Cabaye’s Christmas cracker! Crystal Palace 0-3 Newcastle

Cabaye crushes Palace
Cabaye crushes Palace
Newcastle produced a dominating performance to brush aside Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, with Yohan Cabaye proving to be instrumental in the victory.

The France international scored one and could have had a couple more with a bit more fortune as he pulled the strings in midfield.

In truth United deserved the win and the three goal margin that came with it. Crystal Palace were simply blown away in the first period and despite fighting back for a brief spell at the start of the second half they never really looked like causing Newcastle any problems.

The start of the match was rather drab with United perhaps just shading it purely through the amount of possession they managed to maintain albeit without really threatening the Crystal Palace goal.

That changed on 25 minutes though as Cheik Tiote set Moussa Sissoko free on the right.The former Toulouse man cut in and played the ball back to Cabaye who stroked the ball home via a slight deflection off Mile Jedinak.

There was a nervy moment soon after the opener however as Crystal Palace nearly equalised through a Tim Krul error. The Dutchman came to claim a cross but flapped at the ball which inadvertently bounced off Mike Williamson only for Vurnon Anita to hack clear off the line.

But that would have been harsh on Newcastle and six minutes before half-time the lead was doubled through Danny Gabbidon who turned a Mathieu Debuchy cross into his own net under slight pressure from Loic Remy.

Half-time: Crystal Palace 0-2 Newcastle

The home side rallied in the windy conditions at the start of the second period and forced a sequence of corners which were all dealt with by the United defence. However it was Cameron Jerom who blew the Eagles’ best chance of getting back into the game as he blazed an effort from seven yards over Tim Krul’s goal.

From then on the treat subsided and Newcastle became the dominant force in the match again. Hatem Ben Arfa came on and almost had an immediate impact as he dribbled into the box and laid the ball off for Yoan Gouffran who smashed an effort from 20 yards off the crossbar before the former Marseille man tested Speroni with an effort himself.

Ben Arfa wasn’t to be denied though and when Shola Amoebi was sent tumbling in the box it was Ben Arfa who struck home the resulting spot-kick to give the scoreline a more realistic reflection of how the game actually panned out.

Full-time: Crystal Palace 0-3 Newcastle

It was a good performance by us. Palace may have been struggling but they’ve been good in recent weeks and pushed Chelsea all the way at Stamford Bridge so this result, or any result away in the Premier League, is a good one. We controlled the match and 67% of the possession seems to back that up.

The win gives us 30 points prior to Christmas which is better than many of us imagined I’d think. We now have homes games against Stoke and Arsenal over the festive period to contend with. It’s early days of course, but would you bet against us having 36 points by the turn of the year the way we’re playing at the moment?

Howay the lads!

Crystal Palace: Julian Speroni, Adrian Mariappa, Danny Gabbidon, Damien Delaney, Dean Moxey, Joel Ward, Mile Jedinak, Jason Puncheon, Barry Bannan, Marouane Chamakh, Cameron Jerome

Subs: Lewis Price, Jonathan Parr, Jose Campana, Yannick Bolasie, Jonathan Williams, Kevin Phillips, Dwight Gayle

Newcastle: Tim Krul, Mathieu Debuchy, Fabricio Coloccini, Mike Williamson, Davide Santon, Vurnon Anita, Cheik Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, Moussa Sissoko, Yoan Gouffran, Loic Remy

Subs: Rob Elliot, Massadio Haidara, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Gabriel Obertan, Hatem Ben Arfa, Shola Ameobi, Papiss Cisse

Attendance: 24,936

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

169 thoughts on “Cabaye’s Christmas cracker! Crystal Palace 0-3 Newcastle

  1. Offer Remy £80k per week and he might be tempted. Only a few clubs could offer him that. It may come down to location / money or European football..

    He might kill 2 birds and go back to QPR if they come back up. he’ll miss the Geordie roar if he does..

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  2. The Kid – I don’t want Sunderland to go down at all to be honest.
    The derby games hold far more interest than Fulham or Hull for example.
    That said, it would be good Micky taking for the mackems I work with, the fatha and fatha in law! 😆

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  3. I’d gladly see the mackems go down never to return, dirty inbred feckers have no right to be on the same planet as us never mind in the same league 👿

    1st refusal/loan to buy clauses etc mean **** all really, they are just agreements between the clubs and don’t involve the player, our only chance is if the big clubs aren’t interested in him and Ashley is willing to pay the big wage for him, not many clubs will/can match his wages and he’s already proved he’s more interested in cash than ambition.

