1. You are born to suffer or, through some weird perversion of mind or another, you choose to suffer. 2. Your hopes will be rountinely raised only to be dashed against the rocks of player indifference and cowardice. 3. Almost no one connected with the club has woken up, smelt the de-caf cap and realised that we will only win something when we have a spine of home grown players who know each other and each other's games. 4. Almost no one connected with the club has realised that it is more than a football club cum plc. 5. You will turn up in your numbers (42,000 for a Worthington Cup game) and then get beaten by a side that gets an attendance of 18,000 for the biggest game of their season. You will start to feel like you're being made a fool of on this account. 6. You will constantly "make the best of things" (eg. by partying after the team has humiliated you in a Cup Final). 7. You will get mocked by Manchester United and Sunderland fans. The former for being "shirt-wearing numpties" (and I quote), the latter because we always get beaten 2-1. 8. You will expend the sort mental energy that would have made you a high court judge or consultant paediatrician has you directed it to your career. 9. You will pass this on to your children although you'd kill anyone else who made them suffer. 10. You will still be there on Saturday cheering their every touch, willing them to score and claiming to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Oh, well, looks like we are all mad. We'd best stick together, then. KEEP THE FAITH.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

Answers

Keegan resigned cos he couldnt do it ,Dalgleish couldnt do it , Gullit defo couldnt do it was it his fault ??, And it seems Robson cant do it either . MOTIVATE THE PLAYERS, so are all the above managers cr@p or are the team just here for the dosh!!!!!

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

It's this old question about whether we are unmanageable as Jim Smith suggested. Thing is, we have to keep the faith with Robson and try to get some stability.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

You need The Wizard :-)

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

LR, no offence, but we haven't got 13 years to wait..

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

ILF delivered a cup in four years didn't he? Oh no what am I saying!! The shrouds of darkness have descended upon me, time for a tea break.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

The Wizard? What does Paul Hardcastle know about football?

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

Come come now Douggie...it never took him 13 years :-)

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

The Wizard - like Limp along Leslie? Cannonball? The Amazing Wilson? Aal likely candidates - tempting Wilson oot of his cave might be a problem mind

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

Still, LR, I believe that Bobby Robson is as good a manager as SAF. Has proven himself at all sorts of levels. We just need to be patient.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

I agree with LR, we need the wizard.

The only thing is he still has 3 years left at Hogwarts

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

THAT'S a bold statement Douggie..only time will tell. We know Fergie did it at St Mirren..we know he did it at Aberdeen, and you know the rest.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

We know Bobby Robson did it at Ipswich, England (to an extent), Porto, Sporting, Barcelona and PSV x 2.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

Wonderful post, Dougal! So very true. As for Bobby, there's no one better(and available and willing!) to develop a winning side. We just need to be patient and accept that we're just going to be cr@p for awhile until he can mold the side he wants. He doesn't have the money to buy as much as he'd probably like. It will take time for the younger players to develop.

Buckle up, keep your hands inside the car, this is one wild roller coaster ride. Erm....can someone pass me a paper bag?

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000