What are YOUR thoughts after the first weekend of the season?

Posted on August 15th, 2010 | 223 Comments |

Ian Holloway - The surprise package of the weekend.
Ian Holloway - The surprise package of the weekend.
Well that is pretty much it from weekend number one of the Premier League season, but what have you made of it?

I’ve been watching football most of the day and have been catching up on all of yesterdays Premier League games.

Some of it was great, brilliant, just what the Premier League is supposed to be about, but there was also a lot of dross on display yesterday in fairness. There is only us and Manchester United left to play this weekend, so now everybody has seen the other teams in action, have you revised your opinions on our fortunes for this season?

I’ll start off at the DW Stadium where Blackpool thumped Wigan 4-0. I saw nothing yesterday from either team that should worry us. The scoreline would suggest that Blackpool dominated proceedings, which they did to a point, but only because Wigan, by their own admission, were woeful. If Chris Kirkland had have had his head screwed on then the scoreline would have been nothing like it was. At the other end, Wigan never really looked like threatening.

How about West Brom? It was hard to make anything of them yesterday to be honest. Much like us, they faced a tough test away a team that will likely be in the top two come the end of the season. The scoreline was 6-0 to Chelsea, a hiding to nothing which masks up deficiencies in their squad. It doesn’t get any easier for them either with away trips to Liverpool and Arsenal to follow. The Baggies are another team that don’t really concern me. We can beat them.

What about West Ham? With a new manager installed they have been tipped to move away from the bottom end of the table where they finished last season. Not going by the performance at in their 3-0 loss at Villa Park they won’t be. The Hammers looked very very disappointing yesterday, and once again are a team that I believe we can beat.

Bolton and Fulham didn’t really impress me either. I think Fulham will find it hard without Hodgson whilst Bolton look like they will spend another season dodging relegation judging by the performance from both sides yesterday.

Blackburn won yesterday, but it wasn’t convincing and certaily didn’t showcase any of that ‘pass-pass’ football that will supposedly rip us apart this season. The thing is, we can play Blackburn at their own game now, which is one reason why I don’t fear them.

Stoke can also be placed in the same bracket as Blackburn to be honest. They don’t really worry me and I have faith we can get a result against them. The same goes for their opoosition, Wolves, who won 2-1 in that game.

Sunderland and Birmingham drew 2-2 and as much as Sunderland impressed me in the first half they were far from unbeatable. If you can stop Darren Bent then you stop Sunderland. It’s pretty much as simple as that. Birmingham went 2-0 down against 10-men before they staged a fight-back. Overall, Sunderland have potential, Birmngham look average.

There are 12 teams that have failed to impress me over the weekend. Obviously there is no point looking at the top eight as we are not going to be up there at the end of the season, or if we are then it will be a miracle. Most of that top eight will beat us to be fair, although we could still pick up the odd result against them in fairness.

All in all, I feel more heartened about our survival chances after seeing every team play over the weekend. The top of the league is strong, and most of them teams showed that yesterday. Beyond that though I feel we can be a match for anyone. It’s not going to be easy, and we will lose games, but I firmly believe we can do enough to survive!

Howay the lads!

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

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223 Responses

  1. top 8 in no particular order:Chelsea,Man Utd,Arsenal,Liverpool,Villa,Spurs,Citeh and Everton any of the other 12 have the potential to be dragged into a relegation fight.I’m not saying they all will but all possibly could.
    I daresay most of those teams will probably watch us on Monday night and say the same thing that ‘nowt to worry about’.

  2. Spurs and Aston Villa looked really good. Chelsea are going to be in the top 2, while Blackpool may have done well, but I think they’ll need to get majority of their points early in the season, if they have any chance to survive, much like Hull City two seasons ago. Everton will be better next week, while I expect a better performance from Stoke at home as well.

  5. Well said Richie. I totally agree about the top 8 being settled as those eight teams.

  7. We should be aiming realistically for a home win against all outside the top 8.

    The likes of Blackburn and Stoke only finish midtable because they win homegames against those around them.

  9. Spurs looked excellent, City certainly didn’t. They’ll need time to gel as a team but they haven’t got long before heads will be on the chopping block. Well done to Blackpool but it was a bit of a fluke dream start I think and Wigan looked embarrassing. Fair play to them though in getting their 4 goals. I didn’t so much learn as be reminded that I hate everything about The scum, Lee cattermole especially. WBA looked weak at the back, Chelsea looked great but I’m not saying much as I think we’ll take a right old pasting tomorrow night.