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  4. Suarez didn’t sign for stability, he signed for 200k a week! if Real Madrid come in and match his wages he’ll be gone in a shot and I guess whatever clause was in his contract has now been removed.

    Think Remys sitting on the fence so he can see who comes in for him in the summer, the option to buy agreement is between the clubs as Redknapp has already mentioned but ultimately its down to Remy if he wants to stay – saying that, given his forms dropped off and he’s no longer scoring goals there will be fewer top teams chasing him so he might not have as many options as he thinks

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  5. What’s peoples thoughts on the starting 11 vs Stoke?

    Do we go with a strait forward 442 with Shola coming in or do we go 4411 giving Ben Arfa a chance in the No 10 position?

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  6. Morning lads,

    Been a while!

    I sat in a blustery rainy selhurst park (homesdale end) as my mate gave me his season ticket and watched us control possession play neat tidy football no long ball and bit my tongue every time we scored.

    For me Remy was the worst player on the pitch for us which is a shame but he has been in good form. I hate to say this but williamson was just terrific. Ameobi and Ben Arfa changed the game again with some great work. Its refreshing to see Pards go for the third rather than bring Perch on 1-0 with 30 mins to go….

    Team for stoke;
    Krul
    Debuchy, Willo, Colo, Mbwia
    Sissoko, Cabaye, Anita
    HBA, Remy, Gouffran

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  7. @Oblong

    I would like to see Cabaye drop into the Tiote Gap and Ben Arfa take that advanced free role. Though if we want to control the game he must not run with the ball as much or he will just be more hindrance than help. We need that central 3 to dominate the middle and if he goes of on his runs every time he gets the ball we will lose possession more often than not.

    I wouldn’t be to shocked to see a 4-4-2 with Remy and Ameobi up top.

    Stoke are tough opposition and I think are on a decent unbeaten run at the minute. I know I said it at the palace game but this is the type of game we fall flat on our face. I am not as confident as some.

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  8. We need to leave santon out of Stoke; he will get punished with the long ball its just not his game. I seem to remember us having a 3rd centre back last time we played stoke? Could be wrong but think mbwia will give us a bit more defensively in that position

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  9. @CC That could work good as well but I would rather keep that partnership of Sissoko & Debuchy on the right. Ben Arfa on the wings leaves one of our fullbacks vulnerable as he does not track back often enough.

    He runs with the ball to much to be part of that midfield 3 (long term). I hope I am wrong and he plays the team game when he gets his chance.

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  10. I know its a cliche but we shouldnt underestimate the impact of the world cup. France qualifying was the best thing to happen to Newcastle this season. The french boys are likely to stay as why leave when we are sitting in 6th place? Ben arfa though will be desperate to play. If he misses the world cup it would be hard for him to take.

    Hes going to win the ballon d’or after all….

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  11. I don’t know why but even when we are doing well I still expect us to slip up against the smaller sides. Keeps life interesting…it would be boring expecting to win and actually winning everytime 😆

    I agree on Ben Arfa. I’d be interested to see him through the middle to start but he needs to buy into the team game we are trying to play and less of the one man band. If it’s not working switch him outside but I’d be reluctant to move Sissoko as I think he is growing into that wide right role with every game

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  12. It could also be Pards chance to get Jonas back into the side at defensive midfield alongside Anita. 😆

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  13. This weird season is providing a bizzarre and brilliant mix of opinions on here. Just for the sake of it (and because I’m at work and bored), here’s some more for the melting pot:

    For some, it wouldn’t matter if Pardew cured cancer and won us six prem titles on the bounce; we’d still be in need of “a decent manager” – like the Special one, who is so special that he can’t get a goal out of Torres, Ba and Eto’o combined. To produce a season like this and consistently beat clubs who have spent more on strikers than we have on our entire squad is bloody brilliant and I wish he’d get more than grudging credit for it. He nailed it yet again at Palace yet there’s still people saying that if HE gets us into the CL, HE – yep, the same HE who got us there – should be sacked as a reward.

    Hell’s buttocks – what the fuckeddy fucknuggets is that all about??

    As for Ashley, while I’m as happy about the financials as the next bloke, that’s not all that matters. A dead club with no overdraft is still a dead club.

