David Icke - Son of God

Can I point out that no matter how fabulous Martins is on his day he has a habit of going missing big time, fluffing easy chances, miscontrolling the ball and forgetting he has any pace. A good player? Yes, some of the time. A player we couldn't replace? Don't be daft.

where do you live? the english PL, whether you want to believe it or not, has a higher profile than the german bundesliga and spanish PL...ergo elano will get more exposure for his "handful" of decent games (jesus) good insight on petrov, perhaps because of the lack of exposure i get to the spanish league (ahem) i still thought he was the pacy, tricky, quality left winger spurs were looking to pay 10m for and who turned to out to do a decent job in england in the end your point about luque only backs me up - you really think a player would leave deportivo where he played in the CL semis and challenged for the spanish title simply 'cause they missed europe and we were in the uefa qualifying rounds? get a grip man Luque never wanted to come here. He's said as much. Depor were up shit creek financially and when he sat down and had talks with Fat Fred he asked for an astronomical amount in the hope we'd say no. But this was Fat Fred and we didn't.

Better than Milner

Exactly. If Keegan can't convince someone to come to Newcastle then we stand no chance, therefore what's the point in moaning about it?

Exactly. Keegan only handed a list of targets to Wise and co. a day or two ago so if we miss out on Modric it's not a big deal. Yes he's a good player but £20 million is a lot of money for someone who's never played in the league before. As much as i'd have liked to see him come here and play it may not happen. Lets be honest, unless we had a stupid amount of success in the next year or two we would probably just be a stepping stone anyway. There's nee point in dwelling on it. Plenty more fish in the sea.

Fuck it, lets gan and get Arshavin instead.

It was to be expected, like.

Usually i'd say that's a moot point and all player should know the 'keeper is the one standing on the line but when you have Steven Taylor in your side....

http://www.sportal.hr/sportal/sportal/nogomet/vijesti/3065216/index.do Nee idea if that link's been posted before but anyone care to translate it?

One of the ones reporting it is supposed to be reliable the others not Fair enough. I'd imagine it would be surprising to see three of the less than reliable rags over here carry the same story if there wasn't something in it.

It's getting hard not to get sucked in by the reports. Firstly, there are three or four sites reporting the same thing and in at least one of them there is a named club source. Now I know fuck all about the accuracy of Croatian papers but i'm reliably informed they're not much cop. I just hope there really is something in this. It would be a huge statement of intent.

I'm not a doctor so I really couldn't say

That's true. New regime, new style? Edit: reminds me of the sudden news of us having signed Viana. I do hope this secrecy thing becomes a standard way of doing business. That was very much a "The fuck's he?" moment until reading the various plaudits levelled at him prior to his signing. Shame he was shit.

It'll be an interesting game. West Ham have been off the boil for a few months now and even though they didn't suffer a what's-left-of-morale destroying defeat or draw at Derby the performance was far from convincing. On the other hand our performance against the Mackem's wasn't fantastic either. I'd like to see us up our game again this weekend and give them a pasting. My heart says we'll win, my head says a draw or a lucky win to us.

90k for Martins yet we're allegedly offering Modric peanuts? Howay Mort, get it sorted!

On his current form i'd like him to sign a new deal. EMO to become NEMO.

Yep completely agree. Not a thread about him but also have to say I think Enrique plays a fair few clever passes that seem to go unmentioned, not just the simple ball but actually thinks about it and plays some good attacking passes. I love Enrique because he doesn't hide. He tries to make things happen by making runs off the ball or running with the ball into space. However, a lot of the time his teammates let him down with their lack of movement, vision and passing ability. Enrique would be much better in a better team. I noticed this during the Everton match earlier this season. He plays the types of balls that people in the stands are screaming for but the lack of movement in Allardyce's side hindered him. The only way this can change is by players playing together more often. They'll learn to read each others games so when Enrique plays a brilliant ball it'll not just be into space but there'll be someone running onto it. KK is the type of manager that will get players doing this.

I think you're wrong

France Football is highly reputable, which gives me hope the Deschamps link is more than bollocks. EDIT... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/6743165.stm - France Football say Henry is on his way to Barca, agent threatens legal action http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/6238712.stm - Henry completes move to Barca a fortnight later

No need for the f*** off alan like, insulting He's pissing me off by playing this game. If he knows he wont get it and he is a fan then he should rule himself out just to stop the twitchy arseholes from heaping the pressure on the next bloke in the event of a bad run of form. He needs to stop being so egotistical and whoring himself out to The Sun. It'll cause havoc. Yeah well that's your opinion - and not one I agree with. If Shearer says nothing he is canned by the various wads as leaving a shadow over the club. Others complain he should come out and speak up. Now he has been honest and said I want it and implied he's even consider being no2 blokes you carry on. If the next bloke gets on losing streak then no matter what - the pressure is on, when Shearer was playing it was no different, you don't perform and the crowd turn on you, almost as quickly as you have on one the most faithful servants of our club. The pressure would only be on because some fans don't understand the concept of continuity. I've turned on Shearer because what he is doing is massively detrimental to the search for a new manager. It'll put managers off, it'll heap more pressure on the board and could harm us having any success in the near future. Why has he been so averse to getting his hands dirty learning the management trade elsewhere rather than farting about on MOTD for the last 2 years or so? He knows he has influence but rather than build upon that he's relying on it. Would learning the trade elsewhere guarentee him success at Newcastle? Allardyce had got his hands dirty in the past and where did that get us? Handling a bigger club is obviously far different from handling a big club, many that have been good at the small clubs has found this out. Equally if Wenger or Fergie took over at Bury or Wrexham there are no guarentees of success, it is a totally different job, Fergie or Wenger maybe s**** managers in the lower leagues. Would you take Martinez who has done well at Swansea? He has picked up experience and cut his teeth elsewhere? Stupid argument. What we're talking about is whether he'll have the ability to manage at all, rather than at what level. Shearer hasn't proved himself yet so why should he expect to walk into the job? It is very, very selfish of him to try and sway Ashley and Mort via the press and put the club under immense pressure, just to fill his own agenda. Anyone who thinks Shearer is a realistic appointment should just get themselves labotomised and stand outside the ground chanting like morons for the baying Southern press that are once again having a good chortle at us. Also, before it gets brought up can I address the whole Keegan = Shearer comparisons. Keegan was a last ditch appointment, someone who came in when the club needed a lift. Fortunately, he turned out to be good. We're not in the same position so why take a huge risk?

No need for the f*** off alan like, insulting He's pissing me off by playing this game. If he knows he wont get it and he is a fan then he should rule himself out just to stop the twitchy arseholes from heaping the pressure on the next bloke in the event of a bad run of form. He needs to stop being so egotistical and whoring himself out to The Sun. It'll cause havoc.

I can, I know it's going to be full of charva twats singing for Shearer.

*Sticks fingers in ears* I'm not listening, la-la-la-la-la, fuck off Alan, la-la-la-la-la

Getting an unfancied French side to the CL final and losing to arguably the best manager in the world good enough?

I always assumed 'official approach' to mean firm offer