acrossthepond

What price Milner to pitch up with a case of the ebola virus next week? Is this before or after Cacapa recovers from the bubonic plague layoff he's been suffering from?

You'll forgive my ignorance, but is it just me or are those tickets extraordinarily cheap?

I see that my title of "most hated member" is now in dispute. Welcome back, Leazes. Lots of good sense in that last post by the way, if you could just drop the personal disputes with people then you might find them more amenable to what you have to say.

Looks like Sam isn't totally clueless after all, then, if we're to believe the Sun.

There's no way he's going to Wigan. I mean, Wigan. Howay man. p.s. Jimbo, you better go on and catch it, then.

acrossthepond's official predictions: We draw away to Blackburn. The big man sends out another pathetic team and we go 1-0 down by halftime but recover on the break and equalize to hold on to the point. We get pummelled, maybe 3-0 by Arsenal. Sam is promptly shown the door. We appoint Nigel as caretaker, he plays a couple of games, we end up with Coppell or someone like him and finish another season of midtable mediocrity with near to no action in the Jan. transfer window.

From ESPNsoccernet: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story...mp;lid=tab1pos1

Cacapa, Faye, Taylor, Duff Owen There's 5 players off the top of my head who're missing. Of those I'd reckon 4 would be in the first 11, of those I'd say Faye, Taylor and Owen would be key members of our first 11. I'd say he could blame defensive frailty on our injury list. Duff's been out of contention so long I don't even count him. I'll give you the other 4 although I doubt Taylor would be a key member of our first 11 since he hasn't featured in it for so many games under Sam. Defensive frailty ok, what about midfield and offensive frailty? We look like a senior citizen's brigade.

He did manage to collect his yellow card just before the match ended. I was getting a bit worried there.

And ? getting rid of a manager after 14 games would add another 100 weight of support to the theory that this club is a fucking cartoon of itself. this was never going to be fixed in one season let alone 14 games. indicative of the quick fix mentality of this country. You all want a plaster, when what we need is a splint. If you're looking for some for of kudos for calling for patience you find none here, Allardyce has a 5 year plan, don't make me fucking laugh, should we have given Souness more time ? or Roeder ? We have appointed the wrong man, and if you can't see that after this performance you need to wake up and smell the coffee my friend. Will you still be in denial when we are at the foot of the table ? Come the new year we'll probably find out. The man has lost the crowd and the dressing room, that equals no future. I know it's a classic example of "the grass is always greener" but if I'm quite honest we beat Liverpool in this fixture last season and didn't lose to any of the big four at home and if you think that's going to happen again this year you have another thing coming. Big Sam looked so promising and somehow we let our expectations rise so high (as we always do) but I'm afraid the truth has come crashing down here and it's time to send Sam on his way before he can damage us further. I'd rather have the little man back if this is the shit that Sam is going to serve up at home. He can't even plead injuries - most of what passes for our first team is fit. BIG SAM OUT - you know what you can do with your five year plan mate.

He's done. If we keep out their 4th it'll be a genuine miracle. Bring on Redknapp, I'll pay his bus fare.

Let the booing begin. Turned over at home again. I think this is the end for Sam and it couldn't come any sooner.

Ring the bells, turkey day is over but Big Sam is DONE. As we say over here "stick a fork in him." Good call Dr Gloom, just goes to show how amazingly predictable Sam's sad subs are.

I promised myself I'd stay away from this thread and not go for the kneejerk reaction. Can't manage it any longer. If this fat bastard doesn't figure it out in incredibly short order he'll be out of a job and we'll be back to "laughingstock of the EPL" status. His team selection and substitutions ("tactics" I bet he calls them) are beyond awful. There aren't many times I've been embarassed to be seen in black and white but this is one of them.

Bit of a step down for him as I consider Birmingham more likely to stay up than Wigan this year, but that's City's own fault for waffling on his contract for so long. Good boss, doubt he can save Wigan now though.

howay man. taylor scores 7 in the magness league Doesn't make him any good We could probably pick up some decent money for "future England captain" Taylor...why shouldn't we cash in?

I'd have Joey Barton before I'd have Diouf, the filth. Oh wait... But seriously, I'm more interested in having Ben Haim for 1m. Maybe then we could offload Taylor before his ego gets the better of us and get some proper talent in.

If anyone's interested, apparently Emre scored a right cracker for the Turks today as they beat Norway 2-1.

I've seen it with my own eyes and still can't believe it. Cannot believe it. Scotland truly robbed. Missed an open goal and got punished for it by some obvious cheating.

I'm pleased with Mort (a chairman who's never heard from is one of the best chairmen of all in my opinion) and Ashley. He's got the dosh and I really want to believe that he is committed to NUFC. Sitting with the fans against the Mackems was a huge point in his favor for me.

Not much arsed about this. Can't lose what you've never had. If City will still give us 6m for him I have a pen for Ashley to sign with.

you're having a laugh you clueless shite Have you seen Gordon play? His positioning is some of the worst I've seen from a top-flight keeper in a while. He's got good reflexes but should not be letting in some of the soft goals that have been scored against Sunderland this year, Milner's included. Worth 9m? That is the laugh here.

Another anti-Allardyce bandwagoner coming out of the woodwork. This story would never have seen print three months ago.

Remind me who's in your midfield again? Nobody we've ever heard of? Oh, that's right. Get out you mackem bastard and take your Championship squad with you. Michael Chopra, Kieron Richardson, Craig Gordon...you must be having a laugh.

Oh, I dunno. I only put those numbers up to irritate people. I guess I'll have another look at them after the transfer window closes.