As tiers go by
Big story of the weekend? Brum going back up? Nah, Birmingham City are the quintessential yo-yo team. 'Keep on going to the end of the road' is fair enough but it'd be nice for the fans at St Andrew's to have a stretch of highway that wasn't dotted with road signs like 'Hidden Dips' on '1 in 4' drop ahead. If you fill in an application form for BCFC supporters club there's a little rider underneath that says 'Football clubs can go down as well as up'. Still, it's never dull, eh? Rather that than mid-table obscurity. Maybe.
You find the big story by looking down to the foot of the Championship and seeing the three names heading down the chute: Norwich City, Southampton and Charlton Athletic. To be honest I was expecting the Boro to be playing at least one of these next season. And not cos of our relegation, either.
It hardly seems like yesterday that Le Tissier was in his pomp and the Saints were strutting around their new park. In fact it's eight years and probably nine managers ago (umpteen more when you start to include little appearances by 'Arry Bassett - the poor man's Red Adair - the Artful Dodger Wisey, Dodd and Gorman, etc.). The stadium is still tip-top - it's a cracking venue for corporate events, dinners with 60 executive rooms and enough space for 500 guests, so I've read. It's just a bit cack for footy.
It's hard not to tip the whole hot steaming pile of blame on to the doorstep of one Rupert Lowe. Lowe seemed at times to employ novices in order that he might have more sway himself. And yet his footballing acumen was writ large in the appointment of Clive Woodward in the position Extra-Something-Or Other-Cos-He's Good-At-Rugger.
What the hell was that about?! They're different sports, man! Presumably Rupert's conservatory was put together by the best plumber in Hampshire and his yachts are maintained by Kwik Fit.
It was Lowe who set up this Southampton Leisure Holdings Company as well. Personally I don't know of one football fan who doesn't express despair when he hears his club is just a subsidiary of some non-descript company who own a load of other stuff that's got nowt to do with the game. It means that financial considerations outside the football club itself can have more bearing on its success that what's put out on the park every Saturday.
(In Liverpool's case it appears that owners seem prepare to take profits out of the football club in order to pay debts acquired in purchasing the damn thing in the first place. If you need a good example of how t*ts up footy could be going, you could do worse than start there.)
I've not been following the fortunes of Charlton and Norwich as closely, save for when Delia gets on the half-time mike. Think Norwich and you think of winning 2-1 at Bayern Munich and how good the half-time pies must be. Delia will have to keep knocking out the cookbooks now if she wants the club to bounce back Leicester-style. Difficult to know where she can go after How to Cheat, though. I've already mentioned a cookery guide for blokes which would simply be a list of her favourite local takeaways... maybe she can add tomes called How To Pretend You Cooked It, or How to Thaw Out Your Mam's Stews. I'd buy it.
The Addicks are a sad tale, too. For a while they were the essence of a good club run by a sound manager who achieve beyond their means and quality on paper - or, as we now call it, Everton.
What worries me as a fan of a club over whom the shadow of relegation looms like the backlit silhouette of Carlos Tevez on a net curtain, is that these three set a precedent. The response to the drop can be twofold: haul yourself up off your knees and clamber back into the top tier making cocky claims on the way (the Carl Froch/Birmingham approach) or lie still and unblinking while they waft the smelling salts under your nose (the Ricky Hatton/Leeds United approach). All right, that's an unearned dig at the Hitman and that fight reminded me that while I love boxing, I just turn into a right Jessie when someone gets really hurt. I'm pleased Ricky's ok and I hope he never bothers with it again.
After a North-West 3 North-East 0 weekend, when that shabby second-string of United's - Scholes, Giggs, Coconut Head Kiki - just about broke into a stroll and the respective defences of Sunderland and Newcastle displayed all the calmness of a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking-chairs, you can see at least one club from the hotbed of football sliding further down than just the one tier. In fact I can see floods of tiers for the lot of us.