    I can’t really understand how people can so easily forget things like the King Kev Case, SJP renaming, Wronga, the appointment of JFK, the re-appointment of JFK, the banning – and now charging – of the press. On it goes; clanger after clanger, each dragging the club’s name and the brand’s value down with it, and clearly all part of a much wider scheme that’s all about Ashley PLC and definitely not in the interest of NUFC.

    All this stuff about not competing with ‘the big boys’ is utter ***** – we could, if he had a clue how to build the value of a football club instead of destroying it. He’s the fookin’ Gerald Ratner of football and I wish he’d bog off.

    AND A HAAAAAAPPPYYYYYY NEW YEEEEAAAAAR :mrgreen:

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  14. Right – ranting over, back to Oblong’s question.

    I’ve be tempted to drop Santon for Dummett but otherwise stick with the same approach as for Palace. Keep it tight, strong and absorb the battering, then get the likes of Shola and Benny on to take advantage of the very knackered legs that result.

    I’d like Dummett on there because I think he’ll be up for the fight more, and Santon seems to be in need of a kick up the **** compared to the rest of the team at the mo.

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  15. I want to see us beat stoke & arsenal, so surely the best chance of doing that is rotating the team as much as possible?

    Anita & cabaye playing against arsenal is our best chance of beating them so for me, neither of them would start vs stoke.

    This team is not ideal but it’s hard to improve it without using one of the players that will hopefully lineup vs arsenal:

    ———————-Krul—————-
    Debuchy—Williamson—Mbiwa—Hadaira
    ————Bigirimana—Gutiérrez——-
    ——————-Marveaux————-
    Ben Arfa————Cisse———Sammy

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  16. My only fear about Jonas playing it gives the opposition more chance of winning and less chance of goal scoring opportunities. leave him on the bench and bring on later.

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  17. @whumpie

    I think your comment is mainly directed at me so:

    If pardew wins the premier league with this group of players then yes, he can stay as manager.

    You need to look at the logic behind sacking a manager that has managed to get the team into the champions league.

    It’s no different to transferring out some of the players that get a team promoted & replacing them with premier league players.

    However if pardew overachieves with this current squad of players, then he should stay. If he underachieves then he should go. It’s that simple. No manager is safe in his job – some people have even called for ferguson, wenger & mourinho to be sacked.

    I’m of the opinion that the current squad of players is as good as what everton have & therefore we should be challenging for 4th.

    People like you were calling me deluded at the start & end of last season for thinking we should be fighting for 4th.

    About mike ashley.
    The kk case came about because he hired the wrong people. If mike ashley made sbr as director of football, how many fans would have sided with kk? Not many.

    Sjp renaming, wonga, the banning & charging of the press all makes sense. I would do the exact same thing although not with sportsdirect or wonga.

    Mike ashley’s biggest problem has been hiring the wrong people. Derek llambias, joe kinnear, dennis wise, kevin keegan, alan pardew – yep, all of them have been bad choices in my opinion.

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  18. What a win!
    Seems we are still flying low under the media radar, even though we are now 6 points clear of Southampton. Long may that continue!
    I think 5 points + would be a great return from the next few games, but given our current form who knows!

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  19. Hope for minimal changes against Stoke.
    I would either solely draft Jonas in for Tiote. Or push Cabaye back and either unleash HBA, or give Cisse a chance. Shola will likely be neutralised by Huth/Shawcross so would rather save him for Arsenal.
    Agree with Oblong @93 that Sissoko should be kept on the right for now, suits his gung-ho train-like runs!

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  20. Interesting stuff KK. I disagree with a lot of it but still interesting!

    I do see that CL experience is useful – but this idea that there are these ‘supermanagers’ out there doesn’t stack up for me. Benitez has lots of good CL experience but would toy trade AP for him?

    I just think that talking about that level of achievement for our manager and jumping straight to sacking him takes an extraordinarily negative viewing on that individual. A wee bit, um, bunny boiler 😉

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  21. @whumpie

    I would trade benitez for pardew but it would not happen. Benitez is also too high profile for me personally.

    I’d want to see a young, progressive manager & that means it’s most likely going to be someone foreign (or more accurately, not english). Brendan rodgerz & roberto martinez are good examples in the league but there are plenty of better options.

