UV

I was a bit annoyed that Spurs had finally come to realise how average Martin Jol was, and worried they might get in someone decent. This cheered me up though - even if he does do well, he's obviously not one to stick around. All part of Spurs' long term plan I'm sure. :giggle:

Apparently, when you don't want to sell something you cook the books to make it look more attractive to potential buyers. [Calling common sense, calling common sense... you have been ordered to report to CaliMag's posts as soon as possible...]

If it were a change in his contract, then Owen would have had to agree to it. This obviously can't be the case because he hates Newcastle, has no loyalty to anyone but England, and will be off as soon as anyone decent puts an offer in, etc.

We have stood by him, paid his wages and all the operations he has had. Would be nice to think he would show some sort of loyalty. Your right. We should have refused to pay for his treatment, just put him on an NHS waiting list and tried to flog him as soon as he did his cruciate and we knew he'd be out for the season last year. I'm sure there'd have been loads of takers. At what point has the club done anything but fulfill it's contractual obligations and try to protect it's investment? To try and make out the club has done anything out of the ordinary for Owen is naive, and to try to make out we've been understanding as supporters is laughable. Anyway, if you're saying he should show his loyalty to those who paid his wages while he was injured, then he should put England first, the insurance company Sunday league team second, and then us.

Thats the issue, it seems Owen thinks there are a lot of people against him when there isnt. I take it you're new to this message board then.

We really need to get together a squad of players who are nowhere near getting picked for their national teams so the nightmare of having a world class player who wants to play for their country can be avoided in the future.

This What are you all talking about? We're finally looking for young players, you know, like when we signed the one you all mention?

Fixed the Sun quote.

Given has been our number one keeper and Harper our number two for 10 years. This should never change or even be questioned, regardless of form. We should sign them both up for another 10 years.

Good. Hopefully he can use the England runouts to pick up a bit of match fitness before the Spurs game.

That's what Spurs fans were saying about Paul Robinson all last season...

I'm sure Lampard's agent would do pretty much the same as Gerrard's agent did.

Well I absolutely disagree. Of all the positions on the field, and all the stats you can pick the number of saves per shot when taken over a large enough range of games is one of the least subjective stats you can use. Over time the percentage of easy saves to unstoppable shots will even out, and this stat is especially valid when you are talking about how good a shot stopper a keeper is. FACT is this - Given rarely makes mistakes. I've come to realise that a lack of making mistakes is enough for a large proportion of people to pronounce a keeper or defender as being great. Not making mistakes is a great attribute to have, but it is not the be all and end all. FWIW the first goal on Saturday was saveable - not easily, but saveable non the less.

Probably. I don't have them though. However if I did I guess they'd just be ignored or excused when I produced them anyway. I'm still waiting for a detailed analysis from thomas after I produced the information he asked for. Are you saying that over the course of around 20 games each Harper got all the easy saves to make and Given got all the unstoppable shots? Anyway my main point is to show that the people saying there's such a massive gulf in class between Harper and Given are talking complete bollocks. If Harper were a foreigner we'd have a 100+ page thread crying about unfairly treat he'd been, and any mistakes he did make would be put down to a lack of confidence due to knowing he would get dropped no matter how well he performed.

Stats are complete bollocks when used to rate footballers IMO. Particularly those ones Given is lauded as a great shot stopper, and this is used to excuse his other failings. Please explain why a stat as raw as number of goals conceded per shots on target is "complete bollocks", especially when comparing 2 goalkeepers in the same team across a number of games with a similar range of opposition. Someone better tell the manager.

Bit worrying that Ashley is such a poor businessman that he paid £134m for a company in such dire financial straits. If he'd just waited a couple of months he'd have been able to pick it up for nowt from the receiver.

Quality of opposition please. List of teams played against and in what competitions. League only. I've highlighted the games against last season's top 5 for you. Steve Harper Games played by Steve Harper in 2006/2007 Goals 17-09-2006 English Premier West Ham 0-2 Newcastle 0 20-09-2006 English Premier Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle 0 24-09-2006 English Premier Newcastle 1-1 Everton 0 01-10-2006 English Premier Man Utd 2-0 Newcastle 0 15-10-2006 English Premier Newcastle 1-2 Bolton 0 22-10-2006 English Premier Middlesbro 1-0 Newcastle 0 28-10-2006 English Premier Newcastle 0-0 Charlton 0 04-11-2006 English Premier Newcastle 0-1 Sheff Utd 0 11-11-2006 English Premier Man City 0-0 Newcastle 0 20-01-2007 English Premier Newcastle 2-2 West Ham 0 31-01-2007 English Premier Newcastle 3-1 Aston Villa 0 03-02-2007 English Premier Fulham 2-1 Newcastle 0 10-02-2007 English Premier Newcastle 2-1 Liverpool 0 09-04-2007 English Premier Newcastle 0-0 Arsenal 0 14-04-2007 English Premier Portsmouth 2-1 Newcastle 0 22-04-2007 English Premier Newcastle 0-0 Chelsea 0 30-04-2007 English Premier Reading 1-0 Newcastle 0 05-05-2007 English Premier Newcastle 0-2 Blackburn 0 Seamus Given 19-08-2006 English Premier Newcastle 2-1 Wigan 0 27-08-2006 English Premier Aston Villa 2-0 Newcastle 0 09-09-2006 English Premier Newcastle 1-2 Fulham 0 17-09-2006 English Premier West Ham 0-2 Newcastle 0 18-11-2006 English Premier Arsenal 1-1 Newcastle 0 26-11-2006 English Premier Newcastle 1-0 Portsmouth 0 06-12-2006 English Premier Newcastle 3-2 Reading 0 09-12-2006 English Premier Blackburn 1-3 Newcastle 0 13-12-2006 English Premier Chelsea 1-0 Newcastle 0 16-12-2006 English Premier Newcastle 2-1 Watford 0 23-12-2006 English Premier Newcastle 3-1 Tottenham 0 30-12-2006 English Premier Everton 3-0 Newcastle 0 01-01-2007 English Premier Newcastle 2-2 Man Utd 0 14-01-2007 English Premier Tottenham 2-3 Newcastle 0 20-01-2007 English Premier Newcastle 2-2 West Ham 0 25-02-2007 English Premier Wigan 1-0 Newcastle 0 03-03-2007 English Premier Newcastle 0-0 Middlesbro 0 18-03-2007 English Premier Charlton 2-0 Newcastle 0 31-03-2007 English Premier Newcastle 0-1 Man City 0 07-04-2007 English Premier Sheff Utd 1-2 Newcastle 0 09-04-2007 English Premier Newcastle 0-0 Arsenal 0 13-05-2007 English Premier Watford 1-1 Newcastle 0

