Whitey Grandad

That would explain a lot. "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned,"

Quite correct. Unnecessary and unhelpful.

Exactly what I saw. The referee went straight to his back pocket after the whistle which usually means a straight red (some use their breast pocket.

The bulk of the club's income comes through the turnstiles. The club is not a charity, Cortese is paid to do his job and we supporters/customers are the ones paying it. In my books a supporter is someone who follows the team and cares about its results but does not necessarily pay to watch them.

Er, who are the customers here?

On this we both agree.

'Wonderful race, the Romans'

That wasn't how it appeared to me. They were all trying (yes very trying) but there was no common team plan, just a load of players running about the pitch. The atmosphere was strange too, the lowest ever crowd at St. Mary's, two stands packed and the rest of the ground empty and lifeless. I was only 20 seats away from my usual one but I had a good look round and I was the only face I recognised. The pricing and ticket sales policy must have something to do with this, as well as the recent events. None of this seemed to affect the Swindon players, mind.

That's exactly how I feel about it. I find the small decisions just as revealing as the big ones. I too have gone from being wary, to being concerned, to being worried. The next couple of weeks should give us the answers.

And who spoilt them?

That's the convention if it's for footballing reasons. Gross misconduct would normally only involve the individual concerned.

Yes, certainly looked like it to me, in his usual seat. Standing with his hands in his pockets just like he was during the applause for Markus.

The silence is deafening.

They might be reasons to be ****ed off with him but number 1 could only be breach of contract, number 2 is simply not interpreting your brief correctly and number 3 goes on in lots of businesses and so long as any activity were confined to out of hours would not if itself give cause for dismissal, so it's simply a case of paying up a fixed-term contract.

My first reaction was that it must have been some form of gross misconduct but there have been strong rumours about mutual antagonism for some time, and the other coaching staff have also been sacked. It's almost as though Cortese has been looking for a reason to get rid of Pardew and jumped at his first real opportunity without thinking it through. He has to get the next decision right or the damage is going to last for quite some time.

It doesn't matter whether he had good reason or not. The fact remains that the club is in a right mess which is down to poor management.

One of the worst that I have been to. I would say more but I dozed through most of it. I think I'll support Swindon instead.

I must admit, I'm tending towards this view rather than the 'Cortese must know best' line. There have been too many decisions big and small that I consider counter-productive. There's still time to turn things round this season but this whole affair has been mishandled and could be the difference between automatic promotion and play-offs. If he were managing one of my companies I would be asking searching questions.

I think it was so that Stoke would buy Davies.

We would certainly have exciting games. Last I heard he was living in Vienna.

I would have preferred a question as to whether now was the right time.

Poor show. The Madras Pastie is a poor substitute in my opinion, very dry.

Well somebody's got to pick the team and perhaps Cortese thought it would be taking things a bit too far if he did it himself. It just shows that this must have been a heat of the moment decision because anybody with any sense would have a replacement lined up before getting rid of the current manager.

I agree with a lot of what you say, Wes, but to complain about Guly not getting longer looks a bit weak when the team has won 4-0.

It worked for Norwich. Did that fan ever get his ticket back?