Papa Lazaru

That does ring a bell! I suppose when you're turning down penalties all match you have to at least keep it interesting and have some variety in your gestures!

I didn't. But you'd think his track record is strong enough that he doesn't need to go touting himself like this to get the job

Its true that whilst Blackburn won the title and in his time here we have played some good football that he hasn't played in a great team and not for any length of time. If he'd went to manu when they were at their best he could have been knocking in 40 a season with the service they used to provide. Fortunately for us he told fergie to shove it and came here!

Obviously which manager we get, how much money they have, which players want to stay etc. is going to effect it. But as long as Fat Fred gets a top clss manager in i expect to be back in the top 6 again, we have the players for that and will be adding more, and this time they will be maanged by somebody who isn't a moron. If things go really well. we'll be one of the teams who challenge for 4th place and CL qualififcation, get a good start to a season and that momentum, backed up by quality can take you to 4th. But certainly UEFA cup qualification is what i'll be expecting.

Not too shabby. His record at Blackburn is nothing short of astonishing. 89310[/snapback] When you think his record at Blackburn is what Shearer could do before two terrible injuries. He would have been scoring at the same rate for years without those injuries and when you add in all the goals he'd have got in the time he was out, in the time he was slowly getting fitness back and all the extra goals he'd have got through being at his best he would have smashed every record going!

Well, working at the back four + 'keeper isn't easy in 5-a-side games... 89399[/snapback] "Proper" players don't need tactics, gameplans, formations, instructions, positional sense, organisation or any help from their manager/coaches at all. All they need is to play 5-a-side, be part of the "bestest dressing room and team spirit in the whole universe, ever" and anyone who says otherwise is wrong damn them!

In the very short space of time Roeder had before the Portsmouth match he made changes to the defence. If you watched the match our back four were invariably in position in any given situation, and how often could you say that under the previous fuckwitt. They looked as if they had some semblance of instructions given to them and more than once Pompey were on a break and i looked and we had 3 or 4 defenders in a line ready for them, now for NUFC this year that is amazing! Roeder is a coach and a defensive organiser, i think he will definitely improve them as a unit which is how back fours (plus keeper) have to be, they can't be individuals. How embrassing is it that Souness was being paid £2m a year to produce the shite he was. Look at something as simple as Roder telling the wide players to (and this may sound crazy) play out wide!!! And what do you know, we can attack more, pass more as there are more options, we actually stretch the opposition and the strikers have some room. Meanwhile both fullbacks have more help with a man in fornt of them instead of stuck in the middle of the pitch.

Did you see that Boro fan run half the length of the pitch to throw his season ticket at McLaren yesterday? 89378[/snapback] Look how easy it was for him to run all the way through without a single challenge to stop him, the boro defence must double up as stewards!

That just lowered the tone from the previous civilised discussions about dwarf porn and "ear sex"

Ever since Keegan the press and everyone in football just universally proclaims that we have a shite defence and attack alot, even when neither may be the case! As people have said our mistakes are often comical ones, but also because of our reputation they are shown more and thus the reputation grows even more. And did anyone notice against Portsmouth that even with just one training session, Roeder seemed to have managed to get the defence to stay in position more and actually be in the right place for most situations. A couple of times i saw Pompey looking to break and we had a line of defenders all ready and in position!!!

I took your advice and watched it. Wow. I think it's fair to tell everyone that no wires or green scenes were used in the production of that video. I can't decide which is my favourite bit: the flying (with birds); the motorbike; the jumping; the snowboarding (and then the fish) ... Wow. 88441[/snapback] Its not the only vid they have by the mighty Hoff, i'm about to check out perhaps his definitive hit "Looking for freedom"

I suggest everybody watches this godlike entity of music and video in action!

I'm hoping we'll definitely see some improvement in positioning of the defence under roeder. And you have to hope that if Shearer is playing, then he will know he needs width in the team to help himself out and so we may even see Nobby get to play out wide now and then!!!

