THIS I find funny.

The Geordies don't. I wonder why.

And so the Premier League pantomime continues...

BBC Sport - Football - Blackburn Rovers sack manager Sam Allardyce

Altogether now...1...2...3...

http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/nelson-muntz.gif

Meh, Sam will be moving on to better things. Real Madrid or something.

Just got back from the game, we won.
I'm pleased.
Anderson is playing really well for once.
Arshavin looked good in Rafael's pocket too.

Twitter

"Just had a box delivered to the house. It contains a claret and blue-coloured ***** with the words "Fancy a new challenge?" on it. Hmmm."


There's your answer.

Some of the stuff on that fake Twitter is great. :laughing:

http://i25.tinypic.com/2n850dh.gif

Evra telling it like it is. :bowdown:

Man, I'd love to hear a recording of that job interview.

"Past experience?"

"Erm, yeah, I lost a cup final and then got sacked by two mid-table clubs..."

Congrats on the win by the way.

"...You're hired!"

Thanks. Arsenal always bottle it against anyone good, we always bottle it against Chelsea.
Don't lose at Stamford Bridge and I'll be feeling very very good.

Maybe he'll be the next Wigan boss.

Wow, so United fans that live in Manchester do actually exist. Bet your popular. Or is al that a myth?

Yes Anderson has improved the last couple of games. Defence looked solid tonight too.

That was never a penalty though.

Nice try ;)

Given Chelsea's form lately, I reckon you can come away with a win. Nevermind all that bollocks Ancelotti's talking about the bad patch being behind them - they still can't score for toffee these days.

Well, in 2008 there was more United fans with an M postcode than City fans, so I'd say that it was a myth. There's even 2 on this forum, myself and right-track. The team with the most fans outside of the city/town is Liverpool.

Rafael and Anderson were the men of the match.
But Rio was outstanding.

Ridiculous penalty decision, but I wouldn't have complained if he put it in the back of the net.
The ball nearly hit my FFS.
The clown.

Well Rio was the man of the match actually. You can't argue with Barclays.

Liverpool? Shocking. What an earth would you see in them unless your a scouser. I suppose they have history. But it's not like the Beatles have got a goal scoring record too.

What is the atmosphere like in Old Trafford? The home fans always strike me as being fairly quite through my TV. Maybe it's mostly a kid/family affair?

I can, Rafael was everywhere.
Fast becoming the best RB in the league.
And Anderson's improvement has been great - energetic, linked up well, made runs, good passing. But Rio was outstanding as well, so assured.

The atmosphere at a lot of home grounds isn't the best, Stoke and Newcastle are the exceptions. Their fans are great home and away.
When you've got a fan base like United's (sizeable) you get a lot of daytrippers coming to Old Trafford. Our away support is far better.
For the big games, our home support is wonderful.
I sometimes get extremely pissed off with them moaning all the time because of a loose ball in midfield 5 minutes into the game, but for the most part it's decent. When we're playing against someone a bit shit on a cold dreary night the atmosphere can be terrible.

Wantaway City captain Carlos Tevez begs United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to take him back | Mail Online

Probably bollocks but it's still hilarious.

http://www.united-latest.com/1/post/...-takeover.html

Once Qatar take us over, we should do it for teh lulz.
But I don't want that utter utter c*nt back.

Any of you seen this?



:laughing:

Looking foreword to the match tonight after a quite weekend due to snowpocalypse.

COME ON YOU TOFFEES!

"Brian Giggs." :laughing:

Benitez sacked! Sky Sports | Football News | Serie A | Inter Milan | Benitez axed by Inter

Now there's a turn up.

In how many other professions do you practically bankrupt your past employer, and then get offered a better job?

Fifa president Sepp Blatter says he wants to set up an anti-corruption committee to police world football's governing body.
The move comes after allegations of corruption dogged Fifa throughout the bidding process and voting for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Blatter said: "This committee will strengthen our credibility and give us a new image in terms of transparency.
"I will take care of it personally, to ensure there is no corruption at Fifa."

:laughing:

John Terrys face today.
Funniest thing i've seen all Christmas and New Year.
In fact , funniest thing i've seen since "that" penalty miss.
Still not ruling 'em out of the title yet though.

I support Watford. U ORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNSS

Houllier you are a twat and have dragged the team down to the depths. No one likes you so just feck off.

Apparantly he has the backing of the board? For now, anyway.

Hope not, as he could end up dragging Villa down. I still think any team from 8th downwards is in as much danger as anyone else of the drop at this stage.

I really can't remember the bottom of a Premier League table ever being as tight as it is now.

I saw a headline on Sky Sports News before but didn't see the report itself. It seemed to suggest that Grant and Hodgsons jobs looked in danger but that Villa have backed Houllier.

Yeah, there's this about Hodgson on BBC Sport;

BBC Sport - Football - Liverpool owners consider Roy Hodgson's future

^ He's screwed, basically.

They've confirmed that Houllier's job is safe over there too, which is just bizarre. Sure, he hasn't been at the helm long, but it's painfully obvious that he's taking the Villains in the wrong direction.

I'd like to see Hodgson get some time with Liverpool but I think he needs to be able to drag them into the top half of the table at least for the board to consider patience. Playing like they are playing now, he'll be out the door.

It feels strange to say but I'm glad to be a Sunderland fan right now, with clubs like Liverpool, Villa and even Chelsea looking to have such serious problems currently.