  10. Richie I tend to agree with you, outside the top 8 we should be able to beat any off them at home with a few nice away points should do us good along with a few draws with the big boys

  11. Agreed with regard to the top 8 teams,although Everton are a couple of injuries away from being mediocre.
    Then again you can say that about everyone other than City, Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs.
    You can’t tell a lot from one game but hopefull tomorrow will show us who’s up for the challenges this season will bring.
    I’m praying for a decent result.

  12. As long as it’s not 5 or 6. WBA fans didn’t seem confident before yesterday and after shipping 6 goals they all seemed quite gutted after the game aswell, complaining of a lack of investment. Doubt it did much for player confidence either. Just hope we don’t get mauled and ship 4/5/6. I’d be bouncing off the Walls if we drew.

  13. The three W’s, Wigan, West Ham and West Brom we should be looking to take points from. We just need to beat the bottom 12 teams at home and make ourselves difficult to play against for the top 6. I wouldnt mind losing by the odd goal tommorow so long as it aint 6-0 again. :(

  14. At least if we get done 10-0 tomorow we won’t be first on MOTD with Hansen and Lawro with a big smirk on their face and Lawro melting into the chair like a big fat slug. :)

  15. It is way to early to be making accurate predictions about our own finishing position, but from what I saw yesterday, we stand just as good a chance of staying in these league as probably 12 other teams.

    Spurs flatter to decieve, but I still expect them to be in the top end shake up, along with Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton and Aston Villa. Man City will be there as well but they need time for the new signings to settle in … again! The champions will be Man U or Chelsea.

    Our home form will be a huge factor, and we have to expect to drop 3 points home and away to the top teams. The way to stay up is to get something from everyone else. That’s not impossible, but it will certainly be difficult at time.

    Someone on one of the threads said we need 40 points to stay up, I think it will be less than that, probably around 36 or 37 points. I can jsut see too many teams in the bottom 12 taking points of each other.

    As for who will go down, it’s anyone’s guess this early in the season.

  16. DJG – I’m off to work pretty much straight after the match. If any of the plastic Mancs give me grief I have warned them that I will give them all of the shitty jobs for the forseeable future.

  19. paul, that sounds so much easyier than it is when you put it like that :D but if we do that it should be more than enough points to keep us up

  22. Paul – I can’t see us getting 47 points mate. I would say most of our points will come at home though.

  26. 372 team in the Fantasy Football now 8O

    I was only expecting about 20 or so :lol:

    Well done!

  27. Well this time tomorow we could have news from OM and less than a few hours to season kickoff. Back in the big yeehaw.

  29. great game arsenal liverpool watching liverpool play long ball wimbledon.sorry we have nothing to worry about we will be playing the same but the big difference we got the best header of the ball in carrol.if we get support up to him we will score for fun in this sh..t league.

  34. Blackburn looked organised, Spurs looked good, so too Villa and Chelsea. Wolves looked steady away and have the experience now.

    Blackpool actually played some really good stuff and deserved to beat Wigan who were crap!

    City will be up there, Liverpool will be in top 6 only and Everton will be in top 8 again.

    Just hope were good enough to beat the likes of Wolves, Blackburn, West Ham, Mackems, Stoke, WBA, Fulham and Bolton.

    We’re going to have to beat some of these teams away too.

  35. Escellent. Maradona to Villa. It will give me another reason to hate them :lol:

    Not that I need it mind. The way them tossbags acted when we got relegated is enough ;)

  36. Was so looking forward to the premier league but the quality is not what I expected.maybe its because of the wc we held back home.I mean these teams over the weekend can’t even retain the ball for a minute.

  37. Don’t think many would argue with that toonsy, anybody below 7/8th will take points off each other so it will likely go down to the wire. Actually think the defending has got worse in the epl, theres going to be some strange results but I think we can survive but our home form is the key & although it might not be pretty we will just have to accept that we might just look at the result & not get too hung-up on how we get it.

    If we produce a gutless performance like west spam, wigan or the baggies tmoz I will start to worry.

  39. how’s everyone doing in the fantasy? I’m currently a pretty respectable 12th, but V Persie only got a few minutes today and Nzog didn’t play. I wonder where Stuart is, he certainly talked himself up a fair amount so I’d imagine he’d be atleast top ten?

  40. xXx- agreed the quality has been really poor but the games have been exciting. That is generally the way with the premier league though. You can’t compare it to La Liga especially in terms of technical ability but I find the style of football more entertaining.

