BottledDog

All teams who go up have momentum, because they have just pissed on their own league. And most of them go straight back down. There is a big gulf in class between the Premier League and the Championship. Nolan and Ameobi looked piss poor in the Premier League and dominate here, that tells its own story. We may be top and winning plenty of games but we are scraping a lot of wins against poor opposition. We were relegated with the same squad plus 40m of players. We haven't signed anyone bar Pancrate and loans so it's a much weaker squad than the one which went down. Take out the loan signings and the squad is threadbare again. We need to improve the first team and we need backup - in short we need to invest to stay up. We would struggle to beat the likes of Hull and Wolves with this squad, we'd certainly struggle to rack up 40 points. Sums it up in a nutshell for me. If we don't invest in January, we may as well prepare for a season of struggle next year, regardless of which league we playing in come August 2010. Just don't see it. Not because of Ashley or Hughtons reticence in the market, It'd just be surprising if anyone half decent would take a punt on us going up, and tbh, I'd be suspicious of any older/establised player willing to take that risk. Players like Kilgannon may prove good business, but If we can keep the core we have and do a similar job as the summer in terms of incomings I'll be happy enough. That should see us up and in a position to actually offer the finances and league to attract players better than the Butts of the world.

Yeah, best to tone down any feeling of achievement lads. It's shit to be the uncoolest kid on the block. /we haven't been promoted. Not by the longest chalkiest chalk ever.

Whey, be nice to have a float. Not enough floats around these days.

Nope, the article is hollow, there's nothing there. Of course there are concerns with what happens in the future, there always are, but never have I seen an article, mid season, worrying like a fucking stoat on acid, about what the consequences might be if we (please god) manage to do the best we can do, and actually go up (saving the sodding club for another year into the bargain). The headline is there to draw people in and he has done that. Good lad, the weather's sunny but I can forcast showers in the future. Christ on a bike. What a cunt.

Yes, yes it is. Massive progress from where we are this season if it were to happen, and that is all that matters. Things can change so quickly in terms of injuries, players, managers, and owners; and at present the last three are not going to be attracted to the club as we stand, so lets just hope to fuck we make it. Writing us off before we even get back there as Bird is doing, is pure doom mongering at it's finest. The end is nigh my ass, the club will be in a better position for it, end of.

Yes ecstatic but it would soon be replaced when we all realise ashley is going nowhere. He squanders a whole summer trying to sell the club, no manager is appointed with little or no players coming in. http://fm.theoffside.com/files/2009/02/marvin-paranoid-android.jpg Promotion? Don't talk to me about promotion. /Who knows what will happen, as it is, just hope that we do indeed make it back up. Keep the faith.

I cant think of any nufc fan that wouldn't be chuffed if we make it back up in the first attempt. I think what we are trying to say is...if we go up the great feeling will eventually be knagged away by the thought of ashley not selling up. Repeating what took place last season and going down again. The fresh wave of opimism that goes with a promotion will disappear quickly and will be replaced by Ashleyism. Maybe, maybe not. Besides, the cast and issues may be different, but aren't there worries nagging away before every new campaign? Forget next summer and whether the fat man does a bunk, there is still too much that can change between now and the end of the season to be sitting writing doomladen articles on why we shouldn't forget that if we do go up, it'll all turn to crap in the end anyway. /other than to rattle cages, and get Birds advertising revenue rolling in of course.

Well said Simon Bird, Ashley hoop-lickers/Keegan haters take note Take note of what? All he is saying is that rather than being swept up in the magic and heros of the past, as an old cynic beaten by a decade of dissapointment (or just an nose for an eycatching headline) this time around he chooses to let his head rule his heart and vex over the unaswered questions that happen every sodding year - Will we invest? are the players good enough? What happens if Nile gets some woman pregnant? Is that it? Fine, enjoy the worry. I'll just enjoy the ride, and if we make it, possibly one of the few chapters ending with our club on the up, a city on a high, the certainty that we will see new faces, and the chance that we may hold onto some of the players (primarily the youngsters) that we have been lucky enough to hold onto up till now.

If Ashley stays, he will need to invest to keep us up, if he goes, someone else will have to, either way it will possibly be another in a long line of transition summers which has its surprises and dissapointments. Well christ, glad Simon Bird highlighted that little detail. "Why I won’t celebrate if Newcastle get promoted" - because next year might be a toughie? Fuck off. Wallow in worry if you want, but as far as I can see, if we pull it off and get promoted, everyone; us, the players, the manager and Chairman would all deserve to celebrate for a job well done. Sod Ashley, find me anyone who would bankroll us to the tune of £50 million on players to 'hopefully stabilise us'. Would be some fun wages to try an whittle off the pay roll if we slipped up again.

If they want to have a dig at Ashley, have a dig at Ashley. Don't bring someone in who had the thankless task of keeping much of a Premiership squad together and happy in the face of a good deal of criticism and uncertainty. Hughton for me deserves a fair bit of praise for his atitude and application in his time here, and has, as far as I've seen, tried to keep well away from the politicking. That is an utterly cuntish cover from True Faith. /who have a tendancy to wallow way too much in their own spite and misery when they feel hard done by these days (whether under this regime, or the last days of F.Shepherd).

