Wullie

Would you rather have had that money or stayed up with the extra point that I'm fairly sure a player of Milner's (and/or N'Zogbia's) productivity would have earned us over a season? To those mentioning Spurs sell-to-buy policy, if you suggested to Harry Redknapp that they had one, I suspect he'd laugh in your face.

The only reason I'd watch this is in the vain hope that any one of the mackems on show or Andy Carroll suffers a serious injury.

there are different sections of thought about ashley. one that he's put more cash into the club than anyone else, another understands that right now and in the recent past we weren't in a position to spend like we had in the past, another is that his handling of the club in the remainder of the season after keegan left was the massivly major factor in us getting relegated and that last season and this he's gone a little way to digging himself out of that. however there are some for whom he can never do any good and if we won the league next season would whinge that had he done blah blah blah earlier then we'd have won it earlier and has as a result cost us 2 years on the path to world domination. Aye righto. What about the school of thought that he did indeed fuck up the relegation season and he's doing his damnedest to fuck this one up as well? Can he not just be like the owner/chairman at real football clubs and leave the fuck alone unless things are really going down the tubes? If he'd kept Carroll and kept Hughton, I'd have been absolutely dandy at this point in time. I still wouldn't like him and would happily see him thrown off the Tyne Bridge with rocks tied to him but at least make some pretense towards not making an utter arse of things just because he can. People continue to be downhearted and comment on it because he continues to make fucking ridiculous "mistakes" on a regular basis.

spot on. They're both good posters but very one-eyed at times. FWIW I'd rather sit through pages of Wullie's bias than read a single post from an embittered old nothing like Ozzie. A splendid backhanded compliment.

I certainly think there's far far more support for him than there was for Shepherd for example, despite the latter having done far more for NUFC and having a will for us to be better, despite being dreadful at putting that into practice. There's a significant minority on here that don't mind the team being dire as long as Ashley's accountant is happy. I don't understand that and I never will.

spot on. They're both good posters but very one-eyed at times. If it's one eyed to dislike a bloke who got us relegated, uses the club as a Job Centre for his gambling buddies and continues to sell off our best assets, then yes, I'm one eyed. Canny ridiculous to be accused of that given what he's done to the club, but then this is exactly what I mean.

Aye, cos you never moaned about "Fat Fred". Talk about the pot and the kettle, Jesus. You never posted about anything else (apart from Stephen Spence of course) for a three year period. http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php?action=profile;u=1001;sa=showPosts;start=5730

Good post. How can any manager build a team in the image he wants when the most important factor in whether we buy him or not is his contractual status? And they compare it to Arsenal? There's not a team or club in the world more structured round the manager's own ideas. Gutierrez rang alarm bells at the time, another one signed because we could.

He obviously hasn't been on here. What? That's the general running theme of this forum It's like the fucking Mike Ashley fan club on here at times man.

He obviously hasn't been on here.

How the fuck do you expect the medical team to fix a broken leg any quicker, sellotape?

Keegan and Robson helped put us in financial trouble? I've heard the fucking lot now like.

Be interested in anything you like but I'm interested in football. I recognise the club has to leave within its means (the third largest gate in the country), just like it did under Keegan and Robson, but talk of losing a key player, not because he wants more money but because he might not want to take enough of a massive pay cut is beyond ridiculous.

Hear hear Bluestar. I remember the days when threads about players discussed their ability with regards to whether we should keep them or not. Now it's generally a case of 'keep so-and-so, he's only on £x a week' or 'we should get rid of Joe Striker if he's on £y a week, despite the fact he's our best player'. Here's a novel idea: if they're good, keep them. If they're not, don't.

Depends on what you think our relative prospects are I suppose. Personally I think it'll be a bloody miracle if we survive next season.

Portsmouth who are now financially secure and in a comfortable position in the Championship? Back on their feet in less than a season, despite having a third of our gate. They got relegated having won an FA Cup and come within a missed penalty of winning another. We got relegated having won fuck all. I'd swap.

I think you'll find that's the policy that the successful clubs work to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/9118602.stm

As long as the players are doing the business, I couldn't give a toss what they get paid.

Nah KK played him on the right.

You can count on one hand the number of good games he's had centrally for Newcastle.

Nobody said he was as good.

He dictates the game from out there, he's been doing it all season.

Barton has neither the presence nor close control to play CM. He's ten times the player in RM. Not sure I agree that his time as a CM is over. We weren't even talking about him playing wide a few months ago. Completely irrelevant. We've seen him play both RM and CM this season, and the difference in the effectiveness is huge. Doesn't mean it will be the case next season. He's developed a lot as a player and a person this season, it would be unwise to write him off as a CM. As he ages, he'll have no option but to play in field. Btw, I do go to games. He's not going to morph into a Tiote or a even a Nolan. He gets bullied in the middle and always will. He's a Beckham-type player and should stay out wide. He's very like Beckham, which is why talk of needing a "winger" is ridiculous. Beckham's the best right-sided player in Premier League history, by some distance. It's all about delivery.

You'd have to have a fucking screw loose to want him playing centrally tbh. Use your eyes instead of the specific position you've seen him assigned to on a computer game please folks.

I won the best part of 300 quid when we went down last time. Would have swapped it all for an equalizer at Villa though.