sadoldgit

One other thing I missed. Walk this league next season??? I don't read many posts where it says that. What I do see is optimism (yes I know that word to you is like Holy Water to a Vampire Alpine). We have a decent manager, some decent players and some money. Hopefully, if Mr Cortese is serious about ambition, he will make more money available in the Summer and we shall start the next campain with a settled management team and a better squad. So then, some reasons to be cheeful and OPTIMISTIC.

Our academy was really excellent at one point and you can see why the then CEO thought that we could promote from within and save lots of dosh. However as they matured a lot of them became very average. Would we really want McGoldrick back for example? A lot of them are average to good CCC players. They will probably be no more than squad players if they survive the rebuild after promotion. Walcott and Bale are the only two that I would be delighted to see back. Perhaps Baird too.

Same old "ride into town, shot it up, ride out again" cowboy mentality. My uncle served in Italy with the 8th Army and he said they were more afraid of the American artillary than they were of the Italians. I was in Seattle a few years ago when the Gulf War started. This guy heard my accent and came over for a chat. He was all over us Brits and hated the French so it was instant bonding. He had his young son with him and did nothing but talk about the war. His son then chipped up that they had been out buying ammo and described to me what the bullets could do to a man. I declined their kind offer to go out to their truck and look at their guns. The Dad told me as he walked way that if they invaded Seattle he would take a few with him! Scary.....Not so much that he was arming up for an invasion so much, more that he actually thought it could happen!

Oh dear. More negativity from Mr Doom. First up, did you see Adam play yesterday? In fact how many times have you seen him and Morgan play? You seem to know an awful lot about them from your bunker in Austria. Secondly, if a bigger club wants them, they want to go and we sell, it doesn't really matter what division we are in. Thirdly, so it didn't work out so well for Surman. I execpt Walcott has a different take. Fouthly, players come, players go. So what? Number five, Alf Ramsey left out one of the greatest goalscorers we have ever produced - a certain Jimmy Greaves - and replaced him with Geoff Hurst. Didn't work out too badly for us did it? (Unless you were supporting Germany that day of course?). Point 6, are you related to Howard Hughes? You strike me as someone who darn not leave the house in case you catch a virus or get knocked down by a bus. You really do take the biscuit Alpine. If there is nothing to worry about you can be sure that you will find something and then worry it to death. There is bound to be interest in some of our players as Pardew has put togther a decent team (not that you give him any credit for that). Same with teams like Norwich and Leeds. In fact I would say those two clubs have some better players than ours. Do you honestly think for one minute that getting promoted this season will make one iota of difference? Have you put your mortgage on us getting promoted this season or something? Why the obsession? Tell me, have you ever in all of your +12,000 posts ever started a positive thread????

Did you see the match Alpine? Have you ever wondered that perhaps people are getting together and posting on here that we were poor just to wind you up - and that we have been brilliant? Why do we need to sort it out? You seem to be very happy with things so long as we win so what is your probelm with being poor again and winning???

I think we should be focussing on letting other teams worry about us. Hopefully Mr Cortese will spend some more of the guvnors money and we shall be the team to watch, no matter who comes down!

I don't know what he has done to upset you mate? As long as it is a mathmatical possibility why shouldn't he talk about it? Actually Cortese has made more of a fuss about the play offs and Pardew the Cups.

Probably that you were happy that we played like sh*t but we still won.

Why indeed? We not only were going down the pan rapidly we very nearly ended up in the hands of Pinnacle. To say that we have dodged a bullet is an understatement. I think that there is still an assumption that we deserve to be bigger than we are. Just be thankful that we have a chance to rebuild. Some clubs never recover.

In which case why have you spent thousands of posts dissecting the performances and why do you keep calling for more goals even when we are 3 up???

Yep, lets sack the manager and show the footballing world what a great club we are by getting rid of someone who has not olny turned the club around, but actually won us a trophy. As for not winning today being "unacceptable", really some of you need to grow up. It is a game of football FFS. "Unacceptable" is the invasion of Poland, snatching a child, taking a life. Did Ferguson throw himself on his sword after losing to Chelsea? Surely that was "unacceptable"???? Losing football matches happens to every manager. If it was so "unacceptable" they would all be out of work now.

I don't think any of us have been saying it has been an excellent season. But it is far from bad and certainly not bad enough for us to be thinking about changing our manager (again). As has been said time and again on here, if we had been told we would have won a trophy at Wembley and still be within a slight sniff of the play offs this time last year most of us would have been absolutely delighted. Those without cr*p cloured spectacles can see that a great deal of progress has already been made and if Pardew magics up some more quality players in the summer there is no reason why next year cannot be better. If some people want to wail and wring their hands about what might have been this season let them wallow in their own negativity. We have a decent owner, a decent manager, we are having a decent season with reason to believe better things are coming our way. If you can't be happy with that after the last few seasons you will never be satisfied.

It is not the formation that is the issue. There are teams that play 1 up front with plenty of goals on the board. It is how you play it. So long as you get players forward when attacking it doesn't really make any difference. We actually went through a period of scoring lots of goals with 5 in midfield and people were complaining when we changed to 442!

