Billy Whitehurst

So the transfer window has shown us that a) Ashley has no interest in investing in the club aside from ensuring we continue to get Premier League TV payments, Pardew is a yes man willing to say whatever he needs to to remain in a job beyond his capabilities and c) Joe Kinnear is a useless gobshite. We all knew this before the transfer window opened. As annoying as it is, it shouldn't come as a shock.

I think he's a good player. Always looked quality whenever I saw him play for Wigan. If Cabaye is worth £20 then McCarthy is worth at least half of that.

Stroller Ananobi notches, on fire pre-season.

Yeah yeah, I know, nothing to worry about. The misery doesn't start for real until the 19th.

So not far off our first 11 are 1-0 down at half time against a team who recently lost to Forfar Athletic. I now its only pre-season but fuck me that is poor.

Would agree with all of this. Around/Mabillon is a great area. My Mrs' family have an apartment near Rue de Buci so we are there every month or two. Rue Guisarde (near Mabillon metro) is very good for good quality reasonably priced restaurants. Can recommend some places to watch the football too if you wish to spoil your weekend.

Walter Mitty has got nothing on this old scrote.

They're not that fat, their smack heads are positively waif like.

Simply not true.

They were shite, the passing was awful. England have been shite years though. Jack Wilshere will make a difference once fit. The fact that I'm pinning my hopes on an injury prone 21 year old tells you all you need to know. We are one of the many second tier also ran countries behind the first tier of Spain, Germany, Holland and Argentina. The gulf between the first and second tier is huge though. That said, still much better than the dross Newcastle usually offer up!

I'm in the minority too. Can't remember agreeing with many things he posted but he seemed a nice enough bloke if a little simple. He took the stick very well too considering how much he got, I think he'll be missed (even if it is just being missed as an easy target to take the piss out of).

We've had no real game plan and our set pieces have been absolutely shite.

Scared football. By that I assume you mean our early cautious approach against a quality technical side knowing that an away goal would pretty much end the tie. Not a huge fan of Pardew but I think he got it right tonight. You clearly no nothing about football so I'm actually annoyed that I've responded to you. I'll never get the 3 minutes it has taken me to write this back. That saddens me.

Great performance, no disgrace to lose to a side like Benfica. I've criticised Pardew a lot recently but I reckon he got the tactics and substitutions spot on tonight. Time to concentrate on the league.

We just don't seem to have any shape and are sloppy as fuck. Been like that for the last few games.

I'm with you both you and Ant on this one. If you are going to use them then it's worth spending the dosh. If you are going to fritter away your money, you might as well do it on stuff that is good for your health.

I assume you instructed the chef to put some 'house special mayonnaise' on young Nile's chips?

Keegan managing the club is without a doubt the best thing to have ever happened to this club in my lifetime (I'm 35). Prior to Keegan, we really were a poor club with terrible owners and some truly woeful players (albeit a few exceptional players like Beardsley, Waddle and Gacoigne who were quickly sold). He completely transformed the club and his legacy lives on today. When we consider that we have the likes of Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Tiote and Colo playing for us, that wouldn't have been imagineable in the years before Keegan. During his time as manager, I loved supporting us, I believed in everything he said and it was obvious just how much the club meant to him - he was one of us. Him standing on the stairs outside SJP explaining to the fans why he sold Cole just illustrates that. They say you should never meet your heroes but that doesn't apply to him. I met him once (the season we lost the big lead in the league) and he was such a genuinely nice bloke. He was completely as I expected him to be. If you look at what he achieved in his time here, his managerial record is remarkable and it was all done playing football that the supporters wanted to see. It's at times like this that you need a bit of nostalgia as we've got fuck all else. It's also people like Keegan which remind us why we love the club.

He is Boumsong's cousin (according to Wiki). Sweet jesus.

Just fucking awful. Not enough quality, not enough spirit, no discernable tactics. Everyone needs to take collective responsibility. The players for their performances, the manager for his tactics, and the board for their lack of investment. Did anyone play well? Sammy Ameobi offered us a little off the bench, but can't think of another player who did well.

London, Paris, New York, and Buenos Aires.

And we should pay Ba what he wants/what a player of his calibre deserves. We haven't got a hope in hell of replacing him for £7.5m.

Defensively inept. I know we don't have the players but there is no organisation, Pardew has to take the blame for that. Even Fulham looked liked scoring at will when they played us. Colo is our only defender, Santon is good going forward and is great on the ball but he is suspect defensively. Simpson, Williamson, and Perch are woeful, Tavernier and Ferguson don't look like they are good enough to make it at this level. Steven Taylor can at least defend. We really really need at least two new defenders but we also need our coaching staff to organise them too. btw - I'm not suggesting we get rid of Pardew, like some of the other numpties on this board, but he, Ashley and the players themselves, need to share the blame. On the plus side, I thought Ba, Marveaux, Obertan and Bigirimana had good games. Cisse looks lost out wide and for all the good Tiote did, he was a liability at times.

By 'these articles', I assume you mean the ones which only exist in his head?

Aye. It's not due to injuries that he is playing, he's our first choice right back and he's got the touch of a discotheque drunk.