Yes I know, a masochist, but it seemed to me there was something that didn’t add up. Well lots actually, but it was the Europe stuff that had me interested. Did it really have such an impact on our season? Was tiredness or a lack of fluency within the team a cause for concern?
When I wrote the earlier article that highlighted the bad run mid-season there weren’t any European games causing the distraction. Also before Christmas we played a different side in Europe to the side we played in the Premier League so tiredness wasn’t a factor.
Now someone suggested that since Pardew is a thorough with his preparation for games the midweek games cut down on his preparation time hence the poor results. So I thought I’d compare results after the European games where after the Thursday we had played at the weekend with games where we had had the whole week to prepare. I also wanted to see if there was any difference between the early rounds of the Europa League before Christmas and the later rounds after Christmas where we tended to play a stronger team and so tiredness could have been more of a factor.
To start with I just looked at the games that followed European Thursday nights. But I noticed that when I looked at the games that happened after other midweek games or midweek games after the weekend the results were consistent. It wasn’t just Europe that was the problem. It appeared to apply to any game where we had limited preparation time. I tried looking at the first part of the season, and the end of the season after we restarted in Europe, but we had midweek games over the Christmas period as well. Eventually It turned out to be a lot simpler than I had thought. Another flash of the blindly obvious.
Surprisingly we actually played 19 Premier League games with five days or more preparation and 19 where we had only two, three or four days and it starts to make interesting reading when you examine them simply. Looking first at the games where we had time to prepare. We played eight at home and 11 away. At home we won three and lost five. Away we won two drew six and lost three. Although both gave us just over a point per game it is clear that at home we were looking for a result whereas away a draw would do. Still interestingly only 21 points from 19 games where we had time to prepare.
It was where we had less time to prepare that things become odd. We played 11 games at home where we won six drew one and lost four. That’s 1.73ppg with a win ratio of 54%. Where did that come from? However, on the flip side away from home we played eight with no wins, one draw and seven defeats. That is crystal clear. Playing away from home with limited time to prepare we were awful. Now I can understand that and it is clear that it must be addressed. But why the wins? I did not expect that.
Looking into the figures a little more deeply. Only two of those wins came early in the season when we beat Norwich and West Brom. But the rest of them came later on. Two factors seem to occur to me here. One was the midweek games were now featuring our full strength team so there was some more consistency to team selection and tactics, although this did not appear too helpful over the Christmas period. Secondly and more importantly the squad had now been strengthened following the January transfer window.
So is Alan Pardew a man that benefits from having time to prepare thoroughly? I suspect he is. There are other factors such as instability of players available that affect that and we only played a series of games with long preparation at the end of the season, after our exit from Europe. However, it is clear that our tactics are very different away from home than at home. It is also clear that having a run of games even twice a week where we are fielding our strongest available players also helps.
There is however clearly a problem with fielding teams away from home with limited preparation especially if we fielded a weakened team a few days before.
So does this leave me with any great confidence in our manager? Sorry to say not really. It appears to me that when things are normal or going well he can motivate the players and get good results and runs together, but I have yet to see any evidence that he can handle a crisis.
All I can hope for is a good pre-season and a settled start to the season.
I was only a problem because our manager didn’t have the ability to come up with a system to deal with it.
When your manager is relieved that his team won’t be competing in Europe, then it tells a big story.
So my answer is yes. Only because Pardew isn’t up to the job of managing a club in Europe. Its beyond his capabilities.
JJ(Quote)
Can’t believe the feckers pulled out of South Africa again too…
Man United come here nearly every year. So it can’t be that bad of a place to go for pre-season.
JJ(Quote)
Very interesting article! However you have to factorize everything else in. Demba Ba was looking elsewhere, perhaps disrupting things to manoeuvre a way out? Later we find Colo is homesick. In the mix of all that Cabaye is feeling a wee bit depressed. Hatem is injured.
Look back to last season, who were the players’ we relied on?
So what do we do? Alan puts in the grafters! Jonas is out of sync. His own performance suffers! We have no faith in Danny Simpson. Who did some graft last season! All of a sudden cohesiveness goes out of the window. Alan needs to pick a team with tactics in mind! Where are they?
