midds

They might spend a fortune this January and shoot up the league but at the minute, they're very very fucking ordinary. Jo was dogshit.

Well done Habib Beye for being better than Carr, Hughes and Griffin. Picking the bones again, then. Class counter-argument. I can't take seriously what you're saying about him tonight, so i'll just ask: what've you got against him like? The fact that he's not a particularly good crosser of the ball? That for me, is his only real weakness. I've got nothing against him apart from I don't think he's that good. If Steven Taylor made that tackle in the box then reactions would be completely different, fair enough he got a slight touch on the ball but you can't make tackles from behind anywhere on the pitch so to make one in the penalty box is daft. wasn't from behind in that sense Of course it was from behind, unless his leg bends the other way. the tackle was with his right and doesn't hit the back of the player. the trailing leg doesn't his the player at all. technically not classed as a tackle from behind. wheres mosely when you neede him ? Mosely reckons it won't be rescinded. Talked to him in the pub after the game.

I was looking straight at the incident and it was a clean tackle. Styles fucked up and I just hope he's big enough to admit he made a mistake and rescind it.

The way he dummied Hart tonight was sublime. You can't buy class. That was liquid football.

Was superb tonight. We haven't got loads of quality players but he's certainly the one we should be building the back 4 around.

Very encouraging that tonight tbh. City basically were given a goal start and a man advantage for 75 mins and they still couldn't beat us. We fought for every ball and even Shola put a shift in. We've not turned the corner but at least we can see the fucking corner now. Onwards and upwards and I think we'll get at least a point from the mackems.

They won't go down.

Never seen that before.

Chelsea one up at Boro already. Kalou.

Soft shites. Like a pack of huffy kids.

Taylor needs to be taken out of things for a while and Bassong deserves a chance.

You don't buy into that surely do you? It reads to me that you're trying to convince yourself of this in order to convince yourself that the set-up/system/structure Ashley put in place is the right thing for the club and if that really is the case you've lost it mate. Seriously. that is the case with a lot of people. Keegan walked out in 1997 because he couldn't work under a new structure...a structure which you keep defending to the hilt non-stop under Shepherd which did bring a relative amount of success. you won't find a post by me defending the club going PLC Apology accepted. But you do defend Shepherd, and Keegan walked out first time not long after he took over as Chairman iirc, because of what was happening with the club. After a pretty average first few seasons, Shepherd started to get it right and we had a bit of success. Who's to say if Keegan hadn't stuck it out for a bit back then, that he couldn't have got us back to where we were when Hall was in sole charge? Same criteria applies for today. Who's idea was it to go PLC ? Who had the power to make such a decision ? I don't think it was Shepherd, but in the context of it being a board thing [which is what I've always said] then you would have to say they all did it, but such a decision isn't a footballing one so it was even more unlikely to be a minor shareholder all on his own. The wheels to go PLC were in motion before Shepherd became chairman, but I'm not arguing about the merits of whoever was chairman and I never have. One thing you need to be successful, more than anything else, is to back your manager, and this is why I've stuck with the old board, whoever the chairman is. Do you mean 'back the manager financially' , 'back the manager's judgement' or both?

Still got a few difficult fixtures left tbh. Can't see us winning every game but we should piss it because Croatia and the Ukraine will also drop points.

Rooney again. Game over.

Smart finish from Rooney there.

Crumpy Gunt seems to have a similar approach but I'm not really too sure if it's too far from what they're really thinking in any case. Personally I don't like either attitude towards Keegan, whether it's belittling his past service to this club (which is massive and unrivalled) or believing he is infallible or incapable of putting himself first before the club. It's perfectly possible, of course, to give due credit to what he did for the club in the past, whilst acknowledging his faults at the same time. He was the right man for the job in 1992, and the wrong man in 2008. Funny because he very much felt like the right man for the job as we were thrashing Spurs away 4-1 or drawing 1-1 at Old Trafford. People seem unable to or willing to concede that while walking out hasn't helped matters which I agree with by the way, the people really at fault are those that caused him to take such action and are therefore the wrong people for this club. Do you know exactly what happened behind the scenes at NUFC this summer? Its simple, you appoint a manager and you back that man 100%. They didn't so are at fault. I don't really care about the details. All I know is a very good manager who had the team going in the right direction and enjoyed the rare unanimous backing of fans (a crucial ingredient here at Newcastle) didn't get the support his position as manager demanded for reasons yes we can only really speculate on but still, have proved very costly for this club. KK would walk 10 times out of 10 if not backed 100% or if undermined which has obviously happened for him to quit a job no-one can deny he obviously loved doing. Any manager worth their salt would walk. Fergie would be out the door tomorrow if Man Utd sold Ronaldo behind his back or signed a player without consulting him. Wenger too. Most would. Regardless of KK walking, the people who run our club haven't done anything that suggests they are the right people for the club, before and since. Prior to KK being apointed, the Ashley enjoyed what I'd call good will from fans which meant he didn't really have to do anything of note to have our support and that's exactly what he did - nothing of note. When he brought KK back it was something of note. It showed ambition and a sense of wanting what we want but he didn't back it up resulting in his moment of glory if you like proving to be nothing but an empty gesture. If Ashley were the right man for this club he'd have resolved this a long time ago now and KK would still be our manager. All KK asked for was to be backed which I think he had a damn right to not only expect but demand as the manager, a good manager, proving himself out on the pitch where it matters. For whatever reason which I have said I don't really care about (the details), Ashley did not support the man he appointed 100% and I find that incomprehensible especially factoring the total none entities that survived. As far as I'm concerned if he rates Wise more important to his club than KK then why the f*** didn't he make Wise manager before he went for KK. The answer, he doesn't have a clue. Stick to selling cheap clobber Mike. Btw not backing your manager, the man you appoint, its like us not getting behind the team despite claiming to be fans of the club. Not on. Is that a 'yes, I know exactly what happened behind the scenes at NUFC this summer' or a 'no, I'm not totally sure' then? I know KK wasn't fully backed and was undermined which is a damned sight more information than those defending Ashley are basing their views on now that the debt thing has been cleared up. Oh and for the record, I do know Milner was sold despite assurances he wouldn't be. Assurances Ashley himself made when he said KK had final say on all matters relating to transfers in and out and that no player would be sold or bought without his say so. Wake up people man FFS. That's not what I asked. I asked if you knew, for certain, exactly what happened behind the scenes at NUFC this summer. A simple 'yes' or 'no' will do. Spare me the lectures mate.