For Southampton, read Newcastle: badly run, more managers than an NHS trust, top stadium and loyal support, not enough points.
For Charlton, read the Boro: nice family club, fans none too expectant, red shirts and good will earning precisely nowt.
Actually, let's hope that Boro are the Barnsley of the Premiership this season. Fact is, whoever wins at St James's next Monday might just get out of trouble, always supposing that Hull hath no fury 'til the end of the season. Lawro said it's the biggest game Boro's had for 11 years. Likewise, the Barcodes. I predict an ugly, error-strewn 2-1 and an escape of Fulhamesque proportions.
I won't say who for though but. What was I saying about mid-table obscurity? I'd sell my house and all its contents for a bit of that right now.
I'm Derek Robson. People call me Robbo. Legend has it I was raised in the furnace and smog of Teesside. Some might say I took the hard road. I like to tell folk I had trials for Middlesbrough, for Hartlepool and for burglary (not guilty). I've always loved sport. My job is to say it as I see it - whether it's in the bar of the Blue Bell or on this blog. You won't find me calling a spade a soil-redistribution implement.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~12~RS~)
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A whole blog about the lower divisions. Practicing for next year are we?
Is it safe to say you have thrown in the towel after last Saturday's result?
And not one mention of hair gel or tumbling, are you sure you aren't sick Robbo?
Mind you I am sure there will be a few thousand comments asking you why you picked on Liverpools finances (even though you did it in brackets) and telling you how you were completely wrong and how they are the best off financially in the world. That and you totally hate Liverpool, you United loving ***!
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Top blog again Robbo, being a Toon fan I am looking forward to the game this weekend - if there's one side that we want to be up against now its Boro, likewise for you lot. Whoever wins that will gain a massive amount of confidence, and I can see it being the springboard for escaping relegation...the problem is I wouldn't bet on Newcastle taking the points at all. What odds on 34/5 points being enough to stay up this year looking at Hull's & Sunderlands fixtures?
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Well if Hull and Sunderland win this weekend, what happens Teeside will be pretty well irrelevant, but looking at recent form, i'd say Boro have a slight edge.
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Top blog Robbo.
These formerly steady top flight teams are merely taking a leaf out of Man City's books. Drop down to the third tier, pretend like you'll never get out there, rob Kent's finest, come back up to the Prem, drop down, come back up and then get bought by some rich oil magnate.
It's a good plan if it pays off, but it's only worked once so far
If the Toon go, I think they'd come back up next year, but I wouldn't be to upset if they didn't
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Great blog again Robbo and I'm glad you've decided not to focus on the CL this week as every other media outlet seems to be!
Massive game for both clubs. I just hope that for the sake of football all 4 clus (Hull and Sunderland too) start picking points up so that the run in is as good as it possibly can be.
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Yes, looking at the form book, Borough have lost all their games by slightly fewer goals so it looks set for a ... draw. Isn't that always the way it goes for a 6 pointer between clubs who MUST win to save themselves? Never really understood why getting 3 points is getting 6, you still only go 3 points up from where you were and you can't take 3 away from the team you beat. Although that would be nice in the case of Man Utd, who've unfairly won far too many games this season imo.
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Actually that's not a bad thought. If you could choose to take away 3 pts from any team in a Champion's League place instead of gaining 3 yourself, who'd bet against City not wanting to trash Utd's season and giving it to Liverpool? Or Spurs upsetting Arsenal and giving Villa a bonus? Or Everton de-railing Liverpool and helping Chelsea?
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Great blog yet again.
The problem with Boro is quite clearly that man Gareth Southgate. He's a top bloke and probably loves the club to death but take a look at him. He's about as intimidating as a bowl of custard. Can you imagine him giving someone "the hairdryer treatment"? Instead, you can imagine he'd be the type to spout the Under 6's clichés, including "As long as everyone has fun & enjoys themselves" and "At the end of the day the real winner is football".
