James

50 starts.

He was born in 1981. Robson was sacked in 2004. Thats not 21 years. Wow an extra year. 22. Anyhow someone tell me how many players at PL clubs have scored 25 goals before their 23rd birthday. Or scored 25 within 50 senior starts. If anyone can tell me that any random striker could achieve it then I will change my view on the level of talent Shola really had.

FFS the lad was 21 when Robson got sacked. 21! In that time he scored 25 goals in 51 starts. Including Champions League games. Genuinely 1 in 2 at 21. The year by year progression under Robson was clear. And then Souness comes and makes him play on the wing instead of Robert. With a dodgy leg. We will never know what might have been but I personally think we lost out. Not just with Shola really but a number of younger players Robson had been developing.

He bulked up to become a bit of a battering ram, if he couldn’t be mobile he could be physical. Even Pardew once put him in for that purpose alone, to rough defenders up and be our battering ram. You can’t blame Shola for taking injections to play, he just wanted to play and we all know footballers are subordinate in the main so whatever their manager tells them, they’ll do. I have never quite understood the stick he used to get. My own frustration come with the idiots who would continually play him or give him new deals and not the player himself who gave his all as limited as that often was. Unlike many better players than him to have played for us, he gave us some great moments. Bullshit. That's not consistent with someone who apparently had to be on injections for so long. Sick of f***ers defending and hero culting him. He was f***ing s***. We had to put for 14 years of his shitness, of course I'm going to criticise him. It’s the truth, he bulked up to become more physical as his mobility waned. No one is defending him for being s*** by the way, not me anyway, as he was s***. Just not in the kind of league you’d put far more s*** players we’ve had to justify at times which bordered on abuse and hatred of him, on here and on the stands. That's still inconsistent with your story of him playing with pain/injections, as bulking up takes a lot of hard work in the gym that inevitably puts more stress on your joints. You don't go from playing with pain at the weekend to training hard with weights during the week if you are on injection. That's a load of bullshit. Far more shit players we had to justify at times? Yeah? Who are they? And for 14 years? He is not saying he bulked up while having the injections. This happened once Roeder figured out what was going on and sent him off for a hip operation. Shola then came back with a lot less mobility so bulking up was essential and the hip repaired as well as possible could now sustain that.

Would have been for England if not for Souness.

The news that Richard Desmond has sold his newspapers for £125m may today be a key moment. We know that Staveley had been priming investors (didn’t another family commit £50m) so assuming Desmond also was part of the consortium more finance is suddenly available.

Ashley still did business with Whelan however.

No way, Shola’s first three seasons for us were far better than Mitro’s.

To be honest I’m not sure that team pisses over our current team at all. Of the seven central players aka the spine, 5 of them are clearly in the running for some of the worst players to play (regularly) for us in the last 25 years Then three of the other 4 have quality but no heart. So we were more fucked then than we are today. However Benitez would have kept us up still with a whole season by using different players imo.

Injuries. If Souness hadn’t fucked his leg up he would have achieved so much more.

I very much doubt Ashley would have sanctioned the paying of a loan fee, just to allow Woodman to go out for three months. Doesn’t go on loan, requests transfer, sold in summer for £2m Goes on loan, breaks into first team next season, sold to Liverpool for £20m following summer. Guess who wins again.

If that’s a penalty then when VAR gets introduced permanently we need to use our three calls in pulling in the penalty area. 3 penalties a game that will get

It’s a good loan for him really. Good quality opponents, a manager who knows him and will work with Rafa, and a new experience for him. He has to make a success of it though. Last chance saloon really.

Cisse

Don’t think he is coming, haven’t heard or seen anything for ages now

I was there too, I saw people leaving the atmosphere that day.

It’s all about Woodman and maximising his potential IMO. Pay £1m loan fee, for this guy then be in a position to command an 8 figure sum for Woodman in a few years. Win win (Perhaps Rafa’s business argument but really he wants Woodman here as a top quality keeper)

This is all about having a third keeper so that we can loan out Woodman give him the games he needs so he can break into the NUFC first team next season and then sell him to Liverpool in 2.5 years for £37m

I wasn’t too keen but now we are where we are I think a loan could help us to right a few wrongs

It's the position we are by far the best covered in, IMO. Got four players that is good enough to play there. Only Lascelles is good enough. The rest are being made to look better by Rafa’s management but ultimately it’s going to hinder the team I.e more focus on full back or central midfielder defending. Improving centre back could potentially unlock other parts of the team and add more attacking impetus

Didn’t think he was a good fit for us personally would have rather made do with what we had up front then strengthen elsewhere if it came down to Sturridge or Ings or no striker

As something me else said we have experimented with wing backs a few times this season but have lacked a little quality both at centre back and left wing back. If we can’t get a striker and now have Kenedy then a better centre half is worth pursuing.

Newcastle Transfer Rumours in the Press Started by: Nobody

Say what we want about the film critically, but if that is what the young players of today are saying then it makes it the best non-Financial commercial deal in the history of the club and probably also one of the best deals in football, outside of the elite. Sod’s law though is that the period we would have been best positioned to reap the rewards in terms of the films audience growing up, we have Ashley.

Clearly Barca and Liverpool aren’t interested or he would already be on the plane