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Either Allegri or Wenger as caretaker manager. Personally, I think Allegri has got his heart set on succeeding Pochettino at Spurs and apparently he doesn't want to move until the summer. Nah, the time has gone. As PaddockLad said, we did have a few injuries (Shaw, Lindelof, Wan-Bissaka, Pogba, Martial from our starting XI, Lingard, Jones and Bailly from the squad) but that is no excuse when before the season even started it was clear that we needed at least another midfielder and a couple more attacking players. Instead, Herrera went along with Lukaku and Sanchez and all we did was bring in James who should have been eased in as a squad player but instead he's been thrust into the starting lineup. Was clear before the season started that we'd do poorly. When Ole first came in, we did well then it fell apart. Was stupid to appoint him as permanent manager when we did - the only reason I can think is Molde's season was about to start and their owner wanted to know Ole's future so they could plan their season. The final few months of our season after he was announced as permanent manager were dire. Only nice thing I can say is that compared to Van Gaal and Mourinho who were obsessed with starting Rooney and Matic respectively when they were clearly past it, he has changed players in the lineup when they're not working. Examples being putting Martial up top instead of Rashford, Tuanzebe playing over Lindelof, dropping Lingard from the starting lineup... basically the minimum you'd expect from any manager but Van Gaal and Mourinho really were stubborn with who they played. Downside with him being everything else.

I think he’d probably sell if the club was a financial burden to him for any sustained length of time. And I think that’s the assumption being made. Obviously it’s a guess but it makes sense and it’s the one scenario which hasn’t played out so far. It’s not exactly a choice which fills many of us with joy. What should be a relatively simple pleasure, ie following our team, is always a complex range of emotions under Ashley. You should be able to enjoy a young, local lad scoring the winner against Man Utd. But once the joy subsides you’re left with that bitter taste where you still have a half-witted dinosaur managing a club owned by someone for whom mediocrity and survival is the goal. The flip side is that even if we went down and stayed down then there are still no guarantees. But it’s gotten that bad, with no prospect of Ashley ever changing, that it’s a chance some are willing to take.

A non traditional mackem then

I feel sorry for Fish Jr. Fish-“ I think the character progression between season 1 and 2 leaves a lot to be desired- what’s the motivation for him to keep returning to the garden, and why does he constantly fall over? Without a canonical origin, we’re just left hangin…” Mrs. Fish-“ It’s Iggle Piggle…Iggle fucking Piggle! “

Old Jezza appears to have properly rattled Ashley. Chap. https://www.nufc.co.uk/news/latest-news/club-statement-jeremy-corbyn/

I'm not saying it would be more fun. I'm saying that it's only marginally less fun. If fun is indeed the right word. I'm saying that the risk is very slender for me because the margins of enjoyment are so fine. Look, if all you need is your weekly kick of excitement to get the blood going and you could care less about the wider direction the club is taking then fair enough. But for me, the former isn't enough. So I don't care if we're beating Man Utd on occasion, with the slim exception that a young local lad scored and that this is always nice to see, because the overall lack of direction makes it impossible for me to emotionally commit to any of this. I can't take it anymore, I'd rather see us go down and hope that if we languish long enough, it'll force him out. I didn't care that we beat Spurs. I didn't really care that we beat Man Utd. I mean a few years ago I would have been jumping up and down around my living room even with the club owned by Ashley, but now it's gone. So it's not that I want us relegated because we'll win more, it's not that I think it's good for the club in general, it's that I think it's literally the only way that Ashley will ever go, and that I can't enjoy this football club properly until he has. And really, for me, it's because this club isn't on a journey to anywhere. It's at its endpoint under Ashley. This is the destination. This is all there is.

A reminder:

Not really what I said mind. My point was a win against Manchester United papers over the cracks like the Brighton, Norwich and Leicester losses, and will likely lead to Bruce keeping his job longer. I don’t expect us to carry on winning games, nor does a win at home against a Manchester United side who were missing big players like Pogba indicate that we will, but again it papers over the cracks and will buy him more time. It was also a post made at a time in the match where it was looking like we could get something out of it, so I was talking about a potential positive of a win even though it was going against getting relegated. As it happens I was pleased to see Longstaff score and always enjoy watching us beat Manchester United. We’re currently on relegation form (or hovering slightly above it), and my personal preference is we go down as it’ll cut Ashley off from the PL money. Imo the longer we keep Bruce the more likely we go down. If you’d like us to stay up and continue this cycle of Ashley milking the club that’s fine, I know plenty that are simply happy to see PL football, but personally I see relegation and staying down there as a way to get Ashley to sell up.

Definitely not suitable for invasions or the Russian winter.

Aye, David Sylvian was one of the true masters of the 80s

He also seems like one of those fat blokes who’ll have a strangely stubborn heart.

More quickly than what? Cos it looks like he's here forever at this rate. I think 3 years in the Championship mid-table would do it. Parachute payments run out, level of investment required to push us back is extreme. So the question in my mind is would I prefer to spend the next 3 years 14th to 17th in the PL with no hope of progress, the whole concept of supporting the club reduced to simply the enjoyment you can get out of a single match at a time rather than any bigger picture - or would I prefer to spend the next 3 years in the championship with an elevated chance that Ashley might fuck off at the end of it. It's easy for me. Even with the risk that he doesn't sell after 3 years, so what? You still get the enjoyment from a single match at a time and an otherwise non-existent bigger picture in the championship. We've lost basically nothing more than the occasional, inexplicable victory over "big clubs". Also, even if he does stay after the 3 years, it'll be fucking painful for him. Which is a plus.

