NJS

All well and good but I thought we needed 4 or 5 new players not counting any releases. Now I think we need 8 or 9.

Ish. I admire his professionalism and think he'll sort out the wasters but have doubts about football style.

I used to work with a lad who was a veggie until he found out that fish gills were used to clear Stella and he coudn't face giving that up so converted back to human.

"You know" 20 times a sentence is becoming far too common - I blame Beckham and other thick fuckers but "normal" people have started doing it as well.

I'm 43 which I think just leaves Rob, LM and SpongeBob at a guess older. 34 years ago today was my first game (on .com) aged 9

1. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being "Over the moon", how happy are you with this years' performance? 2.5 - must do better 2. Your favourite performance of the season? Liverpool - competed in second half against a good team and actually looked like they cared. 3. Worst performance? Fulham A 4. Best goal? Martins Vs Spurs 5. Worst goal conceeded? Any against the shit teams like Wigan, Charlton, Fulham etc etc though I'd sack Harper for Alonso's 6. Best Player? Butt or Nobby 7. Worst player? Ramage. 8. Most improved player? I would say Butt but he was okay before he got injured when he first signed - probably Milner 9. Most disappointing player? Duff, Charlie, Martins 50% of the time (more recently). 10. If you could have one match to re-play again, which would it be? Arsenal A - should have hung on and beat the bastards. 11. What would you consider as our luckiest perfomance? Spurs and Liverpool both should have been out of sight before we came back in but fuck them. 12. Realistic goals for next season? Top 8 and sad to say above + good perfomances Vs the Mackems. 13. Biggest suprise of the past season? How useful Sibierski was. 14. Biggest disappointment? How it turned out for Roeder - he had to go but I used to like the bloke. 15. Which player do you see as making the biggest improvement next year? Hopefully Martins - being able to control a ball and pass the fucker 5 yards would be a start. 16. Which single (realistic) signing would you most like to see us make? Before the other week I'd have said Woodgate - now haven't a clue. 17. Which peripheral player do you see as breaking into the main team next season? Pattinson (sarcasm) - possibly Carrol when Owen gets fucked/sold) 18. Which player is most likely to leave? Emre I think 19. Your favourite (not necessarily the "best") player this year? Probably Milner - frustrating as fuck at times but given what happened with Villa the kid played his balls off. 20. What is the main area the team needs to improve to gain UEFA Cup Qualification next year? Midfield and defence - we need to create and score more goals.

I always thought of them as a nice, watered down two-tone type band for the masses who wouldn't "tolerate" The Specials and the like. Fodder for the "I have a wide musical taste" crowd. As Razorlight are to indie.

Anyone who however tenuously fits the "geordie" label - see Roeder previously and now would suit Bruce, Robson and Pearce. Edit: on reading the chron add Phil Brown and Neil MacDonald.

The ordanance survey map is genius

Tht was one of the top 10 I think in "most offensive religious jokes ever" as "man" was substituted by "priest"

I thought Milburn signed for us in '47 - be surprised if he'd played for them. Not saying he didn't but I can't remember it from is autobiog.

Its something we recognise clearly on here Is that an insult? I genuinely can't decide btw. If you like No I just meant posts like ones in the past about rent-a-mong Sky crowds. (If I'd meant it that way I would have said "as this place proves")

I think this has been a poor season for him and he COULD do better but as I said when he was appointed Shepherd set the top bar as 5th/6th with a possible attempt at 4th in a really good yera. I do actually think Roeder could do that with a bit of luck. As I also said I don't think Allardyce (or O'Neill for that matter) actually sets the bar any higher but possibly just firms it up and would probably remove seasons as poor as this. If we want to higher we need a Benitez/Wenger/Hitzfeld.

Its something we recognise clearly on here - and sadly it can become a factor - in fact its a large factor in our failure imo.

But it will only be a factor when we get rid of this "English Fuckwit".. Look how Oliver and Shepherd have tried to sell Roeder as the ex-player/adopted Geordie - I think in some quarters that busllshit works - they wouldn't be able to try that with Allardyce and the mackem thing actually takes the swing the other way from neutral. My view is Roeder should go - I'm just not convinced that Allardyce is the right man as I never thought he was the right man in the past which is what .COM are saying. If his availability ups the ante on getting rid of Roeder then fair enough but if its right to sack him then have a proper search. That would involve as again they say a new chairman.

