The Plot to Escape Relegation Thread 2015.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

We want to be clear by the time we play Burnley ...

Yes please.

It would be wonderful to have sorted our survival by then and have a stress-free game before the Final.


And we'll need to reserve our energies for running round the Bull Ring...with the Cup....
;-)

[Rudy65]

I've got Sunderland down already 34 points max for them and thats where the money is going. I like the way Tim is getting the team to focus on the last three games it will be interesting to see if he keeps the same team if Gabby is fit.

He should. We look better without Gabby

[LeeB]

We want to be clear by the time we play Burnley ...

Yes please.

It would be wonderful to have sorted our survival by then and have a stress-free game before the Final.


And we'll need to reserve our energies for running round the Bull Ring...with the Cup....
;-)

There's a part of me wonders if it would be better to have to go to the last day, because if we have a chance to get our foot off the gas we may be able to put it back down when we need to.

[Legion]

No thanks.

[silhillvilla]

I don't think anyone's foots coming off the gas with a cup final looming.
Just need to avoid key players getting injured or suspended.

[LeeB]

No thanks.

We've spent so long on the edge, I'm scared of coming off.

[Des Little]

No fcuking way!! Are you some kind of twisted sadist?

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Go to the last game ?? Have you not had enough pain over the last few seasons wow !!

[mike]

We want to be clear by the time we play Burnley ...

Yes please.

It would be wonderful to have sorted our survival by then and have a stress-free game before the Final.


And we'll need to reserve our energies for running round the Bull Ring...with the Cup....
;-)

There's a part of me wonders if it would be better to have to go to the last day, because if we have a chance to get our foot off the gas we may be able to put it back down when we need to.

We want to be clear by the time we play Burnley ...

Yes please.

It would be wonderful to have sorted our survival by then and have a stress-free game before the Final.


And we'll need to reserve our energies for running round the Bull Ring...with the Cup....
;-)

There's a part of me wonders if it would be better to have to go to the last day, because if we have a chance to get our foot off the gas we may be able to put it back down when we need to.

Do you sometimes stick pins in your eyes so that you can feel how nice it is when you stop?

[Meanwood Villa]

I predict we'll be safe by 3 o'clock on the 16th and if not then by 5 on the same day.

[PaulWinch again]

We want to be clear by the time we play Burnley ...

Yes please.

It would be wonderful to have sorted our survival by then and have a stress-free game before the Final.


And we'll need to reserve our energies for running round the Bull Ring...with the Cup....
;-)

There's a part of me wonders if it would be better to have to go to the last day, because if we have a chance to get our foot off the gas we may be able to put it back down when we need to.

I understand the sentiment, but disagree. We need to be clear by the last day.

[tomd2103]

I predict we'll be safe by 3 o'clock on the 16th and if not then by 5 on the same day.

We beat West Ham on Saturday and Sunderland lose to Everton, then I think we will be as good as safe.  They will need two wins from their last three games to catch us, two of which are Arsenal and Chelsea away.   

[PeterWithesShin]

Give him a 10 year contract!

John Carver believes that he is "the best coach in the Premier League" as Newcastle prepare for the first of a defining run of games in their fight to avoid relegation.

The under-fire interim manager - who has won just twice since being appointed in December, and has lost his last eight games in charge - made the claim ahead of the crucial game against West Brom on Saturday.

Newcastle are just one point above the relegation zone and are confronting the serious prospect of a second relegation to the Championship in six years.

Carver has come in for ferocious criticism, particularly after publicly accusing Newcastle defender Mike Williamson of deliberately getting himself sent off in the recent 3-0 defeat at Leicester - an offence which means he will serve a two-game suspension.

But Carver - who has been told he will see out the season at St James' Park, after Steve McClaren turned down the chance to take over - insists his self-belief has not wavered, despite Paul Clement being one name under consideration to take over permanently this summer.

He said: "I still think I’m the best coach in the Premier League. That’s what I think. Now there’s nothing wrong with that. But I still do.

"If I have the right tools I can do the job. I’m doing the job to the best of my ability at the moment and I’ll continue doing that for the next three weeks.

"It is a tough time but if I walk around with my face on the floor it’s going to affect people around me.

“I never offered to resign, I never offered to walk away, I never offered to step aside, so contrary to what was in the media and on Twitter and different sources, once I'd had a conversation with Lee [Charnley] and knew what my position was, I was clear in my head on Monday morning that I was in this for the next three games to challenge the fight in front of us."

Carver also produced a copy of the handwritten letter of apology written by Fabricio Coloccini to the club's supporters, insisting it was not a PR gesture and deserved to be taken seriously.

Coloccini was involved in a bust-up with goalkeeper Tim Krul on the team bus following the defeat to Leicester last Saturday.

Carver said: “I’ve heard one or two people say it was a PR stunt by the football stunt. I have brought the letter with me, in his handwriting, in Spanish, signed by him at the bottom.

"This was the third draft he put together because of his grammar. That is the genuine letter, from his heart. The pleasing thing from my points of view, because people will question if we are up for the fight, the fact he wrote that letter proves to me he is up for the fight."

On his relationship with Williamson, Carver admitted he had learnt a lesson but insisted he was on good terms with the defender.

He said: “Me and Mike have had a good discussion – and again, that's going to stay private. Maybe I have learnt my lesson, but that's going to stay private.

“At the end of the conversation, we stood up, shook each other's hand, and Mike has been fantastic in training this week. All right, he's not available for the next two games, but he certainly will be for the last one.

“There are no hard feelings. Every morning, we have come in, we have shaken hands, looked each other in the eye and just got on with it because we are professional.

I have in my hand a piece of paper

[ciggiesnbeer]

I have in my hand a piece of paper

Cant breathe, too much laughter.

[CJ]

He's a bigger twat than I thought he was. I didn't think that was possible.