steve_69

I hope you've got your tin hat on. Its kind of sad that he actually needs one. I agree with him, one of the most ironic things I've seen in recent years is the same people who protested to get Ashley out saying how class they think Jonas and Coloccini are. Add Guthrie and Bassong to the list and the ironyometer might explode. To be honest it's starting to make us all look a bit daft. I wanted Ashley out as much as the next man for what he did to Keegan, but the system he implemented (with Dennis wobbly eyes at the helm) seems to work a treat. Given the amount of money we've wasted on transfers in the past it's refreshing to see us actually strengthen our first team without spending ridiculous money. I'm not saying i want Ashley, Wise and Jimenez to stay but if they back the manager in January and get us some more players of the calibre we've already recruited then i might think about swallowing my pride and giving them a second chance. The team and the club are far more important than Geordie pride as far as i'm concerned.

I know he can make some baffling decisions but i think Kinnear's been fantastic since he's come in. I really don't know where all this negativity comes from. We've been a shite bottom half of the table team for the last 3 seasons, and yet the expectation levels of some people is still as though we're a team regularly challenging for Europe. The whole club has been dragged through a fucking mangle this season, we lost a manager after a few games, lost 5 games in a row under Hughton and looked absolutely woeful. Kinnear's come in, stopped the rot and got us playing some very good football. We've been beaten twice in 11 games FFS! When was the last time that happened? We've kept 3 clean sheets away from home in a row! When was the last time that happened? We can fucking defend, for the first time in god knows how long we can actually defend! Our strikers are scoring, our midfielders are creating and the players look like they're enjoying their football. I think we've got a realistic chance of being a very good team again under Joe Kinnear, and for that reason he has my full support. I'll put my neck on the line now and say that i reckon we'll finish comfortably in the top half of the table this season, and if we do i think JK should be offered a long term contract.

Given his performance in the centre against Stoke I think we should keep Geremi as competition for the CM role. He's not anywhere near quick enough or skillful enough for the wing.

Not sure another midfield workhorse is what we need right now. We've got Butt, Barton, Guthrie, Geremi, Smith all competing for that role. I'd much rather we spent our money on someone with a bit of creativity to play in the centre of midfield.

It'd certainly be an opportunity for him to put himself in the shop window

I'd sell Duff, Geremi, Butt and Cacapa - let's say that brings in £4m Assuming Owen decides to go as well £19m to spend Heskey - £1m Baptista - loan James Mcfadden - £6m Stephen Appiah - Free Chris Samba - £5m Taiwo - £7m Taiwo may take some convincing but i think the rest are pretty realisic. ...........................Given Beye........Colo...............Bassong.......Taiwo Jonas.......Appiah........McFadden......N'Zogbia ...............Martins..........Baptista Bench: Heskey, Viduka, Barton, Guthrie, Samba, Enrique, Taylor, Ameobi etc.

Any manager who meddles with his defence after 2 consecutive clean sheets away from home would be fucking mental, and i don't think JK is. It'll be the same back four next week

There seems to be an element of surprise on here which i find unbelievable. Would any decent manager leave their current position a third of the way through the season, to manager a team languishing near the foot of the premier league and in turmoil behind the scenes? And of the current unemployed managers who would you prefer to have? Hoddle? Venables? Bassett? Poyet? Wise? Allardyce? Kinnear has come in and done a good job in very difficult circumstances. 2 wins and 2 draws in the last 5 games is a decent return, especially when you consider that one of those draws was a clean sheet away to Chelsea. In response to the comment about builidng a team around Ameobi, that's bollocks. Kinnear (like many other managers) likes to play a big guy/liitle guy combination, and with Viduka injured the only other big guy we have is Ameobi, who incidently has done really well since he came back into the team. He's nobody's favourite player but he deserves some credit for coming back in and answering his critics.

Good! That means there's a bit of stability in place, we're more likely to make signings in January and the majority of the players are happy. Ok so he's no Hiddink but he's done well since he's been here and he genuinely wants the job, not just the money it brings.

I know exactly what you mean. We've been lurching from one disaster to another ever since Bobby left - for whatever reason every cunt involved with this club at board level seems hell bent on destroying Newcastle United. Of course i still care about this club and i always will, but some of my love for the game of football in general has been worn away and my hope that one day we will be challenging for the champions league places again has faded. The knocks don't affect or surprise me like they used to and i suppose that makes it feel like i don't care as much as before. All i want is for someone sensible to come in, invest significant but not ridiculous money into the team, hire a decent (proven) manager, communicate with the fans and set realistic expectations fron the start. The lack of stability is what's killing this club and it needs to be addressed.

We severely lacked pace in midfield today. Duff does a lot of running but creates nothing, Butt and Barton have no pace at all and Jonas is left trying to create everything. Fuck knows what N'Zogbia has done to piss Kinnear off so much but we really need his pace at he moment. OK he's a sulky little cunt, and to be honest i wouldn't be too unhappy to see him leave but at the moment i'd stick him in from the start. Now then Joe, Cacapa.......talk me through that one?! One word for you - Bassong. He's been very impressive whenever he's played this season and you leave him on the bench for the whole game, choosing coco the clown to play instead. On the plus side Enrique was very good and Collicini put in another good performance (penalty aside). That's it!

