the only chance was to play to 0-0. would have been nice to see someone who can make something happen, like jonas, in there, but i guess he doesn't fit shearer's scheme or whatever. first half was spent being excessively precise and not taking the shots that were presented, the second half was 50 minutes of chasing villa around.

i'd say let the fire sale begin, but i don't think there's much to sell.

Fulham are in Europe, must buy +4 players this transfer window.

awesome result for roy hodgson. when he finished up at finland, I was keeping my fingers crossed that the FAI would try to grab him. Pleased to see he's done so well with fulham.

Glad we survived. be interested to see who the new manager is. quinner being as decent as ever about sbragia. pieboy got a peach of a cross in for sunderland's second goal. Hope they keep him. As an aside, gibson's goal for Man Utd was a stunner. it would be nice if he scored those for ireland, but then he's still young, so maybe in the future.

kruker, sorry about newcastle. It doesnae feel right to rag on the geordies if i'm not a mackem, so I'm not going to. There's enough in sunderland to do that. Like floppy said, I never thought I'd see the day, but ultimately, it's the best thing for that club. It seems like shearer may stay on, and judging by his post-match interview, he's got a clear idea about what needs to be done there and he'll do his best to make the owners listen. there's every chance you can come back up if you line things up quickly at newky - the championship is absurdly competetive, even if the quality isn't always the prem. You should deffo stick with the team though.

I'm gutted for Duffer. misses a chance in the first half, and then that OG. He'll take that hard. He's more an honest workman than the magician of yore, but he's still a decent, smart player, so I hope he stays there provided newcastle get sensible. That clubs ownership over the years make me want to hit things.

Shearer asking for a four year deal and complete control at Newcastle. Duffer endorses Shearer in the most ringing tones possible:

The Ireland winger, signed three years ago from Chelsea by Glenn Roeder, feels such managerial clout will pay long-term dividends. "It's the first time in a long time that this place has felt like a proper football club," Duff said. "Alan Shearer has been brilliant for eight weeks. If there is one man to get us back up into the Premier League, it is him. Hopefully the gaffer will stay."

Strachan resigns from celtic. I'm hoping he's NOT the new sunderland manager.

Burnley up for the first time in 33 years as they beat Sheffield United today. Looking at a map, they're the second most northern club in the league next year, 2 hours and 40 minutes southwest of Sunderland.

Wizlah wrote:Shearer asking for a four year deal and complete control at Newcastle. Duffer endorses Shearer in the most ringing tones possible:

The Ireland winger, signed three years ago from Chelsea by Glenn Roeder, feels such managerial clout will pay long-term dividends. "It's the first time in a long time that this place has felt like a proper football club," Duff said. "Alan Shearer has been brilliant for eight weeks. If there is one man to get us back up into the Premier League, it is him. Hopefully the gaffer will stay."

Good stuff. I've got to read up on some examples of teams that have gone down and come back strong and those that have fallen even further. I did some reading on Leeds last night.

kruker wrote:Good stuff. I've got to read up on some examples of teams that have gone down and come back strong and those that have fallen even further. I did some reading on Leeds last night.

Leeds and leicester are the worst offenders in recent memory that I can think of. Oh, and southampton. But Leeds and Southampton suffered monetary issues, in the former of epic proportions (I posted up two articles detailing how fucked leeds finances were a while back), the latter I think because of their sinking too much into building a new stadium. Leicester are back up in the championship, but I don't see newcastle falling that far - I think the worst that could happen is they become a bit like boro in the late 90s/early 2000, where it seemed like they bounced between the prem and the championship. And as I understand it, Ashley at least cleaned up your books, so that's got to be a point in your favour.

The biggest thing will be changing the ownership culture so that they're not constantly reacting to what they think the fans are about to do, after their last dumb idea fucked up. But shearer is capable of telling them to GTFO his face and his work, so I think you stand a good chance. Oh, and getting two decent central defenders, which newcastle hasn't had in years.

Thanks Wiz. I read the Leeds article you posted before. Getting rid of Colocinni would make me ecstatic, build the d around Bassong and Taylor. I figure they look to sell off Oba and Jonas, and go with a front of Carroll and Lua Lua.

From my understanding Shearer has to get certified this summer to coach, but I guess that's nothing but a formality.

I think the quickest way back up is to build from the back. Which makes me wonder if Shearer is the guy to do it. Newcastle's defense is terrible. The conundrum is trying to get quality defenders to come to a championship side. Shearer would be well served to find quality defensive coaches and look to build in that manner