The Fish

Well, sure if you discount his good work with Wales it's not hugely impressive. But if you discount Alec Ferguson's work with Man Utd his career isn't that impressive.

Go die in a house fire.

He must be kicking himself that Pulis got the boot so soon after he joined Sunderland. fwiw, I agree he's a limited coach, but he's surely better than Grayson? Though that superiority may count for naught given the funds he doesn't have and the squad he does.

Half way through The Punisher and so far it's much, much better than the last two Marvel Netflix offerings. Not for the faint hearted at times, but a good mix of humour and darkness. In Iron Fist and the Defenders most of the fights felt lightweight, like they were showing off stunts. Whereas this feels more visceral. Think Bernthal is very good and is a great bit of casting (up there with D'Onofrio as Fisk and Tennant and Killgrave imo) and the support cast is decent too. For people who're put off by the Comic Book source material, this has no spandex, no "superhero" vibe to it; it's a vengeance tv show. There's still some OTT violence, but it's in-keeping rather than gratuitous, imo.

Ashley wants a Premier League club, Benitez will deliver that. Shepherd wanted to sort out the dressing room, and thought that Souness would sort the idiots out and stupidly thought that alone would deliver top 5 finishes.

Go have a wash, you pant pissing Peter.

He's back in training going off twitter.

Haddaway and shite, he's not going to trade Benitez who has us midtable, for Pulis who had West Brom 17th. Didn't Pulis moan about not having control of transfers and so on? You big nervous Norman.

Pardew's leaning back in his leopard print chaise lounge, that smug smirk on his fucking face. "Keep off the line Tina, I'm expecting a call"

4-4-2? huh

At 15:14 "Playoffs must be our aim." "Get in!!! Hopefully this is the start of our winning run." "Gerrin! Just need a clean sheet now "

Was it a deft touch?

They've now been ahead for 7 minutes thus far this season. Seven.

Anyone? No, me either.

If Short had money to spend, why didn't he offer it to Moyes, McInnes, Grayson, Karanka, or O'Neil? Coleman is a very good appointment for them, but he's not so good that he's a guaranteed safer bet in charge of funds than at least three of the above. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a phat contract with release clauses galore. fwiw I think he'll get them pulling in the same direction at the very least and that could be enough to get them out of the relegation spots. His performance in the second tier, by the way; Matches W D L Goals Points PPG 107 30 35 42 112:140 125 1.17 Doubt Coleman will be able to get them promoted 17/18 without significant investment (which will surely only come with a new owner) and 3 years away from the Premier League money trough will leave lasting damage to that club's already shaky finances.

I predict Elliott Yedlin Clark Lejeune Manquillo Hayden Shelvey Ritchie Diame Perez Gayle I would like to see Elliott Yedlin Clark Lejeune Manquillo Hayden Shelvey Ritchie Perez Aarons Mitrovic

Is Dummett back in the squad for us?

Knowing our luck if he waddled off this mortal plane, he'd have left everything to his suddenly ambitious son in law who fancies a crack at Football ownership.

Would the Stadium of Light be the biggest stadium to have ever hosted a League 1 game? It's bigger than Elland Road, Fratton Park and Hillsborough isn't it?

Their last home win was Watford on the 17th December 2016. So if they don't beat Millwall (19th), Reading (18th) or Fulham (17th) they could go an entire year without a home win.

Not set in stone, no, but that's a decent average over 15yrs. 2016-17 – Down: Blackburn 51. Surviving: 51 2015-16 – Down: Charlton 40. Surviving: 49 2014-15 – Down: Millwall 41. Surviving: 46 2013-14 – Down: Doncaster 44. Surviving: 44 2012-13 – Down: Peterborough 54. Surviving: 55 2011-12 – Down: Portsmouth (10pts deducted) 40 points. Surviving: 48. 2010-11 – Down: Preston, Southend, Scunthorpe all 42. Surviving: 48 2009-10 – Down: Sheffield Wed 47. Surviving: 49. 2008-09 – Down: Norwich 46. Surviving: 51. 2007-08 – Down: Leicester 52. Surviving: 53. 2006-07 – Down: Southend 42. Surviving: 49. 2005-06 – Down: Crewe 42. Surviving: 50. 2004-05 – Down: Gillingham 50. Surviving: 50. 2003-04 – Down: Walsall 51. Surviving: 51. 2002-03 – Down: Sheffield Wed 46. Surviving: 50

They'd need to double their PpG to get to around 50pts, which is the total that people seem to think will lead to safety. I think it's a little lower, but the fact remains they need a significant up-tick and I don't think there's anyone in the pool that they can fish in, that is up to that job, given the squad they've got and the funds they have to bolster it. The only bit of good news for them is that they're scoring goals, in fact they're about midtable for GF, their problem is how many they're conceding. (and I suppose how often they have to come from behind). So if someone can come in and tighten them up at the back they might see a genuine improvement on the pitch and in the standings. That said, Hull are also free-scoring (Only 1st placed Wolves have scored more!) and they're stuck in 20th only 4pts clear of the relegation zone. Current - 10Pts Current - 0.625PpG Average Relegation - 46pts To get to 47pts you need - 1.233PpG Magic "Safety" number - 50pts To get there you need - 1.333PpG They need about 37 points from 30 games. Which works out to be about 4pts from every 3 games for the rest of the season. Whoever comes in will have a massive job on their hands.

They could, but that would be some going, wouldn't it? Good lord.

I didn't say that though. I said an interim manager couldn't do much worse than Grayson did. Not that he's shit, just that he did poorly and you'd be hard pushed to do worse. I mean, you'd need to go on a run of 16 league games without a win, do worse than P8 W0D3L5 at home, conceding more 2 goals a game. Grayson is a decent coach at that level, who was dealt a tough hand. But it's fair to say he did poorly with that hand.

They're in a desperate situation, and the kinds of demands he'll make of salary and budget wouldn't make most clubs blink, but financially they're fucked, so anything more than fuck all will be a stretch. He'll certainly cost more than any interim manager, and I'd not be surprised if he asked for more than Heckingbottom would have.