mitch01

Fantastic manager, but he was half-hearted with us and for that I will never forgive him. It has damaged our club hugely. He moaned that our players weren't good enough to stay up, which was absolute rubbish.

Camara vs Norwich. Rasiak vs Derby Lambert vs Pompey Kevin Davies vs Millwall Stern John vs Sheff Utd Ormerod vs Charlton (what a game that was).

We should try to get David Coles back, fantastic bloke and great coach. Think he works at West Ham now, though...

Up in Nottingham at uni so getting a couple of my mates along aswell. Been over a year since my last away day experience, can't wait!

I disagree wholeheartedly. Although we didnt play well vs Plymouth and Orient, we still should have won both of those games.

You think thats worse?

We wouldnt be in this state if Pardew was still here, but having said that its quite possible Cortese had no choice but to sack him so its not all that simple.

Cortese has not made this easy on himself. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt with the whole match photos thing, a little pointless but not particularly important in the long run. I was particularly unhappy that he sacked Pardew, but there were rumours that it was not football related, and therefore I continued to support him since it would have been very harsh to criticise him if he really had no choice in the matter. But I'm starting to think he's made a real pig's ear of appointing the new boss, these stories don't just come from nowhere. I don't think I've ever seen a messier path to appointing a new boss. All will be forgiven if we are promoted.

Exactly, yet whenever our next opponents get a new manager they fly out of the traps and destroy us. I still remember Dowie at Coventry away...*shudder*

Happy enough with this, lets see what he can do.

He's got a winners mentality, one of the best players ever to play in England, not just in terms of talent, but longevity and commitment, too. But all this is besides the point, he would be fantastic for us, although I can't see it happening.

Brown - I've never seen such a public comdemnation of a former manager as Boateng's after Brown was finally put out of his misery at Hull. Not arguing that he did a bad job there overall, he took them up over 20 places in the football league ladder, no mean feat, but his record since a third of the way through his first season in the premiership really is appalling. Plus he left them in the financial mire, (not his fault, just proves he was given the resources). I lost a lot of respect for him when he took his half time team talk on the pitch, not only did it heap pressure on and humiliate his players, but it also smacked of a manager aiming to deflect the blame from himself. Zola - Do you actually think that the Saints job is more highly pressurised than West Ham? The pressure on him there was enormous, and despite having a very disappointing season last year he averted disaster by keeping them up and I'm sure was looking forward to building his team this year before he was ousted. Their flying start to this campaign should demonstrate what a tough ask it is to manage there. He's exactly the calibre of up and coming manager that I think would suit us, since he should be able to attract decent talent. This is an advantage he may have over the likes of Howe, for example. Shearer - Hardly fair to judge him on the Newcastle job, his first experience of management and thrown into a war-zone of a club. Perhaps I should clarify, when I say 'winner', I mean he has a winner's mentality. He may have only won one league title, but surely you accept that had he taken the chance to move to Utd, as he could have done on many occasions, he would have many more medals in the cabinet. Would this make him more of a 'winner' in your eyes? By your definition, Quentin Fortune and John O'Shea are more suited to the title. In my book it is a state of mind. He doesn't suffer fools and knows what makes a successful football team/club. In much the same way as Roy Keane propelled Sunderland from rock bottom of the Championship to the Premiership in less than a season, I think that this kind of figure could do the same for us.