  42. lads the good thing!we looked the best we have looked in ages by keeping the ball and passing it about witout end product.but if we can pass like that against most teams we wont get big score lines against us more wins.b4 we were playing kick and rush and losing the ball all the time.we got a good system the way we play.but lads dont like this high line we keep.man u will get in most times if he goes that why.

  44. more on ben afra saga today but cannot read french something about tv show in france canel+,over to you lads that can

  46. The Olympian player must be present on the plateau of the emission of Canal Plus in his two counselors. But they finally canceled.

    It would explain his showdown with theOM. Interviewed in Sunday ‘s Team, Hatem Ben Arfa was invited to the platform of Canal Football Club, with his two advisers, Michael Ouazine and Jean-Jacques Bertrand to discuss her choice not to play with Olympique Marseille. But, according to CMJ, the trio changed their minds.

    Indeed, after his remarks published this morning, Hatem Ben Arfa will no longer comment on his clash with leaders Olympians. It now wants one thing: to be transferred quickly from side Newcastle, who is waiting for him to be his number 10.

    Philip Montanier, the coach of Valenciennes, who defeated Olympique Marseille on Saturday night (3-2), will be the only guest Mathoux Hervé and his band.

  47. I personally thought Blackpool were pipped to the surprise package of the weekend by Als retreating hairline on MOTD… ;)

    But overall i agree with your assessment of the teams i always thought we could take points off the same obvious 12 sides certainly at home and im even more confident of staying up after watching Wigan who look easily as bad as us but without the grafting and determination.

  50. chelsea put six past the baggies,were of a similar ability to the baggies last season.man utd beat chelsea easily in the shield,so going by that we’re f**ked tomorrow night lol.
    in all seriousness,i never watched much of the prem last season with us not being in it.watching it last night was an eye opener,watching chelsea destroy the baggies.
    the level is far beyond the fizzy,if we make any mistakes against man utd,it doesn’t bear thinking of.

  51. DevonMag says:
    August 15, 2010 at 6:22 pm

    I have picked my team to start coming on strong after christmas. When everyone else is struggling I’ll be motoring.

    But don’t forget a few of my players haven’t played yet. Rooney in particular could get me top of the league come Monday night….

  53. TROJAN 69 says:
    August 15, 2010 at 6:43 pm

    Oh come on TROJAN! You know reality and common sense is frowned upon, on this blog.

  54. toonsy says:
    August 15, 2010 at 6:45 pm
    Trojan – You are right about Man Utd and Chelski etc, but what about the rest?

    You mean the likes of Stoke, Blackburn, Bolton, West Ham and Fulham? The same sides that beat us the last time we were in the league?

    Not to mention Spurs, City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Villa or Everton.

  55. we won the league mate by a mile.doesnt matter what result we got against west brom.burnley beat them and so did 8 others so stop being scare baby and go to bed.

  56. So because they beat us last time, they will automatically do it again? Actually, Stoke never beat us.

    Call yourself supporters? Writing the team before they have even played any of them teams FFS! The bottom half of the table is average at best. I see nothing to worry about from any team outside the top 8/9.

  57. Joe Cole was a pile of poo. So pleased that we dont waste £80K a week on clowns like that anymore. Never lived up to the hype.

  58. doom and gloom and 38+ games to go.

    lets just see at least half of them played and i might just join in till then if there that bad.

    might just take a asprin in case i get a bad head later

  59. sorry we can only finish high when the best winger in the world plays at the toon.carrol the best in the air is going to have every1 talking about him and newcastle taking them off their game plan and thinking of him lets get it on.

  61. TROJAN 69

    ‘chelsea put six past the baggies,were of a similar ability to the baggies last season.man utd beat chelsea easily in the shield,so going by that we’re f**ked tomorrow night lol’

    I think we all know thats not how football works lol, every game is totally different.

  62. We will suffer defeats one or two of them will be embarassing but feel good we will have more than enough to stay up.
    Hope Moses of wigan is happy with his choice of club now.

    still not heard anybody defending Cattermole he was a thug at wigan and still is a thug.

