The Fish

Was this abroad? I don't think there'll be too many hot Spanish girls doing this in Seaton Sluice. There's a bit of a shortage of muy caliente chicas in Blyth Valley.

True enough. She could beat the shit out of you, tinman.

My 45yr old Brother in Law plays all this kind of stuff. Games Workshop vouchers have been his go-to birthday present for years. He also goes camping in forests with a bunch of other really cool people (including my sister) where they put on accents and hit each other with rubber swords. I was sat next to him at Christmas dinner one year and I was trying to have a normal conversation with him, but he's interest in nothing but this stuff, so I relent and ask him how that's going. "Brilliant, I'm the leader of my clan", Oh nice, says I, what's your character? "I'm a druid and can turn into a wolf" Like a werewolf? "pff, no, I can transform whenever I like". ffs My dad did that eye-rolly, sad-sigh, shoulder-shrug thing and polished off his glass of red. Basically miming "Aye, I know, but what can you do?"

Yeah the defence is odd, Clark looks our best CB, but he's still prone to an error now and again. Lascelles can be brilliant or awful. Hanley, like you say, is decent at this level, but limited. Mbemba seems to have fallen out of favour, but is the Centre Back that seems to have the biggest potential. I think Clark, Mbemba and Lascelles will do enough to stay in the Premier League squad, but we need a top centre back (or at least a centreback who can become that). I'd add Diame, Perez, Atsu, Hayden, Yedlin, Clark, Lascelles, Mbemba, Darlow, Elliott to that for the 1st season back. If we had better defence (and fullbacks specifically) I think we could play a 4-4-2, as it is I think we need that extra body in the centre to cover their failings. Also, as we're controlling the game for large spells it makes sense to have players that are comfortable passing the ball around on the deck. Sticking the ball in the air for Mitro to knock down for Gayle would only really work if the game was stretched a bit more, surely?

My Mam fell on a loose paving slab in York and broke her jaw (and other bruises and what not). Dad went to the spot she fell as soon as he could (after mam was back from the hospital etc.) the stone had been replaced so the only evidence were some photos my sister took of the loose stone at the time. He sat with one of those injury lawyers and he was told that the photos likely wouldn't be enough but they'd be happy to push for some compensation. Dad got the impression that this particular company would only really have chased it if there was a very high chance of success. This probably doesn't help at all, but

Don't bother, it's a fucking mess. Sounds like Trank wanted to do a more personal, indie type of movie and the Studio wanted more booms, bangs and Baysplosions. Mind you, I've no idea who decided to fuck around with the bad guy. He's supposed to be an armour clad, imposing, ominous figure. Either Trank or the Studio turned him into an effete glittery emo. /nerd

Think a lot of people hear "competitive" and think "quality". There's probably 6-8 teams who can at least challenge for the automatic spots in any given season. Plus one or all of the teams that've been relegated from the top flight. Nearly half the league going for 6 places, whereas in the Premier League, you can pretty much pick the top 5 and bottom 5 before the season starts, and the gap between Man City and Hull is as big as the gap between us and Rotherham. Trouble is, in the Premier League there's a hug gap between Man City and a team like Stoke. A bigger gap than between Brighton and ourselves and, say, Fulham.

Very poetic.

I like him, and think he'll be ok in the Premier League. The crowd seem to suffer from the same old problem, over-hype a kid then lose their collective shit when he fails to meet that exaggerated expectation. Which undoubtedly puts more pressure on him. They've got form for that, as do most clubs' fanbase. He's not often getting to play in the team when their tails are up. In the last few games he's fluffed his lines a couple of times, but that miss on Saturday was an instinctive turn and finish. He clearly didn't realise he had a bit of time and rushed his shot, and that is blatantly down to not being match-sharp. He's also trying to work out the balance between too aggressive and too soft so he's not throwing his weight round as he can (he bullied Premier League defenders last season), that will come with game time. He doesn't get a lot of service to his bonce so he's trying to change his game a little, but he'll need game time to do that. If I were Rafa I'd start Gayle when he's fit, but give Mitrovic longer than just 5-10 minutes as it's obvious that it's not ability that the lad is lacking, it's confidence and match-sharpness.

Just happy to be in with a chance or Europe next year to be honest. Might put a strain on the squad, but hopefully we can strengthen in the summer.

Twitter will be unbearable

I literally understand, but would have expected a man of your impeccable reputation to either scan the thread before offering an opinion, or not offering an opinion.

It's literally not if you read the thread.

We're not the only bed wetters in the league http://www.northstandchat.com/showthread.php?347957-The-beginning-of-the-end

Big bunch of fannies.

Don't think McClaren will get the vitriol that Allardyce or Pardew would get. He always struck me as a bit useless but I don't hate him.

Don't blame people for being sensible and fearing the worst, I worry that that fear of the worst becomes expecting the worst. I think nearly everybody was like you and me "Well, he's made the right noises, lets give him a chance... but we all still know he's a cunt, right?" There was too much optimism around because of Benitez to feel comfortable putting a dampener on the summer with caveats about Ashley's tendency to veer away what's working with little warning.

"disappointed and confused about window" "committed to getting club promoted" "focussed on Derby" "cloob"

Sure, and I do believe that Rafa is pissed off, but there's an undercurrent of "Well he's definitely gone in the summer", where I don't think we're in any position to know yet. We should be concerned, of course, this is a worrying turn of events, but I don't think we should lose our collective shit just yet.

coincidentally what we called our latest podcast.

Everything has to be the best or the worst these days; glory or disaster. Also the need to be seen to care about something, either by clapping for a minute and berating those who don't, or losing your shit on twitter because we snatched a draw at home to QPR when we didn't deserve it.

easiest way to host pictures, numbnuts. Anyway, I've said my piece and you're all bed wetters.

Well, fuck. I've jinxed it already, but can someone please put the team names in the right order in the title? ta

NUFC To Score 0 - TheGingerQuiff 1 - wykikitoon, The Fish, Dr Gloom, Kevin Carr's Gloves, Anorthernsoul, @yourservice, Dougle 2 - Happy Face, Rayvin, strawb, StoneColdStephenIreland, Holden McGroin, OTF, tooner, barnabox, LooneyToony, aimaad22, rogerbarton 3 - ewerk, Andrew, Howay, David Kelly, Tom, MiddleAgeCool, ohhh_yeah, scoobos, Renton 4+ - NUFC To Concede 0 - Happy Face, Howay, David Kelly, Kevin Carr's Gloves, Holden McGroin, Tom, Anorthernsoul, rogerbarton 1 - wykikitoon, Rayvin, The Fish, Dr Gloom, ewerk, Andrew, strawb, StoneColdStephenIreland, OTF, tooner, barnabox, ohhh_yeah, scoobos, Renton, LooneyToony, aimaad22, Dougle 2 - MiddleAgeCool, @yourservice 3 - 4+ - TheGingerQuiff