Dickie

Aye fair point - just have to hope that in 4 years time they've learnt what they need to do to win. I just hope that before long the penny drops amongst the dissenters within the parliamentary party that he's not going to stand down and they get onside and start pulling in the same direction

Aye it is, and I understand that. However I am saying that the country (and others) needs more than another Blair winning from the centre. More and more people are getting left behind, the underclass of bamps is getting bigger and bigger, people are becoming more and more selfish and horrible to eachother. If having Corbyn in there helps to refocus the Labour party, and even UK politics, and helps raise awareness amongst the masses that there's got to be a better way of doing things than just continuing down this Thatcher-Blair-Cameron trajectory it's got to be a good thing. That's the way I see it anyway.

Great news mate, congratulations

I understand and accept that somebody else, i.e. a younger, slicker and, yes, cleverer politician could probably do a better job at capitalising on the present disarray of the Tory party, and would stand a very good chance of winning in 2020 if they can unify the party and merely avoid doing/saying anything catastrophic between now and then. I also understand that such a candidate would necessarily have to be a centrist and would almost certainly be a better option for Britain and British people than Cameron et al. A Labour government, by definition, will always be better for the welfare of British people than a Tory government, I understand that. However in my opinion another centrist would just be continuing to lead the country down the same road it's been heading down for my whole life, albeit at a slower rate than what Cameron and Osbourne have got planned, but it's still the same direction, and I don't think that's what it needs. It needs someone at the top whose primary focus is welfare, equality and fairness rather than banking, finance, big business and selfishness. I don't think it is deluded to think that Corbyn ticks those boxes Renton. I accept that my criteria for a leader may be seen by some as naive, but to call me deluded just because the current Labour party leader meets those criteria seems to me to be unfair. As I said before, I don't know if he is unelectable - it remains to be seen. I am not saying he is going to win in 2020. But I think he is doing an important thing by standing for what he (and evidently a lot of other British people, based on Labour party membership and other measures of esteem) believes in and trying his best to refocus the debate on what the British government should be doing for the benefit of its people. For the record I am 34 and have voted Labour in every election that I've been old enough to vote in, i.e. long before Corbyn was thrust into the limelight.

I'm glad Anita is fit. That back 4 has done a belting job by and large over the last few games, I'd stick with it for the last 2 games.

He'll have to be more disciplined at Barca than he's need to be for Rafa. They're on a different level fitness wise to pretty much every Premier League club. I'd like to see him go there cos I'm curious to see how well he'd do in the big games against Real, Athletico and in the Champs League. Ability wise he's genuinely world class, as good as anyone in the world apart from Messi and Ronaldo. Gutted that we couldn't keep him a bit longer or even manager to get more than a half a season of good form out of him.

If they hoy the beach balls on I hope we're comfortably winning by that point. We could do without anything like that distracting our lot - they need to be totally focused and committed. It would be typically Newcastle if we only took one or two points off one of the worst first division teams England has ever seen due to torrential rain at our place and a beach ball protest at Villa Park

I think saying it's delusion is a bit strong. He was elected labour leader with what can reasonably be described as a groundswell of support. And it was certainly unprecedented. I also think it's a bit misguided to say this government is the most reviled in history. People like you and me revile them, yes. But they won the last election comfortably. They had the support of influential media (including arguably the BBC). Corbyn has had next to no support from the media but his poularity his increasing, as is Labour party membership. A large portion of the population of this country doesn't see the damage that Cameron et al are doing, and I believe that Corbyn's Labour are slowly raising awareness that things can and should be done differently. As I said, it remains to be seen whether he is electable. Personally I feel a lot better having someone who is continuously talking about compassion and solidarity (and clearly means it) than having another Blairite who will keep the country on pretty much the same reprehensible path it's been on my whole life. I appreciate that others may feel differently.

As I see it he's putting forward an alternative to Thatcherism. The country is horrible and getting more and more so all the time. More selfish and self-serving. I think it's good to have a bloke like him leading the Labour party, trying to get the focus off making money and looking after yourself as the be all and end all of life in this country. Just my opinion like.

I'm happy it wasn't a total disaster in England. Yes, oppositions should be doing well in the locals at this stage but there is a fuck load of inertia from 20 years of new Labour, plus ongoing stigmas of Iraq and the financial crisis, to overcome, not to mention the concerted and incredibly cynical campaign by most of the media. Scotland was a write off at this stage - there's no way anyone could have expected Labour to make any improvements up there so soon after last year's debacle. It's unfortunate they've slipped behind the Tories but there you go. Things are going to get a lot worse in England and Scotland over the next 5 years. I just hope that the unprecedented groundswell of support that Corbyn received at the end of last year continues and continues to be spread further into the mainstream, fueled by growing realisation that the Tories are a pack of evil, self-serving wankers. It is happening, but they have to play the long game. I am frankly amazed and hugely impressed that Corbyn is still leading the party in the face of the onslaught he has faced in the last few months. He may be unelectable as a lot of people say - that remains to be seen. But what he and his supporters are doing is important. I don't think it is necessarily consigning us to another generation of Tory government - getting a more electable Blairite in last year, now or next year isn't what the country needs in my opinion - that would just be continuing along the same Thatcher-Blair-Cameron trajectory, albeit at a less acute angle than the one we're on at the moment under Cameron-Osbourne. Loved Benjamin Zephaniah's tribute to Corbyn on Question Time last night (even though Dimbelby picked him up on an unfortunate turn of phrase like the snidey, cynical Tory prick he is). I think Corbyn's a canny bloke and he's doing a good and important thing for this country, and I don't think last night's results are disaster by means, especially if Khan wins in London.

