acrossthepond

@Moog: Support the men in black and white who go out and play in front of you every other week. That part of the club still belongs to us no matter who the owner is or what division we play in. It's a wretched situation but there's nothing any of us can do. Fat Mike won't budge until he's good and ready.

Class. I hear there's a local managerial vacancy, if you're reading this, Joe....

The only disappointment is that he wasn't given longer to utterly destroy the mackems. Five or six more games of his incompetence and they'd be past the point of no return imo. A useless manager, as much a dinosaur in his own way as Kinnear. We'll never hear from him again in this country, unless he gets a job as a pundit spouting his 'controversy.'

It's hard to see past the 0-3 to Sunderland and the 0-6 to Liverpool. The utter lack of any effort in those games and the manager's feeble tactics were enough to turn people against him and the team - and I confess I was one of them, stating on here that it was time for Pardew to go following the loss to Liverpool. Without the idiotic appointment of Kinnear, I imagine the summer of discontent re: Pardew would have continued, but the arrival of our director of fuck-all did enough to alleviate some of the pressure on the manager by way of sympathy to keep there from being any more trouble. Now he appears to be getting the team turned around with some positive displays and decent tactics and if it can continue, then support for him will continue. I probably was wrong to want Pardew out at the end of last season, but judging him solely on the period following our win over Chelsea, he looked a man utterly out of his depth, with no plan B and no idea of how to dig us out of the hole we were in. He seemed unable to inspire any devotion from the players. I know part of that was down to a depleted squad, but I still worry that "that Pardew" lurks beneath the surface, and as soon as things get a little bumpy, he'll revert to type and we'll end up playing terrible football with an unmotivated squad.

He wants to keep his mouth shut and concentrate on what happens on the pitch. That's what we judge him by - everyone knows the transfer failures are not his fault, but mouthing that complete load of bullshit is only going to harm his image in the eyes of fans. I understand he was probably forced into that bogus statement, but if I were him now I'd answer transfer questions with "Sorry, the window has closed and we just have to focus on making sure this is a successful season."

In fairness he thinks we're talking about Bryan Robson.

Tell me you don't hold it against the boring beige cunts as well and I'll show you a liar. Besides, little rivalries like that are what makes football so great. I remember when we played Stoke in the FA cup 3rd round just after Fat Sam had been sacked. They were still in the championship and it was the first time we'd played them since maybe the 80s, when there'd been some bother with our fans at their industrial shithole of a ground. Something silly that happened a while ago, yet it fired our fans up, much the same way the home tie with Leeds has this year, and we ended up really looking forward to it and trouncing them 4-1 (didn't hurt that KK was re-appointed that day either.) So yeah, could we let it go? Definitely. Am I going to? Not a chance. Football's about heroes and villains (no pun intended) and the way those wankers carried on definitely qualifies them for the latter category.

Do we fuck. They took the piss out of us when we were at our lowest just for a laugh. I hope we're in a position to repay the favour one day.

The terrible crime of wanting our club to be great again - or, if great isn't achievable, then at least not a sad parody of itself ran by a piss-taking chancer and his alkie crony and helmed by a dogsbody like Pardew who's content to collect his cheques and toe the line. What a shocker! Fans of ailing club want owner to splash the cash! How unreasonable we are for daring to want reinforcement to a squad in dire need of it. It's all OK because Uncle Mike bought us 5 players in January so we could stop up (never mind that failing to spend in the summer was the reason we were in that position.)

Another true classic of a thread from CT. The biggest girls' blouse on the board moaning about moaning girls' blouses. Fans complaining about the lack of investment that turned us from 5th place Champions League contenders (one match away from 4th) to relegation dodgers the next season is what's turning us into a laughingstock. Fucking hell, you couldn't make this up.

I think they call that a "Plan B." Something nobody at this club seems to know anything about.

On a loan with no option to buy? He did decently in a shit team but a 20 minute cameo at SJP does not suggest he's streets ahead any of those players who we could've signed on a permanent basis, barring Lukaku and Borini. The real difference is that they would cost money and Remy didn't (I think a 2m loan fee was mooted?) That's not even getting into the (unlikely) possibility of Remy being sent down halfway through his time here. As far as loans with no option to buy: Hmm, a young, powerful forward who'd bust a gut to prove himself worthy to his employers, or a mercenary who already knocked us back once? Admittedly Remy will want to play his way into the France squad, but the simple fact is that we're doing him (and QPR) a favour, as our illustrious director of fuck-all already stated. No movement forward in the market. So yes, I'd rather have had any of the players you named above, barring Sessegnon, on a permanent basis than Remy on loan. Ideally it would be both.

A storming half-season followed by a quick sale in January might be best for all concerned, if he were to be replaced adequately.

Another load of shit that only we put up with is factoring agents' fees into transfers (Ba, for example.)

Still available, isn't he? I'd take him until the end of the season.

Seems like we're not even bothering with a fake bid this year. This club will never progress as long as we have Ashley. The fish smells from the head. Llambias, Wise, Jimenez, Kinnear, all of them are merely cronies and fall-guys for the fat bastard who has successfully converted this great and storied club into also-rans, when we aren't busy being the laughingstocks of the league.

One mention of us on the BBC's live coverage so far, and it's to say Gomis isn't coming, which I think we all already knew. We've never really been in for anyone, have we? It's all been bullshit. Cue an eleventh hour bid for McCarthy (or Ozil, both are equally realistic in terms of we're not signing either.)

McCarthy is inferior to Cabaye, Ince is a good prospect and a signing I'd like us to make, but we'd have to pay top dollar, I don't think Gomis wants to come here, Hughes is again a top prospect but his price would be too high for our illustrious owner, and N'Zogbia would never come here (not that I'd want him back either.) Also, what's the point of getting 20m for a player when that money is not re-invested in the team? Again, we're better off keeping him, since we won't be signing a replacement.

And won't the best price be in January after he's played half a season with us, rather than when he's sulking and suitors think they can take advantage and get him on the cheap? Plus that caveat you included "if we can get someone else in", won't be happening. We're better off keeping him for now.

He's rubbish. Gouffran would be a better choice on the left wing. Marveaux is a poor facsimile of a footballer who contributes nothing when we don't have the ball and has none of the passion that we'll undoubtedly need this season.

Tomorrow's my birthday. NUFC-related birthday presents have always been terrible (KK quit on my birthday, for example) and this one looks to be no different. We will sign no-one.

Cracks papered over. Our attacking threat was nonexistent until Remy came on. Makes a bit of difference, a new signing, eh Joe and Mike? We may have got the three points but I predict many more dire afternoons of football such as what we saw for 70 minutes today unless we bring in new attacking talent.

Pick that the fuck out!!

Despite being solely used as a winger last season, you can see how Pardew is transitioning to using Gouffran as a striker. Soon we'll start hearing about how "we couldn't get another striker over the line, but we've got plenty of good strikers at the club already, like Papiss, Shola, Yoan, and Adam...."

Switch to 4-3-3 and take Marveaux off for Remy would be my expert tactical advice. We need more men forward.