Fixed.

Fair play.

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/554367/FORMER-Newcastle-boss-Kevin-Keegan-fears-his-relationship-with-the-clubrsquos-supporters-will-never-recover-after-his-bitter-battle-with-Mike-Ashley.html A source close to the 58-year-old one-time Geordie messiah said: "He has taken it all very hard. He looked at message boards and has been very hurt. He has taken all the criticism personally." I hope you are all very pleased with yourselves. /unless of course you are the source close to the 58-year-old one-time Geordie messiah

Sadly, you are mistaken. What you were actually asking was, who has won the Premier League Manager of the year award, and the next in that sequence was, as I said, George Burley. Screw you guys. I win.

George Burley.

Why would you want a bunch of amateurs to buy the club? I would rather a group of well intentioned professional investors purchased the club with a well thoughtout business plan

Sorry, don't mind me. Was just bored and wondering if there has been any further clarification to the story that Moat had put the £100,000,000 on the table.

So any substance to the reports "Barry Moat makes first official bid for NUFC"? ...or does the thread title need changing again?

And...? Those that have left all pushed for moves to varying degrees, and I don't shed a tear for any of them. I was pleasently surprised by quite how many good player we actually managed to keep in the Championship, and the money they brought in helped us achieve that, as well as allowing us to get some pretty shrewed signings in.

Oh FFS hope this is not true, but more than likely. When are people going to realise that he's doing no more than a solid job, with the squad we have, we should be top of this league. He's not the future for this football club and appointing him on a permenant basis also means his future on the coaching staff is in jeapordy, because when he fails and he will if and when we come up against more than mediocre opposition, he'll be sacked. Like Roeder before him, we'll miss him as coach more than we'll benefit from him as another short term manager. I argued vehemently against Roeders appointment, but I think I would be fairly open to Hughton getting a pop at it; for a start the man talks a damn sight more sense, has pulled the squad together, and seems to pick the right team/subs more often than not which is half the battle. Put it this way, in the absence of any alternatives (you won't see Shearer again until the club's sold and there is sod all out there that jumps out at me or would find us a draw at this point), it's pretty disrespectful to the guy to keep him as a caretaker on presumably caretakers wages for very much longer. He is doing a managers job so unless regime change is really 'just around the corner', change his title accordingly. I'm against him being made the manager full time in any regard. But the point I'm making here is that we'll lose him as a coach if he's made permenant. He will be sacked pretty quickly if not this season (for not getting us promoted) then next in the premiership. I'd rather hang on to him in that capacity, as Roeder was excellent with the youngsters and we've missed that, Hughton's proved to be a pretty adept coach. We will lose him as a coach anyway in all likelyhood, whether that be due to any new manager wanting his own staff, or simply due to the inherrent difficulty in moving back into the shadows after feeling he has enough to cut it in his current role. Dont get me wrong, I'm in no rush to see his title reflect the work he is doing and I hope Hughton feels the same, but with no top class manager on the horizon, there is a limit to how long anyone can be called a caretaker respectfully.

Oh FFS hope this is not true, but more than likely. When are people going to realise that he's doing no more than a solid job, with the squad we have, we should be top of this league. He's not the future for this football club and appointing him on a permenant basis also means his future on the coaching staff is in jeapordy, because when he fails and he will if and when we come up against more than mediocre opposition, he'll be sacked. Like Roeder before him, we'll miss him as coach more than we'll benefit from him as another short term manager. I argued vehemently against Roeders appointment, but I think I would be fairly open to Hughton getting a pop at it; for a start the man talks a damn sight more sense, has pulled the squad together, and seems to pick the right team/subs more often than not which is half the battle. Put it this way, in the absence of any alternatives (you won't see Shearer again until the club's sold and there is sod all out there that jumps out at me or would find us a draw at this point), it's pretty disrespectful to the guy to keep him as a caretaker on presumably caretakers wages for very much longer. He is doing a managers job so unless regime change is really 'just around the corner', change his title accordingly.

Maybe trying to shave a bit off the price because of his preferred bidder status? The thing I keep coming back to on this is that if I were Ashley I just would not sell now. He won't get his money back if we are promoted but he'll get a lot more back than he would if he sells right now. Ashley seems thick skinned enough not to give a s*** about being branded a liar and being hated - so why sell? But what if we don't get promoted and they have to sell off more players - he would not get £100m then. He's a gambler - and its a good punt that we will get promoted. At some point even a gambler has to stick, maybe he'll finally decided this is one gamble too far. heres what i think, moats bid includes bonuses for if we get promoted, something like that might make a bid acceptable for ma as he'd get more money on promotion What, and give the next fuckwit owner an excuse to avoid promotion!

The production line has been a bit slow recently, but agreed we do have that going for us. Still need to be a place the kids want to come though. /deffo shouldn't scrap the reserves.