Both Boro and Newcastle are in need of a good kick up the backside; they have the players to survive but no drive or desire. In true Leeds style, Newcastle gave up all hope a long time ago, or so it seems from the way they've been playing over the last few months.
Southampton and Charlton are really tragic stories, both clubs have experienced life up the right end of the Premiership not ten years ago & it's a real shame to witness once proud clubs deteriorate in such a way.
Any word on the Southampton ownership issue yet?
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Great blog as usual Robbo.
As we all know, the premierleague is set up to keep the top four where they are, with enough tasty scraps falling from the top table to keep the rest well fed.
Funny enough, of the 5 sides hovering around the drop zone, (well, four hovering and Hull heading down quicker than Ronaldo in free kick range), I think Newcastle will have the hardest task to get back up. Leeds mark two.
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How the clubs are owned and run today is indeed a big worry.
Would love for Boro to survive and Hull to go down. That way Brown would not have to face the arrogant Wenger and spitting Cesc.
p.s:'the backlit silhouette of Carlos Tevez on a net curtain' is class.
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Robbo, is your local the Blue Bell in Bishopton?
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Mate I'm not telling no one which Blue Bell it is or I'll have Scousers and Mancs from across the country piling in there to give me grief and put me right off me pint of mild and me scampi fries.
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Nice blog, Robbo. The only problem with your last prediction is that neither the Boro or Newcastle seem capable of taking three points off anybody - even off each other! No, I think it's both of you for the drop and the only thing that will stop Hull and Sunderland from going into self-destruct mode is that they have the points on the board already.
Nevertheless, I will be sorry for Gareth, it's a shame that his players have shown as much backbone as an earthworm. Good luck.
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There's no chance of any of us showing up if they don't serve prawn sandwiches.
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[Southampton football] club is just a subsidiary of some non-descript company who own a load of other stuff that's got nowt to do with the game
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According to the FA when they imposed the 10-points deduction on Southampton, Southampton Leisure Holdings' only income is that of the football club itself. It doesn't seem to have any other activities.
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Robbo - a pub still selling Scampi Fries? You might have narrowed that down more than you wanted to. :-)
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Can't wait to see Boro in League 1 also!!!!
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Southampton Leisure Holdings was solely made to run the football club, it did nothing else, that's why we got the penalty, and fair enough. I don't think Rupert Lowe was financially an idiot, just regularly sacking managers meant we had no chance of staying our income dried up and so financial meltdown was pretty inevitable.
Good blog Robbo, it was nice to have a blog on something other than the top 4
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Gaz Utd... that'll be prawn sarnies in a marie rose sauce, mate (Which I reckon is like ketchup and salad cream mixed up). In Teesside terms that makes it a gastro pub. See you there.
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Robbo... Nice blog but is it true that their is now parmo sarnies at the riverside with a pint for a fiver?
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Seeing the reference to an application form for Birmingham City brings to mind a certain player from the 60's. Where I was working there was a status form for one of the players and under 'what position do you hold' the answer was 'centre-half'.
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I am confident Boro will be playing against Ferguson's men next season
Darren Ferguson
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I was hoping for a WBA revial so all the North East clubs go down.
Hot bed of football you having a laugh!!!
Great blog as usual Robbo, it will be a draw this weekend which will be exactly what you don't want.
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I do think there's a serious chance of a hernia when Jokecastle go down. Going to be fun watching their "loyal" fanbase dwindle over the seasons...
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The hot bed of football was named by Roy Evans was it or maybe his sidekick at the time Hollier when Fab scored three on his debut in a 3-3 thriller.
Good work Robbo, I think after watch the barcodes a couple of times that Boro will take the points and maybe then escape.
Fingers crossed.
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Not sure about the parmo price list, mate. Don't check on such things as I'm trying to keep my cholesterol low. All this fruit and fibre's playing hell with me regularity but then I suppose that's more information than you actually needed.
