Dr Gloom

His vision was to bring in better players on smaller wages, I don't really see how that wasn't an achievable vision for the club. Replacing Hughton with Pardew was a risk, as was selling Carroll last day of the window without a replacement but that's their job to make decisions like that. to gamble in other words, exactly my point. the gamble has worked. this season. i wouldn't want him gambling with the playing staff like he did in the last 18 months every season.

Your wrong but its not worth going back and forth over. I would just say your outlook has been consistently gloomy for the last two years while myself and others have pointed out how positive it actually looked. Its time you started believing rather than always putting it off til next year aka Leazes Mag. i'm not wrong. credit where it's due - the coaching staff and the players have surpassed all expectations. they've worked miracles. not even the most optimistic on here predicted us to have the season we're having. i'm not prepared to give ashley much credit yet though. so far the success has been achieved despite his actions rather than because of them. i'll be the first to admit i'm wrong if this season lays the foundations for future success. unlike last summer, i'd like to see us hang on to the core of players that have done so well this season and add to the squad. ashley doing that will go a long way to changing my mind that it wasn't a fluke and that he's serious about the club's future success.

it's not a grand vision man, it's taking a chance while doing it on the cheap. albeit with some unbelievable results. if the same policy works for another season or two i might come around to your way of thinking. until then, i'm putting it down to luck. and the man is undisputedly still a cunt.

even if we lose all our games left, it'll still have been a remarkable season

thinking of watching either warrior or tin tin the movie tonight. anyone seen either of them? which should i watch?

mad to think that we are that last minute van persie winner away from being in the top 4.

hard to think this is the same payer we were all slating earlier in the season. on current form, he'd be undroppable. even with a full strength squad. credit to both pardew and the player for that. i honestly didn't think he was premier league class but he's arguably been our best player of the last 6 games or so after cisse.

who'd have thought we'd be challenging for a champions league place at this stage of the season? not me, i can tell you! but we're up there on merit and we're hitting our second patch of form at just the right time. if we can keep this run going like we did at the start of the campaign, we'll be right up there in the mix. the question is, is there enough quality and depth in the squad to nick a 4th place finish and secure a place in europe's top table next year? i'd be more than happy with 6th but the longer this run goes on, the greedier i'm getting. dare we dream?

today was almost as satisfying as the win over liverpool - a classic away performance. massive credit to pardew and the players. who thought we'd be challenging for a champions league place at this stage of the season? not me!

what a player this lad looks. unbelievable finishes today, particularly the second one. the only negative today was demba ba. i wonder if he's designed to play that wide left role. he looked a bit sluggish when he swapped positions with cisse. cisse is buzzing mind, on fire. i wouldn't be swapping positions in that form, even if it was with my mate.

Bollocks! Virtually every decision he has made since relegation has been calculated and is why we are in such a great position we are in today. Of course a few unpopular decisions but luck? No way. balls man. he's a chancer, a gambler. he stumbled upon a magic formula but i wouldn't credit him with any grand plan. nor do i have faith that it will be repeated next season. look at how he got us to where we are. sacking hughton, the man that got us promoted, got the feel good factor going again, got the players playing with spirit and had us sat in mid table when most thought we'd struggle. no one on here wanted hughton sacked. then he appoints pardew, a man no other premier league side would go near. a man few of us wanted. then he flogs all the senior players. the majority of whom stuck with us during relegation and grafted to get us back up. most of whom the majority of us wanted to stay at the club. the players that came in have all done brilliantly. fair play to pardew and the playing staff. this season had been unbelievable. i'm loving it. but last summer i wanted ashley to build and keep our best players. i want him to do the same again this summer. you can't rebuild a squad every year. it won't always work. ashley's main goal was cost cutting while securing premier league status - hardly the most obvious way to achieve european football. i'm hoping that this season has reignited his passion for the club and this summer we hang onto our senior players and add to them instead. and the man's still a cunt, for obvious reasons. i'll never sing his name. not even if we were to win the league while he was in charge.

ashley's still a cunt. he gambled and got lucky. i've no faith in him that we'll repeat the trick next season. happy to be proved wrong though, obviously.

taylor's got to start ahead of obertan. he'd do alreet in a midfield three i reckon

Who said it was a failure LM? Im trying to read this thread as a discussion and you keep confusing the fuck out of me by replying to points that weren't made. Stop it man, I've had a long day! it was the others. you know, the voices in his head.

stevie's post is complete gibberish. still made more sense than most of LM's posts like

not her fault she's that beautiful

a message to LM: hasn't it ever struck you that you're not the most liked person on this board? could it be that you're the one that has the problem, not the majority of us here who either ridicule or ignore you? please leave us alone. can't you see that no one cares? we're bored by you. we don't enjoy your craic. we all enjoyed this place far more when you were gone. please do us all a favour and make that brief exile a permanent one.

very good

It's gone beyond agreeing or disagreeing with you man, you're a dick - and that's what people take exception to. Can't believe they even let you back on. It's a piss take, really. there's literally no point in talking to him. leazesmag could have an argument with himself. in fact, i suspect he does on the days people refuse to bite on here. it was his habit of making stuff up and accusing me of saying things i plainly never did, then failing to back up his accusations with evidence that led to me blocking him. what's the point in even trying to talk to someone like that? i wouldn't bother engaging with someone with such obvious mental health issues in real life, why would i on a message board?

some might, not me. i've got the fucker on ignore. haven't responded to him in about 6 months. and yet he still clogs up just about every thread going with his usual patter. there's no escape from it because ignore doesn't block the quote function. best two weeks on this board in ears was when he fucked off. shame he came back tbh. more of the same now

weird how a lad with as many posts would stop posting altogether. i'm guessing he still lurks. hard to imagine him going cold turkey

more than respectable that.

Surely after he's conceded things are going ok now, he's due some respite. he's a fucking moron man. and he goes looking for a battle in every thread he posts in. i don't know why you always defend him.

no need to. he turns every thread he enters on here into one of them himself

going to jo'burg and marrakech with work in the next couple of months. nowhere that exciting on me holidays these days/ the days of log haul are over with a one year old. going to france in the summer to stay in a house with some mates who also have kids. sign of the times. a stag do in hamburg is on the horizon too. and a second wedding in ibiza in as many years. wife and bairn are staying at home this time so should have a essy time on the stag do, two days before the wedding