  64. DJG Re Joe Cole it was his 1st game man give him a chance, I think he will do well this season but I wouldn’t right him off just yet :)

  66. toonsy

    Yes thats the rule, Because they beat us last time they will do it again thats how football works im afraid…

    Ignore the difference confidence can make to a side, Ignore the fact that Wigan, West Ham and West Brom think they are Real Madrid and dont have to close down the opposition and are punished because of that, Ignore the improved fitness of Barton, The development of Carroll, Guthrie and Ranger, Our latinos settling in, Loverman having a pre season, Campbells on field coaching, A goalkeeper who comes off his line, A settled manager and coaching staff, Ben Arfa…

  67. My take on the weekend’s action is that we are a 10-12th place club. Better than I origiannly thought.

    In terms of the top 8, wasn’t impressed with Everton, Arsenol, or Liverpool. Didn’t see any of Spurs-Man City

  68. craig bellamys signing for cardiff tomorrow on a 6 month loan supposively.. why cant we wak a loan bid in for him even if its only 6 month

  70. Really think hooters might have his work cut-out trying to keep the boys calm tmoz, I can see the usual suspects getting an early booking & perch maybe trying too hard to impress.Shrek’s under a bit of preasure, so someone needs to work him.

    If you can’t lift your game against the manc’s you really need to be finding another career

  71. toonsy – I think it’s fair to say that while we have lost quality from our squad all the other teams have added to their squads since the last time we were in the PL.

    We’ve been out of the league for a season, do you think they’ve just decided to stand still while we were selling off our better players?

    Get real!

    The teams you mention excluding the top 8 are still better equipped than us, with better squads.

    I don’t know where all this ‘The PL is shit apart from the top 8’ guff comes from.

    The other clubs might not be great but their better than fcking us! Otherwise we’d have been in the PL with them!

    The fact is, we had the biggest chance for a generation to bring the club and the city together (like KK first time up, just not on the same scale) and the club have fluffed their lines!

    We had a chance to come into the PL and really make our mark – Get decent players in and go for a European spot. As you say the others aren’t great, but we’ve missed a chance to go past them and catch others up.

    The club have decided not to take that chance, they have decided to once again risk the clubs PL status. Yet they still expect us to turn up every week and fill the clubs coffers.

    What do I get out of it? I want to see us succeed, but I know it will take time.

    But I want to see us compete and at the minute, logic dictates were not even able to compete with any other clubs than WBA and Blackpool.

    That is not acceptable to a club that can call on 52,000 supporters week in, week out.

    We deserve better!!!!

  72. Would Bellamy be of any use? I mean he has only averaged 7 PL goals a season throughout his career and I think Lovo could get that in fairness.

  73. Anybody fancy perch’s chances against the likes of Valencia/Nani tomorrow? Lol. We need a blinder from all 11 of our lads!

  74. toonsy

    Im getting really sick of hearing how its the same team that were relegated, Soccer saturday must have said that a dozen times when it blatently is not there is a huge difference in fitness of certain players, Improvement in some of the youngsters and confidence in foreign players who struggled in that horrendous season.

    If it wasnt for the farcical managerial changes we wouldnt have gone down it had absolutely nowt to with a lack of talent.

  75. Stuart79 says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:09 pm

    “We had a chance to come into the PL and really make our mark – Get decent players in and go for a European spot.”

    I never ever want to hear anyone moan about us being called fecking deluded again! Stuart has just coined it right there FFS!

    NEWSFLASH – It aint 1993!

    If the club won’t spend any money what the feck can we do about it? Buy it, go on, get your £300 million out and do something about it FFS!

    I’m not into writing the team off like you appear to be. They have every chance of stopping up until it is mathematically impossible to do so. Not once has a promoted team has a playeing sqaud that has nearly 2000 PL appearances between them. They know the score.

    Geordies always used to be eternal optimists. Now it seems some are turning into whingers who feel sorry for themsleves!

  79. djg,it was more tongue in cheek,rather than a serious comment,a little gallows humour never goes a miss.
    i’m expecting us to get a good result tomorrow ,man utd 7 newcastle utd 0,that will be a good result lol.

  80. Aye ice… at lest we’ve signed Perch, imagine Simmo back at Old Trafford. It would be like that game where Butt was basically passing the ball straight to their players!

  81. toonsy says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:15 pm

    Why is that deluded?

    Were in better financial shape than we’ve been in for years, better than most. We had the opportunity to make an impact. Sorry if that’s deluded, I would call it ambition.

    We have a billionaire owner who has decided he doesn’t want to put another penny into the club – Why should we?

    Just because I’m not as confident as you for this season that makes me a whinger who is feeling sorry for himself?

    I’ve bought my season ticket, have you? I’ll be supporting the team every single home game, Will you? I’ll be singing my heart out every single home game, will you?

    All I ask for in return of my unwavering support is a little something in return, something to hold on to, something to look forward to.

    HOPE!!!!! That’s all I ask for, hope that we won’t become the next WBA – A yo-yo club with no ambition other than to have a great balance sheet and to have PL football every other season.

    Not good enough for a club with as many supporters as us.

