ohmelads

Let's just hope if anything comes of this, it is the individuals who are punished and not the club. We don't want them making an example out of us. I'd be surprised if it doesn't involve either of Fat Freddy or Fat Sam. I'm curious why we're the only club mentioned as well.

Howay Thailand.

Christ almighty. You are comparing Fanni and Barzagli's situation, you've just done it again and I called you up on it. I even stated their names in my post and never mentioned Boumsong, that was thingo up there. Try reading properly yourself before you jump the gun, then you won't look so silly next time. For the record, Fanni is not a fringe player for France, as he's never been called up to the national squad let alone team, at any age level. HE HAS NO INTERNATIONAL PEDIGREE. I think you're just playing dumb and on the wind up, as it's pretty clear why anyone would be more excited about signing a central defender on the fringes of the Italian national team. Fanni might be good, who knows? But it's clear why Barzagli has a more impressive CV. I think you know this, in fact I'm sure you do, but you seem to have an agenda which is why you're coming out with phrases such as "you were all happy about...". And this is all besides the point, because, as you've said yourself, they play in different positions!

From the same article:

So why are you comparing them then? I didn't realise it was either Barzagli or Fanni. Do you know something we don't???

Tim Vickery (who always writes excellent columns btw) has done an article on this game on the BBC site:

It's incredible that so few on here seem at all bothered, and in fact celebrate the fact, that Ashley will soon delist the club and take it into private hands. We still don't know anything about his intentions, and very soon there'll be no transparency, very little information about what's going on. It's exciting to get rid of a crap chairman and bring in a billionaire, but it's healthy to ask questions.

Sounds similar to Fanni. Why weren't you as excited there? How does he sound similar to Fanni? Is Fanni on the fringes of the best defence in the world?

Know nowt about him, but he's a centre back on the fringes of the Italy team, at 26 he'll be experienced but has ages left in his career. I like the sound of this.

This is it with Argntina though, they batter teams like Serbia and Mexico but the mark of a great side and great players is how you perform on the big occasions against the best opposition. Were they playing that silly 3-5-2 formation?

There are perfectly good reasons for not supporting this decision, but I don't agree with those who say he's getting the armband because he's a geordie, I think that's just a cheap swipe at Allardyce and Taylor. Any manager looking to appease the fans would give Given the armband because he's the one man after Shearer who can do no wrong in the eyes of most Newcastle fans and everyone knows that. Selecting Taylor to be the youngest ever captain of this club would always be controversial, it's not something you do because he's a Geordie or to please the fans.

Naa Roeder would have taken the safe option and given it to Butt or Given, probably Given. Actually he probably wouldn't have sold Parker so he'd still have been our captain. Allardyce on the other hand is his own man and does things his way even if they're controversial.

That does surprise me, but perhaps his shortlist of targets doesn't include anyone suitable? Like I say it begs the question as to who will be coming in at CB because I think most of us would like to see an experienced leader brought in alongside Taylor. At the end of the day though, why should someone deserve to walk into the club and take the armband straight away over players who have been giving their all for the club for years now?

Perhaps his ego does need it. One of the weaknesses in his game is that he tries too hard to be noticed, diving into tackles and playing too aggressively. This might be what he needs, he's someone who clearly wants the responsibility and won't ever hide away from it the way Parker did. Butt and Given strike me as quiet types and not captain material really, I can see them suffering from the added responsibility or simply not having much effect. Taylor will improve with the armband, I'm quite confident of that, and I think he's a much more natural leader than either of them.

My gut feeling is this is the right thing to do, I suggested him as captain in the other thread and I'm glad to see Allardyce is willing to take a chance. Some players revel in the role of captain and I think Taylor is one of them. I don't see Given as vocal or commanding enough at all, giving it to the wrong man can have a detrimental affect on his performances, as it did on Parker. I think Given, like Parker is someone who just likes to 'keep his head down' and get on with his individual role in the team, he's not a natural leader. Taylor is very vocal and very passionate and I think he'll thrive on the responsibility, he'll love it and may gain something out of it. Given could well go the same way as Parker and suffer from the responsibility of the armband, because he's not a leader, nor a shouter. Although Butt played most of last season, he has had a history of injuries and I think his position won't be cemented in the team if we do sign another DM. I think he is past his best and his influence will begin to wane as he gets older. He's also not vocal nor does he appear to be a leader. If Solano was going to play every week he would be my ideal choice, but he's likely to spend a lot of time on the bench meaning we've have a different captain every week. It needs to be someone constant. Taylor for me is the outstanding candidate and the only thing against him is his age. But it would be unfair to call him inexperienced, he's already clocked up a lot of games for this club in the Premiership and in Europe.

