TheBrownBottle

Literal money laundering

How are they 12th in Division Two with superb players and a top notch manager? It’th a mythtery, as Toyah Wilcox once sang

It is the oddest criticism mind. ‘Bet he’s shite against teams in the CL if they qualify next year’. MOTM against Man Utd and Chelsea, who are comfortably better than at least 80% of teams in that competition.

Nope. Piss poor goalkeeping by Buffon, but the shot was on target and Griffin is credited for the goal

I saw Andy Griffin score a Champions League winning goal vs Juventus in person - trust me, Willock is a level above him.

Spot on. I think this is the point which is lost. The lad can finish - we’ve seen it - but sometimes the loss of a bit of composure is the price paid for balls-to-the-wall athleticism in play (unless you’re some like C Ronaldo or peak Bale etc - but then you’re in the highest bracket of all). It’s mystery to me as to how he hasn’t made an England squad this season

Bellamy's actions fed into the narrative that Robson had lost control over the dressing room (which he clearly had) - a key reason why Shepherd lost his mind and appointed a 'disciplinarian' as his successor. So I both agree and disagree with what you've written - I agree that he was a key player for a couple of years, but he definitely was a reason for Robson's sacking (again, that outburst was from Robson the week before his sacking). There were plenty in that squad who were by that point just causing headaches constantly. Robson should have went at the end of the previous season; once the club stated that 04/05 was his final year, the dressing room just seemed to nose dive. That squad of players was talented but also possibly had the highest wanker % of any we've ever had - they could've kicked on but instead they self-destructed. Bellamy, Dyer, Jenas etc - I don't think many of a B&W persuasion smile when they appear on TV, put it that way.

The 5-3 was the same season; 02/03. I missed Shearer's thunderbastard FK when I ran to the bogs at Old Trafford as the HT queue was ridiculous - I realised a couple of mins into the second half that I wouldn't be able to last until the end of the game. Learn from my mistakes, folks.

I happily will - and I completely agree. But as this is a Bellamy thread it would be a bit of a non-sequitur. Which is why I also didn't mention the likes of Dyer acting the cunt either.

Yeah, don't know why they've stuck us in with that lot. In terms of the last five years for us, post-tax profit / loss: 21/22 = -£70.7m 20/21 = -£12.2m 19/20 = -£22.5m 18/19 = £34.7m 17/18 = £18.6m ------------------ total = -£52.1m (loss)

I signed him for NUFC on Champ Man and he was fucking mint for me. Move aside, Ashworth

Gotcha

Yeah, I remember that match - it was a bear pit for any game vs Man Utd during that period. Cole acting the cunt didn't exactly help - there was a bloke who sat near me who was ejected during Cole's celebrations (he was apoplectic - though 'happily' not in a racist way, just in an angry rabid-dog hating on all things Man Utd kind of way. It was completely owa the top, nonetheless).

The fixture and the opposition made the atmosphere that night - there were plenty of turgid atmospheres that season. Half the articles in The Mag in the mid-90s were whinges about the shite atmosphere from the all-seater stadium (and the grumbling about 'glory seekers' who'd came into the ground). The home game vs Sheff Wed earlier in the season I recollect being about as flat as it could be for a capacity crowd.

For this year, league position will bring in a healthy chunk of change if NUFC stay around their current position (around 13m more than last year), the cup run + more sponsorship deals. Why five years?

Bellamy was one of those players who did this - in Baja Beach Club. BR on Bellamy one week before getting the ax: "What Craig Bellamy should do is to honour his contract, all right? That is what he should do. At the moment he is doing too much talking. He had a bit to say yesterday and he has signed a new contract to play for Newcastle United Football Club. Honour your contract, Craig Bellamy. Honour your contract like everyone else has to and just concentrate on playing and scoring goals for this club. If Bellamy is publicly saying that, then I am publicly replying to him face-to-face. What does he want to do? Does he want to be manager or does he want to be the player? He is doing very well. That is why I am saying `Hey Craig, just enjoy your football and score goals. He has done well but he cannot make threats to the club." I think he did have a part in it. Shame he texted Shearer that time from 100 miles away. edit: I intensely dislike the little shitehawk. I'm glad he was Shearer's legs for a couple of seasons, but he's a tiresome little berk who's had nowt much good to say about us after leaving.

Yep - it is easily forgotten that this was pretty much what happened for a century until SJP went all-seater in the mid-90s. You could almost trace out the seven ages of man inside the ground (not infancy of course) - all represented by different locations.

Yep, and that's the nature of society generally - they'll say 'yes' if they think it sounds like a good thing, but any follow-up question whereby it is implied that there may be a sacrifice on their behalf and suddenly there is a 'no'. One for the politics threads, but this is what happens in general polling too. 'Do you think that the utilities and railways should be nationalised?' 'YES' says the majority. 'Are you willing to pay extra taxation for this?' 'NO CHANCE' is usually the reply of a significant number. And that is the only time I'll compare the seating / standing question to why Labour lose elections despite their policies all being popular.

Have to say, I’m now confident we’ve secured a top half finish - win vs these twats and I’ll start looking at European competition; as in the Conference League. Top four will only enter my mind if we’re in it after the Spurs game at home on 23rd April. Once you’re 30+ games in then I’ll start to dream (get nervous)

I attend Western Wanderers games fortnightly and watch the other games on TV. WC performance isn’t relevant to me - it’s a poor Australian side. It’s definitely not Second Division standard, much closer to Third and the worst teams would struggle in the fourth tier. edit: I work in Parramatta usually, so attending midweek games is easy enough. I was there for the top of the table clash vs Adelaide on Friday night. It was an entertaining game - but the standard wasn’t great

Maybe the old third division, certainly the old fourth, where the standard is more similar to the A League - and remember Kuol wasn’t a starter for the Mariners either. He’s a really young lad with potential and time on his side - but the loan to the SPL at this stage was daft. It’s a new league on the other side of the planet and he would have been better suited (to me) to a loan to a Mediterranean club, where the pace would’ve been more like the A-League. Malta or similar.

It’s hardly Hearts’ fault though - if the lad isn’t yet good enough to come on they should hardly be pressured into bringing him on. It was always high risk sending him on loan to the SPL - the 4th tier, like Anderson, made far more sense. Ameobi still in situ, though.

A shame really, as they’d be queueing round the block to make that move. Still, standards must be maintained.

Only good thing he ever did for me. Always found it interesting that Kinnear was no more of a dinosaur than Bruce yet got treated very different from him by the press. I’d bring him back for press conferences only.

Love owt like this, me. A real reminder of the relative status of the two clubs.