    Sorry if that upsets you, sorry if that makes me a whinge and sorry if you think were going to be ok.

  84. Stuart79 says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:23 pm

    “I’ve bought my season ticket, have you? I’ll be supporting the team every single home game, Will you? I’ll be singing my heart out every single home game, will you?”

    I apologise that I cant make a 420 mile round trip every other weekend to watch the team. I’m sorry I no longer live in the area that my family have lived in for close to 300 years because the pits closed down. I’m sorry I have a job which I don’t finish until Saturday morning, and sometimes at all at weekends!

    What a feckin wanka. Low blow man!

  86. Toonsy…Bellers figures are mainly due too injuries which makes him a risk(although he managed 40 games last season)but in the prem he’s scored about a goal every 3 games which isnt to bad.

  88. Rich – Same rate as Lovo then, although admittedly Bellamy has done it over a longer period.

  89. toonsy says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:26 pm

    Not really that low to be honest. Being called deluded for wanting more from the club I plough money into every single year is a low blow.

    DJG says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:26 pm
    ffs no. of supporters doesnt mean anything these days.

    So Rochdale can have the same expectations as Man Utd now can they?

    So Bolton who average approximately 18,000 should expect to achieve more and finish higher in the PL than us? With the money that they generate compared to us, we can expect more and we can expect to invest more in the transfer market.

  90. Lads I dont think that expecting the Fat controller to invest a decent amount of money in players for this season was to much to ask for, He expects the Fans to invest in the club, surely its not to much to assume that he done the same no ?

  92. Stuart79 says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:33 pm

    “Not really that low to be honest. Being called deluded for wanting more from the club I plough money into every single year is a low blow.”

    So suggesting a newly promoted team should be challenging for Europe is not delusional then? That is all we are – A newly promoted team. Nothing more!

  93. Toonsy……..yeah but I only counted prem apps,didnt count norwich,cov or celtic………………….don’t think CH will give Loven many starts unfortunately.

  94. toonsy says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:36 pm

    Nicely twisted! You’ll probably edit it somewhere.

    My point was (amd you know this) we had a chance to invest a bit of money and steal a march on the other clubs. We haven’t so yes, we are just another promoted club with a relegation abttle on our hands.

    All I’m saying is there are other directions we could go.

  95. Dave – Why should Ashley give a shit when he gets called things like “fat controller” or worse?

    The fact is he is giving us no transfer money, and people should deal with that. Why moan about something that they can’t change?

  96. BIG DAVE think most would agree,we are not asking for 60/70mil,but i belive 10/15mil would have been ok

  97. Stuart79 says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:39 pm

    “Nicely twisted! You’ll probably edit it somewhere.”

    It’s not twisted. This is the original quote;

    “We had a chance to come into the PL and really make our mark – Get decent players in and go for a European spot.”

    That reads to me like a newly promoted should be going for Europe? Isn’t that delusional?

    Just for the record, I only edit my own posts. Low blow/strike No 2.

  98. No but Chelsea and Man City can have higher expectations than us and they have a smaller ground and less supporters thats the way it works. Looking on the ticket sales we are not gonna be anywhere near 52,000 for Villa anyway so I don’t know what your talking about.

  99. icedog says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:40 pm
    BIG DAVE think most would agree,we are not asking for 60/70mil,but i belive 10/15mil would have been ok

    Absolutely, Ice. The money we get in extra revenue this season covers that and some..

    toonsy will say that we won’t get all that money until the end of the season, well I say Ashley should lend the club the money until the end of the season – It would go some way to guaranteeing we’d be in the PL next season and we could go from strength to strength.

    If you buy a football club it’s your responsibility to improve it. Like buying a business.

  100. toonsy says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:42 pm
    Stuart79 says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:39 pm

    “Nicely twisted! You’ll probably edit it somewhere.”

    It’s not twisted. This is the original quote;

    “We had a chance to come into the PL and really make our mark – Get decent players in and go for a European spot.”

    The key words there are “Get decent players in”.

    I never said we should just expect to get a European spot without getting any players in. So I don’t think it’s delusional.

    If we got decent players in then there’d be a chance.

  101. how long have i been bangin me nut against a wall owa ashley,the man is nee good this fka will take us down again.fkin wake up

  102. Stuart79 says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:44 pm

    “toonsy will say that we won’t get all that money until the end of the season”

    No I won’t, but I will say that anTV money is now paid in monthly installments with the aim of clubs not spending it all up front on transfer fees.

    Look, I have said on here often enough that £20 million would be nice, and also reasonable. I even wrote that in an article yesterday (maybe the day before even).

