hoppaz

D hes is a finished man. Kluivert used to run more than he does. During last season I saw him run about 40 yards along the front line. I agree he is top class but he just looks overweight and might score you half a dozen goals. If we want to change the culture within Newcastle United we need to get the top earners who are always injured off our books. Duff, Viduka, Emre should all be peddled. I would want a culture whereby the lower earners who show up and are willing to train and play don't look at the likes of Emre, Duff and Viduka and think why do I bother when they are earning more than double in a lot of cases when they don't even play. I would put Owen in that bracket but he does geniunely look up for playing when fit so I won't. There are players out there who will get you more than 10 goals who are young and hungry and on less wages than Viduka is on.

Two year deal with an option of a third.

Looks like he's away as his house is up for sale.... http://www.sandersonyoung.co.uk/buy/view.aspx?pr=9054

I can't beleive people are moaning at signing the likes of Deco a world class player. He's very underated, he's pacy and can open defences with single passes and as already mentioned is prepared to graft. At 30 if we get 3 or 4 seasons out of him great. Nicky Butt is 33 or 43 (or about there) and was one of our best most consistent players last season. Last night after Ronaldo Deco was the second best Porto player IMO. What we need is him and another four or five £15m signings to try and push us on next year. Unlike Ronaldhino (cough cough Patrik Kluivert) he hasn't fallen out of form and favour in specitacular fashion - he just wants to play regular football. He isn't injury prone and twice the player Emre is so lets get him in.

Didn't Pablo Aimar get viral meningitis a couple of years back and it took him ages to recover (hence poor appearance record)?? I think if he was completely free of it he would be a worthwhile punt for 4m in fact looking at his stats for Valencia he played 162 games in 5 seasons which averages 32 games per season. At Real Zaragotha he played 53 in 2 seasons so almost 27 games per season which isnt that bad to be honest.

I'm fairly sure it's not Wise's job to do any of those things you've mentioned. I thought it was Veteres job to go and get the players, Wise to find players, and Morts to tie down current players to new deals. Anyway a bit harsh to blame Wise for missing out on Woodgate when he was appointed a day after the latter had signed for Spurs... You mean our "Technical" Director doesn't even have the initiative to use a flux capacitor?? Maybe if he had this initiative he could use it to go and bag the likes of Anelka for 500K and Flamini and Fabregas for nominal fees. Hang on a minute I am thinking a certain Mr Arsene Wenger might have one of these... :-)

If anything it should be Wise who is read the riot act for... a) Not signing up Owen (despite KK wanting it sorted ages ago). b) Not selling the club to Woodgate (he opted to go to Tottenham). c) Not seeling the club to Modric (see above). Regardless of European football I think if Keegan had been totally involved in the transfers above he would have had the charm and charisma to sell the club to players like he did to Shearer, Ginola, Asprila (sp.), Les Ferdinand etc. For me Dennis Wise does not have the necessary charisma and charm to effectively do his job and until that is resolved KK will just end up getting fustrated standing by and watching his targets move on to other places.

Nope he signed on a two year contract with an option of a third. I would keep him because he has been very good apart from one nightmare of a game. Next year hopefully he will speak English so will be able to communicate better - keegan likes him too. Carr, Ameobi, Zoggy and Ramage will be away for sure (contracts expiring / deals set up / wanting to be away). Emre, Duff Rozenthal and Smith will likely be away becuase they won't want to sit on the bench. Milner could possibly be added to this list because I can't see him playing in our current system.

If Nicky Butt had more acceleration and pace our midfield would not get bypassed so easily. Yes his job as a DM is to break up play but I have seen so many times this season the opposition attacking midlfileders running passed him with ease (with the ball) without him being able to make a challenge. This is our weakest area IMO we just don't protect our back four like the top teams do. I don't even think defence wise where are that poor either, our problem is outlet balls from defence (I agree alot of players are too static) and having someone good enough to sit in front of them.

I just want the brown ale badge back on the shirt! Good move tbh... love his style of fottball watched it at man city and fulham played good attacking football.

Never doubted keegan as a motivator, he was class (and played class football) wherever he went. I remember watching Man City when they came up from the Championship, they played great football and finished a record high in points terms if I recall correctly. Same with Fulham too. The only thing that has bothered me about keegan is he spits his dummy out for want of a better phrase, everwhere he has been. He did it to us, then went to Fulham and did it with them when England came calling, then walked out on England saying he had had enough then did the same at Man City. In fact I recall reading an article about Richard Dunne who said that towards the back end of his time at Man City, Keegan couldn't be bothered and wasn't taking training seriously and Dunne admitted that a lot of team weren't fit enough. It was even alluded to that was one of the main reasons why Anelka left Man City.

I would love to see Guus Hiddink come, he's yet to sign his contract extension with Russia.

