I agree - I hate Kissball

[Tony]

Gonna be AVB next I reckon


You English are a fickle bunch

[Laurie]

Have to say I felt for Steve Clarke, he just had a bad run of luck and some cheating refs and players to deal with.

Look at the soft Chelsea penalty?

I would have at least given him the xmas period. Shame really, I quite like him as managers go.

How about Martin Jol!

Laurie

[hippriest]

Hmmmm. Jol wouldn't be my favourite. I don't see him as the most dynamic manager & it would be a case of "just failed at Fulham - how about taking on the Albion now?"

Personally, I think someone is already lined up, and that he will be a complete surprise.

Some bloke in the mould of your guy would do just fine, Laurie

[Laurie]

Mate,

I have a couple of old friends that work at Southampton Uni and they are season ticket holders at St Mary's and they were saying that they saw Pochettino in the stands at least 3 months before Nigel Adkins went.
Nicola Cortese (owner) had all this in place long before Southampton were promoted and it was just a case of crossing the T's and dotting the I's so to speak.

Pochettino kept Espanyol up and challenging by developing from the youth academies and the one at Southampton is very much regarded as one of the best in the world. Players like Adam Lallana, Theo Woolcott, Philip Oxlade-Chamberlain (and Englands soon to be next left back) Steven Davis have all been through it.

Truth is, if someone said to me 3 years ago that the Saints will be premier league position top 8 and playing teams off the park I would have taken it like a shot!

On a serious note for the Baggies perhaps a Gordon Strachan or Joe Kinnear type manager? These guys can motivate the dead!

Its between the bottom 5 me thinks.

[hippriest]

Yeah, I hate to think that we are in the mix but we def are now. I think on paper that we should be mid-table as the squad is actually stronger IMHO than the likes of Norwich & Cardiff (who have both just beaten us) - the main downside is the aching loss of Lukaku, who was a giant for us and should be playing first choice for Chelsea, as most people acknowledge.

Its really a big confidence thing - a few weeks ago the Albion looked very capable against Arsenal & Man U.....but now look; it's losing to the fellow mid-tablers & relegation candidates that really knocks the stuffing out of a team & un-does a manager.

Who next? - Big Sam, AVB? Must be only a loss or 2 away!

[Tony]

Gonna be AVB next I reckon


You English are a fickle bunch

Ahem.....

[hippriest]

Yeah, OK Mystic Meg

[hippriest]

What a knob that bloke who owns Cardiff is. They well & truly sold their arses for Premier League footie. Changing their shirts to red was scandalous. Still, we may get Malcy McKie out of the debacle, so all might yet end well.

Perhaps Tan can move on up to Glasgow later and change Celtic's trip from those boring green & white hoops in exchange for a better crack at Europe? Pink & violet diamonds would look neat. Reckon that would go down well with the faithful, eh Tony?

[Tony]

What a Kit Kat that bloke who owns Cardiff is. They well & truly sold their arses for Premier League footie. Changing their shirts to red was scandalous. Still, we may get Malcy McKie out of the debacle, so all might yet end well.

Perhaps Tan can move on up to Glasgow later and change Celtic's trip from those boring green & white hoops in exchange for a better crack at Europe? Pink & violet diamonds would look neat. Reckon that would go down well with the faithful, eh Tony?

Don't think so mate.

Agree about the old Malky MacKay doo dah though, (former Celtic Captain, just like David Moyes, Paul Lambert, Etc etc)

So, baggies in the championship next season then, still, at least yer tickets will be cheaper.

[hippriest]

£10 for tomorrow - combo of Xmas shopping duties calling + Hull being the visitors, I reckon.

Cheap enough - even for you lot up there?

[Tony]

Yeh, think most clubs give tomorrow's game for a fiver or a tenner.....


Normally 29 quid for my team

[Keith Fowler]

Love it! What a way for The Dons to start the New Year!

[hippriest]

I do admire and respect that Howard Webb fella. If he was in the arts rather than sports field he would be rightly applauded for "a peculiarly unique and leftfield sense of vision; unmatched by his peers".

Bad timing though - just missed the New Years honours list.

(sorry, keith)

[glscoot]

nothing wrong with that decision, the one against eto, was the worst decision. that guy has no chance of an all expenses paid trip to lady boy land.

[Keith Fowler]

I do admire and respect that Howard Webb fella. If he was in the arts rather than sports field he would be rightly applauded for "a peculiarly unique and leftfield sense of vision; unmatched by his peers".

Bad timing though - just missed the New Years honours list.

(sorry, keith)

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... s-decision

[Keith Fowler]

I do admire and respect that Howard Webb fella. If he was in the arts rather than sports field he would be rightly applauded for "a peculiarly unique and leftfield sense of vision; unmatched by his peers".

Bad timing though - just missed the New Years honours list.

(sorry, keith)

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... s-decision

[glscoot]

I wonder where todays ref is from, disallowed a perfectly good goal.

[hippriest]

This thing about where the ref is from is a ludicrous red herring that seems to have started up this year. Graham Poll (who I quite like, despite denying us a penalty against Derby at Wembley a few years back) was on the radio explaining the method the ref's association have of allocating matches and (call me naive) but it made total sense and seems to preclude any such bias happening. Far more concerning is the overly pally relationship that some of the refs have with some of the bigger stars of the bigger clubs (mentioning no names!)....laughing & joking with them on the pitch, which I don't think is appropriate.

If this was a factor, the best way of reducing ref bias in Man U fixtures is to make sure none of them are from Thailand / China / Japan etc......Greater Manchester would be fine, as nobody from there supports United.

oooooh, stand back - light blue touch paper!

(sorry, Keith - as usual)

[glscoot]

yes we know that teams fans are not local, but it was man city who were to benefit from a shocking decision. so in this case it does make a difference

[hippriest]

Man City benefiting? Bring it on!

City Or The Arse for the title for me - on logic and emotion. That'll win me some brownie points with Gooner Kev

Sadly, with a chance of relegation I want all the top clubs to beat the bottom ones every week. I hate myself for it, but there you go. Much though I far prefer the likes of Palace, Fulham & West Ham to Man U, Chelsea & Liverpool, if those first three were to lose every game for the rest of the season I would be a very happy bunny. Nasty business, football - and apologies to any followers of those clubs on this site.