I pretty much agree with what they say. On the mackem thing I took it as something that shouldn't and wouldn't bother them (I feel the same) but at the same time as they say there is a section of the support whose first thought at the sign of trouble would be "mackem bastard" the same way it was "jock bastard/dutch bastard" with other people - its not right but its a factor.

From what I saw there was a lot of tentative suggestion - his son is a crook and he's a manager therefore....

As I also said historically the rich always had access to abortion while the poor died in alleyways - the fact that the authorities are now in some kind of control of the situation is just a more modern stance - one thing money has always given people is freedom from laws they don't like. I thought you were getting at the fact that I said that that view that we do agree with is sometimes frowned on as a "betrayal" by more radical supporters of the rights - apologies if we've got mixed up.

Anecdotes from my boss. I always thought my Mam was a pretty "good" catholic (despite doubting a lot of the dogma) but his description of his Mam (lives in a small town 50m west of Dublin) makes me think mine was a heretic. Things like him not drinking until he was 18 because when he was confirmed he made an official promise to wait. Promises they take a tad seriously if you know what I mean. I think a lot of irish people will be as you say - modern in outlook but I think older generation wise its still there. Having said that I would say if all the over 60s in this country disappeared overnight you'd lose a lot of the old-fashioned bigotries like racism and homophobia at a stroke.

Oba: Yes I'm older but I'm just going by what everyone would go by - friends and people I know - I certainly know that the "its horrible but okay" approach is the view of the female friends I have and they've said to me that they feel sometimes reluctant to state that clearly. I got the impression from the case that the lass was in care and it sounds like what would go down on other threads here as a teen/charva pregancy. If thats the case then it would be easy for the authorities to take control and I doubt she would have the means to get here easily - all I was saying was that if this were say Bono's daughter (sorry famous rich irishman cliche) then the authorities wouldn't have got within a million miles of it - the abortion would have happened. I think its very naive to reject the role of the catholic church in irish politics. The divorce and abortion laws and the until relatively recent ban on contraception stands out to me as pretty obvious. You could just say this reflects a more "conservative" society in general but I don't think thats true. My boss is Irish and from what he's said the older generation especially are in general very religious in their view of life. The fact that Mother Theresa travelled to Ireland to campaign against the legalisation of divorce also shows thats the case imo.

Where's that coming from, like? Anyone I've ever discussed it with, who's been pro-choice has felt it was a hugely difficult issue. Most of them not prone to too much deep thinking on other issues. Also your opening line is completely out-dated, much like the offending legislation in this instance. Bollocks about this being a class issue, too. Positively topsy-turvy land for you today tbh. Oh, and - DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING! I meant unquestioning from those who see themselves as "liberal" in the wider sense of the word - I get the impression sometimes its "treason" to feel uneasy about the act itself. If the lass was rich (for want of a better word) then it wouldn't have come to court - thats what I meant - she would already have been here and had it done. Exactly the way the "rich" in this country always found a safe way pre-legalisation. On my opening line do you deny that Ireland's constitution and legal system is a teeny bit Catholic influenced?

Fair enough but as I said I was told May 1st which turns out to just be "May" in my case. These things usually don't take that long though - I'd expect yours to be done in a couple of months.

Mysoginist religious intolerance. While supporting this woman's rights in this case I have to say abortion is a horrible thing - I think a lot of "social" abortions in this country could be avoided and even as an anti-religious lefty I always feel uneasy at the unquestioning support for it. Having said that it boils down to the old classic - its all about money - as the article mentions thousands of "rich" irish women take a mysterious holiday to Britain every year - the same thing would happen in the US if the idiots get their way and reverse the law there - the rich will head for Canada and the poor will die in the alleyways.

Yeah and Its poor service in my view - nobody I spoke to (including obviously the one a couple of weeks ago) actually knew what the situation is - thats what their job is.

Probably - Its getting a bit like Footballers wages - beyond a certain level its pointless and just becomes a numeric status symbol.