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The amount of people i speak to who really want Newcastle to go down is remarkable... I think the rest of us have had enough of the messiah proclaiming no shirt wearing blind faith spewing out of St. James'.
As for Boro, Alves is no Ravenelli and even with him you went down.
I honestly think this weekend will decide who goes down with WBA and Hull, it ain't going to be both of you.
Though Hull have Stoke and Bolton to play, and although there last game is against Man U, United may already be champions by then.
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Somebody must have already mentioned it, but being the so called "6 pointer", it's almost inevitable that this game will end in a draw!
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#24
I don't think our 'loyal' fanbase will dwindle over the seasons.
As pretty much everyone has said, the 'north-east derby' between NUFC and MFC will be a boring draw, a bit like NUFC v Pompey the other week.
The bottom 3 are your bottom 3 unfortunately, only Hull can possibly go down instead of either of us. I think their only winnable remaining game is this weekend against Stoke. But Tony Pulis keeps on saying that they need one more 1 to be safe, and he will target this game to do it.
Here is my prediction for the season. The winner, if there is one on Monday night, will stay up in place of Hull and they will overtake Sunderland and finish 16th.
I hope its my club, NUFC.
Scott Sewell, a loyal NUFC fan who will continue attend their games, home and away.
Haway The Lads.
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30 years ago Southampton (via the genius of Lawrie McMenemy and friendship of Mick Channon) were signing the current European Footballer of the year, Kevin Keegan.
Last season, Southampton (via the lunacy of Rupert Lowe) signed Anthony Pulis (who had a broken foot when Lowe signed him and never made one first team appearance all season).
That's just one of a million comparisons I could give you between how once Southampton was a well run FOOTBALL CLUB and the absolute Circus it became in the last 5 years.
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Yes Robbo that was way too much information!
Were you asking me out on a date there? Hmm, well, I'll just have to, hmm, hang on..... Ok but no tongues on the first date!
(Is that a worse thought than your toilet habits?)
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Though I'm still somewhat disgusted and dismayed by your 'I'm branching out' passport comment on Almunia, who openly admits that the only reason he'd play for England is because Spain haven't bothered to call and aren't likely to do so, this is still the only column I can read that, at one point or another, has the wit to make me laugh out loud: 'a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs' is another of those moments that makes you better than you are. How you of all people can advocate a man who is clearly using political means to secure what could only ever be a political position is simply beyond me. He is not English, and a passport will not make him so. There's such a quality as national pride: will this person ever wear the shirt as it was meant to be worn? There's also team spirit, which would not be improved by such an inclusion. You should have more strength of convinction, or will this soon turn into a Phil blog?
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You're preparing for the championship ey?
You still going to pick on Ronaldo and Man Utd next year?
Nice blog anyway.
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Nice blog as always Robbo.
Thinking Newcastle will probably beat Boro and stay up at Hulls expense!
Whats ur feelings on Southgate? Time for him to go if yous go down?
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Do they still play football at the riverside ?
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I was also hoping for a WBA revival. But alas everyone has already condemned us to the fizzy pop league. Last time i looked it was still mathematically possible to stay up.
Beat Wigan at home & Blackburn away last game of season. 6 pts.
Geordies & Boro draw & 2 losses. 1 pt.
Tigers in freefall. 0 pts.
WBA stop up on goal difference. Great Escape part deux.
BOING BOING!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Top draw blog Robbo,all set for Monday night but are our teams?wheres the goals gonna come from?Owen,Martins,Viduka?nowt yet from them.Your lads are not much better!a 6 pointer they say-a goalless draw must be odds on?I think the drop is inevitable for us.Heard Ashley may put us in administration if we go down-better do it from London then!!what a wally or words to that effect!Shearer was brought in to give them some fighting spirit,we saw Barton do his bit against the Pool-good riddence.Read on the beeb gossip column Big Sam wants him?did Shearer write that?Ashley has put us in at the deep end without a life buoy-what happened at your end?toothless Southgate or like us toothless attacking players?if the mackems beat Stoke on Saturday-bye bye to the premiership!
