Howay

Spot on. The whole "divvint do that because them maggie bastards do that" is ridiculous, this obsession with wanting to be perceived as loyal, 'classy', fans is laughable and makes them exactly what they're bizarrely levelling at us, puppets. The end result is their fans are still seen pouring out of the stadium every game after their lot concede a game killing goal but the difference is there's no organization to it and they'd all remain if they were winning, no change or action will ever be forced by that. I honestly think they're more jaded than we were even at our lowest ebb as they've been dogshit for the entire PL era (save for a few year under Reid) as well as for the majority of time before that and that is the reason for this inaction on their part which as you rightly say is disguised by the "don't be a mag". They finished 1 point above one of the worst sides any of us have seen us have in modern times yet they were genuinely thrilled and saw a bright future, it's staggering that a fan base like that could claim any others are puppets. They focus that anger and jadedness on us rather than directing it towards the club, as I've said before we never heard the end of stuff like "you're irrelevant to us now" even in that thread you linked they're saying stuff like "they're neighbours not rivals, rivals are teams we're actually competing against", you can't keep saying a team doesn't matter to you while keeping an eye out for their results, standings, having threads about how far off teams are from them, and trying to break down the psychology of the fanbase is and how they feel towards the ownership. We've seen absolutely no slow down in the amount of threads they have about us on there. I also have no doubt whatsoever they'd be far less frustrated by their current team if we were languishing in mid-table rather than sitting top.

Yeah it's weird, just because we're not protesting doesn't mean we suddenly like Ashley ffs. I still think he's a complete and utter cunt and don't want him anywhere near the club, the thing is those protests arguably helped us get a manager of Rafa's calibre in and we're now all getting to watch enjoyable football and win games. . It all goes back to the fact you're paying money to watch football and be entertained, is getting drubbed in the Premier League better than winning in the Championship? I think the answer to that is clear. There were protests because we had a manager most couldn't stand, were playing horrific football, there was no enjoyment going to games and watching us lose by 4 or more, weren't spending money in the transfer market until their hands were forced by threat of relegation, in the aftermath of them we now have a manager we all like, there's a positive mood around the team, we've got the makings of a decent side, are buying players (in fact getting abuse for our spending), winning games playing some good football. I don't think the protests caused this, I think it was just down to timing and luck (of Rafa's agent giving them a call) but why would we protest now? the fans are being entertained and nothing is getting derailed by Ashley so far so what is there to protest exactly? relegation? that's done now and honestly we're better for it. They are seriously an odd fucking bunch and I can't help but feel they're just ignoring the facts. I particularly enjoy the posts that we are puppets and they aren't, erm okay, so who are the fan base that railed against the ownership and (again arguably) helped force change? and now who are the fan base that are refusing to protest despite massive disagreement with the direction of the club and continue to turn up to games before meekly walking off home when they start to lose?

Fair enough I genuinely didn't know that was the case, I always just felt they'd dropped off a bit in some of the seasons following his arrival particularly following the loss of Lewandowski. Not taking away from him winning it as it's a very tough and competitive league and it was the first time I really thought he'd transfer over here as it's far similar than La Liga. For what it's worth I think he will eventually take to the league I just get a bit annoyed by the media fawning over him when he arrived as if he was going to walk in and break every record going, and despite my other post being very negative about him it was just some things that I see as his failings (everyone has them) rather than trying to imply he's not one of the top coaches going. As you say me saying I preferred watching Heynckes' Bayern is all just opinion, I wasn't one of those that were 'bored' by his Barca side btw or by his Bayern side, I just preferred Heynckes' team.

Aye that's it it's all opinion, I don't doubt he's a top manager I just at times think he gets massively overrated by the press the same way that blokes like Mourinho do. It works both ways mind as when these blokes go through bad spells the press jump on them as if they're horrific coaches (like Mourinho is getting at the moment to a degree).

