James

What in your opinion is the closest Newcastle have come to silverware post-1992? Nine times it the past 14 years we've come close in my opinion. Not bad compared to most other English football clubs. For me, it has to be the 2000 FA Cup, Chelsea were really lucky to beat us, and I think the Final would have gone perfectly had we got there.

Play Beye at CB, and play Colo defensive midfield

I've just had massive dejá vu.

Yep, nice part time retirement earner.

Does that include the compo?

Fergie agrees with Redknapp too................ Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has defended Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp's right to field a weakened side for Saturday's FA Cup tie. The two teams meet in the fourth round of the famous competition at Old Trafford with both clubs coming off the back of midweek Carling Cup semi-final clashes. While United managed beat Derby over two legs, Spurs were taken to extra-time against Burnley on Wednesday and Redknapp is concerned over the fitness of his squad. Midfielder Jamie O'Hara limped off against the Clarets to join captain Ledley King and fellow midfielder Jermaine Jenas on the sidelines. Redknapp has the visit of Stoke to think about on Tuesday with both sides on the same amount of points and just goal difference separating them from the Premier League drop zone. With the rewards for staying in the Premier League continuing to rise many top-flight managers view league safety above having the chance to lift the FA Cup. Understanding But Ferguson, who faces an injury crisis of his own at Old Trafford, feels that his counterpart's decision to field a weakened side does not disrespect the competition. "It is not a reflection on the FA Cup at all," the Scot insisted. "Harry was speaking in the emotion of a game of what I am sure is a concern. He has some genuine injuries and is concerned about Tuesday night against Stoke. "At the moment they are down there along with three or four others on 21 points. "He has been picking up one or two injuries and their next few league games are quite tough ones. "They have three six-pointers and are coming out of a match played on a really soft pitch in atrocious conditions. In that situation you must respect your club." http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_4837683,00.html Alnwick ( )Zokora, Gio and Dervite all start apparently. Is this the same Fergie who decided to scan the FA Cup rule book to find an ancient rule that permits clubs to play extra time instead of replays, and then tried to enforce it ahead of today's game?

No way would Tim Krul go to Leeds when he could go to one of the top Dutch sides and remain in the public eye.

Who the fuck are half those people?

Injured iirc.

Hope he gets well soon and goes on to have a successful career.

She raises a good point though about the club losing its class and soul. It has.

And an example of the manager getting the best out of players. As I've said before elsewhere half our side are better than Everton's in terms of individual ability, but it is the brilliance of Moyes both motivationally and tactically that yields the results and the performances. After Ferguson, he's by far and away the best British manager in employment, and up there with Robson and Keegan in terms of best British manager in the last twenty years.

Bit unfair making Krul the scapegoat.

Not working as in it remained as my previous avatar, even after I removed the avatar completely, when I tried to upload the new image then, it just restored the old image. And now for some reason it has worked, would seem its taking a while to work, as Baggio suggests.

I am trying to save a new avatar, but its not working. First tried the normal uploading file from PC. Didn't work. Then tried linking to picture web address. Removed all pictures altogether. Tried uploading from PC again. Cavendish came back, which was not what I asked for.

Only if Mike Ashley takes out a £100m loan and spends it on players, decreasing the clubs valuation after amortisation. Why has MA got to take out £100 millon loan, to say sign Pennant on loan & then of free in the summer? Haven't noticed Kinnear or the scouting team take an interest.

I don't want to derail this thread but if you're suggesting the squad we have now is good enough, both in terms of numbers and quality, I completely disagree. Our league position reflects that. We spent naff all and it shows. That being a necessity doesn't make it any less a fact. Squads fine. Problem is bad decisions at the highest level have left us with Kinnear and not KK, which having seen the finances, must be considered the main beef with Ashley.

There is nothing in the tin; we're losing money. I think. This is what we'll do in this window too by the looks of things. The real question is: at what point will we be ABLE to spend more than nothing? When they've got the yearly loss below £20m. The accounts were at a period when Ashley was prepared to underwrite a £20m loss though!

