The Fish

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

When we drop points it's the wheels falling off, when Brighton drop points it's letting the chasing pack catch up.

He saw what happened after Keegan; court cases, tumult, fan unrest, relegation, all things that cost him money for no benefit. I am not underestimating his arrogance/stupidity in this, but surely, surely, he'll remember that mess was costly?

Who wanted that madness? I saw people moaning on twitter afterwards because Huddersfield got closer to us. It's like in their heads 7 points is the same as 1.

Agree that of all the owners, Ashley is least likely to be cowed by a play made in the media, that said, of all the managers Ashley has employed Rafa's the only one who could pull off this kind of play successfully.

Maybe not, but it's the same principle. didn't Benitez say something about wanting a table and getting a lampshade?

Hicks and Gillett, whomever was in charge at Real Madrid during his tenure. I'm hoping this leak tilts the power to Rafa and we see changes in the boardroom, but I expect Rafa will get a satisfactory amount of money to spend in the summer and there'll be no changes in the boardroom.

Worrying read that. With all the shit going on here, in Europe and in the US, I forget there's an entire planet full of total arseholes being total arseholes.

Moaning about negativity isn't the same as saying everything is rosy. Also, most of twitter is panicking again, there's relatively few calling for calmer heads to prevail. Rafa's done this at every club he's managed, it's a power play that gets the fans on side, strengthens his hand in the summer and may well get some better performances from the players.

Read his transcript and tell me that's based on a prepared speech and not just some key phrases he's been told to mention amongst a vomit of self-aggrandising nonsense. http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/a-full-transcript-of-donald-trumps-black-history-month-1791871370 e.g. "Mr President we need to talk about honouring the heritage of black america" When Obama gave a speech you accept that it's been penned in large parts by someone else, but you trusted that he at least had digested some of the information around the subject and would understand the principle. For all his flaws you got the impression that while he might not be able to express himself well, Dubya Bush had an inkling of insight into the topic. We knew what he wanted to get at with his "Fool me once" gaff. Trump won't read someone else's words, and won't bother reading about the topic. He isn't just ignorant on the topics, he actively wants to talk about himself above all things. So when he has to deliver a speech, any information he's given prior takes a back seat to sating his ego.

Thing is, if I were to give a speech where I had to talk about Black History, I'd probably do some research on it so I didn't look like a fucking tit. He's far too arrogant though.

I begrudgingly gave him credit on Twitter for a good piece of defending, then what seemed like minutes later he nearly gifted QPR a goal with poor control near the box.

Seems even when the entire team played poorly, people stick to blaming one player above all others. That's fine when a 'keeper has dropped a clanger, a defender's given away a penalty or a midfielder's got sent off to undo a lot of good work, but in the past two games there've been poor performances across the board and while Perez' failings last night will grab the headlines, Murphy was worse than shit, Lascelles was poor, Hayden had one of his worst games for us and Rafa got the subs wrong.

Wasn't there a fat Newcastle fan whose crotch had split and his offal was on show?

You read what he said about Martin Luther King? He opened by saying what a great guy he was, then somehow managed to bring it back to how mean the media is being about him. I cannot fathom how the majority of Republicans are ok with their party being lead by this man-child. I get why the average American Trump supporter isn't turning on him; they've fully signed up to his cult and he could flipflop on every topic and they'd not bat an eye.

Not sure his role was made redundant, just reigned in a bit. He remains a chief scout, doesn't he?

Doesn't make up for anything, but the opposition 'keeper has been Man of the Match in the last two games imo.