    What I don’t buy into is writing off any chance we have before we have even kicked a ball.

  103. Just to be clear toonsy – It might be delusional to expect Ashley to make money available for good quality players (He’s never done it yet so why start now) but it’s certainly not delusional to expect to be challenging for Europe if your club have bought some decent players.

  105. Stu – I know what you are saying about money and all that.

    But I aint an Ashley fan so feck him. He’ll do what he wants and there is nowt any one of us can do to change that!

    However, I am a Newcastle United fan, and I’ll be damned if I am going to write my team off like others seem happy to do.

  106. Well he was gonna spend up to £5M on a french striker, has brough 3 bargains in and is now reportedly offering terms to Ben Arfa and that Uruguay international so its not like he’s spending no money is it, anyway the transfer window ain’t shut yet so have a moan when it does if you feel the need. Apart from City who has spent big this season? Can’t think of any other club. They are waiting for the man city money to trickle down through other clubs ffs.

  107. “What do people do when confronted with scientific evidence that challenges their pre-existing view? Often they will try to ignore it, intimidate it, buy it off, sue it for libel or reason it away.

    The classic paper on the last of those strategies is from Lord, Ross and Lepper in 1979: they took two groups of people, one in favour of the death penalty, the other against it, and then presented each with a piece of scientific evidence that supported their pre-existing view, and a piece that challenged it; murder rates went up or down, for example, after the abolition of capital punishment in a state.

    The results were as you might imagine. Each group found extensive methodological holes in the evidence they disagreed with, but ignored the very same holes in the evidence that reinforced their views.”

    I liked this from:
    Ben Goldacre, a well-known campaigner against lies told about science in the media.
    :mrgreen:

  109. theres no blaming the fans now,this is all ashleys doing,if we go down again theres only one man to blame,fk lads sake were being run like pound stretcher

  111. I think it might be wise of Newcastle fans stopped going on about “loyal fans” because if you look at the stats – Newcastle have had about 1 sell out of St James’ Park in nearly two seasons and that was just to see the last home game of the Championship winning season.

    People will rightly call out the “Toon Army” for not being quite as loyal as they make out with that stat.

  113. MA put somewhere in the region of 20 to 30 million last season just to prop up the club so im not sure why people say he doesnt put money into the club.

  117. toonsy,why dont you set up your own blog ,you have done a crackin job on here,go it a lone m8

  119. Stuart thought we didn’t have a good enough team to get promoted last year!

    Don’t get drawn in on his negativity.

  120. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    August 15, 2010 at 7:54 pm
    “What do people do when confronted with scientific evidence that challenges their pre-existing view? Often they will try to ignore it, intimidate it, buy it off, sue it for libel or reason it away.

    Mike Ashley has given this club a dose of reality. We are not a ‘big club’ that has the automatic certainty of Europe and glory every season. We had a couple of good seasons in the 90’s, ffs thats now 14 years ago. We still didnt win the league. Ashley like it or not has put this club on its feet and it is spending (still with him propping it up) what it can afford. Success has to be built up and earned over time, not one season.

    ‘The results were as you might imagine. Each group found extensive methodological holes in the evidence they disagreed with, but ignored the very same holes in the evidence that reinforced their views.

    Stop pretending we have £30-40M to spend every season, quite simply we don’t.

  121. Lads im I right in thinking that the only reason we havn’t had a sell out is because of the amount of corporate seats that are empty ? no

  124. Hitman – Still doesn’t change the fact I wouldn’t know what to do :lol:

    You want to see the amount e-mails it took Worky and Bowburn sending to me to explain things :lol:

    The amount was ‘large’, and I still need them at times

  127. What can you buy for £10M these days though. When the transfer window comes to an end assuming we have signed
    S Campbell
    J Perch
    D Gosling
    H Ben Arfa
    A Rios
    ?????

    He will have spent that taking into account the wages these guys are on.

  128. oor wullie @ 111 – stick to criticising – the tartan army – you fcking wind bag.

  130. Anyhoo. There hasn’t an argument on here for a while. It’s been fun :)

    See the mackems had over 10,000 empty seats yesterday. On the opening day of the season that is shyte! Must be because they are a massive club like :roll:

  131. look lets end this now…ashley aint going to help us,all he cares about is getting his money back,he is gambling on this team keeping us up,which is a fkin huge ask,but it might pay off,well i hope so the sooner this fat fk gets his money back the sooner he is gone…

  132. Its not money that creates success, its finding a good manager and keeping him for years and years. Look at Everton. Do they spend as much as us? Yet they have been a top 10 side for years now.