The thing that baffles me is the fact that some people can mouth off and back Keegan 100% whilst freely admitting that they don't have a clue what actually happened this summer. I just can't see how you can be soooo sure about one thing whilst admitting you're not sure what the facts actually are. It just doesn't compute. If people don't like it, then tough shit. I'll not blindly back Keegan simply because he's called Kevin Keegan. I need a bit more than that if you don't mind.

Crumpy Gunt seems to have a similar approach but I'm not really too sure if it's too far from what they're really thinking in any case. Personally I don't like either attitude towards Keegan, whether it's belittling his past service to this club (which is massive and unrivalled) or believing he is infallible or incapable of putting himself first before the club. It's perfectly possible, of course, to give due credit to what he did for the club in the past, whilst acknowledging his faults at the same time. He was the right man for the job in 1992, and the wrong man in 2008. Funny because he very much felt like the right man for the job as we were thrashing Spurs away 4-1 or drawing 1-1 at Old Trafford. People seem unable to or willing to concede that while walking out hasn't helped matters which I agree with by the way, the people really at fault are those that caused him to take such action and are therefore the wrong people for this club. Do you know exactly what happened behind the scenes at NUFC this summer? Its simple, you appoint a manager and you back that man 100%. They didn't so are at fault. I don't really care about the details. All I know is a very good manager who had the team going in the right direction and enjoyed the rare unanimous backing of fans (a crucial ingredient here at Newcastle) didn't get the support his position as manager demanded for reasons yes we can only really speculate on but still, have proved very costly for this club. KK would walk 10 times out of 10 if not backed 100% or if undermined which has obviously happened for him to quit a job no-one can deny he obviously loved doing. Any manager worth their salt would walk. Fergie would be out the door tomorrow if Man Utd sold Ronaldo behind his back or signed a player without consulting him. Wenger too. Most would. Regardless of KK walking, the people who run our club haven't done anything that suggests they are the right people for the club, before and since. Prior to KK being apointed, the Ashley enjoyed what I'd call good will from fans which meant he didn't really have to do anything of note to have our support and that's exactly what he did - nothing of note. When he brought KK back it was something of note. It showed ambition and a sense of wanting what we want but he didn't back it up resulting in his moment of glory if you like proving to be nothing but an empty gesture. If Ashley were the right man for this club he'd have resolved this a long time ago now and KK would still be our manager. All KK asked for was to be backed which I think he had a damn right to not only expect but demand as the manager, a good manager, proving himself out on the pitch where it matters. For whatever reason which I have said I don't really care about (the details), Ashley did not support the man he appointed 100% and I find that incomprehensible especially factoring the total none entities that survived. As far as I'm concerned if he rates Wise more important to his club than KK then why the fuck didn't he make Wise manager before he went for KK. The answer, he doesn't have a clue. Stick to selling cheap clobber Mike. Btw not backing your manager, the man you appoint, its like us not getting behind the team despite claiming to be fans of the club. Not on. Is that a 'yes, I know exactly what happened behind the scenes at NUFC this summer' or a 'no, I'm not totally sure' then?

Crumpy Gunt seems to have a similar approach but I'm not really too sure if it's too far from what they're really thinking in any case. Personally I don't like either attitude towards Keegan, whether it's belittling his past service to this club (which is massive and unrivalled) or believing he is infallible or incapable of putting himself first before the club. It's perfectly possible, of course, to give due credit to what he did for the club in the past, whilst acknowledging his faults at the same time. He was the right man for the job in 1992, and the wrong man in 2008. Funny because he very much felt like the right man for the job as we were thrashing Spurs away 4-1 or drawing 1-1 at Old Trafford. People seem unable to or willing to concede that while walking out hasn't helped matters which I agree with by the way, the people really at fault are those that caused him to take such action and are therefore the wrong people for this club. Do you know exactly what happened behind the scenes at NUFC this summer?

I'll tell you if I'm looking forward to it or not after Monday night! Pressure and expectations do funny things to mackems.

West Ham have signed Diego Tristan.

Quite looking forward to it now it's getting closer.

I'll see if I can, ahem, tune my satellite box in... Cheers.

Which channel old boy?