Shearergol

Not self-depreciation, just realism i'm afraid. We have a goalkeeper who makes Paul Robinson look competent, a comical defence, a midfield that can't string two passes together and a striker who scores every solar eclipse. That's the same keeper who some people on here want to buy to replace Given

Of course. Everyone apart from most of the posters on this thread think he was our MOTM on Saturday and that he is one of the very best prem keepers but hey, what do they know. We must have the very best fans in the world for knocking confidence out of players and eventually driving them out of the club into another team where they are supported and hence perform better (Parker and Jenas the latest examples). Given pulled off an awesome save from Ronaldo in the first half. Tell me about the other wonderful things he did on Saturday. Once again i'll repeat, i really rate given as a keeper, i just don't understand how people can be so blinkered. Strangely, I'm not a big fan of him (he's certainly not the keeper he was 2 or 3 years ago). However, he cannot be blamed for Saturday's defeat, or any of the goals. The lack of protection the midfield gave the defence meant that Given was being pounded. People have an agenda against people like Given and Taylor, and I can't work out why. No other fans of other teams have that mentality

Arteta doesn´t want to come to Valencia, and we link Banega. Now VCF is searching another Mid-field player more defensive like Muntari or Maduro. Banega is defensive isn't he?

Funny how Man United fans all saw it differently. But hey, the problem with this club is because our keeper is shit.

Boa Morte has done more in the premier league than Luque though, for a lot less money

Spot on. It's why the likes of Duff and Owen were already pissed off with Sam.

I think Leazesmag's argument that Souness shouldn't be believed could be used. However, I've been telling him all along about Luque and Boa Morte, and it wasn't news coming from Souness either.

There isn't another club in this country who I'd like to go out of business, but I'd LOVE IT if Liverpool just vanished (off the map would be nice too).

We don't disregard the backline though. We don't protect it. I can't remember the last time we had a really good central midfield, and I think that's where the problem lies.

Rennie is awful, but Villa usually get off lightly with him.

Got to move on mate. We've signed plenty of players over the years and missed out on plenty of others.

I told everyone the week we signed Luque that Souness wanted Boa Morte but FS decided he was overpriced, so told him to buy Luque. Didn't know about the Anelka thing though. If only, eh. It's hard to watch all of these supposed football experts saying that Newcastle fans want to see goals and aren't interested in winning ugly. No guys, we're not interested in losing ugly. See the difference?

Bentley, Young, N'Zogbia, Lennon, Downing, Milner

Taking the Swiss job is he not?

The game in which Ronaldo went in with an injury? Should we agree that he's at least in the top 3 players in the world then?

To be honest the only impact I can remember him having on a major game (including matches against the top four/ champions league knockouts) was scoring a two yard tap in against Arsenal last year... He's scored quite a few against Arsenal. Fucking hell man, what's it like on here? People are trying to make out Ronaldo isn't a world class player?

Actually yes, he did nothing to warrant being dropped earlier in the season and i'd have him in the side at the minute. NB - i'm not saying given has played particularly badly, he had a good first half yesterday, but anyone who thinks he couldn't have made a difference with the first two goals is kidding themselves. Certainly not the first time this season either. No keeper in the world would have saved that freekick tbh. He only saw it when the ball was 3 yards from him. Given is miles better than Harper. Sad that when the team go through a bad patch (like the last few seasons unfortunately) then people think getting rid of Given will solve it. Madness.

Also interested in signing Ronaldo I've heard. Fred once said that the Newcastle job was one of the top 12 jobs in world football. We ended up with Souness.

We should bring Cech in, but only after Mourinho takes over with John Terry as his captain. Do people want to see Steve Harper in goal instead?

When was the last time he went missing in a big game by the way?

The Rooney "no yellow card, no talking to" incident was funny. I think if Smith hadn't put Ferdinand off the pitch (again, no yellow card) then I think Rooney would have been booked. He got so frustrated that he was looking to kick someone, but Smith took the refs attention away. The Man United fans booed the ref off at half time by the way - he was shite for both sides. On the replays for the final goal, it looks over the line to me tbh.

We really really need a top european manager, if only to get rid of him. Having said that, I don't even know what he does, so perhaps I'm just jumping on the bandwagon.

Maybe a different question would be "would you care that Ronaldo is a cheat if he played for Newcastle?" I imagine a lot of you (the same lot who don't want Mourinho here ) would say yes.

I'd love to be in a position where we might have a chance of challenging for trophies year in year out. I'd be happy to be 40-1 to win the premier league, like Liverpool are at the moment. I want us to consolidate a postition in the top 4, qualify for the CL every year, and then look at trophies. Someone said on here (or maybe toontastic) that as long as they're promised to see Newcastle win a trophy, then they don't mind the timeframe. That's kinda how I feel about it.

No - are you assuming that everyone NOT a player are Sam's mob ? I didn't include the tea-lady in there either. And no, before you jump on the obvious, not her either ! There are others - not the ones studying players walking patterns, stuying their feces, sock stretchiness etc, that could do the job who are connected with NEWCASTLE itself. Obviously I don't know the details (not many of us do) but I think Allardyce pretty much built his own backroom staff list. I think it'll take a hell of a lot of money to pay them all off, but I guess Mike doesn't have to worry about money.