppose it hinges on the potential of a takeover. This is it for me, 7th or 17th there's not a huge difference in what it means financially to Ashley. Controversial, but if there was a greater divide in prize money as the top 6 wanted then maybe teams would try harder to break into that? I see the logic, but by increasing the prize money for the top 6 places, you automatically strengthen those teams already in it, thus making it harder for those outside of it to break in.

Of those already mentioned: Kelly v Portsmouth - as a youngster in the family enclosure I used to sit on top of one of the concrete barriers. It was always a test to see if you could hold on and keep your balance when we scored, but I always seemed to manage it. Not for this goal tho. Got launched about 10 yards forward and couldn't see any of the last 10 mins or so. Great stuff. Albert v Man Utd - can't elaborate on everything that's already been said. Majestic. Some others: Shearer v Arsenal - free-kick at home in the last game of the season (99-00). From miles out. Outrageous power. Shearer v Man Utd - free- kick at Old Trafford. Got humped as usual but again outrageous power. Particularly liked the way Barthez in goal seemed helpless even though it was from so far out. Ben Arfa v Villa - i'd say the one against Blackburn is the best goal I've ever seen live, but I loved this one. Absolute arrow. Then of course his description of it in his interview after. Gazza v Palace(?) - may have the opponent wrong but it's the one with the bit of skill where he shifts the ball between feet to zig-zag past two players and then smashes it into top corner. Probably forgot numerous Beardsley ones too.

And Lewis Ritson really making waves in the boxing. Looks like he’ll be fighting at the arena on a big show in June. Would love to think one day he could get a world title fight at SJP. Probably getting well ahead of myself there but he’s had a hell of a rise in the last year.

11/1 is surprisingly short odds really for a team coming down to be relegated again. I bet West Brom are nowhere near that short next season. Just shows what a shambles they had become long before this season started.

This, all the rugby stuff has been great for the city......went to a couple of the World Cup games a few years back and they were excellent. Newcastle was also voted the best venue in the competition by the visiting fans, that's why the RFU are so keen to use it for events. Also, the Falcons have done incredibly well this season, particualrly with their limited resources compared to other teams. Sound familiar.....

Probably just seems that way cause we all follow our fixtures only. Stoke going to Brighton being moved to a Monday springs to mind That's only a three and half hour drive though. Similar to us going to Stoke or Leicester. Where we've been really disadvantaged this year (as away fans) is that the there's literally no 'close' matches, think Burnley's the closest. Also Sky/BT have shown a disproportionate amount of our away matches compared to our home matches. 6 home and 11 away I think it is with the last couple of matches still to be decided.

Think we'll slot in nicely between Man City and Man Utd.

This quote combined with your avatar amuses me.

That's wildly optimistic i'm afraid. If we got relegated, Rafa walked, we sold off the majority of decent players, and Ashley turned round and said 'sorry, no money for transfers', our attendances would crash as well. Often the perception of whether the right things are being done at a club, are as important to fans as anything else. Look at Arsenal. 6th in league, latter stages of a european competition, but the fans are unhappy because (perhaps rightly) they feel that they could and should be doing better. We're in a pretty good place at the moment. OK, we want to see the back of Ashley, but as long as we have Rafa and he gets even moderately close to being funded correctly, we feel as if we're going the right direction. However, it really wouldn't take much for that to come crashing down.

Yep. If they’re right up the top attendances will be good (might even have to open the top tier!). Around the playoffs and they’ll probably be not too bad. Anything less than that and they’ll be woeful.

Obviously their season ticket sales will fall off a cliff next season, but whether attendances go drastically down (15k) will probably depend on whether they can cobble together a half decent side that might actually win a few matches. It doesn’t really matter what league you’re in, if you can get a winning side together, you’ll attract people. However, whether they can even manage to do that in League One seems questionable at the minute.