Still can't see anything that Wise has done wrong other than not being a Geordie. If that's why you don't like him then you're being even more short sighted than you claim Ashley is tbh. Not being a geordie, being an obnoxious little s***, (repeat) - someone with absolutely no connection to the club and a generally hated character - the perfect man for Newcastle United. As for your second sentence - whether I like Wise or not is not going to cost me millions of pounds, how does that compare to Ashley? All you've described there is opinion and the personal views of some fans and some elements of the media, nothing he's done at all. And who's to say that it was as simple as sacking Wise = keeping Keegan? <b>You can't run a business being held hostage to people's whims.</b> No you can't, but in order to have a successful business you have to keep your customers and stakeholders happy. Ashley didn't do this and look where it's got him Aye that's true, you've got a point there, all I would argue is maybe he didn't forsee the reaction (understandable) or thought that he would be able to resolve the situation and keep Keegan anyway. Again that shows a lack of research on Ashley's part. He should've known what to expect before he bought the club and he should've respected the duty he has towards us as Newcastle United's owner. The niaivity and arrogance with which Ashley has handled this whole situation shows him to be nothing more than a businessman - the kind of businessman that isn't used to having his decisions questioned and criticised.

Still can't see anything that Wise has done wrong other than not being a Geordie. If that's why you don't like him then you're being even more short sighted than you claim Ashley is tbh. Not being a geordie, being an obnoxious little s***, (repeat) - someone with absolutely no connection to the club and a generally hated character - the perfect man for Newcastle United. As for your second sentence - whether I like Wise or not is not going to cost me millions of pounds, how does that compare to Ashley? All you've described there is opinion and the personal views of some fans and some elements of the media, nothing he's done at all. And who's to say that it was as simple as sacking Wise = keeping Keegan? <b>You can't run a business being held hostage to people's whims.</b> No you can't, but in order to have a successful business you have to keep your customers and stakeholders happy. Ashley didn't do this and look where it's got him

You can't be as succesful as Mike Ashley is without being an astute (and ruthless) businessman. The saddest thing about this situation is that it actaully seems as though Ashley's plan for the club could've been very successful. The signings of Beye, Enrique, Barton, Jonas, Bassong, Collicini, Guthrie and Xisco have improved the squad (and reduced it's average age), the wage bill has been reduced, the £12m we got for James Milner looks increasingly like an excellent piece of business and the scouting team seems to be unearthing some decent talent. Unfortunately for Mike Ashley he seems to suffer from a severe case of poor judgement that ruined his chances of a long tenure - his lack of affinity with the geordie public, his insistence on surrounding himself with cockney wideboys, his undermining of a Newcastle United legend, his complete lack of communication with and subsequent disregard for us (the fans) and his over-valuing of a club he claims to want rid of have forever made him a hate figure. He came here with good intentions and i think those intentions could've made for a very interesting long-term future, but Ashley showed incredible niaivity in trying to run Newcastle United as a business first and foremost and a football club as an afterthought.

He does want the club though, he's just not prepared to keep it when he knows we'll do anything to make sure he loses money hand over fist, and because he feels that his family are being threatened. He may have just pulled off an accidental masterstroke by employing Joe Kinnear but he'll never get the chance to fully appreciate it because of his own arrogance, stubborness, niaivity and lack of understanding of what makes the people of Newcastle tick.

I'm pretty sure that's the case, so there's no reason to assume that there'll be NO transfer activity at all in january because there should still be some money left over from summer.

Anyone have any figures for roughly how much money should be in the kitty based on player sales and transfers completed over the summer?

Direct quote from Ashley: 'I have loved taking my kids, being next to them and all the fans, but I am now a dad who can't take his kids to a football game because I am advised we would be assaulted.' Therefore, I am no longer prepared to subsidise Newcastle United.

Was having a think about this last night. Ashley said he's not prepared to invest any more money in the club which naturally prompted the assumption that no more signings would be made while he's at the helm. Ashley always intended to make the club self sufficient and the £20m investment in transfers he spoke of would be additional to money generated by the club. Given our 'astute' transfer dealings in the summer transfer window there should be a decent transfer kitty still available, particularly from the sale of James Milner. This could be the reason for the continued scouting, transfer rumours, Kinnears comments about new players etc. Perhaps Ashley doesn't have to invest any more money in the club for us to buy new players because there's already money there.

90 mph football. fierce defence, cultured midfield and monster forwards. <b>he's been building this team for about 3 years now</b>, and has assembled a decent group of players who have really responded to him and play for him. Might as well count him out then. The only way to survive in the Newcastle United hot seat is to achieve instant success. He'd be hounded out of the club if he didn't qualify for europe in his first season so he's better off where he is.

I think he's ace. What a breath of fresh air. I initially feared that he was going to be another long ball merchant but we've played some good football under him and got some excellent results. I'm genuinely beginning to think to think he can do a decent job for us long-term.

Mark Hughes is a moaning cunt! It's not a crime to admit the ref got something that went in your favour wrong but the way manager's go on you fucking wonder. They all fucking do it - i didn't see it, it was definitiely a penalty, it wasn't a dive, the ball was over the line, he should've been sent off, it wasn't malicious. What a bunch of devious dishonest wankers!

QPR are 1 point off fourth spot and only 6 point off the automatic promotion spots. WTF?!

Where's Mark Lawrenson? Lawrenson: Here! You're a cunt! That said, i think some of your predictions have been quite fair for once

I fucking love Joe Kinnear. I don't want him as our permanent manager but he's been an absolute breath of fresh air since he came to the club. I really hope another club gives him a chance after his stint here, but even if they don't i'd be happy to see him stay in a coaching capacity.