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  22. Finally Mike Williamson has a song~ So glad for him…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RteH-tR9Uvk

    http://www.blogonthetyne.co.uk/2013/12/mike-williamson—the-song.html

    WIlliamson was unfairly made a scapegoat at times last season but his old fashioned style of defending this season has resulted in the win ratio of the team rocketing to 64% to when he’s in the team compared to 33% when he’s not in the side.

    And his form has captured the imagination of the supporters with one fan starting a Twitter campaign designed to try to help Willo somehow reach the World Cup!

    Indeed, the Mike Brazilliamson account (@getmike2brazil) smashed the 1,000 follower barrier over the weekend.

    Williamson probably won’t be going to the World Cup, but such quirks don’t do his confidence any harm.

    Not that he’s ever had a confidence problem, the issue has been other people’s confidence in him.

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  23. @ LIAM SOUTHERN TOON says

    Hes going to win the ballon d’or after all….

    maybe in his dreams 😆

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  24. <<<<, heard they had to widen the dressing room door so afra could get his head in there 😆 😆 😆

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  25. <<<<< so expects him to be sold he would of defo peeved off fatboy having to get his wallet out to pay to widen the door 😆 😆 😆 😆

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  26. KK – neither of those two has any CL experience… 😆

    This merry-go-round of managers seems farcical to me. One set of supporters starts calling for the head of their manager, who gets sacked, and another set of supporters expects that same person to deliver the holy grail. A few months later it repeats.

    But it’s the same people just recycled! We’re such mugs.

    I believe that while there are good and bad managers, it’s far more about the RIGHT manager. If a club finds one that works for them they need to be prepated to ride a few storms and accept that they all make mistakes, have bad seasons and are generally human. Otherwise you get… well, US – up to 3 years ago.

    AP’s no more perfect than Jose, Wenger or anyone else. He’s doing well, is rapidly getting up there with our best in terms of win ratio, and seems to have got a range of game plans to cover a lot of different requirements. That is NOT easy and takes years. Why would you want to start all over again?

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  27. AOD – I can’t make out the words to the Williamson song on that vid (***** headphones) – what are they?

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  28. Martinez is a slimy charlatan shithouse who has the press firmly in his pocket for some unknown reason. The man who according to pat nevin on 5live yesterday “took Wigan to a new level” nee **** patrick a whole level lower and nowhere near the top half finishes Paul Jewell and Steve Bruce achieved.

    The man who has made Everton far better and more attacking than David Moyes. Despite the fact Everton were higher in the table and had scored more goals this time last year 🙄

    They conveniently ignore the 9, 8, 7,6, 5 and numerous 4 and 3 goal defeats, Relegation and overall -122 goal difference. Its a nice arrangement Redknapp and Allardyce have the same thing going for them media praise for mediocre records. AVB, Benitez, McClaren even McCleish all have had far more success as managers but are joke figures in our national press its laughable…

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  29. Ta.
    We had 3 players in the Garth Brooks team of the week (who was on slide guitar?) so is it such a stretch that Willo could go to Brazil?

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  30. It’s been a while but just want to wish you and yours a great black and white Christmas! Thanks to Toonsy and all who contribute to keep everyone talking about our beloved team. Great to see them doing well and credit to Pardew and the lads for buckling down and getting on with it. Stay safe everyone in this **** weather. Thought it was bad at Palace in the torrential wind and rain at the weekend. Traffic round bloody South Norwood was a nightmare, dumped the car nearly two miles from the ground and legged it but still missed first 10 minutes. Had to sit with the palace lot and those around us weren’t feeling glad all over anymore but suicidal. Fantastic support from the Toon Army and great to see so many players throwing their shirts into the crowd.. Happy Christmas all

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  31. Deb and everyone else have a good xmas, I am starting to look forward to it now that all the shopping is done, and now have a bit of piece and quit in the house after having the house full to the brim all day for my daughters birthday 😯 . So me and the new pup are going to get some scran and chill for a bit, might even crack a bottle of red open later

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  32. Tony@119 😆

    Yeah, Merry Christmas to you all and thanks Toonsy and all the article writers this year for giving us something to chat,argue and laugh about, it’s all cool what ever form it takes. 😀

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  33. so a snooze fest @ the emirates tonight.
    we are now 4 points adrift of the top 5.
    A win against stoke is needed to keep us in the hunt ahead of Spuds and manure.
    I hope the Lads don’t feel the pressure on boxing day.
    I’m expecting a completely different game plan from Pardew too, bearing in mind we have the visit of Arsenil on sunday.
    I’m thinking Cisse should get a start in place of Remy who should be rested for this one.