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I can't resist myself to comment on this one I can see there's something going on between Gaz_united & Robbo ever since Gaz made a hilarious comment about backpass rule.
Nice blog robbo. and some nice observations Mr. Gaz_united in your first post (Prctising for lower league).
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Why the sympathy for Southgate? I didn't hear anyone showing Roy Keane or Paul Ince any sympathy when they had similar difficulty lifting their respective teams out of a really bad run of form!
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Maybe Delia should put down her pen for a while and let someone write a book for her, Neil Doncaster & Roger Munby. It could be entitled "Dummies guide to running a football club".
Alright the club has been close to its fans and looked after us quite well, but that has come at a price...SUCCESS! 20,000 season ticket holders and 24-25000 per game, how can a club with that kind of support find themselves struggling? And how do they try to keep us happy, issue a special limited edition shirt with our names on it! WOW! That makes up for us not pushing for promotion back to the Premiership. Especially as its another £40 we have to splash out to get one!
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Robbo
For those that don't know already, there are two reasons why Charlton are in League One.
Alan Pardew and Phil Parkinson.
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40. At 2:12pm on 06 May 2009, DazzlinDapsy wrote:
Why the sympathy for Southgate? I didn't hear anyone showing Roy Keane or Paul Ince any sympathy when they had similar difficulty lifting their respective teams out of a really bad run of form!
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Ermmm... surely you can see that you've answered your own question there, mate!
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38. At 1:57pm on 06 May 2009, manucastle wrote:
I can't resist myself to comment on this one I can see there's something going on between Gaz_united & Robbo ever since Gaz made a hilarious comment about backpass rule.
Nice blog robbo. and some nice observations Mr. Gaz_united in your first post (Prctising for lower league).
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Yes, yes. The next wag that makes a little dig about the direction the Boro are going and how it might affect my career is in for a right post-moderated mouthful.
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what's gone wrong with football in the north-east this year Robbo ?
I mean look at Sunderland too - for my money they look the worst of the three - luckily for them they have a few points more - but for how long ? The most certain bet of the year is that Ricky Sgrebia ( however you spell it ) will not be the Sunderland manager come September - the phrase out of his depth springs to mind.
The modern day Charlton i guess now is a Blackburn, or Bolton. I think Blackburn under Allardyce can look forward to mid-table mediocrity for years to come!
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"we support our local team"
er, no you don't... half of you hardly ever turn up and the rest of you sit there singing the same two or three rubbish songs
"shall we sing a song for you"
der der derder der der der der :-)
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Lovely stuff, Robbo.
I was hoping you'd mention Liverpool and Yossi Benyoun's "probably offside" goal. So I'll mention it.
Yossi wasn't offside because he (all of him) wasn't in front of the ball when what's'isname passed it across. Yossi knew this and the linesman knew it, but not the two numpy commentators whose job you'd think it was to know the laws (law 11) that they pontificate on and on and on...about.
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Surely there can't be that many Blue Bell pubs in London that appear to have every Middlesbrough fan outside of Teeside (heck more than the Riverside most matches!) so he can't be that hard to track down.
On a more serious note look at the number of teams that have been in the Premiership that arein/have been/are going to be in League 1 recently:
Nottingham Forest
Swindon Town
Oldham Athletic
Mk Dons (iffy I know but technically correct)
Leeds Utd
Leicester City
Norwich
Charlton Athletic
Southampton
That's a lot of teams that have been relegated and simply not bee able to cope.
Out of the teams that are around the bottom at the minute Sunderland, West Brom and Hull are probably best placed to adapt back in the Championship. Middlesbrough I'm not too sure about but I think that Gibson has been planning for this since before Christmas, he can't afford to keep bankrolling Boro and becoming a yo-yo team might help them sort out thier finances.