Aye, can't see him going to Everton cos he did fall out with them over that comment, but stranger things have happened. He would probably fancy working with their squad, plus the extra investment they're going to get from the new owners. I think it's wishful thinking to think he would stay with us if we went down but you never know. He'd obviously want assurances from Ashley about control over things and a guarrantee about transfer budget, and as we all know assurances from Ashley are worthless. I'd love to think Ashley has realised the importance of having a proper manager in place and I'd love to think Benitez has seen enough of the club and the city to realise that the place still has massive potential if it was to be run properly. If we went down and he stayed I'd be making an effort to go home and away regularly again, which I haven't done for years. What he has done since being here reminds me of what Keegan did in 2008. He's reshuffled a group of underperforming players and got them motivated and looking like a football team in a remarkably short space of time really. I remember being at Birmingham away, mid-week game when Owen scored that equaliser shortly after half time (when he had missed a total sitter right in front of us just before HT). It really felt like a massive goal at the time, and sure enough turned out to be a turning point cos we went on a run after that and stayed up comfortably in the end. No mistake though, we were definitely going down under Allardyce. As others have said, the crying shame if we went down this time would be purely that Benitez has come in a couple of games too late. I do wonder if the penny has dropped with Ashley about the need for a proper manager - on the one hand I doubt it cos the evidence was there back in 2008 with KK and he didn't learn then.

Ah right, cheers HF - interesting stuff. Obviously the stats can mask a few things - Allardyce looks alright on that list!

Am I right in thinking you've included Hughton's second division games in that list HF? KK and Robson failing to score at around 1 in 5, I'd instinctively say you probably won't find many managers in the top division better than 1 in 5. It would be interesting to see what the likes of Ferguson and Wenger's stats are/were. My gut feeling is that it is easier to score in the Premier League these days compared to when Keegan was manager in the 90s, but could be wrong there. The table really does highlight what a difference Rafa has made, and makes the likes of me realise that we were too soft on McLaren. I kept making excuses for him, in hindsight maybe because he seemed like a canny enough bloke who I wanted to see do well, but failing to score in 1 every 2.5 games is really poor. Even worse than Souness ffs!

no chance!

Very good I sound exactly like Brendan Foster unfortunately, both voice and accent wise. Obviously wish I didn't - I can't stand listening to recordings of my voice, but it seems most people feel that way

I love it mate! Where do you ride?

Aye this has been my fear for the last couple of weeks, since we've started making a fist of it. It would be typical of him and typical of the way things seem to go for us. If we can scrape 6 points from these and villa I'll be ecstatic but you can't help getting the nagging feeling there's a monumental kick in the knackers waiting for us in this game. Logically, given that they've got their eye on the cup final and they're total gash anyway, we should be winning this comfortably, especially on the back of Man City and Liverpool games, but it's just got that feel about it for me.

Ok thanks mate. I have had positano on my list of potential places so it's good to get a positive recommendation. Was just a bit put off by the beach but I'll have another look. I think como would be a bit of a trek since we're flying into Rome, didn't want to be spending too much time driving or on trains once landing - amalfi and around there seemed more realistic

Going to Italy for our honeymoon, first week of September. Just booked flights to and from Rome but undecided on where to stay at the minute - Costa Amalfi looks canny but seems to lack decent beaches so I'm looking a bit further south now, a place called Castellabate which is a bit less convenient but seems to be more quiet with nicer beaches. Will also have a night in Rome and one in Naples, or maybe two in Rome, depending on how far south we end up staying. Anyone been round this sort of area with any tips?

I remember being at school probably around 1990 sort of time, I would have been 7 or 8 and was still a year or so away from going to my first match, not sure if any of the other kids from my class had started going, but we used to sing "he's fat, he's round, he bounces on the ground, Micky Quinn". Little anecdote for you there.

I agree with this. The one glimmer of hope I got from watching their match yesterday was that Arsenal were absolutely shocking, so soft all over the pitch but especially in defence, but the mackems still never really looked like scoring - for all their positivity in the second half they were still mostly reduced to shooting from distance. If they can just draw another couple of blanks and Defoe just manages to miss the couple of chances/half chances he'll probably get, we might be in with a shout. Similar applies to Norwich but they look more likely to ship goals than the mackems so I probably wouldn't expect them to get anything off Arsenal and Man U.

Songs/chants I hate off the top of my head: Who are ya? Sign on, or any of the others referencing economics of merseyside I never liked that Hey Shearer one either

😆 aye it's a good result for them and bad for us, but arguably doesn't change anything. Beforehand I thought it was likely we'd need 3 wins to stay up and that hasn't changed

If Arsenal win today I think we've got a chance. However we're going to need a lot of luck. Defoe needs to forget where the net is for a few games, for a start. The problem is I still think the mackems are likely to get 7 points

92-93 was when I first started going and was slightly too young to appreciate what was happening the previous season. Sellars vs the mackems is the goal that always stands out whenever I think back to that 92-93 season though. After that, probably Lee in the semi and Bellamy vs Feyernoord for total delirium, as others have mentioned.