Abacus

I wouldn't be all that bothered - as has already been said, most people would just shorten it to St James' Park anyway. Which is also why I think it might not work. If no-one referred to the sponsor's name, it's presumably doubtful the sponsorship would be worth all that much. And if it's a related party sponsorship, they'd need to demonstrate that any deal was at fair market value. Which, by the same logic, then wouldn't be all that much. It's not really the same as naming a whole stadium the Emirates.

On this showing, these are two bad teams. Some good individuals, but neither team playing with a real identity. You can sort of understand that with Forest, less so with Villa. Howe had us playing a recognisable system within a few weeks. Not sure what Stevie G has them trying for at Villa.

I'm waiting for a teary Mikel Arteta to launch a charity telethon for this colossus of the game.

"Sad to hear we've lost Hetton" It's like they imagine they're in Hitler's bunker desperately moving around imaginary tank brigades.

Funny you should say that, here's a genuine quote from the West Brom forum; "I’d happily see him pelted with cabbages from the Halfords Rd. certainly be more fun to watch than the football he serves up. Would love to hear from a current squad player on what they do on the training ground." And that's one of the milder ones.

I loved the moment when Joelinton was being interviewed after signing at Newcastle, and met for Steve Bruce for the first time, who just bungled into the room. Not only did he interrupt someone else's interview instead of his own for a change, but it was so clear he had no idea who he was. This being a record signing that he insisted was 'his' despite that being patently untrue. Less than Howe level research on his very own £40m player ensued. "How are you? Are you fit? Any English? You OK? See you in training tomorrow! Maybe twice, haha!". All the while clapping him repeatedly on the back, before saying "Good lad!" and then wandering off. Big Joe's confused expression says it all.

West Brom have definitely been playing better in the second half, but it's still hard to say how they are set up to play. No matter the result now, it's been a typical Bruce disorganised mess. As things stand, even if they do equalise now they'd still be in the bottom 3.

I'm exactly the same. It's not healthy is it? But I want to see him implode and have nowhere to hide from criticism probably more than anyone else still in football right now. Our most disgraceful manager.

In which case, he's managed to take a bang average championship team to well below bang average in the table. He even underperforms against his own fictional low bar. Just praying for his pay-off now along with his gang of nitwits, hoping nobody notices how bad he has been so he can pull the same stunt again.

Not so sure. Imagine telling him he couldn't go on holiday in the international breaks.

A government minister (of whichever party) asking for a clear decision on something which had been deliberately kicked into the long grass by the PL? What a shocking turn of events. Mind you, perhaps it is surprising that someone was doing their job.

Yup. Last paragraph in this https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/west-brom-steve-bruce-manager-25046016

I particularly liked this recent quote from the Birmingham Mail; "We haven't had enough wins, there have been too many draws. We'd have been alright if it was still two points for a win, but it's not and we have to accept it." It was changed to 3 points for a win in 1981, so yes he will have to accept it.

I like him "being genuinely honest", this time. Next escalation point : "And I really mean that, cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." That man could avert the energy crisis with his flaming underpants alone.

Not able to comment on much of that, but I'd tend to agree with this bit. It's a bit of a Bruce excuse, when actually it was the job he did that got him fired there. As for the way he conducts himself part...I can only judge from his time here where he rarely put a foot wrong. But he is, no doubt, stubborn, picks fights and needs everything his own way. In our case, he needed to, as everything was rotten. So, he did a good job here overall, but in my opinion is quite overrated on here for that. I wouldn't want him back now. It also did come across like a blatant job interview. Don't go with these young new managers, go with an older one like you would with an open heart surgeon, they're the best...

1 point, bottom of the league, minus 12 goal difference. Rodgers just waiting / hoping for his pay off. Except the £16m it would cost them will be approximately what they got for Fofana's left leg.

If St Max is touch and go, I'd have him on the bench. If we need him, take a risk and bring him on. But if we're well ahead, there's the international break to let him fully recover. Same with Wilson, really - though I'm always more pessimistic about how long he'll need on past form. Plus, with Isak, there's less of a need in that role. I'm assuming Bruno is OK, and that big Joe can do the strenuous running for him. It's also why I'd start Willock over Longstaff - faster and with a better engine, to let Bruno stroll about and pick passes.

Lose to Norwich tomorrow and the fans' consensus seems to be he should be gone straight away, there being time in the international break to replace him. What an ungrateful lot. After all he's done for them. You don't just turn a situation like that round overnight you know. Even with all his experience, with the way he's been treated he might even have to announce another cry-baby retirement and head off to Portugal to lick his lips. I mean wounds. Luckily for Steve, it's the international break, so he'd have already booked his holiday flights to Portugal then anyway.

I don't know what the Baggies are complaining about. He was brought in to bring immediate results and him, his son and his mates have certainly delivered.

I think you're probably right, and they'll have at least a chance of a play off slot. But the Championship is a long old slog of a season, with a lot of teams yet to click into gear, so I reckon they'll fall a bit short in the end. That should probably be regarded as a good season for them - they'd be marmalised in the premier League without serious investment.

Not sure you can get pork pies in the Middle East. I think he'll be managing Melton Mowbray FC next.

They're playing pretty well, to be fair. I've thought that whenever I've watched them so far this season - they look hard to beat anyway. Really thought they'd struggle with the jump up from their natural home in league 1, but doubt they'll be in much bother now. Mid table for them, I reckon.

Not a bad idea as a hypothetical. My issue with it would be that often, the relegation scrap is more interesting than the battle for the top 4 etc, and I feel this would take away from that drama. Going in to the last game of the season with two or three teams in the mix to go down in the sudden death of the last relegation spot is one of the most exciting ends to a season. However, knowing that they still had a chance of staying up due to there being a play off still to go would take away from that. Of course, I suppose you could argue that similar drama would apply to the battle between 18th and 19th instead. But I don't like to think about that, since I fear change. NB, in it's favour this kind of system would have given Ashley the terrors by meaning he couldn't just aim for 17th every year. Also, instead of going to Wembley in the final, this play-off of "who is the crappiest" should have it's shame confirmed by being at the Stadium of Light, to mark it as a true festival of rubbish. FA Cup style, they could call this journey "The Road to Sunderland".

Then it's the premier league that is the global embarrassment. Imagine deciding how people should react, and then blaming the fans for something they haven't even done.

Think they've taken a lot of criticism for postponing these games and been made to look (rightly) stupid by all other sports doing it properly. So I reckon it'll be back on next weekend. But once again, surprise surprise, they made this decision with no thought for the majority of actual fans - also again proving they're not fit to govern the sport.