NJS

I'm in the canny player but disappointed we're so desperate club.

The kid must be a youngun because no one started wearing diadora till the early 90's. Sergio Tacchini or adidas Gazelle would've been more appropriate. Gold Diadoras came out in about 84 or 85 - same period as Puma Villas. Aye but they were considered trampy like Hi Tec then. Disagree - gold ones were about £60 and were pretty much the dogs bollocks - a cut above the more standard trimm trabbs, sambas and gazelles. I think someone stillhas issues about being picked on for his diadoras, he shoulda gone for the LA Gear! I couldn't afford them then - and nobody wore American stuff including Nike.

The kid must be a youngun because no one started wearing diadora till the early 90's. Sergio Tacchini or adidas Gazelle would've been more appropriate. Gold Diadoras came out in about 84 or 85 - same period as Puma Villas. Aye but they were considered trampy like Hi Tec then. Disagree - gold ones were about £60 and were pretty much the dogs bollocks - a cut above the more standard trimm trabbs, sambas and gazelles.

The kid must be a youngun because no one started wearing diadora till the early 90's. Sergio Tacchini or adidas Gazelle would've been more appropriate. Gold Diadoras came out in about 84 or 85 - same period as Puma Villas.

Good point. I think in all of the slagging of Shepherd in the context on the finances, I'd say in his defence that I presume his next cunning plan, rather than just new loans, was to generate income from the redevlopment of the Metro/Brewery scheme. I'm not sure if it would be feasible now but if Ashley had pushed this forward in 2007 it could have worked. The alternative which I expected was to make the football side the priority via investment which being honest, it looked as if that was going okay until the end of August.

He did score a few goals for Leeds and Man U. I've said before I always liked him as a player and have been just as disappointed with his time with us as anyone - we can just hope that the lay off and manager change may spark a change in form.

Pompey have signed two midfielders today so this is probably dead. I think Barton falls into a group of players whose sale would guarantee relegation.

Yeah - my unrating of Kinnear aside, I didn't mind in the slightest his gameplan for Chelsea but Allardyce's "respect" for shit teams was soul destroying.

It would have been touch and go imo is my point - in response to the article suggesting we were safe with no chance of relegation. The reason I'm so worried this year is that even with players returning from injury, I think the lack of a focal point to boost confidence as we had least year will be fatal.

When he left we had 26 pts - Reading went down with 36 and a similar GD so we'd have needed 11 points as a minimum - I think we'd have struggled to get that many.

I know I have a vested interest working for an investment bank but as long as this isn't execs as it states and is just operational staff then there is absolutely nothing wrong with rewarding staff who work hard who have nothing to do with risk.

I could never see where those points would have come from tbh - I think comparing positions simplistically takes no account of the fixture list. We certainly wouldn't have been able to play with any freedom at Spurs and would have lost imo - I also think he would have been too negative in the derby and we may not have won it. Also as the end of the season approached I can't even begin to contemplate how much more negative the twat would have made us.

"..defend the constitution... so help me God"

The mackem game could get very interesting off the pitch now - I think owner and manager will have no doubt how they are seen.

NE bottom three looking quite possible now.

The thing about complaining and rocking the boat like we did for Beye's red card is that as long as they keep employing the same incompetent cheats, chances are they can get you back.

What's the odds on Obama being the consumate politician and inviting the pilot to his inauguration?

We did have a couple of years ago (probably pre-Ashley) - a lad I know who used to work for the Shields Gazette - I don't know if he's still there

Pretty much spot on - especially hope and belief >> fear and dread. From my own pov I'd add that that hope and belief rekindled a love of the club and football which was nearly dead and is now in death throes again "one year on".

So this isn't the Ricardo Montalban condolences thread then?

Bit harsh on Bulgaria going by my visit to Sofia in '99 - some mafia/crime/prostitution related theme would have been more appropriate - the rest are pretty good

He was on my flight back to Stansted after the Sunderland game - didn't look as extremely pissed off as I or the couple of other fans on the plane were.

It saddened me as she's on my "you don't really want to know how many people I'd kill for a chance with her" list.

I remember he reffed another game either the next year or the year after and disallowed another goal which was actually a correct decision - the funny thing was the crowd didn't even go up for the goal iirc - we just expected it to be disallowed. It would be good to see the two goals now with modern angles etc - they certainly went beyond even Bennett or any of the other corrupt fuckers worst excesses by a million miles from my "nostalgiac" viewpoint.

Ambitious teams will realise that Bassong is good and he'll be sold.