I'll never misspell your name again!!



Please to be making victorious predictions for all our matches.



I have a bit of a limp from how high I jumped off my already high bar stool and smashed my heels into the ground when Martins scored.
Journalists are already saying "Brave Shearer" etc and making him out to be a genius about his 2 subs scoring which is a bit lol but I'll take it.
Boro worried me a bit at the start of the second half but asides from that they never deserved a point and I think a 2 goal margin was fair.
The only problem is that whenever they got near our box it looked like a likely goal and Fulham and Villa won't be as wasteful up front and will be there a lot more than Boro.

If we didn't win that we were basically relegated so even though we are not safe, I'm delighted, really delighted.

Clearly.

Newcastle could stay up without winning another game.

And yea as James said I'll be hoping for Man U to slip up against wigan and and get a point against Arsenal. I want United to take the whole thing, just not yet, final day victory pleaaassseee. Definitely United will pick up 4 in their next 2 though.

My Man U friend says Fergie has always been respectful on the last day even then they had it wrapped up in the past but this year the last game is 3 days before the Champs final

This is true, although make no mistake we'll be playing an extremely weakened side on the last day if we've won the league already. By weakened, I mean almost no one who'll be playing in the final. Good news though, is that we'll win that game whoever we put out.


I can't see us slipping up tonight... Wigan 0-4 United.

I think Darren Fletcher will be available! (sorry couldn't resist).

After my Middlesboro prediction went up in smoke I'm going for a 2-0 United win tonight!

Champions.



And that's a fact!

Congrats.

Newcastle seemed doomed again.

So who is going down today, I'm going for Hull and Boro. The Hull pick is two fold. Newcastle are playing a team who have been dropping like a stone and if they are going to beat any team its going to be Aston Villa. Hull and playing Man U in a similar situation to Southampton vs Man U a few years ago. Despite the Saints needing to win to stay up and Man U having nothing to play for, United won 2-1.

Looking forward to kick off... I'm going for Boro and Hull to go down too. Keeping faith with Newcastle to pull through when it really matters. Out of all the teams who could go down, they have the players capable of producing that one big result. For my sake too, I'm hoping it's today!

I liken it to an intelligent but very lazy schoolboy studying for their GCSE's... they leave it to the very last day before even opening a book, but cram in and get the same result as another kid who's been studying all term.



Also, with Hull v Man Utd I think we have more chance of beating them with our 2nd/3rd choice team today, just because if we played our full strength team they wouldn't be trying much at all, tip toeing around not wanting to get injured/tired etc because we've already won the league and have the small matter of the CL final in a few days! At least we're putting out a team who will be trying to win.

Wow, what a gutless perfomance by Newcastle.

Absolutely horrible... where was the drive and effort? They well and truly deserve to go down after that spineless performance. And to think, all they needed was a draw.

James' new avatar:



With member title: "The ONLY team in Manchester"

James' new sig:



With text: LJB723 Stallowned my face!

Unreal that my faith in Newcastle has been rewarded this way. Unreal they couldn't get a draw when their future depended on it.


Hmm.. at least 'Stallowned' is a funny line, I'll get it sorted soon.

sigh. Totally deserved.

Every team facing possible relegation played like crap. Thats really surprising to me.

Really? There was a reason for them facing relegation. Why would that change on the last day?

desperation is usually a great motivator. Last year's survival sunday featured much friskier squads clawing to hang on.

Obviously part of the problem was that two bottom feeders had to play Man U and Chelsea. But Newcastle....what a debacle.

Anyone have transfer season fever? What are some of your favorite rumors going around? I'm personally a fan of the Tevez to Liverpool idea, especially if we keep Alonso. A striking force of Gerrard, Torres, Tevez is at least on par with Henry, Eto'o, Messi in my opinion.

Van Nistelrooy to Spurs would make my offseason, sounds like Madrid want rid and we're in the market.

And we need someone really class to partner Palacios in the middle of our midfield.

The broadcaster Setanta has lost its rights to 46 Premier League games for next season

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8109954.stm

Could this pave the way for ESPN to make a bid to show English Football next season?

IMO, we need more football exposure in North America.

Also, I am pretty much going to be a Fulham fan this coming season. It's too easy to bandwagon an already successful club, as much as I like Arsenal/Chelsea/Liverpool/ManU.

Why not Man City? They're not succesful, but it'll sure be a more interesting ride for the next few seasons than Fulham.


Alternatively, Southampton should be interesting to follow this year. Not Prem I know, but an interesting predicament nonetheless, also with talk of Keegan and Le Tissier taking over the reigns.

I would loooove it if Espn picked up some Premier League games. Top class football is what Americans need to see if we are ever going to support the game at all. The MLS just feels like WNBA-type second-rate soccer and it's not appealing to people who don't already love the game.

