The Fish

What gives me hope is that he looks very busy, happy to put the graft in. If he just looked like he can ping the ball around (like Shelvey), but wasn't working hard I'd expect him to fall away, rather than stay the course/improve.

What happens to his ownership of Sunderland should they enter administration? Do the administrators get involved with looking for external financial help? Or are they solely interested in cutting costs and raising funds by selling assets?

I think some of Parish's concerns hold water. I absolutely believe that De Boer is an arrogant prick that the players didn't take to and I'm sure that he didn't want to keep Parish in the loop Re: transfers. That said, Parish has such an ego I'm amazed any manager lasted longer than 5 games with him. Simon Jordan is a cunt too.

If Short doesn't have access to liquid assets in the same way as Ashley "doesn't", then they're fine. The rumoured debt was around £100m, wasn't it? This summer they spent buttons, but have recouped about £30m in player sales didn’t they? they've still got the parachute payments coming their way as well. So how much would he need to personally commit, to keep the wolves from the door? I think RTG is spooked by it because misery loves company. When shit is bad on the pitch, any travails off the pitch gain importance. Guarantee if they were sitting at the top of the league there wouldn’t be as many worried about administration.

I watched the first half. Aarons was poor, kept running into his man. Shelvey was taking the mick, but the players getting onto his Hollywood balls weren't able to deliver a decent final ball and the targets of those balls weren't making the right runs. Those criticisms aside, the team in the first half played similarly to the first team, putting lots of pressure on the ball and looking to break quickly.

Wouldn't it be harder to unload SAFC were they in Administration and in danger of relegation to League 2, than it would be if they were comfortably safe? What's the cost of a club like Sunderland AFC getting relegated to the 3rd tier? Not just the initial financial hit, but the damage to reputation and so on. Have clubs like Leeds, Bolton, Portsmouth ever really recovered? Say, for arguments sake, Short puts in £20m to keep the club from entering administration, accepting that that would mean falling foul of FFP and incurring a £5m fine and a points deduction next season (I don’t think the punishment would be that rough btw), surely that’s a price worth paying? He could simply value the club as its current value + £25m cost of keeping them afloat? I dunno, without knowing how deep the hole they’re in is, it’s tough to guess at a plan to get them out of it.

I don't know enough about their finances, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't a route available to billionaire Ellis Short that allowed SAFC to avoid administration.

From the Beeb; 3 of Palace's concerns seem to be meddling in 1st team affairs, and it's no shock that Parish wants to get involved in picking the team. He's as bad as Pardew for rating himself.

Think it’s more a case of exceeding expectations than anything else to be honest. He looked shaky in his first full game, but has grown in confidence and influence. When his signing was announced I was certainly under the impression that he’d be a back-up for Shelvey or Hayden at best. As it stands, he’s been our best central midfielder thus far (imo, obvs) and I’m not sure I’d want to drop him to accommodate Shelvey. He still needs to improve his use of the ball and could do with cutting the diving out of his game, but those things aside he’s done very well despite being thrown in at the deep end thanks to Shelvey’s idiocy.

I reckon they'll comfortably stay up, they have a few players missing through injury don't they? There's too much shit in that league for them to go down imo. Bolton and Brentford are 6 games in and yet to win a game and I'd expect Birmingham to continue struggling too. If they sack Grayson they'll pursue someone like Pearson, but I can't imagine there's a lot of money to play with and that will put off most decent managers. Moyes and McInnes walked away after seeing the budgetary constraints, didn't they?

I expect for a few of them it's just bluster. I cannot fathom anyone thinking of us as anything other than the more relevant(?) of the two clubs, all but the most blinkered would surely concede that? Which is why you'll hear them use indefinite qualities like "classier", "proper" and the like. For some there's a reliance on twisting the facts to create a reality where; all Newcastle players are shit, all Newcastle managers are shit, all ex-Newcastle players are shit unless they do well at another club at which point it was the aforementioned shit managers that did for them, all ex-Newcastle managers are better than the incumbent, all points are lucky, all losses thoroughly deserved, all penalties are soft, all red cards are blatant. Our Championship team was both utterly shit and way too good for that league. But only because we spent more than anyone else (we didn't) and kept our best players (we didn't). Our c£30m surplus is irrelevant to our expenditure. Also the number of players brought in for that £55m is irrelevant. Players must be bought for the 1st team, if that's not the case they're a waste of money. We were shit at home (we weren't), were too defensive (we scored plenty), while also looking shaky at the back (we didn't). Only a few of that title winning side would get in their team that is currently around 20th? Grayson was a better option than Benitez because the former is experienced in that league and the latter isn't. Oh by the way, Benitez' managerial ability wasn't responsible for any of his many trophies, all were due to inheriting good sides, luck, or spending a fortune because he's a chequebook manager. It's bizarre. There are plenty of real, actual, truthful things to have a dig at Newcastle United (and some of our fans) about, I cannot for the life of me understand why they'd try to take positions that are so simple to demonstrate hold no water?

