Dr Gloom

apparently west ham have moved the advertising boards 2 yards from the touchline against stoke so delap can't get his long throws in

i'd give ashley an E. since the massive fuckup last season, he's done what is needed to make sure we fight for a top two spot. decent investment in jan. not selling our better players despite the fact they're on big wages. would have been a higher grade if not for the details of the of disaster last season, keeping Llambias on the payroll and the stadium name change debacle. hughton definitely gets an A*. not many of us gave him a chance. he's exceeded all of our expectations. if we go up as champions, even beter. Llambias definitely gets the failing grade. muppet. get rid

i would sell or release barton, smith, ameobi, butt, best, pancrate. maybe nolan depending on who we bring in can't think of too many others we can afford to get rid of

i'm not sure best deserves all the stick he's been getting. he looks a confidence player to me. carrol on the other hand looks like he's loving his football at the moment. he seems more thab just a threat in the air now. some good touches and link up play on the ground. you have to say we got the wingers in behind much more in the second half too. credit to hughton for a half time team talk?

i think hughton deserves some credit for moving jonas to the right wing. our best play came from him second half when he doubled up with routeledge.

should have won it in the end. bristol did nowt second half. good performance to come from two goals down. the indifferent away form continues

unlucky best.

get in. great counter attack and link up between routeledge and carrol

bizarre goal

hughton has to be making a change now

we always play shit when we're on sky. get ranger on for best.

west brom have got a great chance to win the title. they've got the home and away form

Your whole statment is massively flawed. The old regime didn't live within their means. As a fan i was over the moon with Owen's arrival, but adding 10m debt a year meant it was a risk we simply couldn't afford to take. As custodians of the club there job was to rationalise the risk/reward, but they run it like fans, getting carried away with the hype - and rather than minimising the risk by loading his contract with clauses if we didn't make Europe they bent over and took one from his agent. People who critise the old regime don't come to the match thinking its monolpoly viewing players like financial assest. They were just sick of players like Kieron 'f**kin' Dyer picking up £80k a week.... I'd love to hear you justification for Dyer being on £80k a week, as we gave him that knowing he was a sick note! Also, I think our views of Ashley's business model is also incorrect. I dont see his aim to make us into profitable entity, just a self sufficent one. He brought in more players in January than any other club. Ok, Best may not live up to his name, but he's a player that fits our needs perfectly and you have to be a realist, there were no better players availible. Maybe Victor Moses, but his agent made my blood boil, the goon was constantly on Sky Sports bigging him up spouting rubbish about Real Madrid being interested link. Under the old regime we would have taken one from his agent to get him. Sure Ashleys made mistakes, but I truely belive he is learning. Unlike some stick in the muds on here I see myself as a quite reasonable fan. Frankly there is nothing in what you say that is unreasonable and a lot of truth in it. The problem is, as usual some what it to be black and white when there is shit loads of grey. They'll come round (except Leazes) eventually, just like the majority of fans already have and just like the doom mongers from earlier in the season already have. People have slowly woken up to the fact that the Halls and Shepherd were much better than they thought at the time, despite constantly disagreeing with me when I tried to tell them. I don't expect some of the Ashley supporters to admit that he has dragged the club massively downwards, even when it becomes even more obvious, say by the middle of next season when our bargain buys are struggling to stay up and we do nothing in January to help the situation other than bringing a few bargains and loans. You're right, I won't come round because he won't succeed. However, if he EVER does qualify for the Champions League, then I WILL admit that I was wrong, and give due credit for it, unlike some. i hardly think that's the case. just because ashley's reign so far has been worse than shepherd's doesn't change the fact that shepherd was incompetent.

no lovenkrands?

worth watching for the interview with hughton alone.

What a contrary man you are. i think hughton deserves the praise he's got from the crowd. fair play to him; everyone continues to doubt whether he's up to it long term but he's done what few on here thought he was capable of doing before the season started.

