Greg

Chris Mort speaks - quotes from the Independent and Times. "Absolute rubbish" "So many false rumours" "The reality is that the Alan Shearer story on Sunday and the PCP story on Monday were both absolute rubbish," "Alan has obviously denied he has been approached by a consortium and we'd never heard of PCP [alleged DIC facilitators] until Monday. "It is not one journalist that has been writing these inaccurate stories. Who do you think has both connections with the media and is willing to go to the trouble, since shortly after our takeover last summer, to cause disruption to the club by spreading so many false rumours about a takeover?" "We appreciate it will take time for Kevin to turn things around," Mort said. "He has a three and a half year contract and we are looking to see what can be achieved over that period. He has already got the team playing more football and I am comfortable that the results will follow once we get that first win. We also appreciate that we could have seen out this season and brought Kevin to the club in the summer, but that would have meant another transition season next season and we wanted to avoid that" “The feedback from the players and backroom staff has all been very positive. Although the players are working harder in training, they are enjoying it more and improving their fitness levels. We appreciate it will take time for Kevin to turn things around." "The club will be better prepared as we have a manager and scouting team with several months to consider both where we need strengthening and who we might bring in,"

N'Zogbia has more goals and more assists this season and has played half his games at bloody left back!

And he was good. Good at sitting on the bench?

It was Keegan that said he injured himself with the first goal, Given said it was later when he took a goal kick.

Would you prefer it if our young players were just happy to pick up their wage packet and didn't want to be playing first team football?

I presume you are just going off the photos again, does that mean Edgar is now infront of Taylor in the pecking order for centre back?

Yes, his son. Decent little player.

He trains with Newcastle United a few times a week. As for Soderberg he was a youth sigining I doubt KK had little/if any input. Soddy has let 6 goals in after 2 games, he is showing first team form already. Looked decent enough yesterday, made a couple of very good saves. Pretty hard when he has a shower of shit playing in front of him.

I'll have to have a think about that one in all seriousness. OK, bear with me this is flying off from the top of my head here. Approach it an experiment or trial kind of way. Go to residents of a troubled area and tell them you want to create a super community, to get rid of all the problems, to make their lives better and their kids lives better. But make it a reward and incentive driven thing. Ask each resident to volunteer for this scheme, opt in but no opt out. Build a street in this troubled area and hand over the properties to those who volunteered for the scheme. They now own their properties. Lots of clauses though. If you don't work, you have to go into training or get a job. If you have kids they have to go to school. If you're a single parent, while the kids are at school, you have to get a part-time job or go into training. If your kid is only a baby, once the kid is old enough for nursery, you have to get a part-time job or go into training. Break this and you lose your property and have to move out. Fit CCTV at the top and bottom of the street. Give each resident a garden with swings, goals, to get kids playing in the garden. Put internet in every house. Build a community housing clinic at the end of the street. Residents will run this place and this place will deal with all community matters, from housing to reports of incidents (hopefully there won't be any). Every 3 months the whole street has to go on a street trip. When I was a kid our street organised it's own trips to Flamingo Land or the Coast. Not all residents went of course, but most did. Build a youth centre at the end of the street. Parents run it. Only open a few days a week, don't want kids couped up all the time. Build a play pen at the end of the street too. Put goals up, basketball, benches, climbing frames etc. Give it 12 months. See what happens. Get business to sponsor it/fund it. At the end get the BBC around to make a documentary about it to spread the word, to make other communities interested in the scheme. As a taxpayer, I will happily contribute to such a scheme. I wouldn't whinge because people are getting houses for nowt. I'm fortunate, I have a job and have enough about me to do something for myself in life. Not everyone is the same. Some people need help to help themselves. Some people need a leg up, a second chance. Appoint a housing, social and community person to this street, an independent person whose job it is to monitor things, to chip in with advice regarding jobs, schooling etc. Why not. Where I live they are building a so-called super academy at a huge cost and moving kids from Westgate Community College (my old school), a school that good teachers wouldn't fix, so why not build a super community. It can be done and while it would cost good money, the future of our kids is priceless and a better society would be worth it. You would then be able to truly filter out the lost causes or those who don't want any help, or can't be helped. What you do with the, let them fest away somewhere. Shame we stopped sending people to Australia Seriously, even troubled people who may have a history of anti-social behaviour, crime, or whatever, can be decent people or want to be decent people. It's not easy though for these people. All they know is bother. The environment traps them and helps create them. I'm reading a good book at the moment, Charles Bronson, that poor bastard. A violent man yes, but a good man. He wouldn't have caused half the bother he did in Jail to himself, others and the jails themselves if he was penalised in a better environment. And before people say anything, I'm no do-gooder or liberal, but I do think there is some good in a lot of wrong uns and especially in the area I grew up in. Just takes someone with balls and someone to stand up and go for it. Sir Beecham in his 500K Gosforth House with his private school education and his cronies on excessive wages for doing fuck all are not those people and nor are their plans right for those people. Demolishing their communities, dispersing them and promising them affordable homes when big business had had their wicked way on my old stomping grounds. I'll post some photos tomorrow, yous will be shocked some of you at the state of the area and that people still live in these rund down death traps of broken streets. People need more than a new home, or a re-touched home. It's not as simple as that though is it. If it was it would have been done.

So Tiburón, what would you do to solve the problems you go on about and how would you finance such projects?

I dont think the Academy system helps matters either. It's not great but what realistic other options are available for the league / FA? We dump Acadmeny status for the juniors the best players play in the reseves anyway & go into the Football League Youth Alliance which operates the less resticive Centres of Excellence system that clubs used in 1980's & early 1990's. It would possibly be a more productive system but sadly I simply can't see them dropping this 'Academy' method that we've got at the moment.

I dont think the Academy system helps matters either. It's not great but what realistic other options are available for the league / FA?

Bringing in these young kids is all well and good but I don't think our Academy coaching staff are good enough to be honest, hope to see some changes soon.

Our kids don't lack hunger, they just have the fun knocked out of them at an early age so become almost resentful of the game or see it as a means to get whatever they can get out of it financially and in the quickest and easiest way. In short many of today's footballers see the game as a job and don't love it as a sport or as sheer fun anymore. Our under 18 side lacks hunger, are disorganised and quite frankly shite.

Everyone is different, Babayaro had his best game in a Newcastle shirt following the death of a family member, his brother iirc. For me it would depend who and the circumstances, so many different factors to take on board.

Decent read.

Looks like Given will be ok and in the squad for Man United.

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/5672/dsc00970jz9.jpg I'd never seen it till the Spurs fan that took this photo pointed it out with my season ticket being in the Gallowgate End.

at villa a few years ago, according to the PA guy, our goal scorers were Shola Ameebee and Charles N'Zogabeer According to the PA guy at Villa on Saturday Emre was Jose Enrique.

I always laugh when fans come out with 'you've never won fuck all' against us. Trying to tell us we are always winning things, do they know something we don't?

Yes.

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0-2

Just got back, fuck me that was a shite second half yet again!

Go to the Liverpool FA Cup game if they beat Barnsley? Sorry.