You're happy with Ramage as 4th choice? One injury and he's on the bench, two and he's in the team? He's well out of his depth at this level and will cost us points. If we're not totally skint then we should be going all out to get two more central defenders. Let's not forget we let three CB's go this summer.

IF it is Taylor (we don't know yet) then I agree with you, it's a ballsy decision from Sam and I applaud him for it.

Bit of a gamble, could be a masterstroke. I think he's as worthy a candidate as any other, because the other candidates either aren't first team regulars or play in goal in the case of Given. The way I see it, it's between Given and Taylor and I think Taylor will get more out of the armband so to speak and has the advantage that he plays outfield. He's slowly maturing and despite his age he has quite a bit of experience under his belt. He's very passionate and vocal at the back and perhaps most importantly I think his performances will improve with the added responsibility, not suffer as they did with Parker. It does beg the question of who will come in at centre back before the window shuts though, as I can't see Taylor dishing out orders to someone like Sol Campbell.

If there's one area we can "make do" in it's right back. We must get two centre backs and a left back though, anything less just isn't good enough and we'll pay for it in points next season.

Deco's not a "proper player". Souness only deals in proper players, so it was a no-brainer really.

I wasn't impressed by Cannavaro last season, I can see why Real might consider getting rid, and there's no way he deserved to be awarded World Player of the Year. I didn't even think he was Italy's best player at the World Cup. BUT he's still a top class defender, still better than the vast majority of Premiership centre backs and seems to be in very good shape, so he could well have another 2 seasons left in him. These Sunday rumours are taking the piss though. Cannavaro has won everything, there'd be little reason other than money to come here at his age.

A loan deal is not a bad shout, though if the money's there I feel we can lure him here permanently with the promise of first team football. I wasn't aware of the Geremi thing, with N'Zogbia too I'd say our chances are good. If it's true he's rejected a contract offer then that suggests his head's in the right place, he wants regular football. Chelsea would be reluctant to sell to a big rival leaving us in a good position to get him, though they may charge us a bit I'd happily pay a pretty penny for this guy. Some players you can just tell they're going to make a big impact in the game, and to see him as cool as a cucumber under pressure playing DM and RB for Chelsea and France, at the age of 21, suggests this lad has everything required to go all the way.

Admittedly I've only seen him a few times but he has impressed me greatly, he's already in the senior France squad at the age of 21. This lad has a big future IMO and would already challenge Butt for a place in the team. With the arrival of Sidwell and Chelsea's packed midfield, he obviously feels he won't get the chances over there. He used to be at Le Havre with N'Zogbia. He'd be the type of ambitious but realistic player I'd like to see us go for, someone with his best days ahead of him who will grow with the team. His versatility and quality means he'd get a lot of games with us. The type of player we should be targetting IMO (except for CB where we could do with an experienced head).

Not really. I was excited with the Deco and Heinze rumours, disappointed with the Queudrue and Young rumours. That's consistent. The Ronaldinho rumour I just laughed off, because it is ridiculous, just as it would be ridiculous if we were linked with Dwight Yorke. Anybody who thinks the Ronaldinho rumour has as much chance of being true as the Queudrue rumour is just on the wind up quite frankly. Deco and Heinze may be unrealistic, but there has been talk of both players leaving their clubs, and for the right price we know both clubs would sell, so unlike the Ronaldinho rumour they might have a shred of credibility. If we were linked with Dwight Yorke by the News of the World I wouldn't complain, I'd laugh it off.

I think people are more concerned with what the club does over the coming 6 weeks than what it has done over the past 6 weeks. We've snapped up the Premiership bargains, but that was the easy part. Now we're challenged with sorting out the defence, something the previous managers have all had problems doing, and I'm particularly curious to see how Sam approaches this and how Ashley/Mort back him in doing so. My feeling and this is pure speculation, is that Queudrue and Young would have been on Sam's list as cheap limited-but-proven Premiership full backs, essentially fallback options if other targets fall through. They're the types of player he would have gone for at Bolton.