Relegation

The bottom of the table today (played/GD/ Pts)

12 Middlesbrough -- 28 -17 29
13 Wigan ----------- 29 -16 28
14 Reading --------- 29 -21 28
15 Newcastle ------- 29 -26 28
16 Sunderland -----29 -21 27
17 Birmingham-----28 -10 26

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18 Bolton------------28 -14 25
19 Fulham ----------29 -23 20
20 Derby ----------- 28 -44 10

Derby look gone (and could yet break the lowest points record, I think - was it Sunderland with 17?) and Fulham will probably do the other strugglers a favour and continue their poor form.

But there are at this point 7 other clubs who could be dragged into the relegation battle by a couple of bad results.

Who would you like to see relegated?
Who do you think will be relegated?

shame only 3 can go down. I only like Sunderland and Newcastle from that list.

Derby, fuhlam and Reading. i think to go down.

There's already a thread

http://europeanboard.ephpbb.com/english-football-f3/relegation-2008-t14755.htm?highlight=relegation

Id like to see Newcastle down, but unfortunately i think bolton are slightly worse than them, so they will go down instead.

i don't think Fulham are out of it. their next 5 fixtures include 4 against teams around them (Derby, Sunderland, Newcastle, Reading)...a couple of wins out of them, and they'll be in with a chance, of course if they are still 6pts adrift after them, I'd say they're doomed.

If we play like we did yesterday for the rest of the season we're down.

borocooper wrote:If we play like we did yesterday for the rest of the season we're down.

2 wins and you're safe.

Our remaining games..

Villa A
Arsenal A
Derby H
Chelsea A
Man Utd H
Spurs A
Bolton H
Sunderland A
Pompy H
Man City H

Can see us losing to Villa..Arsenal..Chelsea..Man Utd..and your lot.

Beating Derby..though we have a history of giving the shittest team in the league a win when they come to the Riverside...draw or win with Bolton. Probably draw with Sunderland..I dont know about Pompy and City, guess it will depend on if they're playing for anything.

you seem to be forgetting boro's special power of getting shock results against the top 4. you'll be fine

Maybe..im just extremely despondent after yesterday. It was without doubt the worst game ever. From the players to the management. 2-0 down at half time so Gareth subs off the striker who's willing to shoot and brings on the other striker who we just hoof the ball up to. Then spends the rest of the game stood at the sidelines clapping, shouting "come on!". Needs to get his head out of his arse.

It really is hard to call, if Bolton and Brum get results with their games in hand it'll be even harder.

I'd probably go for Reading.

Fulham, Derby, and I'd just love it, love it, if...

Amazed that people would rather see Newcastle relegated than Blunderland.

Keane to fail.

Roger Hunt wrote:Amazed that people would rather see Newcastle relegated than Blunderland.

Keane to fail.

Surely you understand my reasons ?

I guess. Just surprised that no-one else wants Sunderland to crash and burn given Keane's level of spending on average players and unpleasant personality.

I think that reappointing Keegan was a huge mistake but I think Newcastle fans have suffered enough over the last few seasons.

Roger Hunt wrote:I guess. Just surprised that no-one else wants Sunderland to crash and burn given Keane's level of spending on average players and unpleasant personality.

I think that reappointing Keegan was a huge mistake but I think Newcastle fans have suffered enough over the last few seasons.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the the ridiculous "Top 10" hype of Pre-season has died on it's arse, but still, would be nice to see Mike Ashley's face at the end of the season if the worse comes to worse for Newcastle.

Weird that Daniel Levy has been slated at Spurs for getting a better coach in against the wishes of a lot of the fans/Press... whilst Ashley was lauded a hero/man of the people for bringing "King Kev" back.

Just goes to show the masses know f@ck all sometimes.

Newcastle's remaining games:

Birmingham (a)
Fulham (h)
Tottenham (a)
Reading (h)
Portsmouth (a)
Sunderland (h)
West Ham (a)
Chelsea (h)
Everton (a)

The big three games are the home games against Fulham, Reading and Sunderland, where we should be looking for at least seven points (we should really be getting nine, but our form is awful and a derby game is always tricky). I think we can get something at least at Birmingham, and Portsmouth and West Ham are both a bit inconsistent - there are opportunities for points. We really need Martins in our first eleven, but after the Liverpool game, I can't see him not playing, and I think he, along with another two or three players, provides us with enough quality to stay up. I do think we will pick up a win in one of our next two games, and we can go from there, whilst there are teams about us poorer than us, who have a tougher run in.

Looking at the other fixtures, Wigan have a similar set of games to Newcastle, with three home games against the teams around them; Birmingham and Reading have an indifferent run of games; Bolton's fixtures look tough; and I think Sunderland and Middlesbrough have a more difficult run in than we have.

Fulham, though they do have a number of games against fellow relegation candidates, are probably too far away already, not good enough to make up the gap. I'd put Sunderland and Bolton as my two favourites to join them and Derby.

Out of these two, it's difficult to say who I want to go down. I don't like, respect or rate Keane, and so it would be fun to see his team drop - on the other hand, I think Sunderland have been better to watch than Bolton this season, and I'm a Newcastle fan who likes the rivalry between the clubs, who appreciates derby matches. I don't care one way or the other about Bolton.

A Tribe Called TS wrote:Weird that Daniel Levy has been slated at Spurs for getting a better coach in against the wishes of a lot of the fans/Press... whilst Ashley was lauded a hero/man of the people for bringing "King Kev" back.

