Monroe Transfer

That sentence went right over my head.

Sure. You can have Ryan Taylor in exchange for Bent.

Wait till it's ruined by a sponsor logo.

What sort of wages would he be on? Given he's a free I'd assume we'd not mind paying him a decent wage but I hope it'll be nothing stupid. It's a good move bringing him in especially now that Taylor will miss a few games at the start of the season.

I see that Geordie Boot Girl hasn't posted since the little exchange on the previous page. Dare I ask?

Why do you inbreds drop your h's. You have by far the wankest accent in any language on any continent, and I mean that. A mackem coming on here trying to take the piss is like Bernard Manning abusing Barry Fry for being a fat cunt. You are mackems, the lowest of the low, your ambitions in life are to be better than geordies and Newcastle, you live in one of the shittest cities in England, 1 in 100 of your lasses is attractive, your best landmark is fuckin Joblings, you're known nationally (people that know yous) as Sunderland near Newcastle, and you're uncouth uneducated tramps. I'm trying to be diplomatic here but it's not possible with you bamps. I tell you something honestly here, and I bet the 300,000 people who live in Sunderland can all relate to this, when you go to bed at night time I refuse to believe you're proud to be mackems, I know for a fact you can't be happy being from Sunderland, and what defines you as people is the jealousy and anger at your superior neighbours 12 miles up the road, it defines you as a city and as people. Don't ever change Stevie man.

I like Shola and all but it does amaze me that he's still at the club. He's just... there. He'll get the odd goal and that seems to be good enough to get his contract renewed time and time again. If he's anything like as lazy this season as he was the last, then we need to call it a day and ship out him. He's not lethal, he's not good enough to start just because he might get the odd goal, and I'd much rather see someone like Ranger play as he has far more energy and offers something different.

The entire season is going to be dodgy. Not one game, never mind one month that I'll be taking a win for granted in. I reckon we'll stay up up with that said but I don't think we'll reach a somewhat comfortable position in the table till near (if not at) the end of the season. There will be no easy spells for us - even the worst teams we'll give us a good game, I imagine. We're lower-mid table quality at best and I doubt we'll bring in anyone between now and the end of the window to improve things much. Home form will be absolutely essential. I've always felt we're a bit... constrained, on the road under Hughton. Good thing about our squad is that just all of them have a lot to prove. S Taylor and Harper included. Even a formerly established Prem fixture like Nolan know that his performances when he came to the club during our relegation season were nowhere near good enough. I'm hoping a couple of them stand out too - particularly Enrique and Gutierrez who were pretty hit and miss last time around, especially Jonas who never lived up to his early promise in this league.

I'm not drinking to look cool you social misfit If you say so. Your posts here imply otherwise.

'Begrudgingly accept' is the phrase you're looking for. I'm no fan of Ashley in his own right, no need to compare him to the previous regime who were deeply flawed as well. They made their mistakes and rightly got called out for it. Most of us are sane enough to understand that as a club Ashley has somehow managed to take us back further than the old board did so you needn't constantly remind us. Most appreciate that Shepherd et al weren't all bad. Doesn't mean I like it but what exactly can I do? I'm not going to join any future protests, I'm not going to boycott the match, and if I want a shirt for example I'll buy it etc. As much as it pains you surely even you can see the positive in at least gaining a bit of stability. Nothing will change this summer and the last thing we need for the coming season is uncertainty off the pitch.

I once drank partly to look cool, too. You'll grow out of it one day.

Has there been a day in your life for which you've not looked for a way to praise the old board?

From what awful paper did you take that? Or is it another Caughtoffside/goal.com special?

He's a big name but has he really got that much of an ego at his age? Him dropping down divisions to play for Notts County - for the money - is a worry but on the other hand he was surprisingly impressive upon his return for Arsenal last season. He's experienced and that can only help us. We've got a relatively young defence - only Williamson and Coloccini are 26 or older. Shame he's a CB - I'm not convinced about our RB options; Perch and Simpson have a lot to prove. Decent in the Championship but that's not saying a great deal.

Give him a season.

Hold up - you can't get new shirts from sportsdirect.com without PL badges? I mean that's nice of them and all but it should be an option to not have it, I don't want a shirt with badges on it. Ashley and his lot can't even do giving away stuff for free right.

I see what you did there.

Any news on how long Xisco will be out for? Am very interested to see he gets on this pre-season. Had written him off ever wearing the black and white again.

Surprised to see Lovenkrands not getting a recall into the Danish squad.

I think it's near guaranteed that a couple of our best players will have to leave so Hughton can spend a bit. Wouldn't surprise me if Ashley pocketed the money from that too though. He doesn't have the best interests of the club at heart, only his own. I feel like ignoring the club as best as I can again during the summer, and I'm thankful that there's a World Cup to aid in that.

NUST? Or did they implode?

If only you'd have known what was to come...

We'll get whoever West Ham decide against.

They go on about a 5 year plan but it's nonsense like this which makes it plainly obvious that Ashley wants to do as little as possible before a buyer comes along. I don't believe that they've shut the door privately to someone coming in and taking it off his hands. A relatively stable Premier League club is a lot easier to sell than a Championship club with an uncertain future.

Of course he wants to go down that road again.