Aye the Bravo thing is a mess and I think that coupled with that last sentence shows the arrogance of the bloke, that arrogance is often a real damper on his sides. He showed it when he decided Lahm was a CM, one of the best RB's in world football at the time and Pep decided he was now a CM and really after the reshuffling you have to think the outcome of that move often was dropping one of Bayern's talented CM's for Rafinha. He shows it with his dislike of strikers, basically selling off all of Bayern's until he was down to Lewandowski who he basically couldn't sell as he was scoring every week, he's showing it again this season with Aguero who he actually said something along the lines of he isn't doing enough after he scored a hat-trick. The 3 at the back thing worked for him when he tried it in the Bundesliga against fast sides and he played Xabi Alonso in the middle with Alaba and Bernat flanking him, the fact he thought he could pull it off with John Stones in that Alonso role flanked by Zabaleta and Sagna is again arrogance and naivety. Massively overrating players due to them being calmer on the ball than other defensive players is a flaw as well, Stones is often a waste of space and as you've pointed out Bravo is shite that's basically 60m spunked between them two and he really only got them because he thought they'd maintain his passing from the back style under pressure. I don't think he's a bad coach by any stretch, he's obviously talented but I think he's massively overrated and always thought he comes across as an arsehole. He took over an unbelievable squad at Barca, he managed them really well and implemented his system but even so the squad was immense (players like Yaya couldn't even get in the side ffs), Madrid were poor competition for most of it though and then when Mourinho took over and pushed them he jumped ship and took his hiatus. Maybe I'm being harsh on the bloke but that was how it looked to me. Then he took over what had really became the best squad in the world, they played phenomenal football to watch and, much to his chagrin, had just won a treble and honestly he made them far less entertaining to watch, I think he tore apart a lot of their cohesion as he moved on players like Kroos in order to bring in his sort of players like Thiago. Aye they won their league in quicker time but a lot of that was due to the mess of Dortmund after Bayern ripped their star players away. As I say I don't deny he's a good coach but think he's overrated, there was a question after the Leicester game which bugged me and it was where a reporter asked something like "after the 6 straight wins we all thought your system was implemented but after that are you wondering how much longer is it going to take to get it implemented" so he's class and his system is fully implemented when they're winning but when they lose they just need more time for this system to be implemented, bollocks man.

Good post, I think it's easy to lose sight of this and it's something I've personally done from time to time. I definitely wish relegation on them but as you say I'm not hoping they go into financial oblivion as it isn't the fans fault and they'd lose the club they love because their club is owned by a fucking dipshit. In some ways it's like when you get blokes that take over the top ownership of their clubs success and genuinely look down their nose on people that support unsuccessful clubs as if it's anything to do with them other than where they were born. I get the laughing at clubs for not winning owt but I'm on about people that genuinely think they are a superior human being to others because they happen to support Manchester United. I get pleasure from having a laugh at their lot suffering on the pitch but they don't deserve to lose their club as it's completely out of their control.

How funny that they're feeling the need to boycott, they aren't in the relegation zone and he recently had them get their highest place for yonks as well as an FA cup final, whereas we got pulled to bit for moaning about him as he got us 5th a few season prior to us moaning. I hope they fully appreciate the fucking irony.

"a Dorset mum who was horrified" It seems like Pete in the comment section finds the whole thing deeply troubling: "Don't quite understand the mentality of people that think the word paedophile is 'funny'. How one of the worst and sickest of crimes can be found to be amusing just because the word is implemented into a Christmas song and speeded up. Hopefully this crime will never happen to your kids - but if it does, try not to laugh too much." Imagine being so sensitive that people finding a toy saying paedophile rather than jingle bells funny is offensive to you, of course assuming that people that laugh at that would definitely find kids actually being preyed on hilarious isn't a massive jump at all.

Right now we all know who to blame if we lose to Burton.

:lol: That is fucking brilliant.

Aye I was just on about this in the mackem thread, they were just as shit as us last season but they were actually happy and positive about it. They're so involved with trying to appear 'classier' than us that they wont take any sort of supporter action because that's "what maggie cunts do", so what is the drive for their chairman to ever do owt about their situation when the fans are happy surviving relegation by 1 point?

