Ally

Babel is da bestest!11! Howay lets get him signed, would make my day.

I'd take anyone tbh, hopefully a left back and/or a striker. Think it would be beyond reason to get both though, espeically with us playing a game that night.

Dalglish had a good CV but he left Liverpool because the pressure of Heysel had got to him, I don't blame him for that, he left Blackburn because he didn't want to be involved in the day to day running of the club. Newcastle isn't the best place for anybody who can't take pressure, he seemed to openly cope with the pressure but didn't do a very good job. I personally didn't want him because of the style of play he seemed to favour, Dalglish the manager seemed to want football played differently to Dalglish the player. I also felt that Dalglish had been partly to blame for the situation Liverpool found themselves in later with Souness, Dalglish left a team that was past it's sell by date, Souness replaced them with rubbish. Liverpool had been fairly well known for selling players just before they started going down hill, Dalglish didn’t do that. Gullit was sacked at Chelsea, he won the Cup while manager but that was basically his CV. He was sacked and left with a reputation as somebody who had a massive ego, somebody who couldn't work with so called star players, he came here and did the same. I don't think many people were surprised when he left Newcastle, the only surprise was that he jumped before he was pushed. Strangely, I was reasonably happy when Gullit was appointed because I was sick of the crap football played under Dalglish, I suppose I fell for the idea of sexy football. Dalglish also improved a good team at Liverpool and made them better, playing with more flair along with it. He resigned because of the pressure of Hillsborough, not Heysel. Arguably he also thought he had taken the team as far as he could too ie only 3 league titles, Fa Cup and 3 manager of the year awards Didn't he leave Blackburn because Harford wanted a more managerial role and so the board went along with that and he left because he wasn't happy with that ? However you dress it up, this was an appointment that spelled out the ambition of Newcastle at the time, very few people had a CV as good. So much for the club not appointing trophy winning big name managers. The idea at the time was that the team needed tinkering tactically to move from 2nd to 1st and he was the man to do the trick. I bet you aren't going to tell us that the board of the previous 3 decades that you thought was "just the same" made appointments of that calibre ..... or maybe you just think this because you didn't, in fact, witness it despite saying you did and it seemed that way to an outsider. Gullit left a team that was FA Cup holders, in the top 3 of the league and in europe, that went on to win more trophies. So to say that he wasn't also a top calibre appointment that spelled out the ambition of the club is not true and simply stupid. I will also remind you - these 2 managers who you think were "failures" - got us to FA Cup Finals and higher league positions that the previous regime for the majority of their time that you think were "good" or "just the same".. Spot on. I remember at the time of Dalglish I was absolutely delighted. He'd won the league only a few years earlier and had a great track record. No one forsaw the way he'd sell Keegan's team and sign some of the shite he did, but as NE5 says he got us to a cup final, something 'legendary Newcastle manager' Bobby Robson never managed. I bet in May 1997 when Dalglish took us to 2nd, Mick, you were happy with his appointment. Had an excellent team at his disposal, and an on-fire Shearer who he had got on so well with at Blackburn. Infact, if Shearer hadn't got injured that August theres a good chance we wouldn't have finished mid-table. Would Dalglish had been a poor appointment then?

up until appointing Souness they were doing OK ? Correct mate ? Which is what seems to be is what is being said. Nobody defends the appointment of Souness, but like all bad appointments you can't put them right quickly, especially in football if you consider anything other than winning one of the 2 major trophies to be failure. If they have taken the club as far as they can, then they will go. But replacing them with better could prove pretty difficult and if they are replaced with worse, then that would be disastrous. It could easily happen. I realise some are prepared to take the chance on that, but there are lots of people who think such a thing is impossible, but it isn't. There are loads of clubs who have replaced directors and ended up with worse. Do you want a board of directors who don't back their managers or take risks on the clubs potential support again ? You said: "up until appointing Souness they were doing OK ? Here's the figures, what do you think? 1996-1997 2nd(Sir John & Shepherd). 1997-1998 13th. 1998-1999 13th. 1999-2000 11th. 2000-2001 11th. 2001-2002 4th. 2002-2003 3rd. 2003-2004 5th. 2004-2005 14th(Souness). What did the board do wrong between 1997 and 2001 though? Money was made available to managers with big reputations and good CVs, both of whom the fans welcomed with open arms. Ultimately the team and managers weren't good enough, but at the time of the appointments they seemed correct. Hindsight is wonderful isn't it?