Then there is Newcastle, with an owner that doesn't want them and many people thinking that they will be placed into administration if they do go down. Most of their players are on big money contracts and have little to no loyalty to the club (you can just see Owen playing in the Championship when he can walk away on a free!), reserve and youth teams that still haven't recovered from KK axing them the first time around and being forced to sell simply to get players off the books.
Apart from Harper (who was happy to be Given's understudy for years) Newcastle could be looking at getting in an entire new team next season and starting with a 10 pt deduction. If they go down they will be in serious trouble. Their one saving grace might be the fact that they don't own the land the stadium (which itself is half owned by the Hall's company not the club) is built on so they can't knock it down and build houses on it!
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Hopefully some light at the end of Southampton's never ending tunnel as Le Tiss has gone public this afternoon, saying he is part of a group who are hoping to formalise a takeover of Saints in the next few days.
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--Must resist urge to make comment on how things in Boro go down easier than Abi Titmuss at a celebrity convention--
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Robbo,
long time reader, first time poster.
As much as it's quite endearing to have Everton be labelled the modern Charlton of sound manager achieving above their means and quality - I would like to point out that our squad these days I would consider to be the best on paper in the Premier League outside the Sky Four, and were it not for a cataclysmic number of injuries could be still pushing for that elusive fourth spot.
For us to be compared to Charlton, I find quite insulting. Charlton never got into Europe during Curbishley's reign there, don't forget, and were always only good enough for mid-table mediocrity. Everton now are a cut above what Charlton ever were (no disrespect to Charlton fans) as a firmly established "Best of the Rest".
Still, thanks for the backhanded compliment.
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#51
Consider yourself well and truly needled. But the point is well made. A tad tetchy, but well made.
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Gazutd - let's keep the homoerotic fantasies between yourself & your "gelled tumbler" - i'm sure Robbo only has eyes for his old lady, and perhaps Fabrizio Ravanelli.
here's hoping for another Chelski-Manure final... i could use the sleep.
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Denis surely you had enough sleep last night.
Most of you left around 8:15 so you should have been all tucked up around 8:30
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good one. (yawn)
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Robbo you muppet it's 'Keep right on till the end of the road'. Another mis-educated fool, I stopped reading after that. Maybe you need to do the conference next season, you may find it easier.
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Oi, Robbo, unhand my beloved club! Birmingham have only ever been relegated from the PL twice, I'll have none of this bouncing malarky !!
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Budget blog to be frank, regarding Southampton. Lowe is to blame but by no means the sole reason to blame. I'm not one of these nodding donkeys who just see Lowe as the scapegoat. The Woodward appointment was controversial but he was employed as Technical Director to get involved with Sports Science which helped him win the World Cup, so potentially it could have worked if he could have worked with a more open manger than "arry". So overall poor blog.
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You're an absolute shambles.
A ridiculous attempt at humour does not even begin to hide the fact you haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about.
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First time comment from long time Saints fan.
Good blog.
At the risk of getting heavy instead of all the levity...the fact three ex Premiership clubs can get relegated in so rapid a reversal of fortune can be read by some as exciting and others as frightening.
The two big issues I see are:
1. The fans don't have enough power to evict incompetent 'Leaders' of their clubs...a quick re-read of 'The Wisdom of crowds' should be sufficient to convince even the most Stalinesque Chairman to include the fanbase in key decision making. (Ask the Saints fans if they knew Lowe was sincere but incompetent - 90% knew this 5 years ago - not only could we not get rid of him, he did a Houdini and reappeared to add the 'coup de grace')
2. The re-distribution of wealth from the Premier League and Champions League top clubs is insufficient to keep the foundation soil of the other 88 clubs healthy...
