Dr Gloom

sadly owen's rehab is the only thing anal o has to report on for the rest of the season so i'd expect a few more stories just yet

let's just accept our place in the scheme of things - we're not going to win a trophy ever again. once we all accept this, things will become much less painful.

what a shite article

an honest shepherd commented: "we already have a manager, who we are 'planning' to sack in august or september. we'll get rid of roeder after he's spent all our cash in the summer and a few days after the transfer window has closed so we can appoint someone of the barry fry and give him no money to spend. if we did any different what would people argue about on toontastic?"

i'd like to see us sign a couple of hard-as-nails cynical italian defenders personally. not convinced by gooch from what i've seen, albeit not much.

To be fair though, either him or Shearer did a pretty much faultless rescue job at the time....it's not as random as it would appear to be that he ended up with the job. I also feel that he was never given the job with a view to making us world beaters, I reckon he was seen as a quiet guy who'd not rock the boat and not get us relegated after the Souness debacle. That said, I think it's time he went..... Aye but why should anyone think that doing a good job at the end of last season - which he did without doubt - gives him the ability to attract players/be competent in the transfer market etc., etc.? You can't ignore the past on the basis that he did a cracking job as caretaker. Well, you can - if your name is Shepherd. Also, the sad thing is, he was doing a good job at the academy and players have said he is a good coach and the club will probably end up losing his talents. true. i can't see him hanging around after he's sacked. we should have said thank you very much and given him his old job at the academy back or offreed him a role as an assistant coach under a proven manager

leazesmag handsdown

handy player. again, i'd like to see parker leave than emre to make way for him.. sidwell, butt, dyer and emre is a decent group of four central midfielders to pick from. n'zogbia can cover cm too.

it seems like a lifetime since sir bobby was in charge bearing in mind what we've had to put up with since he was sacked.

i never want to see him play for us again. he's never been good enough...should have got rid around the same time we dispatched andy o'brien...

let alone the 5th best club in the league

what about if roeder is still coach and he plays the majority of the season alongside shola and le sib?

Played just under 30 league games this season (2661 minutes), scored 6 and supplied 7. Gary Speed Played 2661, scored 6, supplied 7. Scott Parker Played 2277, scored 3, supplied 1 James Milner Played 2045, scored 3, supplied 4 Nicky Butt Played 1782, scored 1, supplied 1 Nobby Solano Played 1519, scored 2, supplied 3 Damo Duff Played 1466, scored 1, supplied 1 Emre Played 1458, scored 1, supplied 2 Kieron Dyer Played 1277, scored 4, supplied 2 Charlie Zoggy Played 1016, scored 0, supplied 3 Head and shoulders above our entire midfield. What wouldn't I give to have him back in the team? Way to go Freddy, another great decision. Well done Gary Speed, I too thought he would be past it during his last months here. I thought replacing him with Butt would be brilliant tbh. But I find the stats from our squad quite shocking. First because it demonstrates that Milner has been our most productive midfield player (you can argue about the inclusion of Dyer as he played more up front quite often). Second how little is coming from Emre and third that the one with the least minutes has almost the most assists... it's a shocking return from our midfielders when you consider dyer has played up front more often than not. you need at least one midfielder to contribute with around 8-10 goals. could be one of the main reasons we're struggling, as well as the inept backline. i think larry robert was probably the last genuine goal scoring midfilder on our books. duff was supposed to chip in with a few but he's been mostly gash or injured...

Thats the point, he has pace and a good shot on him but under the current manager I can't see him learning the extra skills necessary to become a top class striker. I was thinking the other day about when was the last time we actually developed and improved a player? The last one I can think of is N'Zogbia but even he hasn't had the same effect when playing this season. On the coaching side we have a poor record of improving our players and this is something that has to be rectified. the last two managers' obession with long ball football hasn't helped. i can't understand why roeder isn't screaming from the sidelines at our back four to stop hitting it long when they're aimimg at a couple of short-arses like martins and dyer up front. it's almost like he thinks it's a sensible tactic

I think he's a twat like. Loves himself. So what though? You're right about the turnaround but every back then thought we were going to get Hitzfeld tbf. i didn't think things could get any worse after the souness debacle but it seems that roeder's appointment has lowered expectations even further. you'd be hard pushed to find a chairman that has made consecutive appointments as crap as souness and then roeder. edit - still the 5th best in the country mind

i can't stand the man personally. that would obviously all change if he took over nufc and turned the club around. but what a sad state of affairs that so many on this board are so overjoyed by the rumours...quite a turnaround in opinion since the last couple of times we were linked with him.

ps...i wonder what odds you can get on roeder getting the sack in september. got to be a decent shout.

i predict: roeder will be backed in the summer. he will spend a shedload of cash on average players. we will start the season poorly (as always), then shepherd will sack him around early september. shearer won't be ready to drop his media commitments and takeover as manager; shepherd won't have the intellect or bottle to appoint a decent replacement - he'll either pay a few million in compensation for someone like steve bruce or go for a proper (ie cheap) manager like dave basset to take over in the interim. leazesmag will argue on that you can't blame shepherd because he backs his manager with cash and we're the 5th best club in the country while the rest of us despair or become even more apathetic. ....and so the cycle continues.

i'd say dyer's been one of our better players this season alongside nobby, given and butt.

keane's done a decent job man. the mackems looked like they were going down at the start of the season

things could get even more depressing next season. i can see the mackems coming up, beating us and finishing in the top half under keane while we continue to languish under roeder

take dyer out of the side and we are a far poorer outfit. he's not world class but his pace and energy give us a different dimension. i agree with alex - he's definitely one of our better players

would anyone be arsed about a stadium name change if it brought in a shitload of extra cash? everyone will carry on calling it st james anyway

carr, parker, babayaro and bramble can all go. we should keep duff, dyer and emre as they can all play a bit. sign ashton, wayne bridge and a couple of new centre halfs, preferably not anton ferdinand

never been the quickest so i was always somewhere down the spine. centre forward at school (in the tony cascarino mould), then centre half and occasional holding midfilder for my uni team. i only really play 5 a side these days.