Howe - I wouldnt mind, seems up and coming and has done a blinding job down the coast. Brown - Wouldnt be too happy with this, his Hull players had nothing but bad things to say about him after he left. Zola - I'd take him, given the alternatives. Highly respected in football and was thrown in at the deep end at WHU. Hart - No thanks, his CV doesnt merit him getting this job. Shearer - Yes please, the man is a winner. It won't happen, though. Dowie - See Hart. O'Neill - Would be an incredible appointment, but I just can't see it. If Sir Alex were to quit tomorrow he would be one of the favourites there, so why come here? Tisdale - I'm not sure he has the contacts, we're looking for someone who could conceivably manage in the Premiership, and I don't think he could. Wouldn't be a disaster in the short term, though. Blackwell - Sheff Utd fans didn't seem to rate him at all, but then again the same could be said with Pardew at Charlton. Keegan - Dream on, he'll always be linked but nothing will come of it. Hoddle - Same as Keegan, really. Coleman - failed at Coventry, I think we can aim higher. For the record, I don't think the eventual successor is necessarily on this list. I wouldn't be surprised if Cortese pulled out an appointment from abroad, I've heard Leonardo's name mentioned on the forum and I think (and hope) the appointment will be along those lines.

I was at the palace - sheff weds game last day of last season in the palace end with a mate, and the palace fans had certainly taken to him. They put on a fantastic display that day. Having said that, I am gutted Pardew has been given the boot and would be more than underwhelmed if Hart is the man we choose to replace him.

Orient's game plan on saturday was to just let Jaidi have the ball and mark tightly. It worked brilliantly, because he can't pass to save his life, and we lost the ball almost every time. Martin deserves a go.

He would be a great signing, not on 20k pw though. Reasonable wages and I'd take him in a flash.

Sounds like Pards wants 2 more in by the end of the window. One striker, one winger. Exactly what we wanted, thanks very much.

More than once on saturday he reminded me of Fabrice Fernandes, some very nice stuff interspersed with needless misplaced passes and being dispossessed unnecessarily. He needs to learn when is the right time to attack the full-back and when it is best to send the ball back to a CM or the RB. I wouldn't say he needs replacing as I think he's got the potential to win games, as we saw last season, but he just has to perform better than he has in the first 2 league games.

Haven't seen him play well since Leeds at home last season. Otherwise he's been frustrating and wasteful. I think he'll get better, though.

Come on lads, WIFM!

Add to that Schniederlin 5.5 - Pretty anonymous in the second half, one particularly bad corner. Hammond 5.5 Tough game for him, a few good tackles but looked pretty unfit, truth be told.

Davis - 5.5 Questionable decision to rush out for the goal and some poor kicking. Buterfield - 6.5 Did fine, solid debut and put a few decent crosses in. Harding - 5 I thought he was pretty poor compared to his usual standards, some aimless passes in the second half set our attacks back. Jaidi 6 - Fairly solid, won a few good headers. Fonte 6 - Composed as ever, even put a decent cross in. Puncheon 5 - Not his best game to say the least, lost the ball more and more as the game went on and should have shot when Lallana teed him up. Dickson 5.5 - Some good runs and whipped a few balls in, but got sucked into chipping pointless balls into Barnard, who stood no chance of doing anything with them. Connolly 6 - Not much he could do with little decent service. Barnard 6 - Worked hard but it just didn't come off for him today. Lallana 7 - Immediate impact with his clever and direct running.

Actual Steve Coterill quote: 'We've just managed to get Sonko in which took a hell of a long time. But its been worth every penny of it.....and by penny I mean penny in time.' What a lucky club.

I agree, Antonio was good, but I never thought he was as good as Lallana or Puncheon. Its only now he's gone people have a bit of an inflated opinion of him. I would have liked for us to sign him as he's got potential, but its by no means a disaster that he's gone, there are other finds out there for Pardew and his scouting team to make.

I agree we need some reinforcements, 3 more players capable of pushing their way into the first team would be very healthy. However, judging from Pardew's comments, previous judgement and overall ability as a football manager I suspect he knows this, too. He won't want Wotton starting the plymouth game. He won't want us relying on Mills too much this season. He won't want a Lambert injury severely denting our chances. So when he says that he is waiting to get the best quality of player in for the football club, I believe him. Ideally that happens before the first match, but we should remember that Rickie hadn't signed this time last season, so if it comes to pass that Wotton and Mills etc do start the first game, I won't be throwing my toys out the pram just yet.