Premier League games can never be as bad as the world Cup at its worst. Ukraine vs Switzerland for example.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...nter/EGG01.png

I'd tune into Ukraine Vs Switzerland though, I wouldn't watch Stoke Vs Blackburn.

Although that may be because the World Cup broadcasts on BBC/ITV
Would have to say the atmosphere at World Cups can't be replicated in the Premier League, every match is a big match. There are no pointless encounters.

Except those damn vuvulzelas at last year's world cup. We don't have to suffer that in the premier league.

I liked them.

Sunderland now have Martin O Neill. You lucky bastards. The man is near genius. Fantastic manager.

You know, I said that when they got Steve Bruce.

To be honest, I never thought of Steve Bruce as a good manager, he didn`t exactly set the stage alight with Birmingham City or Sunderland, the only decent stint he had was with Wigan where he should`ve stayed. His fortunes at Sunderland went rapidly downhill after the selling of Bent to Villa, I saw a statistic the other day since Bent`s departure and it was 28 played and 16 lost.

I`m also going to stick my head on the line and say that Martin O`Neill will not change Sunderland's situation that much.

Agree with that. Not personally that big a fan of Martin O'Neill, but even if he were a great manager, what exactly could he do? They don't have any good strikers.

I don't know why on earth O'Neil would go to Sunderland for. I thought the reason he left Villa in the first place was because some yank owner wouldn't bankroll him millions.

I think O'Neil is at the stage of his career where he should go abroad and manage in Europe then after a few years of that come back to the premier league and get a really top job.

This whole Sunderland thing is a side step for him.

Sunderland fan apparently.

Unknown Soldier is right. Sadly, they really are in the doldrums at the moment, and no amount of deckchair rearranging or putting the odd player in a new position will help much. They need some new talent, but I don't think they are able to afford it.

Urb definitely has a point: he's easily good enough for a sucessful career in Europe, maybe with a side like Roma, perhaps. I think they might need a better manager. Their current one is on a two year contract, but he isn't really doing that well.

I said on another thread that you made some silly posts, but the above has proved me wrong, maybe I should edit that post:finger:

Can you imagine him at Roma? I bet he doesn't even own a scarf.

I just want an excuse to post this

Again...

Cringeworthy or What!!!

I dont get why the media go OTT about O niel.

Could someone explain.....

By media do you mean Urban?

I don't think there's that much hype about O'Neill. The whole point is that he held Villa together as a team, proved time after time that he was reliable and a solid manager. So what the hell is he doing at Sunderland? He's easily good enough to be with a much better team.

That is what I think is your reason.

By media, I mean ..... media, like pundits or radio journo's that make out he's some great manager.

Solid ....yes.

Even good but why go overboard about him a lot more than other managers?

As for Sunderland,

Big club, big fan base .....

Why not Sunderland???

Don't you think he's capable of handling a side with greater ability? At Sunderland all he'll do is rearrange a few deckchairs before they sink. At Roma, who knows how far he'd have gone? And the pressure will be just as much. The owners will expect a lot from him, and I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up fired for treading water where previously they'd been sinking.

I'd like to think Sunderland are a sleeping giant.

I think O'neill would have been a good manager back in the Clough days.

I just cant see any of these millionaire footballers taking him seriously.

Just like Robbie didn't in the youtube vid above.

Millionaires eh!!!

Don`t you mean Newcastle.....who have just been woken again.;)

I think they'll finish in the top four! Especially when Man City plummet like a rock when they get short on cash.

You know, I'd quite like to meet you in real life. You sound like a really happy kind of person. Sadly I'm on the wrong side of Cheshire for you.

I doubt that will happen anytime soon, they are the new kings of Manchester now, just get used to it:p:

Oh #@!?#@!*!!!

They have a tiny fraction of the fan base we've got, they've gained success by buying in players, and really only got where they are through enormous strokes of luck.

They'll head right back down to the mid table sooner or later when this little phase is over.

God, I sound like erasertime!

Whilst I`m not questioning the prestige of Man.Utd here, I really do feel that Man City are here to stay. On a side note, over the years I`ve probably met at least 20 or so people from Manchester and more than half of those claimed to be City supporters and not Utd supporters, which leads me to think City have a much bigger fanbase than people think and with the team continuing to do well, that fanbase will only get bigger.

