BigWalrus

He's obviously got a bit of an issue in motivating his players, as they can only seem to turn it on when it's do or die.

Nah, he signed for Norwich permanently for £3m or £4m ish at the start of the season.

I'd like to see Bassong here again too, but presumably we'd have to all but guarantee him first team football. I can't see him moving from Norwich (where he's arguably been their player of the season) to sit on our bench.

One of the problems (that is made worse by the media) is that people usually look at net transfer spend as the only measure of reinvestment. We sold Carroll for £35m and we knocked £2m a season off the wage bill. Over the 5 years he had left on his contract, that's a benefit of £45m. The players we subsequently bought didn't cost £35m in transfer fees, but when you consider we signed an awful lot of players (Cabaye, Santon, Ba, Cisse, Ben Arfa, Marveaux) who are on about £2m a year each, you realise where all the cash has gone. Problem is that it's tricky to fit this amount of detail into a typical tabloid 6 word sentence.

Didn't realise just how shocking Fulham's form was. Looks like they couldn't recover from a defeat suffered at the hands of the mighty NUFC.

Did anyone else think he had a mono-brow on Sunday?

Probably not. The extra TV money from the PL would have covered that. However, it probably would have haemorrhaged back out again into the pockets of Obafemi Martins, Damien Duff and maybe even Alan Shearer and Michael Owen.

If you look at it as a long term plan, being a feeder club for Champions League sides is a viable strategy. In the beginning, you gain a reputation for being a club where players can play in the PL, gain some experience and earn a lucrative move to a bigger club. In 5 years or so time, if all is going to plan, our reputation may have developed to the point where we're not far off the CL spots ourselves and the players may feel they have just as good a chance of success here as at another club. Certainly with Ferguson gone and new managers about to be put in place at Chelsea and Man City, there's no guarantee that the top 4 are going to stay consistent. As frustrating as it can be in the short term, it seems like a far more sensible strategy than throwing money at players in the hope that we'll achieve the improbable. If the plan fails and we end up with 10 years of mid table mediocrity, at least we're not forced into an embarrassing fire sale as we try to recoup our overspend.

Not sure where the first chunk came from. However, in the current accounts, its stated that £18m of his loan is secured against the TV income from the next season. So that means, if everything has gone to plan, he'll have taken another £18m back this year.

I was speaking to a lad at the pub on Sunday who reckoned Everton are the most fouled team in the league. His opinion was that they constantly go down and try to win free kicks. When I think about it, I remember getting particularly wound up at them going down easily in the home defeat just after Christmas. I wonder if we'll see Man Utd follow the same pattern with Moyes at the helm.

Meh. Wouldn't have bought it regardless. The home strip looks black and white, which will help me identify which players are ours. That'll do me.

Profit on transfers, if applicable, will always find its way back into funding improved player contracts or new signings. Ashley's designated a chunk of future TV money to fund the repayment of his directors loan, however he is not obliged to accept these repayments if the club could do with a short term cash boost. The club is generating enough cash to fund its operations and repay an element of the loan each year. Further cash would only be needed if we wanted to sign a player for a huge fee (£30m for instance).

Hughton's sides were set up to win games on the back of set pieces. This would seem to be the case from the lack of open play goals in 2010/11. I reckon we're a much better side in open play than we were with Hughton, but a lot of that is down to Cabaye being more mobile than Nolan, Ben Arfa being more mobile than Barton. If we can sign a big centre back who can dominate in the box, he might come in handy for the set pieces. Hughton's set piece successes were based on winning the initial header more than anything else. We struggle to even do that with our set pieces.

I always thought it a bit creepy to come whilst wearing fancy dress, especially in public.

Too true. There's being a supporter, and there's being a fucking invalid.

Good stats. The interceptions figure is interesting. I wonder how much this has to do with Tiote and Cabaye's absences and injuries, meaning we're just not harassing teams like we used to. The shots within the 6 yard box isn't one that surprises me - one of our main tactics in 2010/11 was to launch it to Carroll for a knock down. This, combined with how shocking our set pieces and corners have been, is going to make that stat particularly poor.

So, how many games have Cabaye and Tiote played together? Seems crazy to blame Cabaye's poor form on Tiote. Why not vice versa, in that case? And I don't think Tiote has ever gone missing in a game. He might misplace a pass or go in hard too many times, but he hides less than anyone else. This would surely be backed up by him passing the ball as much as anyone in our side (dont have the stats to hand but I'm sure I've seen them).

Cabaye cost us €5m as a result of a release clause. Probably would have cost us about double otherwise.

Spot on. Tiny margins. The fact that we could potentially end up in the top half, after being concerned over relegation going into the penultimate game, shows how small the margins are.

We have a great first XI, but the quality of our bench is, on the whole, poor. When we have our fist XI fit, we are a match for anyone, but we've missed Krul, Coloccini, Taylor, Cabaye, Tiote and Ben Arfa for long periods this season. Any team outside the top 4 would miss these players.

I'll stay until the end, just like I do every year. Despite our disappointing form, notwithstanding notable exceptions, it's not down to lack of effort.

Their point was that the Europa League doesn't bring in enough cash to justify the extra games and strain on the squad. Redknapp in particular said he'd rather miss out on Europe completely if he didn't get in the CL. It's a dead competition. The fact that the final is between two CL dropouts highlights how uncompetitive it is.

For fuck's sake. Whatever Pardew says, someone will put a negative spin on it and demand his head. I've heard other managers say they don't want the Europa League, as there are too many extra games for too little prize money. Harry Redknapp and Arsene Wenger both come to mind. Pardew has had a poor season, but he's also been dealt a bad hand. Mike Ashley is not the sort of bloke who will put his head in his hands and hope for the best. I'm sure a thorough season-end debriefing will take place and a decision will be taken one way or another. Some of the comments on this thread though! Lynch mob mentality at its finest!