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  34. @TGS

    I take it your new year resolution is not to put your foot in it so often? 😛

    Merry Crippa & Happy New year to everyone and especially Pards. 😆

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  35. Especially Pards for doing a grand job under insufferable pressure from our ********* of an owner and some sections of nufcblog.co.uk 🙂

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  36. Being at work today sucks, but the sun is out, we’re 6th in the prem and “Pardew oot” is being typed with a healthy degree of irony.

    Good times. Happy Christmas to all, and especially those like Toonsy who keep this kind of banter going.

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  37. More thoughts about Stoke and Arsenal… (beats doing spreadsheets)

    For Stoke we need big, powerful, solid. For Arsenal we need organised, creative, level-headed.

    So for a start, I’m starting to realise that our big signing of the summer was Faye Downey. What an incredible difference; worth several big-money signings to us. We’ll really see how big a difference over the next 12 days… 😯

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  38. Stoke: Big, no-nonsense players with a quick breakaway. (Really not sure about this – only one coffee in me)

    —————Krul
    Debs – Willo – Mapou – Dummett
    Sissoko – Tiote – Cabs
    Obertan – Cisse – Shola

    Subs: Benny, Jonas, Goofs to take advantage of tired Stoke legs with some incisive passing and clever **** a-la-Benny

    ****:
    ————–Krul
    Debs – Collo – Willo – Santon
    Sissoko – Cabs – Anita – Jonas
    —–Goofs – Remy

    Subs: Mapou (cos our CBs will be toast by the hour mark), Shola, Tiote (if we get a bit overrun), Benny – switch to a 4-3-3 if we’re chasing a result.

    I definitely need coffee. Thoughts?

    Save me from the boredom!!!

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  39. TAE, I reckon we can cover Tiote without too much bother, Anita or Cabaye will just drop back a little deeper..

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  40. @ AUSSIE MAGPIE FAN
    just dont think ya can replace ya best ball winner that easy,stoke have some big boys and anita is just a little dude

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  41. On the one hand, you don’t look at Tiote next to Anita and think, “I’ll pick a fight with Cheik”, do you?
    On the other hand, Anita’s tackling stats are bloody brilliant.
    We’ll be ok. I think Pards will have done his homework and will know exactly how to handle them, player by player.
    I just hope Cisse starts scoring again. Really need some options now that Remy seems to have become aware that the ball can actually pass outside the goalmouth.

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  42. All I want for January is Lacazette 😆
    One in none out we are laughing. Maybe lob obertan into the mix.
    Get Remy in on a permanent and lob out Cisse and buy lallana

    If only,,,,,,

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  43. @Aussie

    If it wasn’t for me & Big Dave, you would be anonymous on here. It’s only through us, by repeatedly highlighting your gaffs that you are known on here. 😛

    Merry Xmas 😆

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  44. Have a great christmas everyone! I feel honoured to be among so many fools and idiots this time of year. Two more wins on the way!!! 🙂

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  45. Tis an honour to be considered among the greatest of those fools and idiots, Georgio. Here’s to 2014 being an exceptional year of great football and a blog full of entertaining muppetry.

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  46. You’re all bloody idiots, fickle and are always wrong unless you’re agreeing with me but Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all of you :mrgreen:

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  47. Merry christmas to everyone who was dragged out of of a lovely warm bed, Have to scrape their car at 6 o clock in the morning and will miss out on watching miracle on 34th street and gorging on quality street.

    The rest can **** off

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  48. Troy 😛 ive grown to really accept your obsessive fascination with me over the past rear or two. It has gone from really worrying to awkwardly cute and I look forward to you hanging on my every post next year 😆
    All the best to you and yours mate!

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  49. Off the xmas bs for a moment…. how enjoyable has the football been for the past couple of months!.. I almost dont know what to make of it all, without drama and contiversy, things don’t seem right 😆

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  50. Loving it at the moment…but it’s the Toon so always wary of the next moral crusher coming…which I suppose adds a bit more excitement if you like that sort of thing…and back to Christmas, off to do some more family visits now 😐 😕 😛

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