Making ends meet with too much pressure on the likes of Jonas and Williamson! More pressure on Steve Taylor, who is not the rock in our central defence. Add to that we lose our main goalkeeper. Tiote was also suspended. Who never came back the same player! All of a sudden were looking back at those key players’. Where are they!
Was long ball tactics the cause? Well: No! Teams can set up defensive play. They can miss the midfield. They can defend deep. But we lacked the join between defence and attack, because Pards gave that task to his goalkeeper (who was out injured). Jonas who was incapable of delivering a decent cross! Papa Cisse who is not a target man! Or a player who was AWOL: Demba Ba!
These issues should have been addressed in the summer. We have the chance to address them now! Even if Mike had sacked Alan: he still would have had to address these issues. Europe was just an excuse! What manager could have done any better under the circumstances? But I will agree: Alan was under a lot of pressure; but where were the men to dig him out? Maybe Mike’s done just that?
David B’s Toon(Quote)
Decent article. I have tried looking at the stats, available players, fixture congestion, etc etc and there doesn’t appear to be much rhyme or reason to the last season (I’m calling it last season now).
I think one important factor to think about, which again is non-conclusive, is that this was the first time Pardew had to deal with such issues in his managerial career.
I would agree that to date, he doesn’t handle crisis well. Does that mean though that with experience he can’t learn?
I’m still very much undecided as to what Pardew can achieve, I do however believe he can do a job for us this coming season, with only domestic responsibilities to think about.
William(Quote)
Very interesting Prem. If he had a systemm that the players believed in, understood and and was his ‘ethos’ surely he wouldnt need such a huge amount of time to prepare. The ludicrousness of the situation when Demba was going and Pardew was flapping like a galleon in the wind that he didn’t have enough preparation time between Wednesday and Sunday to alter things tells me all I need to know about him. I have zero faith and stand by that. If by some miracle he meta morphs into an able manager I will be delighted as the team should benefit and we may be able to watch something remotely resembling football.
Geordie Deb(Quote)
David. Agree with you. The lack of continuity in team selection was a factor. It’s not one problem that created the debacle of last season. I don’t think you can blame just the one man for all of them
Premandup(Quote)
Only another 425 posts to go Aussie
Premandup(Quote)
Well said Deb! That lack of ethos and a clearly defined playing style was all too evident last season. Unless you call hoofball 8-1-1 a style. People are jumping through hoops and looking for all kinds of reasons for our failure when, it seems to me, it’s self evident. We have a really **** manager.
I know we had a lot of injuries and that was probably the factor that caused us to finish 16th instead of 12th but everybody in football will tell you we have a good set of players. Pardew’s management of them and his tactics had everyone bewildered players and fans alike.
Nice try Prem and an interesting take but stats remain just that.
georgio(Quote)
Good article Prem and better than Aussies 😆
@David B
I agree. 😉
If Pards had a better squad instead of poor players to turn to when his purples are injured, then the theories about midweek games goes out the window.
Pards is nee football genius and that showed by him saying the squad was strong enough at the start of the season. The facts were, it wasn’t. 😕
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Sorry to veer off topic, but thought you guys might be interested in this:
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/6342?cc=5739
It’s a really interesting read on potential reasons why Tiote has looked *ahem* less impressive this season.
Definitely worth a read.
blip(Quote)
That bit is true Troy. We have too many **** players filling up the squad. First 11 when fit OK. Soon as one goes out quality drops . When three or four are out we are utter rubbish.
georgio(Quote)
I’m getting annoyed at reading that Newcastle are prioritising quality over quantity this summer.
What a load of bollocks!.
On paper we have a pretty strong looking starting 11 if all are fit, but beyond them we don’t have the strength in depth and certainly didnt to compete 4 competition as we were last season.
How many games did we win last season and how many were won convincingly?!
The fact is we need to balance quality with quantity this summer.
It’s no good only buying one CF for say £12-15m and a CB for £8-10m a total of £20-25m.