Not half eh. If Chelsea continue to fall short like this, I think this could be the season that the traditional top 4 changes for a good few seasons to come. The lines between the top 4 and upper-mid-table are getting really blurry, and it'd make for great viewing if I wasn't too busy panicking about Wigan getting relegated...

I completely agree. I think it's a really exciting season. I can only currently see Man United winning the league but Arsenal and City are keeping enough pressure on to potentially capitalise if United start to slip up. Plus United are still not playing fantastically well.

Spurs are doing really well and have been incredibly entertaining in the process and look like they could sneak into the top four again if they keep going.

Bolton are having a great season and will have one eye on Europe, as we do. Realistically I would be happy with a top half finish for Sunderland but when you're sixth in the league and everything is as unpredictable as it is this season then why not push for Europe?

And at the bottom? Usually by this stage of the season you can point to one club who are as good as relegated but it's insane how tight it is in the bottom half of the table. I would be worried too if i were you Bulldog but how tight it is down there may be a good thing. String two or three good results together and things will look a lot better. Think you'll manage to keep a hold of N'Zogbia?

I highly doubt N'Zogbia's gonna stay. With any luck Bobby Martinez can convince him to stay at least 'til the summer. Great as he's been, he is replaceable, but if it comes to that I'd much rather it be in the summer transfer window than in the middle of a relegation scrap. I doubt we'll manage to string a few wins together, but the way I see it, we need 6 or 7 more to dodge the drop. The way things are, I really don't know where they're going to come from. On the other hand, if we beat Fulham this weekend (which we really, really have to), there's a chance of us climbing 5 places in the table. As you say, it's far too tight to tell.

As for your mob, it's great to see them doing so well, and I just hope you don't end up falling away to the lower mid-table in the second half of the season, as I've seen a lot of Steve Bruce's teams do (whether it's at Sunderland, Wigan or Birmingham). I've got a funny feeling things'll be different this year though, and you'll really be pushing for that last UEFA Cup spot at least.

N'Zogbia has looked amazing for your lot at times this season and he's the kind of talent in wide positions that I feel we would benefit from. We have Henderson and Elmo who can play down the right and look dangerous but we don't have many other wide options. I heard rumours that we were linked with him but as good as he is, I don't think I would want him.

He's a great asset to Wigan but if he wants out, he'll get out. He has shown that he is not above crying and whinging his way out of a contract.

And as for us, yeah I think we could drop off a bit in the business end of the season. I don't think we will finish where we are now at least. To be honest we are punching above our weight a little this season and anywhere in the top half of the table would be a good finish for us. If Bent can get back in form, if Ferguson allows Welbeck to stay until the end of the season and doesn't recall him sooner, if Gyan keeps firing and if we keep a hold of Henderson then we would continue to exceed expectations and push for Europe but it's a big ask.

Jim Beglin really is a deplorable cunt.
Awful biased abysmal human being, I hate ITV in general.
The penalty, I don't think it was a penalty, but I don't think it was a dive.
Minimal contact, and he bought the penalty.

Gerrard, when things aren't going his way, he does this:

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/m...a_1342719c.jpg

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...d_getty220.jpg

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...VbHZyspoy0EKhe

http://therepublikofmancunia.com/wp-...rd-assault.gif

Disgrace. So yeah, the ref got one decision spot on and another wrong.

He got them both right.
The sending off was a no brainer.
The penalty? Well. if you're daft enough to leave a leg out for a forward to fall over...you're an idiot!

I actually decided to watch the match and it was one of the most boring matches I have ever seen and I do think the ref got both decisions right even though it didn't help the game from a spectator view.

BBC Sport - Football - Richard Keys resigns from Sky after sexist remarks

Don't get me wrong, I've always thought of this guy as a slimy little nob-end, but this is all a bit much for what was basically off-air banter between a couple of mates. I never liked Andy Gray either, but however politically incorrect they were, I still think this whole affair's been blown way out of proportion.

On the other hand, maybe this is the push Sky needed to modernise their dated, same-old approach to punditry, so it could well be a blessing in disguise yet...

Gray was earning a reported £1.7M annual salary and with a company profile as big as Sky, who I assume operate an equal opportunities policy, didn't really have much choice but to sack the man. Unless they wanted to run the risk of losing credibility as an employer.
I think Keys would have been sacked had he not resigned when he did.
Looks like they may have made enemies in high places.

Shame about Keys.
But the obnoxious United hating gobshite had it coming, judging by his equally obnoxious behaviour.
Good riddance!

Grey sues NewsCorp over phone tapping, all of a sudden all these videos start appearing online.

I don't think it's a coincidence somehow.
He might as well have just signed his own P45 and have done with it.

As for this whole 'banter' argument. Well I've listened to what they said & it didn't sound to me like it was light-hearted banter. They sounded deadly serious to me.

Well, either way, I've gotta say that you can't help but admire the integrity Massey's shown despite being the centre of this whole thing. She could easily have made a truckload of cash whining to the tabloids about Keys and Gray, but she's enough of a professional not to, which is cool.

What I find odd is how she keeps being withdrawn from matches she's due to officiate by the authorities. If it's really about keeping the focus on the matches and not the officials as they say, surely this is having the opposite to the intended effect and just building up the hype for her return to the pitch?

I dunno, maybe I'm missing the point...

Wouldn't describe her as being the centre of the whole thing. Gray and Keys have that dubious pleasure.
In her case...the less said, the better.
I reckon she'll get a standing ovation when she runs the line next time out.

Something she may not have got had she returned earlier.

In fairness to Andy Gray who wouldn't want Charlotte Jackson to tuck something down their pants.