[valpayne]

"Said with venom" - fair comment. But McClean would probably prefer to be called a "thick Irish loudmouth" than a "thick FAT loudmouth" (or whatever. He's proud to be Irish - I was proud when I lived in Leeds to be called a Brummy bastard - much better than a useless bastard (or whatever).  "Shite player" might rankle with him, but this is what this Forum is for.
Rainbow brings a bit of passion to this board, I think. He really cares about the Albion. Keep it going, Rainbow. You're controversial, but it adds some spice.

Hold up a second TS Your post suggests we're not as passionate about the Albion as rainbow is and I kinda object to that. I've supported Albion since i was 6 against all my Villa Family's wishes. I remember listening to our games on radio WM in the 70's hiding under the table sulking if we lost as a very unhappy 7/8/9 year old. I once sat in the Holte end with my villa family and I leaped out of my seat when we equalised because my passion unwisely got the better of me In fact my brother (villa) had to grab me by the arse of my trousers and sit me down fast before a riot started, we went on to lose 2-1 and even as a 30 something year old i was inconsolable as my brother put an arm round me and said sorry arr' kid. I remember it affecting me so much that I went into football wilderness during 80s and 90's because I was becoming uncontrollably angry about football and I had to back off from it because i didn't like the feeling of losing so much I became a person I wouldn't have liked. I remember chewing a tea towel and i mean that literally in the last 10 mins of the final game of 05 and screaming and jumping around my flat when the free kick hit the back of the net that sent palace down and kept us up. I went out celebrating long into the night facing an 8am till 10pm shift the next day and ironically my manager that day was a palace fan lol! I remember being so angry about losing 1-0 to Derby in the play offs as I sat watching on my own in a london pub. I became verbally abusive and 4 yes 4 derby fans decided it best to leave as soon as the whistle went because they could see I was losing it. Even now in my late 40's I can't bear to watch us live on TV cos I know I'll lose it. I last did that when we beat chelsea 3-0 only because we were safe and I thought I'd give it a go thankfully it was a joyous event. I am like others on here as passionate as anyone else and that's why were all on here trading views BUT, the constant slagging off of our manager has become a bit too much for most and we are supposed to be on the same side after all!.

We all know rainbows thought's on Pulis. He's made it crystal clear and he is entitled to that opinion. I don't like to see us playing negative football so to speak either but I believe and so do all the ex footballing pundits that TP will keep a team up and right now that is the most important thing along with some stability. We have been farting around changing managers for some time and its got us nowhere. My personal belief is that where its really gone wrong for Albion is in the recruitment department. Ashworth was a genius and sadly that where I think we started to derail I'm grateful therefore for a manager like TP that can keep us in this division at this critical time. Somewhere down the line like Stoke we may get a Hughes Moyes appointment and see a good balance of attacking and defensive football and keep moving forwards as I believe we have done since 2000/01 albeit slowly. I'm grateful we're not still in the relegation scrap this season at this point. I'll take that this season that's my humble opinion on the whole shooting match.