If either or both get injured similar to HBA with a broken leg or a season ending injury then we’re back to square one!.
We need to balance quality with quantity. I want to see us sign players like PEA and Siem De Jong but with all the will in the world are they REALLY gonna sign for NUFC. Between the shocking season we’ve just had (and no European footy to offer) and our board who, if a club ask for £15m they will offer £10m and mince around til either someone else steps in or the window closes. I just don’t see it to be honest.
I want to see quality young players coming in like Ince and Redmond or Austin and Rhodes. Sign the likes of Alex Pearce or Douglas on free transfers and improve the overall quality of our squad so that injuries are such a big problem in future.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Interesting article Blip. 😉
There’s possibly a lot of truth in that
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Agree with Troy, Blip
Premandup(Quote)
Prem good read and very interesting , I agree that with a regular 1st 11 then playing twice a week isnt that bad but when there is wholesale changes made week in week out that causes problems add to that that we dont have much quality in the back up players to make it easier
Big Dave(Quote)
Blip – I think there is certainly some truth to that. Pardew changed the whole formation because Ba and Cisse couldn’t play alongside each other up front – they could, but Ba stopped scoring and threw his toys.
But as a result it affected the whole team. The defence looked less stable, the midfield of Tiote, Cabaye and Jonas – who were so dominant the season before, basically went missing. And poor Cisse had little to no support.
Pardew persevered with this 4-2-3-1 formation even after Ba and his goals left for Chelsea.
When Pardew switched back to 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 for the last few games of the season, we looked far better balanced.
For me, if Pardew wants to succeed next season it’s important to get the formation right.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Good read bud thought our season took a nose dive after tiote got sent off when we were leading in the derby,also think that affected the rest of his season.
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
never look like himself after that 🙁
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Excuses, excuses.
Stuart79(Quote)
It wouldnt have been if we had approached the season with a squad with anything like the depth needed. Look at the squad we named in preparation for european football and backing up the first team for a (dont laugh) challenge for the top 4:
Elliott, Harper, Alnwick, Williamson, Perch, Ferguson, Good, Street, Dummett, Raylor, Tavernier, Gosling, Vuckic, Bigirimana, Obertan, Inman, Marveaux, Newton, Abeid, Anita, Amalfitano, Sammy, Shola, Xisco, Ranger, Campbell
If we had signed De Jong, Debuchy and Douglas in the summer and held onto Best, Lovenkrands, Guthrie and Forster for another season we might have just about got away with it. With that squad we were ****** before a ball was kicked. Pardew has rightly taken a lot of the blame but the the root cause is always Ashley…
CC(Quote)
Excellent, well written article Premand. The difference between home and away with less prep time is huge. No good team has such a huge discrepancy. We must find ways to improve dramatically next season or it may be more of the same sad to say. I’m with you in that I don’t have a lot of faith in Pardew’s ability to handle crisis or even setbacks. Will we strengthen enough (or at all if we lose players) this summer? Huge question marks hang over the squad now. With the stated goal of achieving nothing more than mid table it looks to me like we will have a relatively quiet summer unless one of our big names is sold for big money. I still think this might be a recipe for disaster after what we’ve just watched all season long. A slow start and pressure will mount on Ashley to do something about it. Again he is almost never pro-active. He has to be forced into action as with last summer. No way to run a club.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
A lot of truth in the article about Tiote, BLIP. It points the finger at someone familiar however, Pardew. He didn’t recognize early enough (or apparently at all) that the new role didn’t suit Tiote. I would argue it unsettled Tiote in his defensive duties as well. Failed long pass forward, then a nasty tackle and a card within the next few minutes, then a very different style for the rest of the game to stay on the pitch. Did Pardew not see what was happening? Apparently not. The reporter refers to Cabaye as fairly immobile which I don’t buy at all but the rest of the article made a lot of sense. Will Pardew even think about it this summer if Tiote stays with us? I have my doubts.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
