Football

10 hours ago, Michael* said:

You can almost feel the collective desperation this morning of a thousand football agents who wish they hadn't deleted Harry Redknapp's number.

No sign of Nico Kranjcar or Joe Jordan just yet but their blood oath to Harry surely compels them. At least Stevie Cotterill is along for the ride. They'll beat us at the weekend, sadly.

Truly heartbreaking news about Ugo Ehiogu this morning, it only feels like yesterday that he was still playing. RIP big man.

19 minutes ago, Michael* said:

Truly heartbreaking news about Ugo Ehiogu this morning, it only feels like yesterday that he was still playing. RIP big man.

Bought for an absolute pittance and goes on to make 300+ appearances during a golden era of Villa clean sheets. It was a special time and he was a big part of it. Felt aggrieved when he left but it was hard not to smile when he scored that highly improbable Old Firm goal ages later.    

On 4/18/2017 at 11:45 PM, Frederick said:

No sign of Nico Kranjcar or Joe Jordan just yet but their blood oath to Harry surely compels them. At least Stevie Cotterill is along for the ride. They'll beat us at the weekend, sadly.

If I'm honest, I hadn't realised that Agbonlahor was still pulling in a wage, but I was more than happy to see him pop up with the winning goal there. I suppose you'd have to say Harry will probably still end up 'reluctantly' accepting his £250,000 survival bonus, neither Wigan nor Blackburn look capable of winning enough games to make it interesting.

Dynamite game at the Bernabeu last night. Bags of incident, excellent chances and some of the best sustained goalkeeping quality I've seen over 90 minutes. The two keepers were both tremendous, each making at least three or four world-class saves. Great goal to decide it too, Ronaldo's face when Messi slammed in the winner was an absolute picture.

21 hours ago, Michael* said:

 

If I'm honest, I hadn't realised that Agbonlahor was still pulling in a wage, but I was more than happy to see him pop up with the winning goal there. I suppose you'd have to say Harry will probably still end up 'reluctantly' accepting his £250,000 survival bonus, neither Wigan nor Blackburn look capable of winning enough games to make it interesting.

2 goals in 27 months and probably on his way towards a new contract. The mind boggles. Blackburn's next game is at home to us, so while I'm disinclined to trust in Mowbray magic, I still foresee a chance.

22 hours ago, Michael* said:

Dynamite game at the Bernabeu last night. Bags of incident, excellent chances and some of the best sustained goalkeeping quality I've seen over 90 minutes. The two keepers were both tremendous, each making at least three or four world-class saves. Great goal to decide it too, Ronaldo's face when Messi slammed in the winner was an absolute picture.

Primitive biases aside, a generally delightful weekend. The second I turned Glenn Hoddle and Steve McManaman on mute on Sunday was a particular highlight. 

All this because Harry Kane was crap at taking corners.

Commiserations, Michael. Fighting the tide for that long, year after year, is an exhausting process and I commend the fan base for turning up in such robust numbers in spite of everything. Clearly the club's decline has been longstanding and budgets have been tightened but this was a huge opportunity for Moyes to rebuild his career, one that he approached with outright hostility and a woefully misplaced arrogance. I'm not exactly sure how transfers were birthed but he clearly had a say in getting all the old Everton grunters over to produce a 'British spine' that was fatally hollow. How would you like to see the club approach the summer?

Much obliged, Fred. This was of course the culmination of a long-term slide that David Moyes may not have started, but he certainly did nothing to arrest. When he arrived, it became clear very quickly that he was getting his excuses in early, and if he does end up staying on at the club, he'll no doubt spend the summer talking up the Championship and telling everyone what a hard league it is to get out of.

With so many players nearing the end of their contracts, loan players going back to their parent clubs and our few potentially saleable assets presumably off as well, we'll be hard pressed to retain any sort of squad consistency in the way Burnley managed, so I suppose you'd have to say it's another clean slate, either for Moyes or a new manager. Personally, I'd be very tempted to start afresh, because not to would mean virtually everyone connected to the club approaching a new season in a league where starting well is just so vitally important with a sense of dread.