Pearce was in charge of Forest briefly and for his first team sheet his wife had to point out he'd picked 12 players (or 10 i can't remember which) 88405[/snapback] 11 but no keeper IIRC. 88406[/snapback] That was it, he had 11 down but nobody playing in goal

Obsessed. A bit more lenient? You aren't joking! Whoever does get the job will be starting from a much worse inherited position than Souness was don't forget, and won't have the funds he had. I would think it good going if they could achieve qualification for Europe in less than three year now tbh. 88402[/snapback] Whether it's Roeder/Big Al or a new appointment i will be expecting everyone to be pretty lenient for this season. They are taking over a mess, avoiding relegation is enough now. All that i would like to see is somesigns of improvement in terms of organisation, gameplans, tactics and the like. And at least a small step up in standard of football and attacking. If it looks as though the person (and their staff) are heading in the right direction then we can start to be optimistic about the following season. Whoever takes over has two things in their favour against all the crap they are presented with: 1. The players available and soon to be available are so much better than Souness made them look, so any manger has a chance of improving us 2. We have a good home tie to get into the QF of the fa cup

Pearce was in charge of Forest briefly and for his first team sheet his wife had to point out he'd picked 12 players (or 10 i can't remember which)

You're right, 12 weeks takes us to 27th April. Last two games Birmingham away (29/04) and Chelsea home (07/05). Plus the cup final of course Would they have to appoint another caretaker for those last two games if they haven't got anyone lined up? 88386[/snapback] We could always just go with no recognised manager and coach, as we have been for the previous 17 months!

I can see why MON is a good shout because Fred can always say to him sign the contract now but you don't have to take over until the close season and can leave Roeder/Shearer in charge. The fact is though to sack a manager at this point in the season and yet have the likes of Hitzfeld and Le Guin available is very lucky. It would be madness not to talk with them, if they say no then fair enough, but you have to look into it. And an appointment of that calibre will do wonders for helping the good players decide their future lies here rather than elsewhere.

They both lack the correct badges and can only be in charge for 12 weeks. I don't know how far along either of them are in qualifying but i suspect Fat Fred doesn't see Roeder being boss long term.

Imagine if we did win the FA cup, part of the credit would go to Souness for such storming victories in rounds 3 and 4

I want one of europes top coaches like the afforementioned Hitzfeld, Hiddink, Le Guin etc. After that i'd be looking at O'Neil and Allardyce I have no idea who we will get. Fat Fred may amaze us all by going after one of these top european coaches, or he may go for the same old shite as usual, or somewhere in between! I think theres a good chance he'll say to O'Neil how about taking over next season but sign a contract now and leave things in the hands of Roeder/Shearer. Theres a chance he'll want Shearer to get the badges and take over with or withour Roeder. Theres a chance he'll go back to Allardyce and dear god possibly Steve Bruce! I'm goign to be unusually optimistic and give him the credit that he'll go after a top european coach and failign that will try and temp O'Neil or Allardyce.

Completely agree with that. One of the worst things Souness did in his time here was kill all hope and enjoyment and leave many fans (myself included) unable to ever truly enjoy wins when you knew it allowed him to stay longer and further fuck the club up.

Its another of those myths/loads of bullshit that do the rounds. Nobody expects us to win the premiership, we don't even expect to win a cup. What we do expect is that with the money and crowds we have, with the players available and with the team having until Souness arrived finished 4th, 3rd and 5th we expect to be top 6 and challenging for 4th. We also expect to beat crap teams at home, to see some good football and see some semblance of coachign and training, planning, formaton and tactics when we pay a manager and his staff millions. None of the above is unreasonable.

I was surpised, then i remembered you have to factor in the intertotot, abysmal uefa cup teams and poor some weak fa cup opponents as well.

Micky Quinn was on SSN and reckoned the next appointment had to be right, or Shepherd should walk. It's difficult to disagree with that. 88111[/snapback] Agree, but the word Should is the key. He won't walk even if he cocks up the next one i suspect.