acrossthepond

That's what we've been saying for windows and windows. Colo's off? Step forward, Curtis Good. Adam Armstrong, Vuckic, and that ginger lad (Campbell?) as Remy and de Jong replacements. (I don't actually think it'll come to that, but I put nothing past the fat one any more. Expect a new DoF, possibly someone with Spurs links, appointed sometime in mid-July who we couldn't get in any earlier because we had to make sure we had the 'right man for the job', then a disappointing lack of signings attributed to the fact that we didn't have enough time to carefully scout each signing and make sure that they're a perfect purple. But not to worry because our powder's still dry for January, blah blah, rinse and repeat.)

Do we really need this thread right now? It's going to end in tears. (No knock on you Anorthernsoul, I just remember what a disappointment the "Jan Transfer Nonsense Thread" was.)

Two summers ago I was at our preseason match away to Hartlepool. Quite apart from the pair of total charva morons in front of us, there was a bloke with his little boy, six years of age perhaps, standing behind. Every so often this young Socrates would offer up sage observations on the game. I particularly liked "the referee's a seal", but there was also a period of 5 minutes or so where he stood bolt upright in his dad's arms, pointing straight at a Pools player, squealing "FATTY! FATTY!" at the top of his little lungs. Bless.

The clip of some of those scruffy fuckers, Christ. It's worse when you have to smell them. Neckbearded, overweight, mostly unemployed white dudes whose idea of personal hygiene is washing their Cheeto-covered hands with cold water until they aren't visibly Gerrard's-lass-coloured any more. ...and I should know, as I am one. Minus all that shit about being unemployed, neckbearded, filthy, and white.

Re-reading this I had a chuckle at how right ajax-andy was. What an astonishing waste of wages this clown has been. I cringe every time I see him in black and white, which is thankfully rare.

If you don't have anything constructive to say, don't say anything at all. I personally think the police will have no trouble connecting the dots and piecing together a case on this one.

Don't mean to derail this thread again, but I wanted to go back to Bioshock 2. Been playing it and though it's canny, it feels like a straight ripoff of the original. I got both off a Steam sale for around $5 each so I'm not too bothered that 2 feels like 1.5, but if I'd paid full price for both games, I think I'd be a bit cheesed off. Same universe, practically the same setting, some of the same characters, mostly the same weapons, mostly the same enemies....

Yes, I'm angry about Sunderland. I'm angry that we're always in their shadow...oh, wait. I'm angry about how much better their squad is...hang on. Um, I'm angry about how much classier they are than us...no, not that one either...er, I'm angry that, uh....we won't get to play Middlesbrough next year? I don't bet and I certainly wouldn't spend money on your excuse for a club. That's why I'm on this board, supporting and discussing the club I love. Not hanging out on our rivals' board stinking up the place with my diabolical craic. You might try it.

Reading my local paper wouldn't tell me much about NUFC. Getting back to something more pertinent, you're a sad, obsessed mackem bastard whose club gleefully accepts our "convicts" and castaways and who spends more time thinking about NUFC than SAFC. Enjoy your away days in Bournemouth next year, and those fascinating Wear-Tees derbies.

What did Santon, Ba, Cisse and Simpson get done for? And how does a mackem fan know more about our players than I do?

Although my comments in this thread have been somewhat miserable I was really, really pleased with this result. We looked cohesive as a team and strong on the counter attack. Even though two of our goals resulted from major errors, we were on hand to capitalize on those errors, which many other times we've failed to do. So, an excellent win, far better performance than last Sunday's shit, and hopefully this marks a corner being turned.

Very, very poor, broke, skint, empty-pocketed, all-his-shit-repoed-already man's Yaya Toure.

Gosling's key contribution: falling over and letting Dummett get the ball.

What a fucking idiot. God, isn't this club embarrassing enough without our manager playing at handbags?

I was with you up until this sentence. It'll be a summer of negativity because we won't spend 50-60 million? The past two summers have been oppressively negative without cracking 10 mil, let alone 50! Nobody who follows this club is going to be "negative" because we're not spending Man City money. Then in the same breath you suggest we'd "better" spend at least 30 mil net. Tell me how likely to happen you think that is, then tell me who's being "negative." Most of what you're saying makes sense, but this part came across as hopelessly out of touch and is reminiscent of media coverage of NUFC circa 2008 - "sad, divine-righting Geordies kicking off because their new owner didn't splash enough cash."