The thought of anyone being worse off than Sunderland at any point this season goes to show the scale of the mess that Paul Clement must have had to clean up at Swansea, although it was certainly a stroke of luck for him that we renewed our commitment to unwavering crapness when we did. Jordan Pickford making a superb save against Hull with the score at 0-0, but handing Llorente an early goal with a keeping error. Billy Jones' square head finding the net against Hull, but missing an easier chance against Swansea. Throw in a pathetic, half-arsed performance from a spineless set of players and Andre Marriner's incomprehensible failure to spot one of the most blatant handballs of all time, and they couldn’t have wished for an easier game.

Silva gave it an honest punt but a home defeat against a newly relegated team when you've got so much on the line was simply unforgivable. Then you factor in Swansea's result yesterday and it was little wonder they got so hauntingly tonked today.

I have to remind myself that the Championship is such a desperately poor division that any of the three relegated clubs could conceivably bounce straight back up. Presuming Silva leaves and with Moyes' mandate dying by the day, maybe boring, boring Boro are the ones inherently best equipped for a promotion charge.  

The relegation battle itself was very much par for the course this year, but with Boro about to register one of the best 'goals against' records ever for a side in the bottom three, I suppose you'd have to say they were a bit of an anomaly. For all Karanka's control freakishness, he at least knew his stats and recognised that teams who look decent at the back are almost always in with a fighting chance of survival. It's hard to imagine much of their current squad now being picked apart by Premier League clubs, so if they replace the two or three players likely to leave and add some flair, I could honestly see them walking the Championship next season.

In a game of hype and hot air, I think it's fair to say that Tony Adams: Our Man in Granada delivered everything that was hoped for and maybe a tad more. Next year could we crank the party up another notch...Joe Kinnear to Leganes?

On ‎20‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 0:28 PM, Frederick said:

In a game of hype and hot air, I think it's fair to say that Tony Adams: Our Man in Granada delivered everything that was hoped for and maybe a tad more. Next year could we crank the party up another notch...Joe Kinnear to Leganes?

Trust our Tony to try and "kick them up the arse" and miss. Perhaps he could take over from Arsene Wenger at the Emirates after all, that would at least guarantee a more interesting relegation fight for next season.

Three years ago, David Moyes left Everton as the new Alex Ferguson, today he leaves Sunderland as the new Alex McLeish. It's a relief really, there was so much negativity around the club and this will be a chance to generate some much-needed optimism for the long, hard season Championship ahead.

14 hours ago, Michael* said:

Three years ago, David Moyes left Everton as the new Alex Ferguson, today he leaves Sunderland as the new Alex McLeish. It's a relief really, there was so much negativity around the club and this will be a chance to generate some much-needed optimism for the long, hard season Championship ahead.

As we noted in our chat a month or so back, there was really no substantive upside to Short saying Moyes was going to be staying come hell or high water. At least he's gone without a payoff and done so quickly but one has to wonder if he'll ever sit at the top table of football management again. Where next for the lad, Qatar? Leeds? Scotland?

Who would you like (tolerate) to see come in? 

On ‎23‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 0:40 PM, Frederick said:

As we noted in our chat a month or so back, there was really no substantive upside to Short saying Moyes was going to be staying come hell or high water. At least he's gone without a payoff and done so quickly but one has to wonder if he'll ever sit at the top table of football management again. Where next for the lad, Qatar? Leeds? Scotland?

Who would you like (tolerate) to see come in? 

Moyes is almost certainly out of options at the highest level now, although I could see an offer from the SFA being on the table as soon as Wee Gordon's time is up.

As for a potential replacement, it's difficult to pinpoint a 'no brainer' at the moment, although there are certainly areas that I hope Short and Bain will be sensible enough to stay out of, namely random ex-pros (Giggs, O'Shea, Phillips) and the 'jobs for the boys' old guard (Pardew, McClaren). Equally, a Pearson or Karanka type would feel like an extension of a mentality we've just escaped.

After he walked into a similar shambles at Leeds and appeared to get the team organised in fairly short order, I don't mind the idea of getting Garry Monk, but honestly, I'll settle for anyone who sees the job as a way to make a name for himself and looks like he wants to be here. That would be a improvement on what we had.

YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! 

Had the exit of Thomas Tuchel been in any way on the cards, Fred? The announcement certainly came as a surprise to me this morning.