Due to your age you don’t get much abuse, due to your opinions you don’t get much credit

I hope the show’s better than this argument

The most likely event preceding a sale of NUFC is the failing of Sports Direct. If that happens Ashley will want cash in a hurry and it removes the reciprocal benefit to him through free advertising. In the meantime I'm not bothered by us being relegated, principally because if we stay up it's an endorsement of the way Ashley is running the club because that is all he's interested in. Controlling the purse strings as tightly as possible whilst maintaining premier league status. If you support Bruce and the club in a traditional sense at this stage you too are passively endorsing the way the club is being run.

Corbyn has increased his standing in my eyes. Anyone who can get this thin-skinned prick's chins to quiver in pudding-like indignation can't be all bad. Mean old Jezza said nasty things about you, does baby need his bottle? Bless.

Who do you think your lot will replace Ross with? Also…

Yeah I played all the way through school (no formal football in PE at any Borders high school in the 80s) but almost always for B teams as I was frankly bone idle. I played with and against some serious lads though, quite a few Scotland u18s/U21s and a sprinkling of late 80s/early 90s full caps. Some of them are in the pic; Kelso RFC Scottish champions 1988(?) 6 Scottish internationals, two of of whom went to our village school, one of them was a British Lion (the skipper) there also four other lads from our village in the pic, including my old man’s best mates son. I came across the pic a few years back and realised how steeped I was in rugby as a teenager, how high the standard was and how much I did actually enjoy it. I knocked it on the head when I left school to go and watch Pedro & Gazza every other week. I was asked to go back to the U18s by a club stalwart (this was also the man who first took me to St James Park) but declined. He didn’t speak to me for two decades after that

I’ve actually read the letter now and the cunts who have signed it state that they’ve no problem with the proposal for Northern Ireland. They’re a fucking disgrace.

This has always been the endgame, unfortunately. Blame the foreigners. If 52% were willing to vote leave, you can bet 52% will be willing to buy the "it's all their fault" narrative too.

That's where I got the gist of my previous post from! Can nobody plagiarise anything these days? FFS!

Ba da da daaaah! Good times never seemed so good.

Someone saw all this shit coming..

All time rugger bugger great I see Ireland's last game my be hit by a 160 mph typhoon which will make qualification for the knock out stages very difficult indeed as the game will go down as a 0-0 draw. Scotland may benefit enormously from this. Oh dear how sad never mind

Again though, being in League 1 under Ashley would in no way be more fun than being in the Premier League under Ashley. That's Mackem level of cognitive dissonance when they reckon they love away trips to Lincoln and Fleetwood There are plenty of clubs like Pompey who are fucked after being out of the premier league for too long

I just saw Sean Fitzpatrick on the tube at Fulham Broadway.

You hate to see it, you really do.

So it looks like "the Don" has kept Ross on board for the past few weeks as a fallback if the takeover fell through. Basically, he was kept around so that he could be sacked the moment the shit hit the fan in the notion that it might go some way to placating the fanbase. Fucking ouch Basket case of a club.

Got to be an approach for Sewpa Kev to keep them happy for 5 minutes

I thought this felt like a stand alone story personally. The rest of the Batman universe isn't really relevant to it. Bruce Wayne's father is a significant character in this story and there is a scene right near the end that I suppose could lead this on to tying up with Batman but the rest of it could have pretty much taken place within a world completely separate.

Except for NUFC fans tv. They can fuck off tbh.

I think it’s important to at least try and respect both points of view. Even allowing for apathy, we all love the club and the fans aren’t the issue here.

I disagree, but it's a fair enough explanation.

Yeah but Cornish wine and pork pies. BELIEFE IN BRITAN

Exactly this.

But that's based on fuck all as well. It's a complete guess. It's not far behind that plan NUFC fans had to all chip in some cash and offer it to Ashley so he would sell the club to the fans.

Whatever good they may or may not ultimately achieve, XR and Greta have turned out to be brilliant tools for quickly identifying the kind of people whose opinions on absolutely everything are safe to ignore.

I can think of two reasons

Are you listening Rafa?

1st interview is the Mackem Father Ted discussing the game with the Mackem Father Dougal.

Give it to Giggsy

This is like Reeves & Mortimer vs Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights. Not one interviewee can string a cohesive sentence together, nor can the presenter.

Let’s not get carried away. We had 31% possession against a shit team. At home.

After questioning Bruce after the last result... As much as I did enjoy the three points and the performance yesterday it hasn’t changed my view at all. You can always bet on a battling performance against the allegedly superior teams with the crowd being up for it as well. Yesterday’s performance was helped a lot by Manchester United being just awful. The amount of misplaced passes, lack of organisation and movement had nothing to do with our game plan of sitting deep and hit them on the break but with them having no confidence and being a team in disarray. The problem is still with us having to perform against teams from the lower half of the table. That is where we really have failed this season. The win yesterday doesn’t excuse the inept performances against Norwich, Watford and Brighton in particular. Two points out of nine from these games is where the real problems are to be found.

i'd take the double relegation in a heartbeat if it meant getting rid of ashley.