East Stander

Not necessarily the best player (but he wasn't bad ) but I'll always remember Ian Wright's performance up front, on his own, when Adams was sent off really early in a game against Arsenal at SJP. He absolutely worked his nuts off for his team as well as playing superbly.

16st 3lb and Nolan came in 7th at 14st (supposedly 2lb lighter than Fat Frank!!)

How about this for "creative journalism" from today's Daily Star? ALAN Shearer wants to sign Cardiff’s £6m-rated Geordie Michael Chopra to mark his return as Newcastle boss. Shearer is ready to take the reins again – as a massive reshuffle at St James’s Park is set to see Barry Moat become chairman in the next 48 hours . Owner Mike Ashley remains in overall charge, but will take a back seat as he puts his sale bid on hold for the rest of the season . Moat has been unable to find £100m to buy the club. But he will run the Toon on a day-to-day basis, with his first job to bring back Shearer.

From my viewpoint at Villa Park, Shearer looked like he wanted to rip his bloody head off when the spineless twat sprinted the fastest he had run all day to get off the pitch after the final whistle! He only gave a token clap to the fans after Al had obviously shouted at him to do so.

Regardless of whatever quality/appearances involved, we are already 5 players down on the small, poor squad from last season before Beye, Bassong et al are sold. Harper's comments sum it all up perfectly.

The poster's last line had "white text" added as copied below Source is a mate that works in NUFC's legal department. Everyone else seems to be ITK, so I thougt I'd make something up too.

At least he is definitely off the wage bill now. "Bye EMO, I'm sure you'll put the same effort and captain leadership in for them that you did for us at the end of last season. " Now fuck off

Already paying by monthly direct debit. Would have renewed anyhow, after 27 years of being a season ticket holder, I'm probably too stupid to know any different!!

That is the infamous Paul Stretford whose company Kenneth Shepherd is now an official agent with. Someone I know was playing golf with John Hall last week and according to the Tory gobshite he has joined forces with one of the consortiums that are bidding. If successful, Hall is only going to be involved for a couple of years. If true, doubt he will be in with Fatty's gang though

Not that it matters I suppose but the club captain could have at least said something in the press about the horror of relegation etc a la Duff, Taylor or Butt perhaps? Anyhow, bugger off Michael, the sooner the better.

Me too. He certainly had Daveed in his pocket in the semi at Old Trafford

This article in today's Sunday Times doesn't help my battered and twisted nerves at all A KNIGHTHOOD and 35 major honours as a manager generally means not having to justify your methods to anyone, but Sir Alex Ferguson had to make an awkward phone call on May 14, 2007. It was to Neil Warnock, whose Sheffield United side had been relegated the previous day after a home defeat by Wigan. Staying up were West Ham, courtesy of a 1-0 victory against Manchester United at Old Trafford. United, already League champions, had an FA Cup final to prepare for and Ferguson rested key players, including Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs. “We battered them, Neil,” said Ferguson when Warnock picked up the phone. “We had 25 shots. The team was good enough to win. I can’t tell you how sorry I am.” It was an apology which, even now, Warnock finds difficult to accept. He feels Ferguson broke a promise to field his strongest team. In his autobiography, published in 2007, Warnock recalled watching Sky Sports with his players in the dressing room and seeing the United starting XI flash on the screen. “I stared at it in disbelief. I felt really let down,” he wrote. “He [Ferguson] must know what a lift it gives to his opponents when they see players like that left out, I thought. He must know there’ll be jubilation in the West Ham dressing room when they see that side.” According to Warnock, his players felt “deflated” and it contributed to their defeat to Wigan. Had Sheffied United taken a point from the match, they would have survived. Previously Warnock had “looked up to” Ferguson and counted him as a friend. Alan Shearer and Gareth Southgate are not on close terms with Ferguson and they may view with an even deeper anger any weakening of his side when United go to Hull next Sunday. Tony Mowbray, Paul Hart and Ricky Sbragia — Ferguson’s former reserve team coach — will await the announcement of the champions’ line-up at the KC stadium with trepidation. With the Premier League secured and a Champions League final against Barcelona to come three days later, it is not in Ferguson’s interests to risk his top performers against Hull. United winning the title yesterday will not have been applauded in Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Portsmouth or West Brom. Opponents of Barcelona need maximum energy to counter the Catalans’ passing game, so Ferguson will want to conserve legs, and then there is the risk of picking up injuries against a committed Hull team. If Ferguson is thinking only of United — and it is his job to — he will leave out all of the players he intends using in Rome. Darren Fletcher, suspended for the European final, may be the only regular first team player to feature on Humberside. The other players used are likely to be the young fringe members of Ferguson’s squad. It would be little surprise if his starting XI was similar to the one which lost on penalties to Everton in the FA Cup semi-final except that Vidic and Ferdinand are unlikely to play. It will be a Carling Cup XI pressed into League duty for a game that will reverberate. Relegation can cost a club £60m. Wes Brown is not an option following an injury that rules him out for the rest of the season but Federico Macheda, Danny Welbeck, Darron Gibson and Fabio Da Silva are likely to be among the youngsters standing flimsily between Hull and survival. That is not to say Phil Brown’s freefalling side will be good enough to win but Ferguson may find himself making another difficult phone call on the morning of May 25. Possible United team v Hull on May 24 Tomasz Kuszczak , age 27 (league games this season 3) Richard Eckersley, 20 (1) James Chester, 20 (0) Jonny Evans, 21 (16) Fabio Da Silva, 18 (0) Zoran Tosic, 22 (1) Darren Fletcher, 25 (24) Darron Gibson, 21 (2) Nani, 22 (12) Federico Macheda, 17 (3) Danny Welbeck, 18 (2)