What exactly is a "stupid" mistake? All managers make mistakes that some fans think are "stupid". Thing is, if they know so much why aren't they managing a football club? Having just won a trophy and turning this club around in less than a season, I expect that Pardew has already "resurected" himself. I don't see him as arrogant at all. I also don't think you can suggest that someone's career is on the slide because they are managing in Div 1. Perhaps he sees that he can do a job here and get a decent club back to the Premiership. I don't think he would have a problem find a CCC club and is probably better than a number of Prem managers. Please could you explain to us why he is apparently so "know it all"???

As you say, the stats don't back up what a lot of the negative posters think is going on.

Have you moved to Scotand Alps???

Because we are the mighty Saints dontcha know and because a kindly old gent has thrown a wad of cash our way! Our managers are not allowed to behave as every other manager in the league does and make mistakes. Our team is not allowed to lose football matches.

awesome

It would have been funny if Burnley has staged an amazing fightback and won.

You really are a very deluded and one-dimensional person Alpine. Please feel free to go back through my posts and quote where I want them to leave. While you are at it find where I say I want L0we back. Only in Alpineworld. Must be the rarified atmosphere. It you want a grown up debate about the merits of NC and RL thats fine. But stopping prentending that I am saying things that I am not. Frankly I would be "f**king delighted" if you walked away and took your negativity and poisoned agendas with you. Feel free to quote me on that. THis is precisely what you do with other people's write ups of matches. You read the bits that you think fit in with your own negative agenda, run them through the Alpine filter and spout of a pile of bile and rubbish back out. Give it a rest mate. You accuse me of stalking you but you are all over anything I post like a nasty rash. Do us both a favour and put me on ignore. I have tried doing it to you but because so many people pulll your posts apart they are all over everything I read. Just so as there are no futher misunderstandings... 1. I DO NOT want Lowe back. 2. I think there are a lot of double standards (from the likes of you) about Mr Cortese but I have never said that I want him out of the club - just that I hope that he modifies some of his behaviour we have seen so far. Two very different things. 3. The only "negative" thing I have said about our delighful owner is that I think he looks like a bit part actor from Dad's Army as he reminds me of Godfrey. Hardly hoping that he packs up and leaves is it?

What is it with this football snobbery? Swindon are playing well. Fair play to them. What gives us the right to Lord it over this division anyway? So we have spent a couple of million quid on a couple of players, so what? Price tags counts for nothing when 11 players line up against 11 players. The grief aimed at Pardew this season is beyond belief. He has done a decent job and without the minus 10 dragging us down for so long who knows where we would be now? We are/were never going to walk this league. Getting out will be along hard battle full of ups and downs. MLT has said that Pardew is the best manager in Div 1 yet there are people here who probably could not kick a football to save their lives saying that he is out of his depth? The bloke has the credentials and he is doing well. Get off his back and grow up. It is like break time at school here everyday. Bicker, bicker, moan, moan. We should be doing this, we should be doing that. Pardew isn't good enough, blah blah blah. We have just had an excellent win at Wembley a week ago and are easily one of the best outfits in this league. A far cry from being potless and useless as we were this time last season. Be thankful. Support your manager stop behaving like petulant children (or there wil be no Easter eggs for any of you!)

I find it incredible less than a week after actually winning a competition the manager is getting this sort of grief. We have undoubtedly improved since the turn of the year and are heading in the right direction. Other teams have done even better - nothing to do with Pardew. Pardew deserves the support of the fans. Yes, he is not immune to criticism. But if the cyber jockeys on here who think they know better could actually manage a football club, why aren't they? No one knows why he makes the calls he does, but he will have his reasons based on a better knowledge of the gme and his players than anyone on here. Support the manager FFS and stop whinging!!!!

Nope; although he did a great job at IPswich and probably would have won trophies with Hearts. His aim with us was to make the play offs and that he did in his only full season. Not good enough for some I appreciate, but hardly a dismal failure.

THis is the thing though isn't it? Some manage more with less but none of those managers are manging in the Prem. Why is that? Putting a team together is not an exact science and sometimes it can happen by complete chance. Pardew has done well but this team is not the finished article. He has spent money and he has brought in freebies. If ytou are lucky enough to have kep positions already sorted half the battle is won. LIke Burley, Pardew has been expected to come in and get it right in hos first season. A tall ask for any manager. In Burleys' only full season his team were as good as any in the top 6. I would say the same for Pardew right now. Translating that into results is the tricky part and if it was easy all the teams would cancel each other out. Huamn frality will always enter the equation. With a stronger mindset a couple of Burley's players would not have c*cked up and we would have made the play off finals. Pardew has a decent defence but they can still switch off. Is that his fault or theirs? I heard a manager the other day say that the key to getting a winning team togther is their mental toughness. He can check out a players skill but it is harder to get into their heads. Some players deliver come what may, with some it comes and goes. Pardew's job it to find more mental toughess, or instill it if he can in others. That is where he earns his cash. Getting what he needs out of the players week in week out. NO easy task as can be seen at Leeds right nowo

Typical, every time you are put on the spot to substantiate your negative agenda you back off. I am still waiting to hear how much you think it will cost to buy our way out of this division? Also, how does someone rack up over 12,000 posts spouting the same old negative stuff?