I'm not sure how Setanta is set up as a company so I don't know if they have lost their US rights too or if those are held by another company (Setanta US or whatever) but I'm pretty sure it's the 2 UK broad cast rights packages ESPN are looking to pick up. International rights are a different thing aren't they? Fox sports has at least some of the US rights I think.

Breaking news ESPN has bought the rights 46 games for next season.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8113702.stm

This COULD be much bigger news, in years to come, than anything like the sale of Ronaldo for a record fee... i.e - if America slowly create a genuinely solid fan following of Premiership football (leading to football in general), it would change the face of world football. It's a big 'if', I know, but it's a possibility.

I wish it was for more games. I guess it is 46 this coming year and then 23 the remaining years but I will take it. I lost access to the Fox Soccer Channel so I couldn't watch last season.

This isn't about ESPN starting to show premiership games in the US, it's ESPN breaking into the UK sports TV market. Only Setanta UK has gone into administration so the Irish and other channels like it's North American channel which actually make a profit will continue broadcasting.

NASN is now showing as ESPN on Sky Digital and Virgin Media (at least). Setanta 1 and 2, News, Golf, Celtic TV and Rangers TV are all no longer broadcasting.

I now get Espn America as part of my Sky Package for no extra cost. This is so sweet, I can't wait to start watching Around the Horn and PTI again.

I know! It might cause our national league to shrivel and die but if I can get ice hockey it's all good! Sorta wish this had came out before the Stanley Cup was decided.

QFT

thanks for the heads up though, i love PTI and Around The Horn.

Has anyone been watching the confederations cup? Two great results for the US in 4 days, now that is something they should be raving about in America.

They are; go to the American greatness thread...

facepalm here.

What's the difference between Alex Ferguson and Michael Jackson?


Fergie will still be playing Giggs in August.

LOL Nice one James.


Anyway I hope Chelsea do well this season.

Thats the least sick Michael Jackson i heard so far

Oh.

Owen to Man Utd?

even as a casual American fan that is pretty shocking.

has Liverpool done anything interesting in the offseason? I feel like they have stood pat since they picked up Torres (which has worked out great).

Great aquisition... why not? Free transfer... if he gets even 5 goals from the bench next season it's well worth it.

Overpaid for Glen Johnson. £19m I believe, a £14m profit for Portsmouth.

A very wealthy American man once bought London Bridge... by mistake. He in fact thought he was buying Tower Bridge, an altogether more beautiful and important piece of architecture.


Now, I personally think the football world this summer, to use a very cliched expression 'has gone crazy'. But today I think we've witnessed one of the worst deals in the history of football. Barcelona have bought Ibrahimovic for £40m. That's an over inflated price imo, on it's own... but as part of the deal they've also given Inter Milan Samuel Eto'o! There's an argument that it should even have been the other way round, and that Inter give Ibrahimovic plus cash.


Have Inter just performed one of the biggest rip-offs ever, or have Barcelona just been immensely stupid?

its ridiculous you are correct. doesnt matter though, they'll both be at notts county in the january transfer window...

Lol brilliant.

And James, Ibra is very, very good. He's under-rated in England because he's "never done it in the Champions League" whatever that's supposed to mean. We could list a great starting 11 that's said about.

And while the fee is ridiculous it's no more so than £56m for Kaka or £80m for Ronaldo. Eto'o is a glorified tap-in merchant. Granted a very good one. Take away his pace and he's nowhere near as big a threat. Ibra on the other hand will convert just as many chances as Eto'o did (Hell, we probably could with the supporting cast he had) but Ibra is better in the air and can do things with the ball that Eto'o could only dream of doing. He's a much, much better player.

Remember, this Inter team is pretty poor in all honesty and won the league through Mourinho's tactics and consistency more than great play. The only moments of magic came from Ibra or occasionally Ballotelli. Ibra wants a CL and knows that won't come with Inter. Barca definitely overpaid but I think they'll be happy with what they got. Inter won't feel too dissapointed either, although they will now need to purchase some more creative talent (they bought Motta but I think they'll need something more)

I've not watched Serie A for a very long time so I am not well placed to say how well Ibrahimovic played last season. I do have to say that every time i've seen him play for Sweden I have been unimpressed. Seems like an excellent piece of business by Inter.

On a side note La Liga is going to be the league to watch for this year. Real Madrid have been the best team to watch in that league the last few years due to their aversion to defend (meaning they were just as likely to get get pumped as they were to hand out a beating). With all there superstar signings its going to get even better (or worse!). Its just a shame the La Liga coverage tends to clash with the NFL on Sundays.

RIP Sir Bobby Robson.

a true great. i have never heard anyone say a bad word about bobby either in footballing terms or as a man. he will be sadly missed. RIP.