I cannot stop laughing after just reading WKL's article http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/...wich-sunderland Keane can make his surprise comeback a not so surprising success Roy Keane's romantic streak can motivate him to make the most of his return to management at traditional Ipswich "Roy's been on the phone to Niall Quinn offering the chairman advice about avoiding relegation, don't think there's any way back for him here though." That message, from someone "in the know" at Sunderland following last Saturday's 1-0 home win over Hull City, definitely seemed significant but at the time it was hard to fathom exactly how. Six days on it appears a clear signal that, almost five months after walking out of the Stadium of Light, Keane is going stir crazy and preparing to return to football management. When the news emerged that he was poised to become Ipswich's new manager it initially felt a bit of a shock, but within minutes the pair seemed an ideal fit. A devoted Brian Clough disciple, Keane is commendably dedicated to precisely the sort of purist pass-and-move football which Ipswich Town are all about. And whereas many players and managers regard history as bunk, it remains vitally important to Keane. During his time on Wearside he was fully au fait with Sunderland's illustrious - albeit far distant - past, and acutely aware that Clough always regretted not managing the club he once starred for. Indeed Keane rather likes the idea of legacies. Despite being anything but sentimental he boasts a deeply, if unconventional, romantic streak. Accordingly on more than one occasion the Irishman recounted the tale of being on the Manchester United team bus drawing up outside the Stadium of Light and hearing Sir Alex Ferguson say: "This is a right big club, a proper football club." Tellingly, when sometime later Quinn invited him to manage Sunderland while he was out walking his dog Triggs, Ferguson's words sprang immediately to mind. After things went wrong on Wearside, he knew he would have to accept a post at a smaller club but it could not just be any old smaller club. A bit of a snob when it comes to tradition, Keane, who got to know Sir Bobby Robson during his time in the north-east, will certainly have picked up on the former England coach's sporadic reflections on Ipswich's glory days under his management. Despite being one of football's loners, he also knows the benefits of "clubbable" boardrooms. The fact that Ipswich retains a reputation for being one of England's most 'civilised' clubs will prove a big draw for a man whose tenure at Sunderland really began to go wrong when Ellis Short, a hard nosed Irish-American financier, took majority control and started asking him the sort of awkward questions "gentleman" directors would not countenance. Yet even at enduringly, endearingly "old school" Ipswich, Keane will have to appreciate that the habit adopted late on during his time at Sunderland of commuting to training from his family home in Cheshire once or twice a week by helicopter is simply not on. Instead he needs to copy Robson, buy a home in Suffolk, immerse himself in the job and be at the club all day, every day. If so - and providing his transfer market policy becomes a little more selective - there is no reason why he cannot lead Ipswich into the Premier League the season after next. And in considerable style, too. If right now the Portman Road players - who can shortly expect to be joined by Jordan Henderson, a promising young Sunderland midfielder and a real favourite of Keane's - have reason to be both apprehensive and excited about his man management style, the local media are in for a treat. Forget Jose Mourinho, Keane's press conferences are the most eloquently entertaining and, above all, controversial anywhere. Those local journalists should, however, be aware of something he reminded his adoring Wearside audience. "History shows I'm not great at dealing with setbacks," opined Keane almost exactly a year before his departure from Sunderland. Some who claim to know him suggest he regrets it now. Indeed while his Portman Road appointment seems all but nailed on, one wonders if a tiny part of Roy Keane is hoping against hope for an 11th hour phonecall from Quinn asking him to make a dramatic U-turn and head back north to attend to some unfinished business by the river Wear.

To have sort of chance of a point even, the back four at Stoke has to be Beye, S Taylor, Bassong and Enrique I'm sure The Lion can see that.

Couldn't agree more with this summing up

Looks way out of his depth. When he rolled over for a free kick at the end, I thought Nicky Butt was about to stamp on his leg when he just ran over him to get the ball and take the kick

More bull from JFK. IF this contract did actually exist, you cannot tell me he wouldn't have signed it straight away as he is never going to get another offer from a higher profile club than us.

I'm already resigned to us signing nobody. It is the last minute sale that worries me!

I too am now trying to work my way through the accounts of NUFC Ltd and the holding company SJH Ltd which I've just downloaded thanks to the heads up. Found out that Freshfields were paid £1,357,000 for Mort's services for his year here

Stupid charver prat

Didn't the owner say pre season that "we are going to have some fun this season" Well I'd hate to experience an unhappy season if that is the case

It will probably be the start of implementing Sports Direct working practices? Sure I read somewhere that those who work in his shops have to work an extra half hour after their shift WITHOUT pay to tidy up shelves etc. The security guys are/have left in droves after having their terms and conditions radically altered for the worst when they were hived off to another firm.

Based on the last accounts submitted to Companies House, Ashley's holding company St James Holdings Limited will issue accounts for the year ended 30th June 2008. The previous accounts were lodged on 26th Jan 2008 so it shouldn't be too long before some sort of transparency will be available.

Used to work with bloke whose father was chairman of Darlo. When Pallister played a few games on loan at Darlo at the start of his career, we had chance to sign him for £300k but fannied about and so missed out. He went back to Boro and formed his partnership with Mowbray etc.

Could be embarrasing for Ashley if/when Anschutz's people do some research if the piece in the Mail on Sunday is true. Apparently a division of Sports Direct paid about £112k for seating packages at the O2 Arena and they have now been banned after several SD seats for top notch gigs went on sale on ebay at rip off prices