There is nothing in the tin; we're losing money. I think. This is what we'll do in this window too by the looks of things. The real question is: at what point will we be ABLE to spend more than nothing? We'll have to restructure the playing personnel for it to happen.

Only if Mike Ashley takes out a £100m loan and spends it on players, decreasing the clubs valuation after amortisation.

Michael Owen: Four Year Contract Year 0 - £16m Year 1 - £12m £4m loss Year 2 - £8m £4m loss etc

I'm sorry but that is possibly the worst post I think you have ever posted on here. Of course he was expecting payback for his loan, we all knew that from day one that if he was a sensible businessman, the money was only going to be given in an assumption that the £100m was going to be given back to him via an increased valuation of the club. And quaysides OP makes it clear that he has underwritten a £20m loss in the past year, hence giving that £20m a year he promised. With that in mind, it is clear that it is unrealistic to expect anyone coming in to do much difference unless they are genuine multi-billionaires who want some personal glory. All Ashley's faults must therefore by with regards to his handling of management affairs, as opposed lack of investment. Sorry mate, but how many times have we heard people praise ashley for putting his hand in his pocket to clear our debts? a thousand times? ten thousand times? this is just a big YOURE WRONG to all those ashley arse lickers. funny how great financial brains like LLLO missed that one, yet i suggested it over a year ago. clearing debt can be great if the club is up for sale as it means the new owners dont have to address that and inherit a club with a good balance sheet. this doesnt apply in our case as ashley wants this money paid to him. it can be good for a second reason - avoiding interest and loan repayments means money can be put back into the club for the manager to spend - once again, this doesnt apply to us. for us fans, you know, people who watch football being played on a football pitch, it can be good if having a reduced debt consequently improves our on field performance. i dont need to tell you that this has not happened. the £20m loss is primarily player amortisation, a paper loss. if owen moves into the last year of his contract the club would lose, say, £4m from the value of a year of his tenure at the club, something restricted to the balance sheets rather than cash flowing out of the club. in fact, £17.8m of that £20m is player amortisation. as with previous accounts which saw us make something like a £30m loss, this was reduced to £300,000 once amortisation and trading was taken out of the equation. the club is making a small loss, nothing substantial, which is no suprise considering how poorly the club has been ran on the field in shepherd's final years and the entirety of ashley's reign. the way to improve this is to invest in the managerial & playing staff. any business that wants to move forward has to go into debt, you have to make expenditures in the short-term to reap the rewards in the medium to long term. if ashley is not prepared to do this he should bugger off. trying to run a premiership club on a shoestring is counter-productive - you end up in situations like the one we are in currently, and it could get worse. those who like to defend ashley any chance they get need to wake up and realise this. This bolded bit you seem to be spouting every time this issue comes up is completely wrong. For starters, when Ashley purchased the club, the club cost him £200-230m in real terms, in other words, £130m price plus the agreement to take on the debts. Its very laughable that clearing off the debts will make us more appealing, as the paid off debts just become part of the club's valuation. In fact, (now this tidbit is pure speculation) but a Tom Hicks figure would probably see the £130m + debts more appealing if it was possible to refinance these debts. It was a no brainer, when losing huge amounts of interest, that if you have the capital, you pay off the debt and just stick the £100m onto the valuation. It is laughable for you to expect Ashley to keep the debt, and spend an eighth of his £800m wealth on players instead. You'd need an Ambramovich to fulfil your unrealistic expectations.

I'm sorry but that is possibly the worst post I think you have ever posted on here. Of course he was expecting payback for his loan, we all knew that from day one that if he was a sensible businessman, the money was only going to be given in an assumption that the £100m was going to be given back to him via an increased valuation of the club. And quaysides OP makes it clear that he has underwritten a £20m loss in the past year, hence giving that £20m a year he promised. With that in mind, it is clear that it is unrealistic to expect anyone coming in to do much difference unless they are genuine multi-billionaires who want some personal glory. All Ashley's faults must therefore by with regards to his handling of management affairs, as opposed lack of investment.

Ranger will score.

I think there'd be a new football team entering the lower leagues called Newcastle United Supporter's Club. Managed by Adam Sadler. Captained by Olivier Bernard.