Last season up to 22nd April: Given Minutes Played: 1791 Goals Conceeded: 26 Saves Made: 71 Shots per goal: 3.7 Minutes per goal: 68.9 Harper Minutes Played: 1265 Goals Conceeded: 15 Saves Made: 50 Shots per goal: 4.3 Minutes per goal: 84.3

I stopped reading when I came to the stunning new analysis that we lost the league because we were a "defensive disaster" and Blackburn won it because they were rock solid at the back. 94-95 1 Blackburn Rovers 42 27 8 7 80 39 89 2 Manchester United 42 26 10 6 77 28 88 95-96 1 Manchester United 38 25 7 6 73 35 82 2 Newcastle United 38 24 6 8 66 37 78 96-97 1 Manchester United 38 21 12 5 76 44 75 2 Newcastle United 38 19 11 8 73 40 68 We'd concede 4 but score 5 you know.

agreed entirely. we need to do well, but its too much to expect a new manager to come in and instantly move us up from 13th to 6th all in one season! look at villa- they moved up what about 4 or 5 places when oneill came in? if we move from 13th to 8th, and give the fa cup a good go ill be happy this season. we need long term stability, and the injuries arent going to instantly sort themselves out- hopefully this season will be better than last, and so on. Last season was an aberration. We had a massive injury crisis that meant we couldn't play the same defense for more than 2 games in a row at any point in the season, and forced the manager's hand in the transfer market in that he had to spend most of his budget on a replacement main striker. Even Roeder's harshest critics must concede that we would have had different transfer priorities and had better performances/results last year without those problems. Allardyce inherited a squad which finished 7th under a mixture of Souness (under constant threat of the sack) and Roeder (as a caretaker manager) - hardly a scenario conducive to getting the best out of a team. The only significant departure from that squad was an ageing Shearer, and it had been boosted by the addition of Martins. He had the entire Summer to make his transfers (unhindered by a Summer international tournament) with as big a budget as previous managers have had on average. There may have been a bit of pissing around when Ashley first took over which may have affected some transfers, but other than that the ownership change cannot be used as an excuse for performances on the pitch now. Barring another major injury crisis, I don't see why it should not be a realistic target for Allardyce to match or better that 7th this season. [That's not to say I think he should be kicked out if we don't get 7th btw before someone accuses me of saying that.]

Isn't that exactly what he just did in that article? "almost going bust" Or was MajorMajor right all along... Yup, far better to leave that to a lawyer.

Link please.

My memory must be failing, because I seem to recall a protracted transfer where Deportivo initially wanted £10.8m and we wouldn't pay that. A 20+ page thread on here ensued calling Shepherd every name under the sun for not stumping up the cash immediately in case we missed out on this great opportunity to sign the Spanish superstar (youtube links were provided to prove the point). Memory failure again. I could have sworn he was back from injury for 2 months while Souness was still manager. I have to commend Luque here. For someone who couldn't speak English 2 years ago, he's now got to the point he uses words and phrases not in the vocabulary of half the native english speaking population.

So what happens when the first manager you approach knocks you back and tells his mates in the press about it? The current manager is left in an untenable position, knowing he could be replaced at any time. The club would (rightly) be a laughing stock and a source of constant speculation. That's unlikely to happen, it's believed that players get tapped up all of the time but how often do you hear of someone blabbing to the press? The way you would go about it is to get a 3rd party to approach the agent of the manager and ask him if he would be interested in the job, if he is then move it from there but if not and for some reason he did go to the press then deny all knowledge like Madrid do when they get accused of it, after all it wasn't Madrid doing it directly. Sacking someone before looking for a replacement is retarded even if it is whats considered the right thing to do. All going to plan for Spurs then, thats what happens when you have a footballing person running the club.

Ashley may not be a fool, but you are if you think the ref was biased against us Vs Villa based on some premier league/Sky conspiracy theory.