Anybody who believes that an unfettered capitalist approach works need only look to the SPL (yawn) to see what happens...the Premier League top four (yawn)...says it all
I like the system in the USA where the worst clubs get the first pick of next years rookie players. Working on the assumption that no club wants to be crap (some questionable ones here!)...this kind of thing evens things out a bit where it counts most - on the pitch
Less heavy next time, promise
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Rockman - we have however been relegated from the top flight under whatever incarnation 11 times...
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Newcastle United appear to have been poorly run; their players also don't seem particularly commited (Save Butt, Harper & Jonas) Still it's incredible that a club that brings about forty-thousand fans to every home game is likely to be playing in the Championship next season.
I'll just blame Platini like some chelsea fans are doing now!
He was also responsible for my extra weight, my state of finances and my premature ejaculation!
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Sorry, that last bit just kinda 'popped out'
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There's only one Bluebell; straight on past the Corrie and its on the left.
Does it still have a bar - or is it transformed to a 'lounge' where you get 'Sunday roasts' with a plate full of food in dishes?
Been years since I went in, makes it a bit of a long (and expensive) night when you've got a 4 hour flight each end of it.
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I don't know what all the noise is about, the Third Division has a lovely bunch of new faces to go and visit. Instead of travelling to Newcastle Southamptoin fans can enjoy weekend specials to Carlisle and Hartlepool its closer than Newcastle, you'll love Hartlepool, a smashing little town on the North Sea, not quite the barcodes but very similar. Norwich can nip down the road for a local derby with Colchester; when was the last time you done that? And Charlton can play derbies against Leyton Orient a bunch of West Ham wannaabes, you could have renew aquaintences with us lads at the Den but I'm affraid we're nipping up a division for a couple of seasons. See you when we come back.
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Nice article. As a lifelong Nottingham Forest fan, I feel your impending pain. Not too long ago we were in the top flight, then along comes a certain ex-Arsenal novice called Platt and lo and behold we are 27m in debt, but with a string of second rate Italian players! Behold the free-fall! Now Billy Davies is at the helm, I hope for a year of consolidation, build a team with a mix of experience and youth, and see where we go from there. Just as long as we don't have another relegation dogfight like this year!
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Well Norwich is relegated to League One not unless we proof that we can climb back to the Championship.
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Re 51 and 52 Pedro Delboy Robert.
I'm a Charlton Fan. We punched above our wieght very succesfully under a great manager. We've changed that too much, that's why we're in a mess, but the heart of the club is good, remember, we lost our ground for quite a while, so Div 3? Pah, we'll be back.
Everton, and one if my bestest mates is a toffee are, in my view, a 'big' club. Well supported on Merseyside and around the country, you should be doing much better, but you have underachieved of late and if it wasn't for Davey Moyes near genius, you still would be. You should be honoured to be compared to a club that had nothing, has little (28K seater stadium, how big is Goodison?)and still did comparativley better than you for a few years, Robbo was talking about the way the club has fallen from (apparent) grace,whereas in truth we've always been a good 2nd Divison side. Now that we know we're better than that, we have ambition to be with you boys again, the sooner the better.
I know you wrote 'no disrespect to Charlton fans' but you did disrespect Charlton and its fans. I like Everton, they're nice people, good travelling support (I can just remember them!) so do yourself a favour and concentrate on being the club you should be and not being insulted by being compared to a club you should admire.
Nuff sed.
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The very first comment- a United supporter (not from Manchester most likely) calls the Championship "lower divisions". Could you possibly find a better example of the attitude of Premiership supporters (especially the top 4) than that? There are more than 20 clubs in England; try visiting one of your local ones every now and again, eh?
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Robbo, what's going on??? Why has your blog been relegated to the Championship page? Having not seen your blog for ages I was wondering where you'd gone and had assumed you were just locked away at the Bluebell crying over the Boro's demise! Then by complete chance I click onto the Championship page and there you are!
So, Question 1; When are you going to be back on the main page where you belong (even if you do now support a League One side)? and Question 2: If the powers that be won't do that, how can people like me who don't follow a Championship team find your blogs?
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