Just goes to show the masses know f@ck all sometimes.

Funny how when Sam did a fucking $h!t job in 6 months, Newcastle fans were slagged off by all for not giving him enough time. Here we are 2 months into Keegans reign, after playing 4 games against top 4 teams and everyone outside Newcastle is saying he should be sacked. What ever happened to giving a manager time?

The difference is that it seemed that a lot of Newcastle fans disliked Allardyce from the start, because he is a 'long-ball merchant' and they seem to think that Newcastle should be playing like 1972 Ajax. So when he got stick non-Newcastle fans felt he should be given more time.

Conversely, Keegan, who has been out of football completely for 2 years, and has resigned from his last 3 high-profile jobs apparently finding the pressure too much, was welcomed by some Newcastle fans as the new messiah. So now it looks like he's not performing, a lot of non-Newcastle fans who thought it was a crazy appointment are saying 'I told you so'.

Roger Hunt wrote:The difference is that it seemed that a lot of Newcastle fans disliked Allardyce from the start, because he is a 'long-ball merchant' and they seem to think that Newcastle should be playing like 1972 Ajax. So when he got stick non-Newcastle fans felt he should be given more time.

Conversely, Keegan, who has been out of football completely for 2 years, and has resigned from his last 3 high-profile jobs apparently finding the pressure too much, was welcomed by some Newcastle fans as the new messiah. So now it looks like he's not performing, a lot of non-Newcastle fans who thought it was a crazy appointment are saying 'I told you so'.

Messiah messiah messiah Nobody uses this word outside the tabloids and SSN.

But again you're pointing out the same point as me, Newcastle fans though Allardyce was a mistake, yet he should be given time, non-Newcastle fans think Keegan is a mistake, yet he shouldn't be given time. The guy hasn't even had an apportunity to buy players, Allardyce did and he failed miserably. And let me tell you, we would be in exactly the same situation if San was still here. We had the easiest first half of the season out of everyone and we didn't pick up nearly enough points - i said it before he was sacked, we're on course for around 42 points at most.

He returned on the 16th January. I know its a hard month to get signings in but he could of got someone to help your situation.

Parks lives wrote:He returned on the 16th January. I know its a hard month to get signings in but he could of got someone to help your situation.

Like who? Who was available? Nobody wants to sell good players at that time.

Kimbo wrote: But again you're pointing out the same point as me, Newcastle fans though Allardyce was a mistake, yet he should be given time, non-Newcastle fans think Keegan is a mistake, yet he shouldn't be given time.

Difference being that people who thought Keegan was a mistake are right.

He shouldn't be sacked before the summer though. It would be pointless.

Roger Hunt wrote:

Kimbo wrote: But again you're pointing out the same point as me, Newcastle fans though Allardyce was a mistake, yet he should be given time, non-Newcastle fans think Keegan is a mistake, yet he shouldn't be given time.

Difference being that people who thought Keegan was a mistake are right.

He shouldn't be sacked before the summer though. It would be pointless.

100% subjective. I would say that the people that said Allardyce was a mistake were right.

Possibly true, but he did at least have experience of getting a Premiership side into a UEFA cup spot this millenium and had watched a couple of games of football in the last 2 years. I.e. he is altogether a more credible manager than Keegan at the moment.

Kimbo wrote:

Parks lives wrote:He returned on the 16th January. I know its a hard month to get signings in but he could of got someone to help your situation.

Like who? Who was available? Nobody wants to sell good players at that time.

Probably better players than Smith or Taylor if you tried hard enough.

Roger Hunt wrote:Possibly true, but he did at least have experience of getting a Premiership side into a UEFA cup spot this millenium and had watched a couple of games of football in the last 2 years. I.e. he is altogether a more credible manager than Keegan at the moment.

Who says Keegan hasn't watched a match? He said he hadn't been to a live game, that's all.

Allardyce was destroying his credibility at Newcastle, he replaced Solano, Dyer, and Parker with Barton, Smith, and Geremi ffs. He played N'Zogbia out of position every game, he played Martins out of position every game, he played the worst 3 man midfield imaginable, he kept chopping and changing the back 4, and he went to relegation threatened clubs playing for a 0-0 draw. He wasn't credible at all and, as i said, we would be in the same situation had he stayed.

Parks lives wrote:

Kimbo wrote:

Parks lives wrote:He returned on the 16th January. I know its a hard month to get signings in but he could of got someone to help your situation.

Like who? Who was available? Nobody wants to sell good players at that time.

Probably better players than Smith or Taylor if you tried hard enough.

Such as... ?

Kimbo wrote:

Parks lives wrote:

Kimbo wrote:

Parks lives wrote:He returned on the 16th January. I know its a hard month to get signings in but he could of got someone to help your situation.

Like who? Who was available? Nobody wants to sell good players at that time.

Probably better players than Smith or Taylor if you tried hard enough.

Such as... ?

Will I get paid by Newcastle if I do their scouting for them?

Parks lives wrote:

Kimbo wrote:

Parks lives wrote:

Kimbo wrote:

Parks lives wrote:He returned on the 16th January. I know its a hard month to get signings in but he could of got someone to help your situation.

Like who? Who was available? Nobody wants to sell good players at that time.

Probably better players than Smith or Taylor if you tried hard enough.

Such as... ?

Will I get paid by Newcastle if I do their scouting for them?

Don't say things you can't back up Spanky.