If people think we are going to spend 30 or 40M pounds this summer then I’m afraid they’re in for a shock unless we sell someone for 20M or more. The owner has very limited ambition, which translates into very small investment (by today’s reckoning with the new TV contract). We clearly don’t want to finish higher than about 8th or we would have to compete in Europe (what a horrible thought according to Pardew)! Can you imagine actually playing to get into Europe as an approach to the game? That would mean we had ambition and wanted to get into the Champions League where the real European money is. No, that would expose our weak squad and our even weaker owner now wouldn’t it?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I think one key to understanding Ashley’s approach will be to look at the profit/loss statements from next season. That will be a breakthrough year for Ashley with the new TV contract. He should bring in at least 25M to 30M in profit. That should continue for the foreseeable future so within four or five years he could see 100M – 150M pounds of profit from the club. All he has to do is keep us in the Prem. If we dip down to 16th or 17th Pardew will be gone in a heartbeat. The money is the key for Ashley, not the football. Mid table is safe, means no embarrassing exposure to European football and lots of money for Ashley. He will laugh his head off unless Pardew ***** it up again next season and forces Ashley’s hand. Isn’t it wonderful to have an owner with ambition?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I think the answer to the question in the title is yes fixture congestion was an issue because we failed to build a big enough, deep enough squad. We will continue to lack a deep squad but it won’t matter because the owner and manager have both learned their lesson. No more European football for us. Stay safely in 10th-12th place, that’s the key. Can Pardew manage that? I hope not or that’s all we’ll ever get from Ashley. What an absolute ****** we have for an owner.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
i would love to see us in the champion league again. it makes you appreciate what a good manager bobby robson was! pardrew results last season was a joke and how he never got sacked is a joke! why can’t ashley invest in a good manager and some better coaches is beyond me. we should get rid of players like gosling, guterez, toite, williamson and start again.
terry(Quote)
Will Mike Wankley be looking comfortable if we take 2 or 3 points from our first 6 games next season? That would be very interesting to see. I would hate for it to happen but how do we get out of the mess we’re in if we play terrible football but manage to stay in mid table? Say we get 8 or 9 points from our first 6 games (2 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses) and sit around 12th. Exciting thought isn’t it? We could look forward to perhaps a 45-48 point season, finishing between 10th and 14th possibly. We might even win a cup game if the opposition is poor enough (certainly not as good as Brighton). I can hardly contain my excitement (yawn).
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Mike Wankley could do all of those things Terry @26 if he had any football ambition mate. But he doesn’t. He won’t spend to improve enough and he would rather not embarrass himself by having us get into Europe again. He’s learned his lesson now. No more Europe for us.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
geordie i couldn’t agree with you more. i hope he sales the club and takes over rangers. fingers crossed
terry(Quote)
@G2
How long have you been on the reality train. 😉
I know it hasn’t been long cos you criticised me for saying Ashley wouldn’t sack Pards. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Heynckes wants a break not actual retirement, does he fancy four months out and then being the next toon boss?
Newkie(Quote)
Troy get them signed up there but if there is many more we’ll need to start charging as the carriages are nearly all filled 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
I wouldn’t criticize you for thinking Wankley would keep Pardew Troy mate. I was only expressing the hope that we would want to do better and be better than we were last season. Part of the way to do that would have been to bring in a better manager. I think Ashley remains convinced we can be a mid table team with Pardew as manager and with a little spending here and there (and the occasional hoped for gold mine such as the sale of Carroll or the new TV contract). I’m not convinced it will play out that way. I don’t mind being on the reality train. It’s how I try to live. No use living in cloud cuckoo land.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Aye Terry mate @29 it’s become blindingly obvious what the Mike Wankley plan for us is. Mid table obscurity. Nothingness. No ambition, no Europe, no cups. But lots of dosh for the owner.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
@Big Dave
We took some flak fella for stating the obvious at the time. I always find, if you use past experiences as a guide, in this case Ashleys track record with managers, then you won’t go far wrong. 😛
I always said, don’t blame Pards, blame the man who appointed him and won’t sack him. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
<<<<<<<<<< was angry enough to want him sacked but deep down knew he would stay,ya only going to make ya self look silly if you give him an 8 year contract then sack him 7 or 8 months later.