  134. Hitman – Exactly. The way I see it there are two ways this can go.

    1) He doesn’t spend enough and the team go down, in which case I think he will cut and run.

    2) He doesn’t spend enough and we stay up. He gets some money back, or invests some in the team and we kick on.

    Llambias did say before we got promoted that money would be tight and we wouldn’t be able to properly compete in the transfer market until season two in the Premier League.

    Only time will tell what is going to happen. One thing is for sure though. I will still be here, so will Hitman, Stu, Big Dave, Icedog, CC, all of us in fact, long after Ashley is gone.

  135. Just wondering…. What is the attendance record for the riverside, does anyone know. I mean have they ever actually filled it..

  139. wicky, possibly because theres a recession,some staying away cos of Ashley…………Celtics average attendance about 45k which is 15k below capacity despite being in with a shout of the title for most of the season…what loyalty

  142. CC – I put “and everyone else” first. Then I included you and changed it to all of us :)

  147. DJG – Because you aren’t special ;)

    Only kidding!

    You need to upload one to http://www.gravatar.com/ and it should appear on here. Just make sure you use the same e-mail address as it will then follow you around on other blogs and such that use gravatar.

  150. If we do end up with Arfa and Rios it will make the squad look a whole lot better.

    Rangerman says:
    August 15, 2010 at 8:05 pm
    Stuart thought we didn’t have a good enough team to get promoted last year!

    Ha! Once again a nicely twisted quote.

    I actually doubted the squad would get promoted in August and Sept. I said (And I openly admit this) that unless we strengthen the squad we won’t get promoted. We did strengthen the squad and we got promoted.

    Without the signings of Routledge, Williamson, Van Arnholt and Hall we would have been screwed.

  151. Ice sometimes I wish being a Toon Fan was like being married, and ye could just get divorced :) but till death do us part
    Howay the Lads

  153. I hope CC hasn’t taken what I said the wrong way :(

    I just meant it in general and used them names as they wre the ones that were about at the time

    Sorry CC :(

  154. Bellamy to cardiff on 6 month loan deal. it’s in monday mornings echo that’s going to print and it’s up on welshonline. they’re nailed on for promotion now!

  155. So, Manu will be looking for a +7 goal differential to be on top, then. Somehow I think NUFC can deny them that.

  159. DJG – I decided earlier that i’m actually not shaving until the team wins. The mrs aint happy but feck her. Football is more important!

  162. Aye but then you get that period where its just itchy and uncomfortable. It will be funny if we dont win till christmas just to see Bartons tash. :lol:

  164. toonsy – Are you going to do a prediction competition?

    Would be good I think – Final league position, top scorer ect…?

  165. Stu – If someone wants to run one I will publicise it and back it to get people involved etc.

    Having done one last year for work though I can assure people it takes a lot of time unless there is some software for it.

    Unless you don’t mean week by week predictions?

  166. Aston Villa 3-0 West Ham,
    Blackburn 1-0 Everton,
    Bolton 0-0 Fulham,
    Chelsea 6-0 West Brom,
    Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal
    Sunderland 2-2 Birmingham City
    Tottenham 0-0 Man City
    Wigan 0-4 Blackpool,
    Wolves 2-1 Stoke

    Strangely enough I think the opening weekends results reflect on each team’s end of season position in relation to their opening day opponents (apart from the slight hiccup at Ewood Park)

    So AV will definitely finish above WHU.
    Bolton and Fulham will be vying for mid table obscurity
    Chelski will be a considerable distance above the Baggies

    So we need to draw with the Mancs if the above observations are to come to fruition.

  167. So not only does Toonsy accuse me of not supporting my club but icedog implys that i spend my spare time searching for porn sites… ;)

    TBH I was looking for a avatar suitable for tommorows game –>

  170. toonsy – I was thinking of a one off prediction for the final finishing position and our top scorer.

    Just a bit of fun I suppose and we’ll see what people think.

  174. Stu – Could do. Get the match out of the way first though. Give people a chance to have a look and for the match reaction to die down etc.

  175. Anyone noticed that you can get the shirt 1p cheaper through here than you can from the club?

    It’s about giving something back here at .org, and providing relevant advertising but not too much of it, not links to dodgy dating sites, or credit cards, or boradband ;)

  176. I can see CH playing a very strong defansive team tommorow and we’ll be very hard to break down and big ANDY will score from a Raylor free kick. what do you think?…… HOWAY THE LADS!!!