Of course the city fanbase will increase, but I don't think it's anywhere close to United's. Supposing you went to singapore, you'd find the largest concentration of united fans in the world. If you go to a united match, half the people will be foreign. I've met surprising numbers of Norwegian businessmen who've supported United ever since they were kids. City, on the other hand, are struggling to sell enough tickets for their games. They have made the largest profit loss of any club in the Premier league this year, whereas united at least are beginning to pay off some of the debts through huge ticket sales.
Some of my friends from india tell me that all their wider family support united, and I've never come across a similar instance concerning City.

Anyone else think it's slightly amusing the way Man U and Man City, the top two of the PL, have crashed out of the Champions League, while both Arsenal and Chelsea topped their groups?

Ah well. I as a United fan think it may be a good think: Ferguson has won the Premier League, the Champions league, FA Cup, the Carling Cup, etc., but he has never ever won the Europa league. Now's our chance to put the final feather in our cap!

Personally I experience a lot of negativity toward the national team.

Where I live there are huge fanbases for club football. Whether it be Blyth, Gateshead, South Shields etc, 'Boro, or Sunderland and Newcastle. The attendances of just the teo Premier league clubs combined, on average, would probably be about 85-90,000 a week. That's a huge fanbase for clubs who don't win anything.

The support for the national team is nowhere near as strong as it should be, here or anywhere else. We're probably quite patriotic on the whole, yeah, but whereas our clubs success could well be a strong passion, our country isnt even a fraction of that.

In many ways its to be expected and makes sense but in other ways I find it sad, personally. I do believe that English football fans get a twisted enjoyment out of criticising and mocking the national team. It feels comfortable.


I'm happy with the appointment. To be fair, Bruce had proven to be tactically so inept that I simply welcome a change, any change, but to get a manager with such a strong track record is nothing to turn your nose up at.

Are we too small a fish for MON? Maybe, yeah. But we are potentially a big project. We have been a yo-yo club for years and as of late we finally started to turn a corner with that. Dont forget that it isnt that long ago we were sitting 6th before Bent pissed off, Henderson had his head turned and everything started to fall apart. With a manager not afraid to give a bollocking where a bollocking is needed, a track record of not just stabilising a club but strengthening a club and making actual progress with a club then who knows?

He's no magician. I'm well aware of this. He may also need money. He may need money that we maybe dont have. All perfectly valid points and possible hurdles. I cant deny that. But for the first few weeks of this season we were tight defensively, we do have some talent in the midfield. There is of course room for improvement but its not like we have a weak squad, in my opinion. With someone to better motivate and better tighten, make better tactical decisions, make use of our summer signings like Gardner and Vaughan, get Brown and O' Shea playing with a little more fire, and yes of course sign strikers or make the most of any opportunity he has if and when Campbell and Wickham come back in...there is potential there I think.

We just need to stay up this season. We need stability. Then if we invest well and once he has had the summer with his new squad, then we'll see what kind of job he can do here.

Oh and PS I watched the Newcastle I've grown to know and love today. Hopefully dropping points to the big boys and then getting spanked off Norwich will bring them down a peg or two and the table will start to look more the way it "should".

BBC Sport - Wigan 0-0 Liverpool

Get in it!!

Shame the report weighs in on Liverpool's side making it seem like they were walking all over das latics for the whole game. The truth couldn't have been any more different. Outside the opening half hour or so, they simply never looked like scoring.

Either way, fantastic blody result. Bring on Man U :tramp:

I think our 0-5 win over Fulham was reassuring in one sense, but marred by injury. Hopefully we can hold Wigan to a draw....

However great the results against Chelski and Lollerpool were, I can't see us getting a thing at OT. The only time we even came close to taking a point off United was at the JJB about 5 years ago - I doubt it's gonna be any different come Boxing Day.

We have shown recently that we can stand up to the bigest teams in England though, so I'm still really looking forward to the game. It'd be nice if we could at least push United all the way on their own turf.

In our current state with so many injuries, gigantic debt, awful owner and team falling apart, I think we might scrape a draw against you!

:laughing: x a billion.

You sir, are hilarious!

Everton this afternoon for the lads. I can't grumble at the results since MON took over. Beat Blackburn, beat QPR at Loftus Road and narrowly missed out on at least a point at White Hart Lane. I know he's no magician though and theres lots of work to be done.

Everton are a real bogey team of ours so I'm nervous but looking forward to seeing what we can do.

BBC Sport - Sunderland 1-0 Man City

Happy fucking new year, you beauty.

:love:

Well, we figured you's could use a hand RT, know what I mean? :pimp:

Apparently a Blackburn, Sunderland, Villa treble would've got you odds of 2365/1. If only I'd stuck a tenner on that!