Do you really believe you question can be answered with a yes or no? You have to consider their overall record, not just what has happened since one terrible managerial appointment. However, on the basis of their overall time in charge, and your insistence for just one word, I'd say 'yes'. Looking at the overall record I believe the board made a mistake not getting rid of Robson when we finished 3rd. I believe they made another mistake by appointing Souness. I also think people who babble on about the supposed bad treatment of Robson and the poor timing of his departure are being too simplistic. Would it have made any difference had Robson gone in the summer if the replacement had been Souness, for example? It may not have been Souness but it may still have turned out to be someone incompetent, you just don't know when you make the appointment because you can't actually predict the future. I'd have liked to see Robson go after we finished 3rd, but there was still no guarantee that the club would bring in the right man to take us forward, I just hoped it would happen. Other than those two bad decisions I think they've done a good job of running the club, we've made massive strides and what we're seeing right now is the fallout of that shite appointment. It's vital Roeder is the right man and does turn it around, if he doesn't and turns out to be the wrong man then I think 3 mistakes will be too many, but it will still be difficult to replace the board with better. There are no guarantees a board will back a manager to the same level the current board has done, and in those circumstances it won't matter how good the manager is. No backing means we'll be rubbish. There is also no guarantee a new board will automatically appoint the right man. Agreed.

In which case, your Dad is a cunt.

Oliver is a cunt, ignore him.

Cool mate.

I don't see any promise in Ramage. He's had a couple, literally a couple, of solid games. He's woeful on the ball and slow. Bramble is quick, strong, good distribtution (most the time), his downfall is his brain. I don't really think he should get a new contract, but he's a naturally talented defender tbh. Just don't see any ability in Ramage that makes me think he's going to be a good player. Might be worth keeping as a squad player because he can 'play' across the back, but if he's going to be first choice defender we might aswell give up now!

And Ramage is 24 this year, only 2 years younger than Titus.

I think Bramble has shown far more potential than Ramage. I've seen plenty of games where Bramble has been absolutely immense, like a truck couldn't get past him. Others, obviously he's been horrific but i've yet to see a performance in Ramage like Bramble's best. I don't think he's going to be a good player in the future, but Ramage is even worse!

Thats right.

Work permit needs sorting aswell, and I imagine the Home Office shuts at 5. Chill!

They were probably taking the piss.

I got one from Celtic, calling me a 'valued supporter'. Quite how they got my details is beyond me.

Can't believe how many people have written Duff off, fucking ridiculous.

He'll fit right in with Dyer!

What were you expecting, John Terry?

Quality!

Load of bollocks according to Roeder via Anal. Confirms we're after Goochy and the French striker on loan though.

Better late than never!

I'd take Babel's gran in part exchange if it meant getting Luque off the payroll.

One more thing I missed, that season we only won 13 games - that is rank tbh and we were bloody lucky to finish 5th.

Agreed, from Christmas onwards 4th was there for the taking - we were rank. Lost three games from Christmas onwards. We weren't rank - Liverpool were too good. Liverpool were just as shit as we were though. We might have only lost 8, but we drew 17 and a lot of those draws came against shit teams, so the draw might aswell have been a defeat. Look at Man Utd/Chelsea now, a draw is no better than a defeat really.

I'd change it so we'd have beaten Partizan. That was the beginning of the end for Robson. Agree with some of Yorkie's sentiments, but in that last season under SBR we were fucking shit and he should have gone in May like Houllier did, rather than in September. Don't think he was stopped in his tracks, the wheels had come off the track long before.