  177. toonsy says:
    August 15, 2010 at 9:37 pm

    “Anyone noticed that you can get the shirt 1p cheaper through here than you can from the club?”

    We’re getting some black and white soap on soon, Toonsy.

    Get your orders in!

  178. serious question now to everyone im going to get ripped but i can take it. What does no one like about ryan taylor from what ive seen hes a decent player

    please dont be too harsh on you returns ;)

  182. SpencerTheToon I like Raylor I dont think he is a bad player he has made a few mistake’s but also a few good assist’s and a couple of decent goals last season in the few times he got playing. So overall he is a decent back-up ;)

  184. Ryan Taylor is probably one of the best free kick or dead ball specialists at the club. Unfortunately in open play the lads just not up to it imo

  189. Thank goodness the serious stuff is gonna start and we can finally find out where we are in terms of development with the club. Old Trafford, the countdown begins…howay the lads !!

  190. Richietoon…what kind of Avatar is that big man !! I’ve seen Bavarians today with facial hair like that mate !!

  193. That would be good mate, but I’m not holding my breath…! shaving off your curly wurly may have to wait until the Villa game !

  195. Craig Bellamy set for Cardiff according to skysports. I think its a disgrace that Man City’s financial power means they can send one of the premier’s most exciting players to waste his talent for a year.

  198. WTVH – They are doing the best for Man City mate. Get him out of the way so he can’t hurt their chances.

    I’m sure I read a while back that if he was going somewhere he would want it to be Cardiff? I could be wrong like, but it’s unlikely :lol:

  199. Go for it toonsy…you old schweinehund…its all old news…who could possibly be offended…

  200. There’ll be some, so I may go for Einstein instead. He had a tash didn’t he? Failing that, Des Lynam :lol:

    Re Ben Arfa – I get the feeling that he may stop at Marseille. I don’t know why, I just do.

  202. “We cannot accept Hatem Ben Arfa’s attitude,” Dassier told French radio station RTL. “A professional player must honour his contract.

    “That said, I don’t want to be the man who ruins Ben Arfa’s career.”

    He added: “Let’s try to talk and see if we can find a solution.”

    Aye get on the blower to wor Del boy tomorow morning and get his fransfer sorted, ya t##t :lol:

  203. Toonsy…didn’t Des Lynam model his tash on Einsten !..

    Wouldn’t surprise me either if Hatem did a U-turn and stayed at Marseille to be honest..

  204. I know Toonsy, it’s just an odd situation though that no realistic fee could tempt City to sell Bellamy to a club at the level he deserves. You always think of the power to buy players but this kind of policy seems more unsporting.

  205. WTVH..I reckon Citeh have spoiled Bellamy. He’s at an age where he probably reckons he has done everything, loads of international caps, loads of clubs etc…the motivation has probably gone for him..hence the Cardiff move…

  207. doubt very much he’ll stay at L’OM,too much has gone on,and they still need to raise money.
    What about Charlie Chaplin Toonsy,same tash as Adolf :-)

  208. Malchick …I’ll take credit for all jokes…no sheep pun intended regarding Bellamy…..

  210. thats why I’d thought he’d end up at Celtic……..oh well I had to be wrong sometime ;-)

  211. Waddles mullet, sounds like a great move for Arsenal. Last week there were rumours of Arsenal bidding 30 mill for Reina…he muffed today big time apparently. Given to Arsenal would be a great move for all…apart from Citeh of course !

  212. Maybe your right Munich Mag, I mean, couldn’t he buy out his contract if he wanted to go to a decent side?

  213. I knbow..but Bellers is probably going all spiritual, returning to his roots, kiuds from Wales and all that stuff. He#S GOT LOADS OF MONEY ANYWAY; PROBABLY WANTS TO KICK BACK A BIT AND build something at Cardiff. Or do you mean Given ?

  216. toonsy – I noticed you mention Firefox on another thread. I’ve been having issues in general with the latest patch.

    Also for stu and toonsy…

    That fantasy football site we’re on has a predictions spin-off where you can set up a league and you predict the results for every game.

  221. Just remembered – did anyone hear anything about two young players on trial?

    Lads on Ed’s blog were talking about it over the weekend but am not sure if it was confirmed or if the identities were ever known.

  223. Reading that Guardian article –

    Fulham would be a force if they got Bellamy, RSC and Given.

    That said I don’t see how they could sign Bellamy and Santa Cruz given that they are signing Dembele and will surely be looking for a partner for Zamora not to displace him.

    I hope Bellamy does leave the premiership unless he comes to us of course!