Top post overall. The continuing issue, however, is the lack of investment. I don't think anyone on here is morally opposed to the idea of letting the club grow itself rather than spiraling wildly into debt through chucking away money we don't have on players as we have done in the past. The problem: we make plenty of money but we don't spend any of it on the team, which then begs the question "what exactly are we doing with it?" Hence the borehole jokes, etc., but what's a lot more worrying is the thought that our surplus is being built up solely for Ashley to enrich himself off. He's taken money out of the club, ostensibly to pay himself back, but the accounts do not reflect a commensurate decrease in the amount of his interest-free loan to the club. So even nonpartisan observers (who can view Ashley's regime with parity, considering the well hasn't been poisoned for them by Ashley's horrific treatment of club legends and blatant lies to the fans) start to wonder where the money's going. We sold Carroll for 35m. Some would say we then needed an equivalent spend on transfer fees to show we had re-invested the money. Llambias popped up saying it had gone on wages, training ground improvements, etc, and was an investment into the club entire rather than just new players. OK. Let's say we buy that for a minute. The Carroll fee went into defraying our expenses. Wonderful. So all the TV money, prize money, income from the sales of other players during that time period, etc. should therefore be profit rather than having to be offset by the wages and other expenses that Carroll's sale has just paid for. We're in the black! Great! Time to use the TV money to invest on players...but that didn't happen either. So where has it gone? An almighty cleaning-out is coming this summer, I think. Remy returns to QPR, Colo, Jonas, and Cisse are likely to go, Ben Arfa may as well (and may be sold anyway as he's only a year left on his contract), Shola and some other deadwood are sure to be shifted (ex. Marveaux, Obertan, Amalfitano, R. Taylor) - and all of that is notwithstanding the possible sale of key players. A major net spend will be required to offset the imminent and substantial weakening of our squad. Now we'll really see whether these "positive accounts" and "signs of growth" are good news for the club, or only for Ashley, because there's no way we'll stay up next year with another summer of loans and freebies.

Use the force, Luuk?

Whoop-de-do, we scored. Still finding it hard to give a fuck. Consider the cracks firmly papered over. That game was utterly dire and we look bereft of any plan or creativity whatsoever.

Let's not forget that utterly embarrassing free-kick from Gouffran. Give Dummett a go already, it's not like anyone else looks vaguely likely.

Anybody just hear their commentator saying, "Get the famous Sports Direct Arena atmosphere going?" Fuck off you utter cunt.

The sad truth. I know he's not been backed and has been thoroughly undermined, but he made his bed as far as that goes and needs to lie in it. He hasn't been good enough this season. Probably should've gone at the end of last after the 0-6 to Liverpool; certainly after the 0-3 and 0-4 home defeats this season. He looks completely out of ideas and desperate. Obviously he won't go as Ashley doesn't want to pay him off (or to have to deal with someone who might not be a complete crony like Pardew is.) But there's no question that Pardew has taken the club as far as he can and we'll need someone better in if we're to improve.

Why are you biting? Everybody knows Ashley is to blame for our situation. There's nothing even to discuss.

There's only one person at the club who is responsible for our pathetic also-ran status and it's Mike Ashley. For him, and him alone, this season is going exactly to plan. Pardew can't be happy at the complete lack of backing, support, or any investment in the team whatsoever - he keeps spouting his bullshit so he can keep the biggest job he'll ever get. The players can't be happy at seeing our best player sold with no replacement and the absolute lack of any interest in the club from higher-up surely percolates through to them. They're on holiday already, Pardew is out of his depth and has been hung out to dry, and Ashley doesn't give a fuck as long as we stay up.

I'm also considering going 'on loan until the end of the season without an option to buy.' NUFC will always be my heart and soul, I was born into this club and can't escape it, but it's so soul-wrenchingly wretched at the moment, and the fact that there's no end in sight whatsoever is what makes it unbearable. It was a real chore to turn the match on today. Normally with a 2:45 (for me) kickoff like this one I'd be busting a gut to get home from work, but not today and not since the transfer window closed. I'm thinking about following Palace as a second team as well. An interesting mix of players there, some of whom have a bit of class about them, and much more spirit than we're showing at the moment.

I don't think there's a team in this league who wouldn't fancy playing us. We look truly dire, despicably so, and I feel for the people who pay to watch those disgraceful imposters who stroll about in black and white, the fraud who picks them, and the fat cunt who has dragged us down to this level. This club needs to be rebuilt from top to bottom in the summer - owner, manager, coaching staff, and playing staff. We're going nowhere but down at the moment.