Gene_Clark

Can't stand the Huns; Celtic slightly better. Diouf is perfect for that lot.

It was on Look North tonight that Ray Mallon, a corrupt, horrible man, is spearheading a campaign to make Smogland a city, in the way the mackems got it in 92. if Mallon had any brains, he'd be campaigning for a tactical nuclear strike on Port Clarence, Grangetown and Saltersgill as it would probably improve the ambience in the area.

they'll be spotters

The biggest gate the Smogs had was v Leeds

no, it isn't Sunday

Should I get to grips with my receding masculinity?

Sorry, should have said, the figures are Burragh's gates at home this season.

21,882 14,633 15,033 15,188 14,749 23,550 --------- 19,039 15,400 15,697 15,075 14,250 16,853 16,157 14,364 14,825 16,972 15,431 The ------ broken line represents the change between Strachan and Mowbray. The sad fact for the Beast Boys is that exchanging their most vilified manager in living memory (we'll let Captain Lager off as they liked him for a while) for their most adored prodigal son has seen their average crowd drop from 17,501 to 15,824, with an overall season average of 16,416. I know the Smogs are off our radar now, as they lie in 18th place in D2, so we're unlikely to face them soon. The question is, do you miss them? Personally I hate our face painted, foam handed, replica shirted, nylon wigged pals from Allow Bernie Tree Legunds land, but it has nothing to do with geography & more that until Hamster Cheeks Gibbo turned up, 90% of Burragh residents were Liverpool fans. What are your thoughts? Any memories of close scrapes with the Frontline in early 80s to mid 90s welcome...

Remember, the mackems will lose minimum 10 points when they go in to administration.

Earth at The Cluny: April 4th

Really? I pointed out that Walton is contractually obliged not to say anything negative about his employers, a point you failed to grasp. Don't you think spending 82% of your income of player wages is a trifle dangerous? I'd say this is gambling with the very future existence of your club. As I said though, if you wish to ignore the danger signs, so be it, but don't say you were not warned when the whole edifice comes crashing down. You're either on a wind-up or just very thick, read the article and all your "points" get shown up for what they are... inane ramblings. So, where is the truth? The published accounts or the article on sunderland's website? False accounting is fraud; you're not suggesting the club filed false accounts are you?

Really? I pointed out that Walton is contractually obliged not to say anything negative about his employers, a point you failed to grasp. Don't you think spending 82% of your income of player wages is a trifle dangerous? I'd say this is gambling with the very future existence of your club. As I said though, if you wish to ignore the danger signs, so be it, but don't say you were not warned when the whole edifice comes crashing down.

What precisely do you mean by "Walker, Stanley etc"? How can you use "etc" to suggest there can be any possible link between an inner city suburb and an isolated town? Also, how good is your eyesight to be able not only to identify who is in the away end of a football ground, but also which ones were singing a particular song? Perhaps you scrutinised CCTV pictures of the away end? I believe, incidentally, the historical capitals of the north east would be Lindisfarne and Jarrow, though you may of course wish to suggest that places like Berwick, Barnard Castle etc are the real capitals.

All well and good until you see the part where it says he's a lifelong sunderland fan. That means he's fatally ocmpromised, especially as a club employee he'd be summarily dismissed if he said anything negative about his employers; standard corporate contract. Incidentally, no need to swear, or to use the reprehensible term you did last night. However, as you're a mere boy, I'll give you a free pass on your intemperate language, if not on your witless naivete.

Every time Pardew talks about Ashley, I'm reminded of Bob Geldof's speech about Michael Jackson at the Brits

BA Hons English Literature PGCE English MA Twentieth Century American Literature Dip TEFL

Tiote (and John Carver)

1. I do tend to think Torres is a better striker than Bent, and that Carroll will almost certainly become one. Why didn't you try and sign Carroll to try and improve him, if your club is so cash rich? Sessegnon may be an excellent player, but I don't understand why you needed to sign someone to create rather than take chances. I would have thought Emile Heskey would have been a good signing for you; similar to Bent, but with better control and a good relationship with Bruce. Worth a punt at £4m surely? 2. Did Allardyce sign Xisco? 3. For £1 I was able to purchase sunderland's accounts on line; they're in Adobe so they can't be doctored for mischievous purposes. They say clearly enough the club made a loss of £26m in 2009/2010; that is a fact. They also state that 82% of income is spent on wages; that is a fact. Neither of those facts have anything to do with Newcastle United or any other football club; they relate specifically to sunderland and sunderland only. Pushing through a loan signing of Muntari, when all sunderland are paying are his out of pocket expenses and bonuses isn't a very good example of a club "pushing on." Financially, sunderland are in a very weak position and I'd be furious with Quinn and his abject attempts to grow the supporter base or corporate model. 4. There may be clubs who are spending as much on wages as sunderland, but I don't hear any other clubs having a chief executive constantly ranting & raving at an increasingly fragmented and disenchanted supporter base, announcing he despises them for not attending games. Certainly Man City, Chelsea and Villa aren't doing this. Can you explain why? As I say, the accounts are available on line and the figures speak for themselves; £26m loss in 09/10 & 82% of turnover on wages. Even more crucially, Niall Quinn is relentless speaking to the sunderland fan base about the financial problems the club is facing. Now, why might that be?

