Dr Gloom

get him back in, if only for morale boosting trumpeting at half time

i thought you rated smith as a striker leazes. i'd like to see if smith can do a job as a striker at this level but it seems we rely on him too much in the holding midfielder role, which to be fair to him he has done well since we went down

surely the first ever christmas number one with the word "fuck" in it. awesome maybe next year we can get a song to christmas number one with "cunt" in it.

their away record is decent. won't be a home banker but would be nice to go into the christmas fixtures on the back of a win

hiddink would be a great move for city. i don't think hughes is up to it

the only time cheryl should open her mouth is when she's putting my cock in it

yup, he's prone to playing the odd hospital ball across the back our when a row z punt clear is the better option. still one of our best players though and one of those that could do a job at premiership level

I would've thought he was worth a place in the squad purely for his big match experience. He's got to offer more on the world stage than Carlton Cole or Agbonlahor. Agbonlahor offers pace that Owen no longer has. I'd probably have Agbonlahor in the side ahead off Owen TBH. However with Defoe in the side he has the pace of Agbonlahor so Owen's experience and dare I say finishing could come in handy at some stage. Carlton Cole is a bolter IMO. Darren Bent would be a better inclusion. Up front I think they should take Rooney, Defoe, Heskey, Crouch and one from Owen, Bent and Agbonlahor. In 2006 they took only Rooney, Owen, Crouch and Walcott. Ridiculous in retrospect in a squad of 23. i'd be starting rooney and defoe up front too, the goal scoring form defoe is in.

it's a difficult question actually - who is the best player in the championship? from what we've seen so far, there isn't a massive mount of competition.

not sure i'd want him in the starting 11 if we go up. he's good enough for this level though

brilliant. that sort of thing makes the whole thing worthwhile. shame there isn't a xmas day top of the pops anymore

if we were doing well, the crowds would come back. we were getting 52k for a decade when the team was shite every year apart from 3 or 4 under sir bob. 60k would be no problem if we were top 6 material again plus it would make the ground less lop sided. would plymouth, bristol, milton keynes or even forest ever get crowds half that big? maybe forest. but surely not the others You've already made that point, no need to repeat yourself. i take it you agree with the sentiment then Struggling with basic comprehension then? hardly. you didn't answer my questions. if you disagree why not tell me why? Well, you were on about asking the govt. for the cash. Firstly it wouldn't really add anything to the bid. Wembley and OT are certain to get the semis so the best we could hope for is a quarter final and 52k would do for one of them. Also, if we're still in the doldrums (which is more likely than not given our current plight) we won't get 60k, therefore it would be a massive waste of public money. Supposing we're back seriously challenging for honours (which is what it would take to fill 60k plus imo) we'd need a massive cash investment. If the owner can supply that, they should also be the ones paying for any extension. It would arguably be an equally massive waste of public money to basically hand over millions to a spendthrift billionaire. Factor in that the govt. is skint for the foreseeable and in any scenario I don't think they would or should stump up the cash it would require (iirc the last expansion cost more than the initial ground redevelopment which took SJP to a 36k all-seater stadium). Don't assume I think building a huge ground for Plymouth Argyle is a good idea either btw, especially if the taxpayer is footing the bill. that's better! some good points there and you're probably right about us not getting the money, even if we were to ask for financial help redeveloping the ground - something that you rightly point out is unlikely to happen as long as ashley is in charge or we're in the championship. even if we were doing better the costs involved adding about 6-8k seats might not stack up either. it's a shame we never extended the gallowgate when the other two sides were done. imo it would have given the stadium a more complete look. it would be good to see it done one day though. i'm certain we'd fill a ground that size if we were doing half decent. i do still think it's bizarre to give towns like milton keynes and plymouth the nod.

Not such a beautiful day. ouch

i don't get why sunderland is such a shit heap. you'd think civic leaders would try and do something about it. it must make you bitter to be a mackem living in a hole that's just down the road from a town that's buzzing. that's only going to be exacerbated by the fact that the town's best football players live in newcastle.

if we were doing well, the crowds would come back. we were getting 52k for a decade when the team was shite every year apart from 3 or 4 under sir bob. 60k would be no problem if we were top 6 material again plus it would make the ground less lop sided. would plymouth, bristol, milton keynes or even forest ever get crowds half that big? maybe forest. but surely not the others You've already made that point, no need to repeat yourself. i take it you agree with the sentiment then Struggling with basic comprehension then? hardly. you didn't answer my questions. if you disagree why not tell me why?

if we were doing well, the crowds would come back. we were getting 52k for a decade when the team was shite every year apart from 3 or 4 under sir bob. 60k would be no problem if we were top 6 material again plus it would make the ground less lop sided. would plymouth, bristol, milton keynes or even forest ever get crowds half that big? maybe forest. but surely not the others You've already made that point, no need to repeat yourself. i take it you agree with the sentiment then Whether he does or not, he nailed it with his earlier comment about politics. You have to be in it to win it and all that... sure...and we're in it now which is why we could be in with a shout of getting some taxpayer cash to extend the gallowgate especially as the plans were already in place. extending the east stand look too problematic and tbh we prob would never sell out a ground that was level 7 all the way around but i reckon a 60k-ish capacity st james with three sides (including the gallowgate) all the same level would look the bollocks plus we have the potential to fill it....if you take the long view. got to be worth a punt if you ask me.

if we were doing well, the crowds would come back. we were getting 52k for a decade when the team was shite every year apart from 3 or 4 under sir bob. 60k would be no problem if we were top 6 material again plus it would make the ground less lop sided. would plymouth, bristol, milton keynes or even forest ever get crowds half that big? maybe forest. but surely not the others You've already made that point, no need to repeat yourself. i take it you agree with the sentiment then

if we were doing well, the crowds would come back. we were getting 52k for a decade when the team was shite every year apart from 3 or 4 under sir bob. 60k would be no problem if we were top 6 material again plus it would make the ground less lop sided. would plymouth, bristol, milton keynes or even forest ever get crowds half that big? maybe forest. but surely not the others

who's going to fill that ground every week after the world cup? (assuming we get it) might not be a bad time to try and get some government money to extend the gallowgate so it matches the level 7 parts of the ground. So you're having a go at the Plymouth bid because they won't be able to their ground but you think the government should pay to extend the one we can't fill? 2018 is a long way off. i think we are capable of filling a bigger ground if we are promoted and ashley fucks off. so if there is government money to be spent on building new stadiums or improving current ones then why not? we filled a 52k stadium for years when we had a shite team. i'm sure if we put a half decent top flight side out then we would fill a 60k ground lots of ifs and buts but i can't imagine forest, bristol or plymouth ever getting 40k+ crowds. can you? i think that's the minimum capacity for world cup venues.

We've done all this several times over - it's possible, the plans were drawn up long time ago (going on for 10 years ago now) and just before Ashley came along, Shepherd announced his intention to commit to the project. It won't happen now though - not since all the carry on over the last 15 months. if we go up and ashley walks it's still feasible.

who's going to fill that ground every week after the world cup? (assuming we get it) might not be a bad time to try and get some government money to extend the gallowgate so it matches the level 7 parts of the ground.

plymouth? milton keynes? bristol? fair play that notts is a big town with rich football history from clough's days at forrest but there's a lot of work to be done on the stadium if they're to host a game.

nice touch from ratm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8415750.stm

this