Dr Gloom

There's the bait. Any lurking mackems going to bite?

it's ironic really, given the dearth of talented english players

were dabizas and hughes top class centre backs?

thriving, as you'd expect with that nutcase moderating it

class - was that the temp board when the main one went down or something? i didn't realise the place still existed. I'm responsible for 1.06% of total forum posts http://z7.invisionfree.com/toonchat/index.php?showuser=68

my brother knew him. apparently he was a right laugh

i agree with everything you say. i don't think many on here share stevie's broadbrush view of opposition towns and the people that populate them. he's unique in that respect. sunderland city centre is a fairly depressing place but there are nice enough places to live outside the city. i'm probably in the minority here but i actually like to see sunderland do well. it's good for the north east. i lived in washington for a bit, where there were as many mackems as geordies, and i've got a few mates that are sunderland fans. i enjoy the deby match day banter but generally would prefer sunderland to stay in the top flight. i'd rather we finished above you, obviously, but i won't lose sleep if we don't, unless we were going head to head for the title or a european spot ... like that's ever going to happen. i think the most important thing as far as most people on this board is concerned though is we don't go down, where few of us are really thinking about whether we finish above your lot or not. i wouldn't say that was the case among sunderland fans. let's face it, you're midtable at best and have spent more years than not in newcastle's shadow. finishing above us is one of the main goals for sunderland fans most seasons in a way that doesn't apply to us.

premiership sides are built on them these days. we're below our quota tbh. way too many small white men in the ranks.

no news is bad news, as we saw with remy. it was about this stage when qpr swooped

winding up opposition fans is stevie's (mcfaul) role in here man. he laid the bait and you've snapped it up.

i think most people from sunderland deep down accept that newcastle is a nicer city; less run down etc. that's not to say newcastle doesn't have it's shitholes or fair share of charvers. it does; sunderland just has more because it's a poorer place that has seen way less inward investment over the years. that's a fact. their football team is still playing better than ours right now. that's also a fact. i don't think our lot care as much about finishing above them as they do about us. but that's always the case when one of two big rival clubs traditionally does better than the other.

not with these owners. in a million years.

jesus; leazesmag had his own forum? what kind of masochistic creature populated such a thing?

as always

a french manager is a decent shout. fuck knows who is good out of that lot but makes sense given we only sign french speakers these days.

peacock wasn't the most solid centre back ever. he was alreet. less of a donkey than your brambles and boumsongs but still not the best and the less said about his hair, the better. howey was ok but always injured. i wouldn't say either were top quality centre backs in the way colo and mbiwa could be. even albert, for all his quality going forward, wasn't the most solid defensively. in the robson era we always seemed just one quality centre half away from genuinely looking like challenging for honours. this colo/mbiwa partnership, if it happens, could be the best we've seen as far as i can remember.

pardew to walk if we lose here like. and i don't think he could have too many complaints if that were to happen. even a draw isn't really good enough. a win could provide the spark to turn the season around, with cabaye and ben arfa coming back and new players to come in (hopefully). a loss is another nail in the coffin when you look at the three games coming after this one. i'm just happy that result jinxer CT hasn't started the thread this time.

the prospect of seeing yanga-mbiwa alongside colo is exciting. sadly that probably isn't going to be the case as colo will likely fuck off back to south america and we'll see him play with williamson. when we had woodgate, he was partnered with one of bramble or andy o'brien. when was the last time we had two quality centre backs? albert and peacock don't count, despite them playing in a quality attacking side. i'm not sure we've ever had two top class centre backs in my lifetime supporting newcastle.

i'd love to see this lad play alongside colo. but sadly seems almost certain to be his replacement so more williamson to come

That's what the Pardew out camp are forgetting. Last time we were in a relegation scrap the owner appointed joe kinear. Just because Pardew's having a mare now doesn't mean any replacement will be better (given the wages on offer he'll probably be worse)

I doubt cabaye would have made a comment like that if he didn't back his boss. He's a senior player. Suggests Pardew is still backed by the senior players. That's important if Pardew is kept on. If we're going to get out of this mess the players need to back the manager, whether the fans do or not is doesnt matter nearly as much if Ashley decides to keep him on. And there really isnt any point in blaming Pardew solely for all of this. Yes he made some shite substitutions that handed Reading the initiative. But look at the options on the bench. There weren't any. And that's been the case since the start if the season

That's good to see. Suggests the players still support Pardew.

Aye, I think he has to win to save his job. A lot of this is down to the players too. Do they care enough to put in the performance needed to save their gaffer or has he lost the dressing room? Because on paper we should be beating Villa. But then we should have beaten Reading too

A new assistant might help but it wouldn't address the big problem - the lack of options in the squad.