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
just a thought but I see w/ham have had a 15mil
offer for a striker negrego of Seville knocked back where have they found 30mil from for two c/f,unless there is another storey re:Carroll???
icedog(Quote)
I’m wondering how silly Wankley is going to look if we start poorly next season? Wankly wankright, no guts, no ambition, no clue. The same for his pet Gollum.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I was wondering about that as well Ice mate. Does it mean West Ham want the two as strike partners or would they cancel their offer for Carroll if Negrado accepts?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
<<<<<<<<<<, this dude here blames ashley lack of funds last summer more than anything else,so a word to the wish fatboy, give him some money cause to sack him halfway though next season,will make ya look like a proper idiot 😉
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
<<<<<<< I agree with that ^^^^^ dude @ 40 😆 Ice maybe it's just ***** to try to get the Carroll deal cheaper, as I don't think they have the money, where have you been anyway I was going to send Batts out to look for you. Troy expect the usual from Jabba and anything else is a bonus 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
G2 on jab a the rags seem to be agree that he
will only fund two new players a c/h and a c/f if so imo we are in deep ****
icedog(Quote)
JABBA
icedog(Quote)
Craig Bellamys book looks a good read. Its serialised in the chronicle.
I’ve always admired him as a player. He was key in SBR team.
And to be honest, though I’ve heard some stories (so I take them with a pinch of salt) I loved his feisty attitude on the pitch.
He’s one of the best players the Toon have ever had.
He’s also a person I would love to spend a few hours, one on one, having a pint and craic to.
Most people who actually knew him as a person, ex footballers, usually praise him.
He did some daft things in his time, but we seem to forget he was a young lad, in his early20’s.
Jeezaz! He wasn’t a patch on me for doing daft things! And I still do them now at 45! 😆
Troy Stavers(Quote)
DAVE been enjoying this lovely weather in the garden,wor lass doing a good job somebody has to sweat while ime having a drink,don’t send batty he will have me scratting the bins again
icedog(Quote)
Yes and it depends on who the 2 players actually are ice. If they actually don’t work out with us it would be a disaster. Especially if both Colo and Cisse leave. We will be in worse shape than we were last summer. We already know Obertan is hopeless, Jonas is losing it, Vuckic is always injured, Saylor is injury prone, Willo is not good enough without a very good partner, Tiote has been lost for a while, Shola is past it, and Gosling will probably never recover from his injuries. It makes difficult reading but Wankley will brush it all aside and stare at Pardew waiting for good results.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Don’t worry lads and lasses. I’m sure if we’re struggling by next January Wankley Wankright will provide the resources to keep a firm grip on 16th place. I know I’m feeling better just thinking about that. 👿
GeordieTwo(Quote)
G2 thing is with jabba he will be thinking he bought five players in Jan so two more should be enough he’s not into spending money only making money the lap dog will go with it to imo
icedog(Quote)
Ice don’t work her to hard in that heat mate 😉
Geordietwo yeah when can count on Jabba doing the right thing 😆
Troy are them SD signs down yet 🙄
Big Dave(Quote)
DAVE don’t worry mate I make her wear a hat,don’t want her getting sunstroke who would fill my drink up
icedog(Quote)
Aye ice he bought 5 players last January and decent ones at that but we have more than 5 other players who don’t belong in the club anymore and we weren’t strong enough to start with. When are we going to replace all the lost strikers? Shall we remember their names? What about Ba, Ranger, Xisco, and Best for starters even if we don’t count Lovehandles? How do you sit still or bring in 1 striker when you’ve sold or gotten rid of 4 or 5? I always count on Jabba doing the right thing Big Dave. For himself that is. 👿
GeordieTwo(Quote)
G2 don’t worry mate pardew has shola and Jonas to fall back on and PBA,he is always singing there praises,that tells me all I need to know about pardew ime afraid
icedog(Quote)
OBA
icedog(Quote)
Ashley and /or Pardew must be complete croutons if they think we can get away with bringing in only 2 new players. What happens when Cisse goes to the Africa cup, or god forbid gets injured ?
Ideally we need at least 3 players next season, a striker, a centre half and an attacking midfielder.
