James

Why the fuck have the NOTW got a quote from Burnley Captain Stephen Caldwell to justify the Chopra story?

Save it for next month's Piles Awareness Event @SJP

Surely the fact that you missed Emre says something?

Alternatively. a cone which has to balls side by side that you can get some places. Call it Tripod.

They should do one where the ice cream man misses the cone with the ball scoop, so just gives the customer the cone. Call it Shola.

The season we got relegated.

Did Craig Hope pick the winner?

Solano and Robert player on the wing, I presume James means best attack midfielder we have had that played through the middle. Who else has been better than Dyer in that position in the previous 10 years? Yeah, that's the way I read it as well - James was exempting our wingers and wide players from comparison. Its a bit self fulfilling though since Dyer was really the only player to get a good run in the 00s in that position. SBR had some slavish notion to play Dyer there at every opportunity no matter how poorly he played it, so its difficult to compare him to anyone else. The only players that got runs in the center midfield could be classified at DCMs (especially when partnered with Dyer): Acuna, Lee, Speed (yes he played DCM when partnered with Dyer in the middle), Butt, and Parker. As for playing an attacking role in teh middle... well who do you compare him to? He was better than Bowyer... Owen did well in that spot but only had a couple of tries so probably doesn't count... anyone else? Emre. Nolan, Butt. We certainly missed Dyer when he went, much of the hatred that is still shown by many is very much cutting off your nose to spite your face. Probably more controversially, I rate Bramble as our second best defender of the past decade after Woodgate.

I personally think it is the best thing any non-bankrolled by oil board has achieved at any higher level club in the last 20-30 years. Something that deserves giant plaudits, not the light credit it gets now.

Yes, but that is just a temporary thing. People come and go, but St. James' Park is forever.

Yeah sorry, I was in Championship Manager land a little. Think he does run Robert and Solano close though, and then no attacking midfielders that have been at this club in the noughties get close to those three.

Now I know these two are generally contentious figures when it comes to this club and hopefully this thread wont dig up old board stuff. However, I was thinking recently, that while the likes of Liverpool, Everton, Portsmouth have failed very badly to upgrade their stadiums, Southampton completely bankrupted themselves doing theres, other clubs moving location and only filling out half capacity, Newcastle United and Hall and Shepherd rebuilt St. James' Park to meet the demands of the modern world. I've often wondered what would have happenned without the stadium. Regardless it is not something to worry about. Truth is that now the period of football is very much over, we are left with a great stadium that can get the 3rd highest attendance in the country every other week, where Newcastle fans can go to see the club play. That alone is a huge legacy that not many chairman in the football club will leave behind.

At the time, I think most of us wanted to upgrade Dyer to a fitter player with good end product, and a perfect attitude. We always want better than what we've got, so with those few easy to find limitations, Dyer was an easy scapegoat for people looking to progress the team further than we were at that stage. However the top team we had was dismantled and not suffciently replaced and we were worse when he wasn't in the team, yet people forgot the relative success he bought to the club. Without a doubt the best attacking midfielder we had in the last decade.

FYP

Can they afford it? Can they afford not too? The simple fact is that the squad isn't good enough though. I know that's down to him, but it means there's nothing to say the new guy would do much better. If they have to pay him off and don't get CL either, that's a lot of brass lost. They might just see it out and try force him out in the summer. If the squad isn't good enough you have to wonder why considering the amount of money Rafa has spent. How much did he pay for Robbie Keane? To be fair there, Robbie Keane was bought behind Rafa's back. Which is why Keane failed there, because Rafa didn't want to use him.

If Rafa goes, I can see the hilarious scenario of Allardyce getting the job.

*Parky searches for benny benitez thread*

All you need is Love All you need is Love All you need is Love Love Love is all you need

I thought Man Utd were in a slightly precarious position. But now Parky has called it, it is safe to say that they are perfectly alright.

It was said that George Orwell's Animal Farm was about Soviet Russia. They were wrong. It was about NUST.

Sorry, I read the ACN thread and the betting thread and was nowt in there

With Angola 4-0 up, someone put £4,400 on an Angola win in an attempt to get himself £44.

Carr couldn't even be bothered to take a decent throw-in for us. Just trundled along, waited for all our players to get marked up, and then drop the ball at the feet of the opposition left winger.

Like I said, Togo players should be treated as being unavailable until they get knocked out in the first round. Perhaps people need to look at this argument from a differnet perspective, i.e. not why Togo players should be allowed to play for their clubs, but why the players from other nationalities are not able to return to their clubs. In my opinion, the whole tournament should be called off and get the players back to their clubs ASAP So in your opinion the Togo players are the only ones who are doing what you want, but you don't want them to be allowed to. Great logic James. I just generally want to see fair play on and off the pitch. I want to see results decided by the best players being available to play for their teams, and not by off-field international politics.

Like I said, Togo players should be treated as being unavailable until they get knocked out in the first round. Perhaps people need to look at this argument from a differnet perspective, i.e. not why Togo players should be allowed to play for their clubs, but why the players from other nationalities are not able to return to their clubs. In my opinion, the whole tournament should be called off and get the players back to their clubs ASAP