I love Blake's painting of Newton, whereby the Newtonian knowledge leads only in to blackness, with the colour of imagination in the background. Sums up why I dropped physics at school.

Your loss, maybe Fist can summarise it for you next time you're out at the Bigg Market I don't drink in town; too old

From what I can see the lads from United for Newcastle have a good relationship with the Trust, hence why the latter is promoting the formers petition and the former is thanking the latter on its official facebook page for helping them. Perhaps the new group is sensible enough to understand that there is room for both groups to co-exist (as I've said before I think their's room for three: The Trust, a supporters club and a protest group, none of which need to be at the others throats). The recent criticism of the Trust, as I understand it, hasn't been to do with it not being "radical and provocative" but rather about its poor communication, in-fighting and lack of media prescence, areas that have shown green shoots of improvement in the past few weeks since the new chair took over. I'd be happy for a protest group to emerge and would back one if it did, but I don't expect the Trust to be that group, least of all because, aside from the fact that this isn't what a trust is supposed to be doing, in a legal sense it's also completely unfeasible for any established body with accountable people behind it to do any effective or meaningful protesting without massive political and legal interference to what they could achieve. Radical, provocative protest groups are best kept underground, else they face being neutered at all levels and ultimately left impotent as to what they can achieve. I'll take your word for the first two paragraphs as I've not got time to check up on this. Until about a fortnight ago, I think I would have burst out laughing at your third point, but I think I agree with you. NUST, since Norman assumed the chair, appears to be trying to right the wrongs of the previous 9 months by actually talking to members and potential members, lapsed or otherwise. While the NUST has been debased and devalued by the loss of Bill, Neil and Steve from the board, I think the replacement of Mark Jensen, whose stewardship was been desperately poor, weak and constantly accused of being a conflict of interests, has saved NUST's bacon. Admittedly the conduct of a close acolyte of the former chair at the AGM was an atrocious scar on NUST's soul, but hopefully the new chair can minimise the influence of those happy to see membership dwindle so alarmingly. If you would wish for NUST to co-exist with a protest group, I urge you to read the article "Tweeting In A Pardew Wonderland" in "Toon Talk" issue 4, which is available on line here http://payaso-del-mierda.blogspot.com/2011...wonderland.html as it suggests pretty much the same thing.

No, although he's been involved with one of the Saints reformation shows he's generally tried to keep away from the Chris Bailey revival. He's reformed the Clowns for a few shows but like Swervedriver's reformation, shows happen in small clumps every few years. Besides replacing Mick Harvey in the Bad Seeds, he still releases one or two albums a year through his website - http://www.thekuepperfiles.com/ - check out the discography for how prolific he is. But his next lot of shows are two sets, first being the complete album Electrical Storm (which is a classic) and the second set being the album Today Wonder both with Mark Dawson (who I've worked with and is an amazing drummer). btw: how the fuck can you be fist's brother if you haven't posted in the belta minge thread??? I'm not MF's brother; I am mates with him & his brother!! And I'll not be posting in anything with the title "belta minge" or indeed reading it.

Sweredriver - saw them several times in early 90s; "She's Beside Herself" & "Rave Down" being my favourites. Not seen them since they reformed. Ed Kuepper - went to se him with Laughing Clowns in 82; "Year of the Bloated Goat" - great stuff. What's he doing now? Please don't tell me it's simply The Saints doing "Perfect Day" and "I'm Stranded".....

With an impeccable taste in books I have to say!

Seen: Band of Horses Academy; not bad. Less corporate than I imagined. More Fleet foxes than The Band British Sea Power Tyne Theatre: astonishing. Indie's last great eccentrics still firing on all cynlinders with their usual eclectic mix of anthemic pop and krautrock inspired drone. Jonny Cluny & Independent; beguiling. Teenage Fanclub's Norman 7 Euros from Gorky's doing the quirky, acoustic lo-fi thing with some genuinely affecting tunes. Coming up: Vic Godard, Star & Shadow March 10th. First saw him in 78 supporting The Buzzcocks. Still as resolutely arcane & obscure as ever. Trembling Bells supporting The Unthanks, Tyne Theatre April 17th. The reincarnation of Fairport circa "Unhalfbricking" supporting the daft sisters. Anyone else?