Munich Mag(Quote)
If we count on players like Obertan, Shola, and even Jonas next season ice we deserve whatever we get in terms of finish in the table. Move them all on as well as Gosling, and probably give Vuckic one last season to prove himself. Willo should only be a fourth choice CB and we’ll have no backup to Debuchy when Simpson leaves unless we use Santon who to me is very weak defensively. Is any of this being discussed by Llambias and Pardew? I hope so. They saw what happened when they did nothing last summer or were they paying attention?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
G2, Ashley probably thinks he’s onto a new trick now, and can solve all problems in the January transfer window if necessary 👿
Munich Mag(Quote)
MM its alright for you mate at least you can see some canny footy owr there when things get to much at the toon,by the way you got webbed feet owr there yet hope the floods missed you
icedog(Quote)
Aye Munich @56 it would be just like him. But look how close we came to getting relegated even with the 5 new players. It’s madness to think we can get away with only 2 incoming in the summer. He’s seen this film before. We under buy in the summer, panic and buy a few in January, and barely get through by the skin of our teeth. Is that the plan going forward again? If I don’t see more movement this summer I’ll be even more convinced it’s Ashley that has to go.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Good read Prem, I don’t hold with this tiredness bollox, any premier league manager who uses it as an excuse should either **** off to the lower leagues or be banging on the chairman/owners door for more players, if you don’t have fixture congestion then you’ve ha a disappointing season. 😉
MM…We defo need a striker but there’s no ACoN until 2015 😉
I haven’t really bothered with the transfer gossip as 99% of it will be bollocks, the only thing I’m 100% sure of I Ashley will disappoint me as he does every window 🙄
richietoon(Quote)
Good article Prem and good question.
Well lets put it this way if it was the reason we flopped then the blame lies with Jabba for his wilful neglect of the club by not strengthening. Equally culpable is Pards though for saying at season start that he was ‘happy’ to go with what I have 🙄 . It’s shocking if he really believed that as anyone knew it would be bad with the extra Europa games factored in and that we were short on quality throughout the squad. If he was just towing the party line then he needs to grow a pair and front up to Jabba. He won’t though cause he’s spineless and will take all manner of ***** to keep his job.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Ice@37 ,This West Ham business is really pissing me off. £30 effin million on two players when they are only contributing £15m to revamp the Olympic stadium with the tax payer fronting up £60m and Newham council £38M,add to that they are in £100M OF DEBT ,which the owner admits the sale of Upton Park won’t cover and the whole thing stinks. And this is why football is gonna implode ,because of feckless owners like that. 👿
KIMTOON(Quote)
Nice stats, Prem, but they don’t actually help much in the end. There are just too many possible reasons for failure, a number only limited by the imagination. The bottom line is the big stat : 16th. We didn’t play well enough. Nobody did well. All have to take some blame.
brisvegas(Quote)
Just a note on the comments re mid-table mediocrity: In all the time I’ve supported Newcastle, mid-table has been just about our lot, sometimes we’ve done better, many times (many, many times) we’ve done worse. Mid-table mediocrity has been the norm.
And before the rabid attack bloggers start salivating, that’s not a criticism of anybody or a justification for anybody, just an observation.
brisvegas(Quote)
@Begas
I’m fizzin! 😈 you are trying to goad us! 😈
Why do you do it! 😈
Seriously though, on a lighter note, I’m almost drifting off in the light breeze, 😉 Begas, that was the crappest statement I’ve heard since JJ said yesterday that, if Man Utd had a poor season their fan base would halve and the club could fold. 🙄
I forgive JJ cos he does come out with ridiculous comments on a regular basis but in general he can be reasonable. Its maybe the time of the month. 😛 sorry Jim Jams I couldn’t resist but some of your quotes including that one need reassessing by Aussies wife. 😆
She’s the only sensible one on this blog 😆
I love you Mrs Aussie. 😉 😳
Anyway, enough of me playing away behind Aussies back! 😛 he’ll be fizzin when ask he finds oot that I’ve been having an online affair with his Mrs! 😆
Back to Begas, how long have you been supporting the toon? I know a long time so I’m wondering if you’ve had too many hits full on the face with a roo!?