(team has no significant weaknesses)

MF hitting the nail on the head. I'm just over the moon with them as local rivals really, no matter what a complete and utter shit show we are they always seem to manage to be worse. Like last season was some of the worst form and football a lot of us have seen yet they only came 1 point above us (and were happy with it ). Now while we're a division below enjoying winning games they're getting played off the park every week and are seemingly in a financial meltdown that the only hope seems to be their usual rumours that there are "interested parties", not sure why anyone would want to take on a club with debts possibly above their market value that is odds on for the drop when they could just go out and get a side for cheaper, with less debt, that's comfortable in the PL.

Aye always seemed weird to me, not sure why it was so hilarious that we'd play at what is more of a League one/two venue for one game, it's not like places like Bournemouth are on a par with other PL clubs. I'm not arsed if the ground is a complete hovel as long as we get the win, I'm sure they can finally appreciate that in the absolute state they're in at the minute.

This is the big one boys, it's the one the mackems kept bringing up for the entire summer. We'll batter them, I'm going for an easy 0-4+ to Rafa's lot after the mid-week kickabout.

Aye I think that's a good sum up of it, slowly getting that rep back. Teams like Palace will always get more attention as they're from London, NBC sports even done a 5 week programme about them behind the scenes when they went on that winning run under Pardew (the funny thing was they came up with the idea when they were on a winning run but by the time they started to film they were in a classic Pardew nosedive of form so some of it was TV gerld). As you say the Mackems are basically the dullest one out of the also-ran teams and at the moment they're sinking without much fight, when you think even the Johnson thing passed without that much incident.

Aye Moyes plays for narrow losses against top sides. He played with 7 defenders and the mackems are falling over themselves to act like 2 of them have never really been defenders despite being bought as them, whatever way you slice it a back 5 and 2 DM's is a ridiculously defensive side at home ffs.

Least marketable club in the league you reckon? There's a real argument they might be, teams like Burnley and Bournemouth are seen as plucky underdogs and play some nice football from time to time, Sunderland never get a fucking mention though.

They have to pay all matchday expenses out of pocket, I'm sure essemmbee has better figures but I believe it's due to the fact they have to give out 46,000 free tickets per game. Disaster of a club tbh, they pay exorbitant wages compared to other clubs and sign a lot of shite for a fair whack of money before losing them at a loss. Like Fletcher, he cost them 14m and 60-80k a week for 4 years before leaving for nowt, I've little to no doubt players like Borini, Khazri etc were signed for similar, will make similar and will walk off for next to nowt. I'm sure the interest payments on a lot of their debt are assisting to cripple the club, the mackems keep saying most of the debt is to Short but I've got a feeling that's wishful thinking and based off how our debt is structured.

:lol:

:lol: He was sat battering the refresh button until someone got hooked on the line he'd set, it's like a poor mans Planet Earth this. Fish was hoping to catch ewerk after receiving a damaging comment but the wee hallion slipped the trap with an innuendo and by the time Wykiki unwittingly stumbled on it The Fish was determined to get anyone. Fish is working hard in this thread to restore the respect he lost over Dummettgate but at the minute the lad is taking fire from everyone, I think we'll see a certain poster accuse him of being a mackem soon enough and when that happens it wont be pretty.

I was just looking at the table and it's fucking laughable really, us and Brighton are 9 and 8 points and 27 and 20 goal difference clear of 3rd place. As I said in my other post I do want us to win the league as even though it's fairly irrelevant it's still nice to win the league, I think Brighton will drop off us mind but they'll still go up as they're clearly better than the rabble that fills the other 22 spots, Hughton proving what a canny manager he is imo as he fucking battered this league with us and he's doing it again with what is probably a weaker side. I also love that people keep hoying how much we've spent at us despite the fact Villa spent more than us and Norwich spunked a fair bit yet both sides are mid-table trash...

Yeah but they enjoyed that loss more than we could possibly have enjoyed winning tonight as the lower leagues don't count.

I'd like to win it tbh, it doesn't really make any difference but you can imagine the utter shite people will be spouting if we finished 2nd to Brighton. Not that we will mind, Brighton will drop off over the coming fixture pile up.

Anita did fuck up a fair few times, hopefully Yedlin gets his spot back for next match.