You ain't heavy, you're my brother.

Look at you, all excitable because it's your birthday. No, I'm afraid it's because I find you all unbearable.

I work alone.

Bring him home.

To be fair, if we’re going to spend £20m on a #10, I think we can do better than Tom Cairney.

Fwiw, for all Lascelles was quality against Swansea, I'd still prefer Lejeune and Clark as our starting centre back partnership.

Makes his occasional successes all the more frustrating. The move that lead to the bad shot in the Swansea game was lovely, and it's the kind of thing he should be doing more of. Gambling that the ball will come. He does it in the box when played as a striker, but doesn't make the same kind of hopeful runs as a number 10. The kind of runs that players like Joselu and Mitrovic can flick onto.

It only makes sense to sack him after 4 games of the 17/18 season if he was foisted upon them, or they’d had him in for longer than they did. They chose him, so they should have given him the time and resources to implement the football they had employed him to play. He didn’t have a full pre-season, he only brought in 2 permanent signings and both of them are centrebacks. If he’s trying to play a less pragmatic style, surely he would have needed to bring in some midfielders/forwards that permit a more flowing style of football? Of the four players he brought in, only Sakho is over 21, surely they need players experienced in De Boer’s style? It was foolish to appoint De Boer without considering the overhaul a systemic change in style would require. Appoint him early, spend money on the areas of the pitch that need changing most. Why, if they’re to play an expansive brand of football, have Palace spent all of their modest budget on centre backs? It was always going to take time, and 4 games is far, far too early to pull the trigger. A win against 13th placed Southampton and an unexpected draw from one of Man Utd, Man City, or Chelsea and they’re in business. Can't see Hodgson getting anything from those three fixtures, and if he loses against us on the 21st of October, will he get the short shrift as well? fucking stupid decision. I hope that they go down because of Parish, “Brighty” and “Wrighty” (who ironically are rarely bright or right) and the shithead fans who mocked us re: Pardew.

Dr Scoop, Dr Scoop, picks up all of your doggies poop.

Frustrating as I thought Perez was decent against West Ham. Needs to sort out his consistency. I'd still prefer him to Diame in that role though.

The fuck did I do?

Of the new signings you'd say it was only Lejeune that's nailed on to get a spot in the starting 11.

I'm in the same boat as most others; I didn't expect 7 £20m+ signings, but I did think that someone would join us. Barnes and Charnley couldn't negotiate a deal for Southampton's 3rd choice left back ffs. I have zero experience negotiating contracts, but I think I could have made a better fist of it than these two bellends. He apparently wanted a 6 month loan deal and we wanted 12, well how about a 6 month deal with an option to extend? He says yes to that, immediately start groundwork for a left back in January. If Targett is playing every game and looks mint but doesn't want to join, well we've got 2-3 other options lined up for January. Ditto for Kenedy. Ditto for a striker. It's not fucking rocket science. These arseholes seem to think they're not operating within a time sensitive market. Like when we tired to get great deals on Sissoko et al by not signing them when we needed them, but holding off until their prices went down £1m or so. Pricks. That said, i still think this squad is good enough under Benitez to survive. We'll get about 40pts I reckon, and there'll be clubs that people say have done better business this window who finish below us. If we're very much in a relegation scrap come December I think Ashley will loosen the purse strings a bit, simply to protect his investment. Not enough to mean that the following year we'll be comfortably safe, but just enough to keep us up. However, if we're in a dogfight, and if Ashley doesn't back us, that's when I see Benitez walking. And nobody could blame him. And whoever takes over, will very likely take us down. dalewded jawdees and all that.