Since the premiership was formed in 1991 we are one of the most successful teams.
In 20 yrs we’ve finished 2nd twice, 3rd, 4th 5th twice, 7th, competed in the CL and reached the knock out stages, been to cup finals, charity shields and been crowned the entertainers.
Last season we got the quarter finals of the Europa cup.
Don’t get me wrong, we haven’t won a bean but to say we’ve been mid table mediocrity is a joke.
I predict mid table mediocrity from now on in until Ashley sells up as I feel last season was a stroke of luck cos we had a combination of 3 players playing extraordinary football and few injuries.
But to say since you’ve supported us we’ve been mediocre in general makes my nose twitch, my eyebrows raise and my lips vibrate. 😛
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Anyway, enough of me playing away behind Aussies back! he’ll be fizzin when ask he finds oot that I’ve been having an online affair with his Mrs!
it’s all good Troyster, it will make a nice change from the life long affair that you have been having with your hand 🙂 🙂
Prem, nice article mate, I always enjoy your ups… I think if you combine your past 3 or 4 articles, you will probably get to the answer for our poor season.. We seemed to have had the perfect storm of **** this season… Form, tiredness, injuries, manager, motivation, excuses, too many games, too many flights, bumpy pitches, no settled players, new players.ect ect = **** football
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Wow! 😯 Aussie ! 😯
I never believed you would make your bite so obvious! 😛
Troy Stavers(Quote)
just jokes Troy 😉 Don’t chuck a hissy and leave the blog again….. please forgive me 😐
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
… for the sake of the blog 😆 😆
I’m sorry Troy, you may mock JJ for his Man U comment (I agree) but your statement above is the all time classic…. I am still laughing at it even as I type this 😆 😆 classic Stavers .. 😉
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Aussie
I’m quite astute and can read people’s personalities and their views on others, even when they try to hide it. 😎
I know you hate Begas and you cringe at his views but he’s your only ally on the blog by nationality only! 😯
Woo hoo hoo hoo! You must cringe when Begas puts his miserable foot in it and he represents your country. 😆
On a more serious note, what do you think will happen in your courts to your fellow countryman (murderer) Oscar Pisorius? 🙁
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Vegas is a good fella, I actually agree with 90% of his views (apart from Berisha penalties 🙂 ). Unlike you he has probably played the game before 🙂 🙂 🙂 (ohhh that was a bit low Aussie! )
Oscar P ? Isn’t he the South African born – England cricket captain! 🙂
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Aussie looks vacantly into space and wonders why the Australian Oscar Pistorius speaks with a South African accent. 😯
Fortunately for Aussie, Begas is now typing away, fizzin and seething, just about to tell Troy he’s got nothing to do with his country and just about to press the send key, when boof! 😯
Begas is knocked out by a stray polar bear! 😯
Aussie, realises that Begas was on the end of Troys hook and goes into a full rage! But fortunately for Aussie, mrs sexy Aussie realises Troy is playing his little naughty game and she subtlety elbows Mr Aussie in the ribs and asks Troy secretly to Facebook her. 😉
Aussie don’t worry dude, I’m a one woman man!
😉
I’m already seeing Mrs Begas. 😛
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy 🙂 🙂
So what do you do for a living mate? Obviously you do a bit of shift work?
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Jeezaz! 😯
Its on the news now! Troy has caused so much upset in Australia that Ayres Rock, which they didn’t realise was a volcano has erupted! 😯
Aussie & Begas I’m sorry to upset your country so much, it was lighthearted banter from me in England, if I knew that my jibes would cause volcanos out of red rocks then I wouldn’t have upset you’s! Really am sorry lads. 😕
Troy Stavers(Quote)
@Aussie
You should never get into people’s lives on a blog unless you join Facebook 😉 then you respect each other more cos you know more about them and you aren’t just a name.
What’s your Facebook name?
Troy Stavers(Quote)
please stop picking on us Troy “for the sake of the blog” 😆 😆
plus you are upsetting Mum! 😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)