Managers are judged on results and the results simply weren't good enough. The style of play wasn't good enough. Sam was on a massive contract (no doubt similar to that of managers at the top of the league) yet Newcastle weren't going forward (some would argue backwards!!!). Barton was his singing too.

Anyone think Rafa would come (saying as there is obviously problems at Liverpool)?

is that that Gartside prick behind you?

His injuries have all been knee related and he has seen Dicky Steadman and has been recovering from his operation. Hopefully Steadman has sorted him out. Worth a punt and a long medical IMO (Villa fans rate him!)

I didn't think he had a knee injury tho. Heard an interview with some french media guy ITK on Talksport early June who knew we would sign Rozenthal (sp.), knew Henry was going to move on. He said we were looking at Cacapa then and said out of the two (Ronzenthal and him), Cacapa was the better player. In fact he said he was one of the best if not the best centre half in France over the last 5 years. He said he had fallen out with officials at Lyon so trained with the kids with the final year of his contract which was expiring in the summer. Aladyce was looking at him for Bolton last summer.

There might be some truth in the Diop swap deal to be honest. Hasn't Zoggy been stalling on a new contract for some time? He's been here since 2004 so we might have no other option to sell him if he wants to go as he will only have maybe one or two years left on his contract. I recall reading that he spat his dummy out when boumsong left so maybe there are things happening behind the scenes that we don't know about. He hasn't been picked for the pre season games like some of the other players (Milner, Carr, Nobby etc) so perhaps his attitude isn't right. I wouldn't want him to go either but if he wants to leave I don't think there is anything we can do and if an opportunity like Diop and £3m came up, then it's in the clubs best interest to look seriously at a deal like that. The BBC don't usually publish that much rubbish so there maybe something more to this.

Henry seemed to me hopeless at Juve. Has he really improved that much since then? It was a genuine question funny man. I haven't seen that much of him except at the World Cup (and the World Cup isn't IMO the best arena in which to scout a player). Appiah is a very good box to box player with plenty of power, drive, strong in the tackle, has a good shot on him and an eye for a pass. He is an all round midfield player. The Fene fans love him so that tells you something. I disagree on the WC scouting issue as you always find some of the best players in the world playing there (so IMO standard is high). In all the Ghana games he played he was the driving force and looked world class, often the best player on the pitch by a country mile. Him and Barton would be mint IMO in the centre.

Yes but not on kids shirts iirc.

With the reported £50m we have plus the fact that we actual made some money of transfers (selling parker) I would... Defence: Philipp Lahm - LB contracted till 30 June 2007 according to Bayern Website!!! Quality player Geremi - RB, CM, RW decent player and free too. Jorge Andrade - CB, LB came back from serious knee injury later this season but is credited for keeping deportivo up by shoring up the defence. I believe he's left footed so could provide cover at LB. They want to sell too cos they are in financial do do Cris of Lyon - good CB. Habib Beye - CB, and RB other than Lahm not of these should cost too much money, Cris and Andrade maybe 8m each max , Beye, 2m, Geremi free, Lahm £10m Midfield: Ryan Babel - Excellent at U21 championship and a quality attack player either as a striker or winger Stephen Appiah - CM him and Barton would probably give the highest work rate in the league this guy is an absolute power house and he is box to box and scores great goals. Appiah mabe 8m and Babel 6m Don't think we need any more strikers but we should be able to get these guys for £50m NB Please dont go on saying such and such will never come, just give them big contracts, money talks (it worked for Chel$ki).

If we were going to sell him I'd sell him next summer as he'll only have a year left on his contract and I doubt he'll want to renew it. I can't see him leaving full stop especially not on the contract he is on. I mean Thierry Henry only recently singed a new contract of 100K per week at Arsenal and Owen earns 110K per week. Only Chelski or Man U could offer those terms and FFS has already clearly stated there is no clause.

Aye and with Darren Anderton too!

Titus is certainly playing better now than he ever has for us. I think as a centre half you only really reach your peak round about 28-30ish. I recently read that Gerrard rates Carragher as one of the best centre halfs in Europe. I rate him this well too but I can't remeber hearing much about him four years ago i.e. when he was Titus's age. I think he is worthy of a new contract based on recent performances and I think he will become a great player in a few years when he does eventually reach his peak.

Cue the 1st Feb and there at a press conference is Ugo Eghiou (sp.) and our manager.... "This is the one I wanted all along he was my top target" .... "All those statements about wanting younger players whose values would go up was a load of tosh and were misquoted" "What i acutally meant was I wanted experienced players who may be past their best but can still offer something to us and hey he didn't cost us much" Reporter - "so why didn't you sign Campbell when he was available?" Roeder " I was scouting Dirk Kuyt at the time" Reporter "but he had already signed for Liverpool??!" Roeder "damn I was trying to throw you off the scent of all my conradictions!!!"