I can see why people were worried about the way we were heading but giving them stick for giving us the best football they have and probably will see for a long time is more than a little stupid. Anyone licking Ashley's arse is a moron, I don't think that is the current mood though. You still have me down as this Halls and Shepherd hater despite never providing any evidence. there are plenty of people licking his arse really? name and shame them. as far as i can see on here, most people think that ashley's time in charge has been a disaster.

you've got to laugh at barton's comments too. so typical

all about momentum though isn't it boys? at the moment, west brom can't stop winning while our away form is patchy. if we want the tin pot and the open top parade, we're going to have to dispatch the likes of scunny at home. we're relying on the home form for the title and this is looking like the easiest of the remaining fixtures.

nothing less than a win will do here if we want to win the league; west brom can't stop winning. at least forest's winning run seems to have ended and a top two place looks odds on. a bit of silverware would be nice though

garth crooks - total wanker

but it isn't necessarily the case. You can replace the manager in May or June, give him the whole summer and he could still fuck up. So where does the timing count then ? It is the manager that knows what he is doing is what matters, there is no bad time to appoint the manager who does the good job and buys and sells well for you. i think it's nuts to back a manager then sack him september . if you give him funds, you've got to give the team a few months to see if the new players can gell. when was sir bobby sacked again? wasn't it a day after the window shut or something? if i remember correctly, souness was walked shortly after the closure of a transfer window where he'd just spent a fortune. that's just daft. ashley has a bold decision to make. either sack hughton (or ask him to return to being someone's number two) so he can bring in a new coach. if he does this it has to be - like you said - as soon as promotion is secured so we can build a squad over summer and get them playing together before the new season. the downside to this is we end up looking like the sterotypical impatient, poorly run, thick geordies that the likes of sky delight in portraying us as. who sacks a manager that has just won promotion? or, he backs and sticks with hughton. again, if as we all suspect this is what happens, he should give the manager and the team a chance and not panic and sack the manager just after the window shuts, especially if he's backed him to the tune of a few million quid. I don't agree. Results force situations. If you are bottom of the league or struggling, yet you know you have a group of players who should be doing better, then you have the whole season left to make something of the season. That is what happened with Gullit and Dalglish, particularly Gullit. They were both shown that change could improve the situation, for different reasons, so the change was made. And it improved the situation both times too. It was not the case with Robson, but the club had a manager lined up and if a good appointment had been made then things would have been entirely different. i dunno, if i was a chairman i'd want give a manager a few months - at least until christmas if i'd just let him assemble a side in the summer.

but it isn't necessarily the case. You can replace the manager in May or June, give him the whole summer and he could still fuck up. So where does the timing count then ? It is the manager that knows what he is doing is what matters, there is no bad time to appoint the manager who does the good job and buys and sells well for you. i think it's nuts to back a manager then sack him september. if you give him funds, you've got to give the team a few months to see if the new players can gell. when was sir bobby sacked again? wasn't it a day after the window shut or something? if i remember correctly, souness was walked shortly after the closure of a transfer window where he'd just spent a fortune. that's just daft. ashley has a bold decision to make. either sack hughton (or ask him to return to being someone's number two) so he can bring in a new coach. if he does this it has to be - like you said - as soon as promotion is secured so we can build a squad over summer and get them playing together before the new season. the downside to this is we end up looking like the sterotypical impatient, poorly run, thick geordies that the likes of sky delight in portraying us as. who sacks a manager that has just won promotion? or, he backs and sticks with hughton. again, if as we all suspect this is what happens, he should give the manager and the team a chance and not panic and sack the manager just after the window shuts, especially if he's backed him to the tune of a few million quid.

I'd argue timing is crucial. For example, if hughton is to be replaced let's hope the board don't follow in shepherds footsteps by backing him with transfer funds then sacking him after the window shuts leaving the new manager a 3 month wait and half the season before he can rebuild.